Hard News: Tooled Up for Food
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I scream, you scream, we all scream, ICE CREAM!
I put a KitchenAid stand mixer and ice cream attachment on our wedding registry out of share hope that someone might want to pony up that sort of cash but alas we only go the ice cream attachment. Luckily I only had to wait a few months until my lovely wife bought me the KitchenAid for an Xmas/birthday present. Now most people would consider an ice cream attachment as excessive but not me. New York Cheesecake, Golden Syrup and Gingernut Biscuit and Lime Pie flavours being just some I've what I've made. Here follows my standby no fuss, no egg, no cooking ice cream:
* 250g Mascarpone
* 250ml Full fat milk (the country style at the supermarket or 50/50 cream, normal milk)
* 150g Castor sugarWhisk it all up in a mixer then put into the ice cream machine. Done. Add anything else for flavour - Fruits, honey, etc.
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And, finally, the Tramontina
Oh gods, I'm having deeply complicated near-physical yearnings for that thing. Mmmm....
The first year we were together-alone, when we were very poor, my partner bought me a meat tenderiser for my birthday. All our friends laughed and mocked. I LOVED it. The balance. The hand-feel. The side clearly designed for breaking the femurs of intruders. I can't remember the last time I used it, but I fucking love that thing.
Enormous stock-pots are essential. They're for boiling water after earthquakes. You're welcome.
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Russell Brown, in reply to
Enormous stock-pots are essential. They’re for boiling water after earthquakes. You’re welcome.
And that's why I bought it. My darling will thank me when the Auckland Volcanic Field kicks off, you mark my words.
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I spent almost A$250 on a 7-piece set of Brasilia knives (German steel, made in Brazil). My wife thought I was absolutely nuts. Then she tried using them. Our existing $20 set from IKEA was immediately in the op shop pile and now we have fights over who gets to cut the pumpkin. We had fights before over the pumpkin but for the opposite reason.
I get reminded of just how good these are when staying with friends and family now who don't have a decent knife set. The carrots go flying while I cut them, the pumpkin causes wrist injuries. When I work it out on a cost per use basis, the knives are very cheap, and I don't expect to ever need to upgrade. As the proverb goes, the poor man always pays twice.
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What beautiful cookware and in such immaculate condition. Not sure whether anyone watches Jamie Oliver's 15 minute meals on Saturday night but he uses a wonderful collection of old pots, chipped plates and dishes and wooden boards with fading paint (and some very nice shiny new stuff).
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PS Are you allowed to love cookware and kitchen stuff yet hate cooking?
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Commercial Circulon is great, hard anodised, solid as - I have one huge pan and a smaller one. Jan's Dad ( ex-panel beater ) picked up the big pan one day and was so impressed by the quality of the build and the rivets we had to find one for him.
Global knives, check. Have a forged GF 2 which feels superb - Globals have sand in the handles for balance, shake and you can hear it. Knives are great, you can never have too many.
Would like to get some Ittala pots and pans - they're the shit. Scandinavian, simple, bulletproof - Hackman they're called in the states. Bloody dear though.
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I pop (drive or cycle if it's fine) over to cutler Phil Ruddenklau's house in Remuera every 3 months or so to get my main (well only one I ever really need) kitchen knife sharpened. It's 9 bucks cash and we discuss his epic cycle tours while he does it in his garage.
Can provide his number and address if you want. -
I get a little misty using my grandmother's original Ralta Crock Pot, with the fawn outer and Temuka pottery inner. It gets used most weeks.
Enormous stock-pots are essential. They're for boiling water after earthquakes.
Boiling drinking water, right? So you boil it then leave it to cool in the pot, then decant into bottles? I'm imagining they're not better than a whistling kettle if all you're after is a few cups of boiled water.
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I've got that same small cast iron pan, mine was part of a mail order set that was incredibly cheap from LD Nathan years ago. I loved the idea of ordering something like 20kg of kitchenware by mail. The big casserole pot from that set weighs a ton and is still my go-to pot for stews and such, it's got more than 20 years of season on it, and anyone going anywhere near it with soap will probably be physically harmed!
