Monday, May 19, 2008

Thoughts on a few cook's tools

I've had a chance to use a number of cook's tools I picked up during our time in the Lower 48. I also received a freebie zester/grater for subscribing to Cook's Illustrated.

Here's a rundown of my new tools --

The griddle is a joy to use. I can finally cook more than a couple of pancakes at a time. I've also used it to cook O'Brien potatoes from eight potatoes. Elise was worried that the slightly raised surface might not work with our smooth (glass and halogen) cooktop, but I haven't noticed any problems. The sides are sufficiently tall to keep most of the food contained, even with quite a bit of stirring and frying.

I didn't realize how pitifully poor typical graters are until I used the Microplane ones. I also discovered how sharp they are on one of my finger knuckles. The fine, zesting blades make quick work of zesting citrus fruits and finely grating ginger. With a typical fine grater, I often had to put in some hard work to grate a sufficient quantity of ginger. With the zester, the frozen ginger I grated just seemed to melt away. While shredding some potatoes this morning on the box grater, I accidentally caught the back of a finger. A small nick, but I was amazed at how clean the cut was. I still have some hard Parmesan that I want to try on it to see how well it works on this item that I've struggled in the past with grating using a typical grater. I think I'm ready to toss out all the inferior graters that I have sitting about the kitchen. (Though I probably should keep one around for the kids -- so they don't end up with bloody hands..)

I might have mentioned this some time ago, but in my months-long search for a salad spinner in town, I could not find one. Thus I purchased and brought one back with me. The first use of it was not for salad, but for shredded potatoes. The secret to good hash brown potatoes is to wash and dry the shredded potatoes. This washes away the starch that ordinarily turns the potatoes gummy and sticky during frying. The drying part can be a bit of a pain because ideally you place small amounts into a dry towel and wring it dry. What you end up is with a wet towel (or towels, plural) with bits of potatoes stuck in it. I thought that perhaps the salad spinner could get the potatoes sufficiently dry. I spun it twice, cooked it, and the end results was quite acceptable. It was much quicker, easier, and cleaner than using towels.

Finally, the vegetable choppers. It does seem to simplify and shorten food preparation times. It was particularly handy for dicing potatoes. I sliced the potatoes into quarter inch thickness and then placed each slice on the chopper, slammed the chopper lid down, and ended up with nicely diced potatoes in what seemed like a fraction of the time it would have taken with just a knife. The onion I tried didn't seem to go as well, though that may have been because it was a partial one that was sitting in the refrigerator for a couple of days. The mushroom slices were so-so. Upon examination, it looked like the mushrooms were a tad too large for the opening. Maybe if they were smaller it would have sliced better. The overall verdict is still out on the choppers. So far it works well on some things, and not quite so well on others. Maybe I need more practice.

Overall I'm quite pleased with all of my recent kitchen acquisitions.

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