Recommended
I am trying not to put many recipes on this site as there are so many bloggers and food sites that are much better at it and more focused on recipes, but I thought I would add some recipes that I find myself constantly going back to.
In October 2008, Food & Wine had an article about the 30 Best Fast Recipes Ever, and Associate Editor, Ratha Tep picked as one recipe: pasta with sausage, basil, and mustard by British cook and author, Nigel Slater.
This dish is so quick and easy that it is my go-to recipe if I don’t want to think about what to cook, but want something good. It is spicy, so if you don’t like heat, then you may want to use sweet Italian sausage instead of hot sausage, use half sweet and half hot, or adjust the crushed red pepper to fine tune the spice. I personally like the heat.
I’ve also used it with penne and other pastas, and I read that other people have browned minced onions with the sausage and added Parmesan along with the basil at the end. I usually just put fresh Parmesan on at the table.
Anyhow, I would highly recommend this recipe. It’s comforting, hearty, fast, and easy.
Dave Benson, one of the founders and the CEO of Epicurean Cutting Boards Inc., has been coming on strong with knife friendly and ecologically friendly cutting surfaces in the last few years. His cutting boards are now sold worldwide in over 4,000 stores, but the lineage of this kitchen product comes not from chefs or restaurateurs but from skate boarders. Greg Benson, Dave Benson and Tony Ciardelli, the founders of Epicurean Cutting Boards Inc., based out of Duluth, Minnesota started off by producing innovative skateboard ramps and parks throughout the US under the name TrueRide, but as of 2007, they have been focusing on Epicurean cutting boards and their outdoor furniture under the Loll brand, which has been featured in Dwell magazine.
Loll Design Chair
Dave Benson and gang started off making skate parks out of composite wood and after having scraps left over (as the story goes), they offered squares of the ‘leftover’ board surface to family and friends as cutting boards. And the rest is history I guess. Now they are one of the major cutting board makers in the country, and they are in every major kitchen store to include Williams-Sonoma, Sur La Table, Bed Bath & Beyond and more.
So here is my take on their boards: I absolutely love them, and when I have a knife in hand and look through all of my cutting boards, 7 times out of 10 I go for an Epicurean. They are light, easy to clean, friendly on your knives and good for the environment.
Recently, I did a post on cutting boards and listed some criticisms of the boards that have been raised on Amazon.com and the various cooking forums. Some have complained about an odd smell from the sealant or resin, yet others complained that they scarred too easily, and some said that the slate boards left ‘dark bits’ in the food.
A review of the company’s website gave the following responses to these issues:
About the scarring they say: “Yes, it is normal for your knives to score your surface. Because our surfaces are knife-friendly (unlike glass or stone), it means they are soft enough that they will not bend the edges of your knives, but knives will score the surface.”
I must admit that the critics that mentioned the scoring of the surface are a bit odd to me. I have used light-colored boards and you can’t see the scoring as much with light as with dark boards, and yes, softer boards will score more than harder woods, but harder woods are also harder on knives — especially if you use expensive Japanese knives. And just today I used a brand new board from their line of recycled cutting surfaces, and I found that there was actually something very satisfying about scoring it. Just as you need to season a cast iron skillet, you need to cut up a cutting board.
About the smell they say: “Our cutting surfaces can have a ‘newly manufactured’ odor when they are used for the first time. We recommend washing your Epicurean® cutting surfaces in the dishwasher or with hot soapy water. The odor will dissipate after approximately 3-4 washings.”
I have to say that I have almost never smelled any foul odor when using these cutting boards. I am sure there is some smell at first, but I have never noticed it.
About wood particles coming off in food they say: “Over time, you may find that tiny particles from your cutting surface are appearing on food being prepared. This can occur due to the nature of the product and is more noticeable with our slate surface color. Your Epicurean® cutting surface is certified by the National Sanitary Foundation to be non-toxic and will not cause harm if particles are ingested. You may use a fine grit sandpaper to smooth and resurface your board, giving it a new and smooth finish. This will decrease the likelihood of particles appearing in your food and give you a fresh, smooth surface for your food preparation.”
