August Kitchen Tools

This month's tools are three of my kitchen prep essentials.  Prior to getting married, and having hardly any disposable income straight out of Grad School, I relied heavily on the two kitchen knives I owned at the time to take care of all of my food prep work.  While the knives were perfectly fine and helped me to get the work done, it was always an extremely laborious process and would often take me significantly longer than the prescribed amount of time to accomplish each prep task.  With that said, there was still a silver lining to this situation.  Having such a limited number of resources showed me what tools would make my cooking process much easier and what tasks were totally fine to accomplish with just a regular kitchen knife, so when I was finally at a point where I could afford to invest in nicer kitchen tools, I knew exactly what I needed.  As you might expect, these three prep essentials were part of my list.  So without further adieu here are my picks for this month's kitchen tools feature. 

Cuisinart Elite Die-Cast Mini Prep, 4 Cup

I knew I would like this kitchen tool, but I had no idea that I would absolutely LOVE it and use it as often as I do.  The Cuisinart Elite Die-Cast Mini Prep is perfect for any small volume prep tasks like chopping herbs, making a salad dressing (like my latest favorite from Martha Stewart) or even whipping up a delicious dip (like this one from Ina Garten).  Of course I absolutely adore my 16 Cup Food Processor, but it is quite cumbersome to lug out of storage when I am only going to pulse something a few times.  Not to mention the cleaning involved with all of those different pieces on my big food processor takes forever.  This Cuisinart Mini Prep, take up very little space in my kitchen cabinet and all of the pieces are dishwasher safe (top rack only).  Definitely a favorite of mine and something that I would recommend for any cook regardless of skill level.  

Williams-Sonoma's Vegetable Chop & Measure, Mini

One of the cooking prep tasks that I used to despise the most was mincing garlic.  Garlic is sticky, messy and just a down right pain in the rear to chop.  There came a point where I had finally reached my limit and was about to take the plunge with purchasing a garlic press when I came across the William's Sonoma Vegetable Chop & Measure Mini.  This tool in my opinion is better than a traditional garlic press because it slices, dices, measures and is dishwasher safe!  This sounds funny to say, but garlic mincing has become a total pleasure ever since I bought this tool.  Simply place the garlic, shallots or other small vegetable on the grates in the chopper, press down and voila!  Instantly minced produce that has been uniformly cut and can easily be measured in the clear compartment fitted below.  A definite essential in my kitchen. 

Kyocera Knife

I have shared a few of my favorite knives in previous posts and I am sure that one would probably assume that if you've seen one knife then you've seen them all.  Well that couldn't be further from the truth.  Recently I had the opportunity to try out the Kyocera Ceramic 4.5" Blade Utility Knife on some of my delicious heirloom tomatoes (obsessed with summer produce!) and the knife's ability was definitely impressive to say the least.  The Kyocera knife glided through my tomatoes seamlessly and with incredible precision.  I was able to achieve paper thin slices with minimal effort on my part.  In addition to the knife's clean cutting, it is also dishwasher safe and comes with lifetime free sharpening courtesy of Kyocera.  That's right, Kyocera will sharpen your knives throughout the entire lifespan of the knife for FREE.  Love love love!!  The Kyocera knife is definitely a must have for any kitchen knife set.  

Cooking Meat

Over the past few months my husband has been getting more interested in cooking (Yay!).  I think that this is probably in part the result of taking an array of cooking classes for a few date nights over the past couple of months and also because he has wanted to take a larger role in contributing to our Sunday sit down dinners at home.  

Last week while he was in the kitchen cooking up a pork chop and yelling to me across the house to confirm the various cooking steps, it occurred to me that it might be helpful to write a post on my basic tips for cooking meats (chicken, beef, pork and fish).  Today I have compiled a list of what I believe are the essential tips to keep in mind when cooking a protein.  

Room Temperature

This tip is geared towards chicken, pork and beef.  Before cooking anyone of these proteins, I suggest letting the meat sit outside of the refrigerator for at least an hour.  The reason being, throwing ice cold meat on the grill or into a hot pan will cause it to cook unevenly due to varying temperatures throughout the meat.  For a consistent/even cook throughout the meat, it is important to let your meat come up to just about room temperature.

