You just moved to DC, or San Francisco, or somewhere new and exciting. You got an apartment, or moved out of your apartment into a house with a kitchen. Eating out is taking a big hit out of your budget, but all you have is a hot plate and/or a scratched Teflon pan that is compromising your ability to have children. It is time for an upgrade, right?

Upgrade? How can you justify spending money on cooking equipment in a recession? Well, having just a few affordable items can change everyday cooking from a difficult and annoying chore into a fun, exciting and thrifty way to provide sustenance to yourself and your loved ones.

So, here goes a basic shopping list for your new kitchen, on a budget. For those ready to go out and order (or add to any wedding registries), I have setup a list on Amazon, here.

Knives (Total: $66)

1: Victorinox Forschner Fibrox 8-inch (if you are a larger person, grab the 10-inch) Chef’s Knife – $25
Inexpensive, lightweight, and easy to care for. This knife holds a great edge at a really great price. This knife is the clear winner to outfit any starting kitchen. Stainless, high-carbon, with a non-slip fused handle it is NSF rated but still looks good in a home kitchen, unlike a Mundial.

2: Dexter-Russell Scalloped Bread Knife 10-inch – $22
With a gentle arc that makes bread cutting as easy as it gets, a pretty wooden handle, and a scalloped serrated knife blade that does a good job with bread or tomatoes, this knife is a great choice.

3: Victorinox Cutlery 3-Piece Paring Knife Set, Black Poly Handles -$9
These little knives get the little jobs done. Cheap as heck in a restaurant supply store, these guys get the job done effectively and will match your chef’s knife.

4: Accusharp Manual Knife and Tool Sharpener – $10
What is the point of a dull knife? Sorry for the pun, but nothing like a sharp knife to keep cooking fun and safe. Sharp knives allow you to cook and an Accusharp is the cheapest good sharpener out there. Also, cutting onions with a really sharp knife won’t make you cry!

Utensils (Total: $54)

5. WinCo Wood handled Fish Spatula 6.5″ – $4
This spatula is a wonder at a shocking price. Springy, with a flip at the end that makes it easy to get under delicate foods, this spatula is great for frying foods, straining, flipping, and all kinds of delicate tasks that are difficult-to-impossible with a bamboo or traditional spatula. One of the very best buys you can make for your kitchen!

6. Oxo Good Grips Y Peeler -$8
Need to peel something? The Oxo peeler is a big step-up from the metal peeler of yesterday and the y-shape, in particular, makes it easier to peel large vegetables without cutting your fingers.

7. Microplane Stainless Steel Zester – $9
Perfect for lighter than air parmigiano, fluffy lemon zest, or even grating whole nutmeg, this former woodworking tool revolutionized grating. Don’t even think of skipping this tool.

8. Oxo 12-Inch Stainless-Steel​ Locking Tongs – $10
Like a pair of fireproof hands, kitchen tongs can flip sauteing food, toss salad, pick up hot roasting potatoes, and even grab the last pickle. Trust me, once you start using kitchen tongs you will wonder how on earth you cooked without them.

9. Vic Firth French Rolling Pin with Tapered Ends – $12
French tapered rolling pins are cheap and better than handled American-style rolling pins with delicate doughs. By allowing variable force on a dough, you can mix fat with flour for pie crusts or croissants like a dream.

10. Best Manufacturers Standard French Whip 12-inch Red Wood Handle – $11
A great whisk that is agile with interlocking tines that won’t bend, rust, or warp as you whip up rouxs or vinagrettes. I like the wooden handle for a little flare and less slippery grip, but the all stainless steel model is fine if you want to run it through the dishwasher.

Cookware:

Lodge Logic 12-Inch Pre-Seasoned Skillet -$18
Basically, cast-iron is the cheapest, greenest, and best skillet you can have. Nothing builds a good crust like a cast-iron skillet. This one has two handles for when the weight starts to take its toll (as you build up amazing biceps). Pre-seasoned, this skillet can even come close to the non-stick performance of one of those highly-toxic and easily scratched teflon pans that lurk in crappy kitchens everywhere.