Once again, I have never noticed this happening, but I have always used lighter colored boards. The new recycled boards are described (in color) as toasted nutmeg, and they are definitely darker, so I will let you know if ‘nutmeg-colored’ debris comes off in my food.
There was another criticism that seemed to come up fairly often on Amazon.com and that was that the boards slipped around a lot while cutting. This is true if you use the boards without the grippers or any other ad hoc item such as a wet paper towel to prevent slipping, but as the company has been focusing on their cutting boards in the last couple of years, there are many more options for those worried about boards slipping. There are light colored boards, professional boards, gripper boards, grooved boards, recycled boards and many other designs too.
In terms of cutting boards, I think this company is as good as it gets. Yes, they are from Minnesota, and I am too but I just learned that they were based out of Duluth last week. I used their boards long before I migrated up north. I am also not part of the company nor do I get any compensation from them. I just like their boards. Happy cutting.
You can buy Epicurean boards at Amazon
The Green Guide put out by National Geographic recommended the Preserve Food Storage containers when you need to store leftovers or other types of food. So if you worry about plastics and food storage, then you may want to refer to the Green Guide website as it gives a lot of information on this subject.
For instance, each type of plastic is given a number corresponding to the type of resin used in production. Most of your storage containers will have a number five on the bottom inside the recycling logo, which means it is polypropylene. Cling wrap and storage bags are number four, and milk jugs are number two. All of these types of plastic are recommended.
Plastic with a number four is PVC and is frequently used in cling wraps for meats at the supermarket and delis. This should generally be avoided according to the Green Guide, but I don’t know how many people would follow its recommendation of slicing off a thin layer where food came into contact with the plastic. I probably won’t go that far.
Preserve Food Storage also offers some square storage containers for sandwiches and leftovers that should inspire everyone who takes their lunch to work to upgrade. It is true that these product options are a bit more expensive, but the Green Guide also recommends Ziplock storage containers, which are affordable and easily found at supermarkets.
There are a hand full of items in the kitchen that really are important because they get used all the time. A good chefs knife, baking pan, stock pot, among others but the pepper mill is probably used as much as any item in the kitchen. From start to finish, a meal often involves the use of pepper.
After having a Unicorn Magnum Plus Pepper Mill for a couple years, I realized what real pepper grinding was. It was and is an excellent pepper grinder, but there were a couple of things I didn’t like about it. I previously posted on my site about the Unicorn and the substitute pepper grinder I have been using since.
The substitute was fine for a while, but I still needed a good pepper mill. I remembered seeing an intriguing, well-designed spice mill at The Building Museum store in Washington, DC a few years back and searched for that. It was an Oliver Hemming designed pepper mill called the “Spice Boy” made out of wood (unlike the acrylic ones above). The wood ones are stunning, but I couldn’t find them for sale in the US, so I decided on a light blue acrylic spice boy instead. The mills come in a range of vibrant colors. On Amazon there is one black Spice Boy Mill
Now I must admit that I have only had the pepper mill for a short period of time, but here are my initial impressions. Later on, as repeated use allows me to give better commentary on durability and other quality factors, I will update this post.
Design: The design is brilliant, and the modified mortar on top of a grinder works impressively well. It feels great in the hand. There is no other way to describe it. It’s balanced and the proportions are just right. My hand cups the wide top perfectly, making the grinding very comfortable. It also looks stunning, and that is why it has won several design awards.
Speed: It grinds fast, but probably not quite as fast as the Unicorn. The unicorn is a literal pepper buzz saw, so it is hard to hold all grinders to that standard, but even though I don’t have my Unicorn with me anymore, I think it comes very close to it in speed.
Grind: It uses a tested corrosion-free crush/grind ceramic mechanism that is apparently guaranteed for 25 years. The mechanism at the bottom is easily adjusted, but I found that it took several times to figure out the coarseness of the grind. You have to get used to the ‘tension’ of the knob. Very loose is coarse and very tight is fine — and the middle is some kind of medium. But with that said, I was able to get fine, medium, and coarse grinds very easily, and I found the shower of pepper coming out of the grinder very even — more so than the Unicorn. I will be interested in see how it ‘holds’ a grind, especially at the medium setting as the mechanism is fairly loose and I could see it loosening on its own with repeated turns, thus giving a coarser grind. We will see, but I also had problems with the Unicorn going to a coarser grind.