Other favourites are a really nice tagine and a paella pan - only for occasional use but they really do seem to produce the results.
btw Circulon do still make the good stuff, Stevens had some of them for the same price as the regular pans last Christmas and they're virtually indestructible.
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Emma Hart, in reply to
Boiling drinking water, right? So you boil it then leave it to cool in the pot, then decant into bottles?
Yes. Drinking water. Tooth-brushing water. All water you'll use in food preparation that won't otherwise be boiled. It's more than you'd think. It has to be boiled for three minutes to be safe, so the time it boils in a kettle? Not good enough. As a family of four we went through a stock pot a day, basically.
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Russell Brown, in reply to
Commercial Circulon is great, hard anodised, solid as – I have one huge pan and a smaller one. Jan’s Dad ( ex-panel beater ) picked up the big pan one day and was so impressed by the quality of the build and the rivets we had to find one for him.
Actually, if you mean the really wide frypan, I have one of those too, picked up in the same Farmers clearance sale. It is indeed bloody awesome.
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Lilith __, in reply to
Boiling drinking water, right? So you boil it then leave it to cool in the pot, then decant into bottles?
Yes. Drinking water. Tooth-brushing water. All water you’ll use in food preparation that won’t otherwise be boiled. It’s more than you’d think.
Want to wash the veges and fruit? Want to wash the dishes? Want your pets to drink? Gotta boil all that water too. As Emma says, it’s actually a lot.
As well as a stock pot, it’s good to have at least one jug that can go in the fridge to make the water more palatable. -
Russell Brown, in reply to
I get a little misty using my grandmother’s original Ralta Crock Pot, with the fawn outer and Temuka pottery inner. It gets used most weeks
Oh man, I have needs now …
Which one of these does it look like?
Edit: Yes, I did just type "Ralta crockpot" into Trade Me's search window. Because I am tragic.
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Le Creuset, c. 40 years old - almost the only thing I inherited from my Dad that doesn't have wheels. Story is that it was a wedding present for his attempted first wedding, which fell through at the last minute. But he got to keep the cookware, so.
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Cor, check out the patina on that one!
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I'd advise anyone seeking a nice set of copper-bottom pans to cosy up to someone who's getting an induction cooker. I got some lovely pans from a kind friend in this way. Can't let them go to waste!
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I've banged on about this in most mediums, but it's pretty much my most prized possession. Even though I can't really use it yet. (Have to go up several pasta-making belts.) It's a curtlina, that is to say the blade used to cut fogliate (local Mantuan variety of tagliatelle). It belonged to my grandmother and was fashioned from a discarded scythe. The curvy part of the blade would wear out over time but the section near the handle much less so, and was typically recycled into knives. This one is thin and very, very sharp.
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And this is the companion piece: nonna's rolling pin, made from a single piece of cherry wood. It was more or less nonna-length, by the time she was in her eighties.
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My current kitchen favourites: cast iron pan, a wedding present for my parents, smallish le creuset casserole which is used every single day, a paella pan, recent gift & already well used, and the mandoline. I don't know how I ever lived without it. These are also my go-to gifts for domestic gods and goddesses weddings, birthdays etc
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A big cast paella dish, Icebear knives, a cheese slicer not a grater, and peeler with easy grip handle sorry dont have pics. My favs
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Russell Brown, in reply to
And this is the companion piece: nonna’s rolling pin, made from a single piece of cherry wood. It was more or less nonna-length, by the time she was in her eighties.
I love this.
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Hebe, in reply to
And boiled water for ice.
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Islander, in reply to
nd this is the companion piece: nonna’s rolling pin, made from a single piece of cherry wood. It was more or less nonna-length, by the time she was in her eighties.
We have my Nanna’s girdle-iron – which belonged to her Nanna & was brought to ANZ from the Orkneys…I still cook iron breads & potato cakes on it-
no photo – my very touch seems to destroy cameras of every kind…it looks like
an iron base with a high iron handle arching over the middle. The iron is very smooth & tempered- -
Russell Brown, in reply to
We have my Nanna’s girdle-iron – which belonged to her Nanna & was brought to ANZ from the Orkneys…I still cook iron breads & potato cakes on it-
I love this too.
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