The Cookware Blog

Temperature and Oil

Stainless steel makes for great gas tubing in any barbecue but also makes an excellent grill. The trick with a stainless steel grill is to coat lightly with oil and never heat too quickly.

I’ve used everything from the rotisserie to roasting pans but when you can slow roast directly on the grill and not lose any food to sticking… well it just makes life easier.

Poultry Slow Roasted

By lowering the temperature and trying to avoid direct heat you can extend the cooking time without drying out poultry. Simply heat the grill and slide the bird back and forth to allow the natural fats to coat the grill.

You’ll rarely lose more than piece of skin off the back and more often than not leave the grill almost completely clean when you’re done.

If you own a tenderizer (or you’re really good with a fork) try seasoning the skin beforehand. I’ve had just as much luck keeping things juicy with this method as with using a marinade injector.

Seasoning Is The Spice They Like

Cast iron cookware that has been properly seasoned is the original non stick cookware.

We don’t use a range of typical oils because of health concerns although I don’t think ‘Seasoning’ your pan will adversely affect your health as cooking with the wrong oils can.

1. Coat the cookware with a thin layer of oil (we use Rice Bran or Coconut).
2. Place in the oven for 30 to 60 minutes at 300 – 500 degrees upside down with something underneath to catch the dripping oil.
3. Repeat several times initially and periodically depending upon the amount of use.

Recycled Cookware

If you find old cast iron skillets and pots at yard sales or stuffed away in attacks inspect them for cracks and chips. The best place to recycle older cast iron cookware is in your kitchen.

While buying new cast iron cookware isn’t expensive age doesn’t diminish their value. If the cookware is intact just go through the seasoning steps and it’ll work like new.

No More Cheap Stuff

There are a few rules that shouldn’t be compromised:

• Don’t leave sharp objects where small children can reach them-
• Don’t keep foods past their expiration dates-
• Never cook with dangerous non stick cookware-

PFOA & PTFE

It seems like yesterday it was BPA in plastic water bottles. Now that’s old news.

Why put BPA in any plastics?

When you get somebody to answer that ask them why companies use ‘high fructose corn syrup’ and ‘hydrogenated oils’ because most of us don’t need help getting sick.

Why is it so hard to get new products approved and so easy to find dangerous products on the market?

Just like the manufacturing sector was buzzing with ‘BPA Free’ water bottles, they now have two different marketing angles to work with ‘PFOA and PTFE’ free non stick cookware. People who are going ‘Green’ and people who don’t want to get sick by making eggs for breakfast.

Recommendations?

You bet! Stay away from cookware that’s dangerous!

There are a lot of new products to choose from and some companies that need to be asked a hard question:

‘Were you selling dangerous non stick cookware before you started making these fancy PFOA and PTFE free sets?’

Then ask the follow up question if you still own their old cookware, ‘Are you buying back this @&%# that you sold before making the change?’ (sorry for my typo)

Winter time for us always includes homemade soup. While many vegetables are out of season, those we’ve frozen, dried or canned work well in soup. Fresh game may be the only remaining ingredient that we don’t have on hand, but the local butcher may have something in the freezer from hunting season.

Our soups are always created start to finish in stainless steel stock pots. Regardless of the type of soup or variation of the recipe we know it’ll always taste like we intend. Even hiding inside from the cold doesn’t diminish our love for a simmering pot of soup on the back burner. A loaf of homemade bread or rolls and we’re ready for a hot wintry meal.

When I consider how valuable a kitchen tool is to me, the first question I’ll ask  is how difficult would the job be without it. If the meal simply cannot be accomplished without a specific tool, then it is invaluable. Some cooks will tell you that the tool becomes invaluable when their creations aren’t exquisite.

To be honest, without the stainless steel cookware set, we’re eating pizza for thanksgiving. On top of the variety of vegetables, sweet potatoes, regular potatoes and cranberry sauce, we always have mushroom gravy.

We take the mushroom sauce recipe, which is whisked in a large frying pan, and add the drippings from the turkey. I’m sure there are other reasons the stainless steel cookware can’t be replaced this holiday, and I’d write them down, but I’ll be watching football.

Fresh cranberry sauce is a favorite holiday tradition in many homes and anyone can have success even if they’ve never made it before. Most recipes simply call for sugar, water and cranberries.

Select a medium saucepan  and dissolve 1/2 cup sugar into 1/2 cup water over medium heat. Stir in 2 cups cranberries for 7 to 10 minutes until the sauce thickens. Always avoid overcooking to prevent the sauce from becoming bitter.

Magazines and recipe blogs are filling up with many exotic creations based on traditional cranberry sauce. Since the base sauce blends well with other fruits, almost any combination works well. If you want to taste the orange zest, or the apple and cinnamon, as well as the cranberry, be sure to use stainless steel cookware to protect the flavor.

The skills of the cook in a kitchen are not unlike those in any other profession. Even though most cooks aren’t paid for their services, the work is rewarding because the social experience of bonding around the breakfast, lunch or dinner table for any family begins in the kitchen. The cooks job yields satisfaction whether through monetary gain, or the thanks of those we love to serve.

Not unlike the attachment formed between a craftsman and their tools, cooks form an attachment to their cookware. They select the tools they’ll use carefully and take care of them, expecting to keep them indefinitely. When the dish turns out wrong, blame isn’t passed to the equipment used to create the meal. Likewise when the dish is a success it isn’t the cookware that receives the praise.

Homemade pizza is a favorite at our house and if it weren’t for the house rules, we’d be eating everything from soup to nuts on top of our pies nightly. In moderation, which seems to be a relative term where the kids are concerned, we enjoy homemade pizza.

If my favorite food is homemade pizza then it stands to reason that my favorite kitchen utensils are the pizza stone and wheel. Truth be told I’ve been know to use my favorite utensil on homemade chocolate chip cookie cakes as well.

The experts keep saying look for 18/10 overlay with a thick base to ensure even heat distribution. We’re finding that older stainless steel cookware tended to generate hot spots which can cause concerns for the cook who’s not watching the pot.

In addition to even heat distribution is knowing that the cookware will respond quickly to changes in temperature settings on the stove top or in the oven. I’m still looking for recipes that cook anything over 450 let alone 500 and almost all of the dutch ovens I’ve seen are rated this high.

I’ve been experimenting with several dieting theories over the last several years and reading a number of books and articles by various nutritionists. Our switch to organic eggs happened many years ago and we don’t intend to switch back as this has become a staple breakfast food. After rubbing some olive oil or rice bran oil into the fry pan I add some garlic and cayenne pepper. Several friends have tried to convince me to eat my organic eggs raw but I prefer over easy where they’ve stiffened up a bit.

The real challenge comes with that one piece of toast. I’ve eliminated wheat or any other flour base that contains gluten but finding a bread that has complex carbs isn’t easy. In the end I’ve settled on spelt flour which is naturally gluten free and chalked the calories up to something to lose in exercise.