Capacity and Loading: The mill probably holds about 2 ounces of pepper corns, which isn’t that much but enough that you won’t have to refill it constantly. The upside with this grinder is that it is extremely easy to fill with the mortar on top that acts like a funnel. But it does not hold nearly as much as the Unicorn Magnum Plus grinder. Chefs grinding a lot of pepper during one cooking session might want something with a bigger capacity.
Cleanliness: It is very clean, and that comes both from being very easy to fill and limited pepper release after grinding. One of my complaints about the Unicorn was that it left ground pepper all over and a special cup was to be placed underneath. This mill sheds a fraction of the pepper that the Unicorn did after grinding. I ground it, then smacked it on my hand and even then very little came out, maybe a fifth of what the Unicorn would leave behind.
Versatility: The grinder can be used for all kinds of spices, spice blends, salts, and pepper. The product description says it will grind anything as big as a coffee bean, but I even took it a big step further and it performed admirably. I used Indonesian long pepper which looks like miniature pine cones and range in half inch to inch long pieces. I probably wouldn’t want to use them all the time in any grinder, but the Spice Boy took them on very well.
Price: The cost is about $38 on most sites, but I purchased mine new on eBay for $15. The Unicorn Magnum Plus
Ease of Use: This is an easy piece of equipment to use, but it is a two-handed grinder. Those who want one-handed grinding will have to turn to other products. Elderly people or people who have hand problems may prefer this model to other manual grinders as the wide top is easier to grip. Think about the difference between gripping a screwdriver with a fat handle and one with a narrow handle. Also, those with less than steady hands or poorer eye sight will appreciate the wide loading cup.
My overall impression couldn’t be more positive about this grinder. For those who want design, this is a great choice, but even for those who just want to grind pepper, this will be an excellent choice too. So far I prefer it over the Unicorn Magnum Plus, which I used for two years. Maybe in two years time I will change my mind, but for now I would highly recommend this product.
After buying some nicer Japanese knives recently, I thought I would look into good cutting boards to accompany the cutlery. I certainly don’t want to be too hard on my new blades and dull them prematurely. Here is what I found browsing the cooking forums and reading product reviews.
eGullet by far has the most extensive discussion on cutting boards, and at the end of all the posting, it boiled down to a gush-fest over the cutting boards made by David Smith at boardsmith.com. The picture above is an example of his beautifully made, handcrafted cutting boards. And after all my reading on the subject, I must admit that I want one too.
In terms of other cutting boards, the brands that kept coming up in the discussion and were generally recommended were: Boos, Epicurean, Totally Bamboo, and Sani-TUFF.
I personally own Epicurean and Totally Bamboo, and I like both brands. I have noticed some premature scarring on them, but I have seen nothing related to the more negative comments on Amazon.com. It probably helps though that I have several different types and sizes of cutting boards, and I rotate them and use them for different purposes. Essentially I spread the wear across all the boards and use some only for specific purposes.
With that said, after reviewing Amazon.com and the forums I will list some of the concerns about different boards.
- John Boos/Boardsmith (butcher block end-grain boards)
Pros: Easy on knives, beautiful and high quality, and weight prevents slipping. Cons: Expensive, need to care for them more gently, can’t go in dishwasher, and they are heavy and cumbersome if you get a big size.
- Sani-TUFF (rubber cutting board)
Pros: Easy on knives, durable, doesn’t slide, can go in dishwasher, and supposedly doesn’t absorb liquids or odors. Cons: Really heavy, doesn’t give you that cutting block feel with a knife (it’s grabby).
- Totally Bamboo (bamboo cutting board)
Pros: Sustainable material, relatively light weight, affordable, bonding agent for bamboo is food safe with this brand (others may not be). Cons: Bamboo is a hardwood/grass so it is also hard on knife blades, some people have reported problems with warping, and the surface may scar too easily.
