Hands down, a chef’s knife is the most useful tool in the kitchen. A quality chef’s knife that’s properly maintained will save you time in the kitchen and keep you out of the emergency room (eep!). I’m not sure about you, but I’m hard pressed to remember a meal I’ve made without a chef’s knife at my side.Continue Reading
10 Rules for a Happier Kitchen
After a few years of observing the kitchen habits of myself and others, I’ve decided to put together a little list that I think a lot of us could benefit from. This list briefly details 10 things that I believe will help make cooking less stressful and more enjoyable.
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Book Review: An Edge in the Kitchen by Chad Ward
This year I decided to spend my birthday money on kitchen stuff that I’ve had my eyes on. I wound up with some awesome kitchen tools and some more books which I’ve been wanting to read and study for a while, among those books was An Edge in the Kitchen: The Ultimate Guide to Kitchen Knives by Chad Ward (affiliate link). Using a 5-star rating method, I’d give it a 4 out of 5; using a 10-star rating method, I’d give it a 7 out of 10.
Chad Ward is a knife nerd, seriously; his kitchen knife expertise makes those of us who frequently use our kitchen knives and already know a moderate amount about them realize that we’ve been playing in the kiddy pool most of our lives. Although his book has quite a bit of “geek speak” in it as it relates to kitchen knives, metallurgy, and whatnot, it’s a pleasure to read and is easy to understand. And, as Chad says, once you learn the terminology you can impress all your friends and the guy behind the knife counter with your wisdom (extra bonus!).
The hard part now is figuring out where to begin…
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Cooking Basics: Some Down-Home Advice
If standing in front of a hot stove, using a big sharp knife, or mixing ingredients together intimidates you, don’t worry. You’re not alone. Something a lot of us take for granted is that we had to start somewhere: even famous chef celebrities had to learn cooking basics at one point or another. And believe me, even they’ve had kitchen disasters, cut fingers, and heat blisters.
I was lucky enough to grow up in a farming community where everyone grew their own seasonal produce and butchered their own meat. My parents and grandparents grew huge gardens full of lettuce, potatoes, raspberries, strawberries, onions, cabbage, *take a deep breath*, carrots, radishes, peas, beans and more. Hopefully you read that fast, because we’re just getting started… just kidding, you get the point—big gardens. It was a lot of work every year, and as kids of course we complained about it. But the eating was good. So, so good.Continue Reading