Winware Stainless Steel 12-qt. Stockpot – $50
A solid, stainless steel heavy gauge stockpot that works for either making stock or starting soup by caramelizing onions. This pot is small enough to make pasta or dumplings, while having the capacity to really turn out some chili or stew for a big party or potluck. It will resist dents and work on an induction stovetop, but won’t break the bank. A generic heavy gauge pot like this can sometimes be found cheaper at your local restaurant supply store.

Bakeware:

Lincoln Foodservice 13-gauge Heavy Duty Half-size Sheet Pan – $16

Libertyware Cross Wire Cooling Rack Half Sheet Pan Size – $5.25

To be completed soon…

There are no pictures for this recipe, as all the potatoes were eaten before any photographs could be taken. This is one of the reasons truly awesome food never makes it into the fancy magazines.

Anyway, this is a dead simple recipe, using just one cast iron skillet. You can use a black iron or blue steel skillet, but if it can’t go from rangetop to the oven, don’t bother.

Here goes. First, cut up the potatoes into large cubes (red skinned potatoes are especially good). Then fill the skillet half-full of water, salt the water, and add the potatoes. Let them soak for 20-30 minutes. (This is to prevent hollow potato syndrome and create a silky inside). Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Then put the potatoes on the heat, cover, and let them boil for around fifteen minutes.  They should get pretty soft. Then pour off all the water off and use it for something else, like soup or gravy.

Now, pour a generous amount of olive oil over the potatoes, throw in some rosemary, crushed garlic, paprika, and salt, cover, and shake from side-to-side vigorously. This is the most important step. The shaking will create a light coating of crushed potatoes that will end up as the crust that you are looking for in perfect roasted potatoes.

Transfer the pan into the oven. Cook for 30-50 minutes, tossing once in the middle of their stint in the oven. They should be perfect.

Eat them before you can take a picture. Repeat.

Chocolate Pudding!
15 minutes prep (plus 2ish hours chill time)
under $10

Chocolate + cherries = joy

So, let’s talk pudding. Personally, I never really think about pudding. I never think to make it, or really, to eat it. My experience with pudding has been pretty limited to nasty pudding cups, and weird insta tofu based stuff which ends up being super complicated. What I never knew is that it’s REALLY easy, and a surprisingly delicious relief from the heat. And when it’s literally 6 million degrees out, I am ever so grateful for a little relief.

I stumbled on this easy choco pudding recipe in The New Enchanted Broccoli Forest (Mollie Katzen’s Classic Cooking). It was super easy, and well worth the 15  minutes it took to make it. Um, it really can’t get more instant than this. I topped it with some delicious cherries from the Broad Branch Farmer’s Market. Yay!

Ingredients
3/4 Cup chocolate chips/shaved chocolate
2 Tbs brown sugar
2 cups soymilk
3 Tbs cornstarch
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Read the rest of this entry »

This spring, I hosted my first cooking class, for a wonderful couple that wanted to expand their cooking repertoire from eggs and bacon to healthy, delicious meals. In particular, they were interested in learning some of the work-a-day basics from french cuisine.

We started off with an old but still valuable book, Craig Claiborne’s Kitchen Primer, which teaches you how to cook with the patience of a culinary master in a uniquely whimsical style, as it explains the equipment and skills you need to start and use a kitchen.

As the cooking class progressed, we moved from eggs to frittata to quiche, from making a roux to making sauces, and from basic knife technique to roasting vegetables and making salad dressing. It was a lot of fun and probably helped me master some of the basics as I taught them.

Along the way, I learned that the ulterior purpose of the class was that my students were thinking matrimonial thoughts and being able to cook together to keep a home was one of the skills they wanted to acquire first.

I had a lot of fun hosting the classes, but I have been really busy the last few months and haven’t had time to schedule a follow-up. Well, no time is better than the present. I talked with some friends yesterday and they all endorsed the idea of hosting some classes…but most of them are familiar with basic cooking, instead they want to learn another cuisine.