Season Before Cooking

There are different schools of thought on this tip.  Personally I find that seasoning my pork and beef with salt and pepper 10 minutes before cooking creates a more tender and flavorful end product.  For chicken, the ideal is to season it at least 24 hours prior to cooking, using a technique known as brining.  While this technique is certainly fantastic, it's not something I typically have time to do, so generously salting and peppering poultry prior to cooking works well too.  Taking the time to properly season your meats before cooking will definitely yield a noticable difference.  

Thermometer

When I was first learning to cook meats, I would often slice into it the meat while it was cooking to check for doneness…I cringe every time I think about this rookie mistake I used to make for a few reasons.  First, when you hack into meat while it's cooking, all of the juices escape leaving your meat dry.  Second, serving meat that has been hacked up is not very appetizing.  Finally, why the heck didn't I have a meat thermometer!?! Meat thermometers are extremely accurate and will give you a perfectly cooked protein every time.  I am a huge fan of my All Clad Digital Thermometer, because I find that the digital read is more accurate than the dial.  In addition to my meat thermometer, I have my Joy of Cooking Cookbook permanently bookmarked on the USDA Recommended Cooking Temperatures Page, which is so helpful and something I would recommend having readily available in your own kitchen.  Thanks to the thermometer and Joy of Cooking USDA Meat Guide, I have perfectly cooked meat every time that doesn't look like it was Freddie Kruger's latest victim.  

Searing and Finishing

When I am cooking a pork or beef protein, I use the following method to ensure the flavors and juices are locked in and the meat is cooked evenly throughout.  Here is a breakdown of my go-to method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees fahrenheit
2. Heat oven safe pan on medium-high heat
3. When pan is hot and oil is flaccid, add season protein and let it sear/brown until the side that is in direct contact wih the pan naturally releases from the pan
4. When it naturally releases, flip to the next side and repeat browning until all sides are seared
5. While still in the pan, place browned meat directly into the oven to finish cooking, checking intermittently with the meat thermometer.  
6. When the meat has reached the desired internal temperature (even a degree or two below), remove from oven and lightly cover with foil to allow the meat to rest for approximately 10 minutes.

**Fish works well with the sear, but is more delicate so it will take less time and typically doesn't need to be finished in the oven.   

Which oil to use?

I have found that when cooking a beef or pork, which require a higher heat, canola oil works best (since it has one of the highest smoke points).  For fish, olive oil is great because it requires a lower cooking temperature.  When roasting  a chicken or any type of poultry, I am all about the melted butter because of the flavor.  

I really do credit these tips/suggestions/guidelines for all of my meat cooking success.   These are great concepts to remember the next time you are cooking a protein and will really make a difference with flavor and presentation of your finished product.  For any questions not covered in today's post, don't hesitate to e-mail me at redefiningdomestics@gmail.com.  

A Few Thoughts on Wine

As you may have gathered from my various blog and Instagram posts, I am somewhat of a wine enthusiast.  It is my go to cocktail of choice and I absolutely love learning about all about wine.  With that said, I am certainly not anywhere close to being an expert, master or sommelier.  I am just your average wine lover, who enjoys the occasional glass of vino post work and/or in social settings.

Over the years I have acquired a fair amount of knowledge pertaining to wine consumption, pairings and purchasing, that have not only helped me to develop a more sophisticated palette, but have also helped me to select the perfect wines to serve when entertaining.  Today's post covers a variety of aspects pertaining to wine.  This is a great piece for those of you who are looking to expand your wine knowledge and/or palette.  

Pairing

One of the primary purposes of wine/food pairings is to create a balanced coupling where the wine that is consumed during a particular meal, doesn't overpower the dish.  For instance, a big/bold/heavy Cabernet Sauvignon might not be the best wine to pair with say, a light fish course. Why? Heavier red wines have a higher level of tannins which give the wine a dryer taste.  Lighter foods like fish should be paired with fruitier varietals that have lower tannin levels (like a white wine) so that the flavors of the food can still be enjoyed.  Red wines are actually best paired with red meats and fattier foods. Why? Pairing a bold red wine with a dish that has a higher fat content (ex. Red Meats and certain cheeses) will mellow out the tannins thus giving the wine a fruitier flavor and not overpowering the food.  

That being said, if you are a white wine only kind of person, then definitely stick with what you like to drink.  Personally, you will never catch me drinking a riesling.  I don't care how well it pairs with a particular dish, I am just not a fan of rieslings and would much prefer to drink a pinot noir, sauvignon blanc or chardonnay with a lighter flavored dish.  Pairings are merely suggestions on how to get the most out of your food/wine dining experience.  