- Epicurean (composite cutting board)
Pros: Dishwasher safe, knife friendly, and very light weight. Cons: Some models slide around too much, some say coating comes off in food, and surface can scar easily.
Of course reviews on Amazon.com can be rather one sided, especially if someone received a defective product. And cutting boards are dependent upon the user. Do you use one board for everything or have multiple boards and different sizes? Do you have really sharp knives or dull knives? Do you have expensive knives that you want to be gentle on?
A person also needs to consider countertop space, sink size, and the weight of the board for handling. I wouldn’t give my Grandmother and end-grain board or the heavy rubber Sani-Tuff. But a foodie with good knives may want to consider these options. In the end, the sign of a good cutting board is one that is used a lot and feels good when cutting.
With that said, here is some points from the cooking forums and Amazon product reviews that might be useful.
(1) Try not to use butcher-block, end-grain boards for poultry or raw meat if you find it difficult to clean. And if possible, try isolate one board for raw meats and use it only for that purpose.
(2) With Epicurean, you might want to avoid the black-colored (slate) boards as any board shards that come off may be visible in your food.
(3) Plastic boards and really hard woods (including bamboo) are harder on knives. If you have expensive cutlery and care about knife sharpness, you may want to consider more knife friendly boards.
(4) There is a heated debate about plastic versus wooden cutting boards. I will not get into this debate here, but there is a good post on KnifeForum that summarizes the issues pretty well. The bottom line: know your boards, use them appropriately, and clean them very well.
Lastly, here are some cutting board options and sites I think a person might want to check out . Happy cutting.
Totally Bamboo Hana Cutting Board
Sani-TUFF Cutting board 12in x 18in x 75in
Catskill Craftsmen Cutting Boards
Michigan Maple Block Cutting Boards
Japanese Knife Sharpening Store (very expensive but nice)
The MoMA Shop always has unique design items for the kitchen, but they also have some good deals too. This set of melamine prep bowls adds some color to an already useful item and is selling for $20.
I bought a very similar set at Williams-Sonoma a year ago and love the bowls. The non-skid bottom, solid construction, and functional design make these prep bowls one of the most used items in my kitchen. At Williams-Sonoma the cost is $38, almost double the asking at MoMA.
Of course, the construction may be different, so I will have to report back once I have tested them out. I have seen prep bowls at Bed Bath & Beyond that are also similar, but the construction is a lot more flimsy than the Williams-Sonoma product. The three-bowl set at Bed Bath & Beyond cost $15.
Regardless, these type of prep bowls are extremely useful, and I highly recommend the Williams-Sonoma bowls, but you also may want to consider the more colorful MoMA set. More on this product later.
As far as mortar and pestles are concerned, I usually just go for the regular design in just plain white, but after seeing this item produced by Wade Ceramics, I might want to upgrade. These unique mortar and pestles were designed by Chef Suvir Saran along with partner Charlie Burd.
Saran designed the pestle with a wider base to prevent spices coming out during grinding, and the handle pattern represents an Indian quilt. You can get these items in cardamom green and saffron orange and they come in two sizes: 2-cup and 5-cup. It is part of the American Masala series of kitchenware and you can purchase the American Masala 2-c. Mortar and Pestle, Cardamom Green at cooking.com or on this Amazon.com page. This would be a great Christmas gift for a foodie, and the cost if $50-60 depending upon the size.
Suvir Saran is a Chef, cookbook author, and co-owner of Devi restaurant in New York. Chef Saran’s restaurant has received many awards including a Michelin star. You can see a video of him using his mortar and pestle here, and this product was also featured in the May 2008 issue of Food & Wine. It has also appeared in Cooking Light and other publications.
This month two new kitchen timers have been featured in cooking magazines. The first one featured in Bon Appetit is a magnetic vintage-looking timer for $13. I personally like the red one and the light blue version (right). You can purchase this retro timer at kikkerlandshop.com along with other unique products.