Their choice was Indian cuisine (which is sort of like saying ‘European’ cooking, but we will get to that later) but I wanted to see if the people here had another choice. I have the equipment for and feel competent in the following cuisines and I will be reading the comments to see which ones you would want to see a cooking class in. So vote below!

Cuisines (Choose your favorite in the comment section):

Traditional Mexican – (with a focus on Pueblan and Oaxacan regional dishes: Mole’, Chiles Rellenos, Molotes )

Northern Italian – (White sauce, polenta, porcini risotto, pumpkin ravioli)

Western Japanese – (Kyushu, Kyoto, and Osaka: White ramen, Kaiseki, Nabe, and pressed sushi )

North Indian – (Roti, dal, samosas, and kebab & kofta)

Mid-Atlantic American – (Maryland crabcakes, DC chili, Virginia country cuisine)

FYI: The cost of the classes will be determined, but will include the cost of ingredients and depending on your equipment, a very affordable shopping expedition at the restaurant supply store ~$40.

As you’ve probably noticed, we haven’t been publishing as much these past two weeks. It’s been hectic and hot on our end, so we’ll be in limited posting mode for another week or two. If you have recipes you would like to share and or questions for us, comment below with your email address and idea, and we’ll holla at you. In the meantime, might I suggest you go to your local farmers market and eat some berries? Tis the season for berry joy (highlight of my universe fo real). Thank you for not judging/shunning/resenting us forever.

Bisou bisou,
Suzanne

Papardelle
Makes 1lb
under $5
Time: less than an hour. seriously. for fresh pasta. do it.

Fresh pasta is one of the greatest foods ever. Bonus, it’s easily veganable as many authentic Italian recipes for pasta do not require egg. This specific recipe/set of photos were used in Richard’s Creamy Lentil Noodle Soup. If you have two sets of hands and a pasta maker (which are fairly prevalent at yard sales, and I think are WELL worth the investment), making pasta is a snap. If you live in DC, and are afraid to try it on your own, I’m sure I would love to give you a starter class. Just challah at me. This recipe was adapted from Vegan Dad.

INGREDIENTS
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup semolina flour*
dash of salt
1 tbsp olive oil
about 1/2 cup water

METHODS:

The Dough

By Hand
1. Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl
2. Form a hollow in the middle of the flour salt mixture and add liquid
3. Fold flour in to center and mix until all of the liquid is absorbed. It should be fairly dry. Let rest
By Mixer-Use bread hook
1. Mix dry ingredients
2. Add liquids and mix on low until a ball forms, let mixer knead for 5 minutes

The Pasta

Pasta machines come with their own instructions. The basic gist of it is: Pass dough through your pasta machine starting on the widest setting (On the first two settings the dough should go through 4 or 5 times.) and working to 4 or 5. (I like thick noodles, and fresh pasta does not swell as much as dry pasta, so it will pretty much stay the size you roll it to.) I cut the dough into manageable pieces otherwise you get very long, unruly strands.

To cut the noodles sprinkle semolina on your rolled dough and fold in 4 width wise. Using a sharp (SHARP!!!) knife, cut into 1 inch ribbons. Shake out to loosen strands. Let dry for 10ish minutes, and cook!

Shake it off

TIPS
1. If you dough is too wet, you can work in more semolina as you pass it though the roller.
2. Drying the pasta for 20-30 mins after it is cut makes it more durable and less mushy, and is essential if you want to store the pasta in the fridge to be used later. Hang the pasta on a cupboard door while you get the water boiling.
3. Fresh pasta does not take long to cook–just a minute or so once the water comes back to a boil.

*Semolina flour is available in most upscale groceries stores, or in any Mediterranean Market (Italian, Lebanese, Turkish, etc).

Broad Branch Market (this is a linkapalooza, sorry, no photos…yet.)