Another timer that was featured and recommended in Cook’s Illustrated has multiple clocks (5x) and is in the shape of a stove. It is called the DoneRight Timer and sells for $24.95. Even though it is recommended by Cook’s Illustrated, the few reviews that are out there are mixed; some love it and others say it is unreliable. You can purchase the Tuscan Concepts 5 in 1 DoneRight Kitchen Timer, Silver at cooking.com.
Another timer that wasn’t featured this month but has been in past magazines is the large magnetic rotary timer that is purely mechanical and takes no batteries. Jozeph Forakis is the designer, and I can easily imagine sticking this one on my fridge. It is from the same company that offers the vintage timer shown above and sells for $18.
Jozeph Forakis also designed another clever timer called the Tape Kitchen Timer and it is a take on a standard tape measure. You just pull up on the tape as if using a tape measure, and the tape descends as time dwindles down. This product was the winner of the 2005 Good Design Award of the Chicago Museum of Architecture and Design. It sells for $19 at kikkerlandshop.com.
These design-oriented timers would definitely be interesting to try out, but I wonder about how functional they are in the end. Often function has to give way to design, but as many regular timers get such bad reviews, I wonder how much of a sacrifice that is to go for something a bit less function but looks great.
Also, timers are a very personal item. If you have a big house you need a louder timer. If you have bad eyes you want a big display. Do you want a design item that looks interesting? Do you cook multiple dishes and need multiple timers? And then there are common problems with timers these days. Most of them have really poor magnets that aren’t strong enough to hold on to metal. I have gone through more than one timer because it fell off the fridge and broke.
And even the timers that Cook’s Illustrated recommends often have mixed reviews on Amazon. Just as an example, the Polder Dual Kitchen Clock/Stopwatch
My advice in is to not expect too much out of kitchen timers. They break, fall into sink water, and are often of low quality. Just find one that meets your needs and hope for the best, and if you find one that looks great, give it a try.
In the most recent Cook’s Illustrated (Nov/Dec 2009) they did a taste test of different saffrons to see if there is a big difference.
First of all, when buying saffron look for the higher-grade, dark-red threads. These darker hued threads are from the top of the Crocus flower stigma and have more flavor. The lighter threads come from the base and are a lesser grade.
As for taste, Cook’s Illustrated concluded that it doesn’t matter too much which type of high-grade saffron you buy if it is just one of the flavoring ingredients. Most of the saffron in the US is from Spain and they will do just fine. If saffron is the main flavoring, however, you may want to go with a better brand.
Cook’s illustrated recommended two brands: Morton & Bassett – Saffron Threads
the saffron from Penzeys Spices. This last link will also give you a lot of information about saffron, how it is harvested, and the different types.
The Unicorn Magnum Plus Pepper Mill
With that said, it is not a perfect product. It can be a messy grinder, and if not shaken thoroughly, residual ground corns will fall out of the bottom quite liberally, and after a short time you will notice your cupboard or counter littered with pepper.
The smaller grinders have a little plate that fits under it, but I find this a bit annoying as I never wanted to keep track of a dish in addition to the grinder. A pepper grinder moves around the kitchen: where you prep, at the stove, and at the table for finishing. I just don’t find it realistic to always place it back on the tray unless your kitchen is smaller and the mill is always within arms reach. And if more than one person is cooking, the likelihood of the tray ‘following’ the grinder is even smaller.
Another problem was that the opening where you load the peppercorns comes open very easily during grinding. After a while I became used to it, and it rarely opened, but when others used my grinder, the hole often became exposed. Just look at the picture. If any part of your hand overlaps on the middle loading portion that you slide to open, and you turn the top, it will also slide the the loading hole open too. This isn’t a problem if you notice it and close it, or the pepper grinder doesn’t fall over, but a couple times that did happen.
Additionally, while the loading hole does allow quick filling of the grinder, I didn’t find the side hole that easy to use when filling, and if you try to do it without a funnel of some sort, you can spill peppercorns. This isn’t a big deal in my opinion, but with some top-loading grinders it is easier to fill up than the Unicorn.
All in all, despite these minor flaws, I loved using this pepper mill and it ground pepper very quickly. A sign of something working is using it, and this grinder I definitely used a lot.