Things I look for in my dream neighborhood (not necessarily in order of importance):
1. A good independent bookstore
2. A cozy coffee shop
3. A couple of good restaurants
4. A quirky music venue
5. Greenspace
6. A locally run market with fresh vegetables, and bulk herbs like the ones on the West Coast. (Preferably one that is open on a regular basis, aka not just farmers market once a week-ness. I’m not that organized)

My biggest complaint about my neighborhood in DC, is that number 6 has not existed to my knowledge. We have some joints that are overachievers, accomodating multiple needs like, Politics and Prose (independent bookstore galore and coffee shop, #’s 1 and 2), and Comet Ping Pong (hella good pizza, smoky mushrooms, slow service, PBR hipness, free live music, #’s 3 &4). And we have easy access to Rock Creek Park (#5, and btw DC folks, if you haven’t hung out in Rock Creek park, you don’t really live here, in my opinion.) 

But, I’ve always frustrated that our hood only has a Giant, and a bodega with a bounty of dust, but little actual fresh food (although they do have an AMAZING rice and mung bean noodle selection). Until this week when I found Broad Branch Market. Off the main path, across from the Lafayette Recreation center and school, this little market packs a great selection of high quality ingredients and gourmet treats.

The shop is part dry goods, part prepared foods, part magical icecream/candy store. The front has fresh beautiful fruits and veggies, although, I don’t think they are local (it is directly across from the Broad Branch Farmer Market. I’ll tell you how that goes tomorrow.) The back of the store has Frontier Co-op bulk goods, including bulk herbs and teas

I also have to talk about the bread. I got a small sourdough boule at the shop which even slightly underbaked was still totally delicious. Amazing crust, chewy crumb, and totally tasty. I haven’t found bread that good since I left Kansas (seriously. If you are ever in Lawrence, Kansas go to Wheatfields Bakery. SO good.)

The prepared foods section was all meat and cheese, so no go on the quick deli meal. It would also be amazing if they tapped into the farmers market for some local produe. But, all in all, this place officially fulfills #6 on my list, and I officially love my neighborhood.

With new found neighborhood love,
Suzanne

Dear Strawberry Season,
You were so good. I loved you so much. Please don’t go.
Love Always,
Suzanne

le sigh.

I had intended to pick strawberries and make magical things out of them. But, the thing with fresh strawberries (and the secret in my opinion to being a good cook) is that some things are so beautfiful and perfectly delicious as is, they don’t need anything added to them to make them a joy to eat. So, I ate them. All.

Bowl of Berries. Lovingly hand picked. It makes a difference.

So, now I have to find someone else’s patch of strawberries to savor until I get so sick of them raw, I have to bake with/freeze /preserve them because these ones were gone in 2 minutes.

d-u-n, done.

So I guess, I’m offering a tip of the day: Savor fresh ingredients. Know your ingredients raw. Engage all of your senses. This will help you make beautiful food with them, that you are excited to share and eat.

Strawberry love,
Suzanne

p.s. Go pick berries while they are in season!

Update: Our shopping trip was a lot of fun, although we only made it to Best Equipment Restaurant Supply. Phil and Anna both picked up the knife that Cooks Illustrated called the best affordable chef’s knife, the Victorinox Fibrox 8 inch Chef’s Knife, as well as a selection of all stainless Chinese Chefs knives (his and her’s sizes) and my favorite bread knife, a Dexter-Russell 10″ curved model. All in all, Anna got six solid, good quality knives for around $60. Pretty good deal, huh? Drop me a line if you want to get some of the same deals.

——

Da Hsin Trading Company, 806 7th St. NW

Tomorrow, I am serving as tour guide for some friends as we go knife shopping. My friend bought a house last year and it looks lovely, with a beautiful kitchen, sorting auto-closing drawers, brown granite countertops, and nice new appliances. One problem, he has a knife block of bizarre alien looking serrated knives that look like they were designed for alien autopsies, not making dinner.

With buying a house and all, he is a little strapped for cash. So, tomorrow, we are doing a budget knife tour of Washington, DC. Want to know where to get super affordable kitchen supplies that last, work well, and won’t set you back?

If you want to come along, send me a note or call me, but in any case, here is a rundown of where we will probably go.

I was thinking of dropping by the Da Hsin trading company, which is a wonderfully eclectic chinese import store with pottery, tea, statues, and a small but restaurant quality stock of cooking supplies hidden in the back. Two dollar ladles, eleven dollar chinese chef’s knives, and more.

If we get going early enough, we might head down to Best Equipment Restaurant Supply in the Historic (but run-down) Union Market, at 413 Morse St. NE. It has both Western and Eastern restaurant-grade kitchen supplies at terrific prices. If we don’t get moving early enough though, we might head out to Maxim in Rockville, instead.

In any case, I expect us to spend under fifty dollars for a great selection of knives, including a french and chinese chef’s knife, paring knife, and bread knife. Tell me if you have any other great finds and/or want to organize a trip of your own to outfit your own kitchen.

-Richard

P.S. For inspiration, you can check out the Kitchen Corner.

Science fiction in the Kitchen.
Are we ready for space age cooking appliances?

Hey buddy, can you spare $1400 for some food (processor)?

A friend of mine sent me a link to an article in the Wall Street Journal about an almost mystically high-tech kitchen appliance, called a Thermomix. The article, Snaring the Elusive Thermomix, made me think about our relationship with our kitchen appliances. Not the place for philosophical rumination, right? Well, I wrote earlier about the difference between collecting and consuming and I came down on the side that often the best tools are handmade, unique, and often cheaper than mass produced alternatives.

However, appliances are a little different. Sure, I don’t want a big, fat, yuppie stove (I wouldn’t say no to a new fridge, though). In fact, many of the extremely expensive toys for the kitchen, like Agas, Sub-Zeros, and Gaggenau appliances do terribly in consumer reports. Yet, some high-tech and high-end appliances really are unique and exceptional. This difference is really notable when you visit a nice urban apartment kitchen in Europe.

Ever used a microwave and halogen oven? All over France, I ran into these appliances that have both a fan, a halogen heating element, and a microwave. With sophisticated settings and programmed thermostats, they can toast and thaw bread, cook foods from the outside and inside, and do much, much more. In the United States, you are lucky to run into someone that has heard of one.

My cousin has the US version, the GE Advantium, which clocks in at $900 dollars. The Thermomix, which promises to replace almost every other counter-top appliance, clocks in at $1400 dollars – if you can find someone to sell one to you. You are certainly paying a premium for performance and convenience.

Is it worth it? Is it conspicuous consumption to hunt down a unique appliance that can make everything from soup to creme brulee? Should we be hunting down a device that makes the art of hand-cooking a Bearnaise sauce seem obsolete? Not enough people know how to cook from scratch and devices like these contribute to those than can cook, choosing not to.

Yet, a device that can make either soup or sorbet is a tempting find. In fact, it sells a dream that consists of a lot more than just quick and easy cooking. It gives you something unique for your kitchen, a special quest to find one, and the reward lies in the almost magical claims of kitchen prowess. It is almost like a culinary grail you can plug into the wall (if you have a 220v plug).

The New Atlantis has an article, Are we worthy of Our Kitchens?, that tackles this very question. The paragraph that leapt out at me was this one.

Wealthy Americans in particular buy Viking stoves hoping that the right machine will make them want to cook, failing to recognize (or admit) that it is not the technology they lack but the will. By spending so much money on machines, they seek to buy domestic happiness on the cheap. And the makers of these machines ingeniously appeal to this longing, evoking both nostalgia for a lost era of domesticity and the dream of automating all our domestic labors.

The reason we started this website and its very name comes from a passion for cooking and that is what matters the most. Everything else is just the trappings. I have made five-course meals in dorm kitchens, with paring knives sharpened on the bottom of a mug, and cooked on improvised grills of twigs and bricks. It was difficult, but more rewarding than a passionless meal alone in the fanciest kitchen ever would be.

Don’t think that I will give up on my knives and tools, but I won’t be lured into thinking that cooking requires the fanciest equipment or appliances. Felipe Fernández-Armesto’s book, Near a Thousand Tables, taught me that humanity invented almost every form of cooking we use today before we invented metal tools. That is the spirit of food with fervor and let it live on.

- Richard

P.S. Still, if you happen to know where a Thermomix lives, let me try it, at least once…ok?