Wine is Completely Subjective

The first wine tasting I experienced featured a series of wines from the Ridge Winery in California (heaven!!).  I was seated next to a close family friend of my parents, whose husband was a serious wine enthusiast so you can only imagine the fabulous wines she had had the privilege of tasting over the years.  The best piece of advice she gave me during the tasting was to remember that wine is completely subjective.  Yes there are experts who rate the best wines every year, but that doesn't necessarily mean that you are going to think that they are the best wines. Drink what you like.  

I really couldn't agree more with this philosophy.  I remember having a bottle of wine the summer after my first wine tasting that was supposed to be an extremely fancy bottle (it was a 1982 French Wine).  After one sip my conclusion was that it taste like band-aids.  Not kidding.  Sure it could have been a turned bottle or more likely my inexperienced palette, but I wasn't a fan of a bottle that experts would have marked as a great wine.  Remember, you are the one drinking that bottle of wine not the experts so you should get something that tastes delicious to you!

Favorites

I am often asked if I have any go-to wine favorites.  Of course I do!  Here are a few of my favorite domestic wines organized by grape varietal that range in price from very affordable (aka "Party Wine") all the way to a few splurge wines ("aka Special Wines for Special Occasions").  Note- the only non-domestic wines listed are Sauvignon Blancs because in my opinion (and I'm sure plenty agree with this notion) the best wines in this particular varietal are from Australia and New Zealand.  You can also find more wine suggestions on my Pinterest board entitled "All About Wine."

• Pinot Noir: Napa Cellars, La Crema, Meiomi, A to Z
• Zinfandel: Napa Cellars, The Prisoner, Ridge (Geyserville, East Bench, Lytton Springs), Grgich Hills, Frog's Leap
• Merlot: Kunde, Ridge, Shafer, Stag's Leap
• Cabernet Sauvignon: Hess, Joel Gott, Napa Cellars, Oberon, Obsidian Ridge, Worthy Sophia's Cuvee, Ridge, Beaucanon, Cadence, Chimney Rock, Silver Oak 
• Chardonnay: Stag's Leap, Grgich Hills, Au Bon Climat, La Crema
• Sauvignon Blanc: Matua, Kim Crawford, Cloudy Bay, Craggy Range
• Rose: Whispering Angel, Miraval

A Few Additional Wine Tips

In addition to the information above, here are some extra wine tidbits that I have found to be extremely helpful.

• Never buy a wine to cook with that you wouldn't want to drink.  Cooking with bad wine will only yield poor tasting food. 
• Some wines are meant just for drinking and others are meant for drinking and cooking.  For example- I would not recommend cooking with Silver Oak, but rather use a wine like Hess for cooking.  
• Test a food/wine pairing yourself!  Take a sip of wine and then a taste of food to determine if you think the pairing works well together.  
• Don't be afraid to ask your local wine retailer for their advice on which wines to purchase.  This is their business, so you can bet that they are going to be a wealth of information when it comes to food/wine pairings and even straight wine drinking. 
• Temperature is key when serving wine.  Never serve a warm white wine or a cold red wine (Pinot noir scan be served on the cooler side but not cold). The temperature of wine when served is critical for achieving the best flavor.

My wine advice/knowledge certainly extends far beyond the information in this post, however I have found these tips to be a great starting point when thinking about the various aspects of wine.  I can assure you that while this may be the first post on wine, it certainly won't be the last!  As always, if you have specific wine questions that were not covered in today's post, feel free to contact me with your questions at redefiningdomestics@gmail.com.

Cheese Puffs

When hosting a cocktail party, I always like to serve at least one hot hors d'oeuvre (see this post). There are plenty of pre-made hot hors d'oeuvres options in the freezer section of your grocery store, but today I wanted to share this homemade hors d'oeuvre option with you all because it is beyond easy and I would venture to guess that you likely already have these ingredients sitting in your pantry!  

Hot cheese puffs are a great addition to any cocktail party menu.  They can be made to be vegetarian friendly, but also taste fabulous when made with bacon!  Today's recipe can be made and garnished with a variety of ingredients.  I have included a few suggestions below, but the flavor possibilities reach far beyond what I am sharing today.  In addition to this recipe being delicious and versatile, prep + cook time for this hors d'oeuvre takes less than 15 minutes!  This recipe is most definitely a staple in my entertaining menu repertoire and I think it should be added to your repertoire as well!  

Ingredients

• Slices of White Bread
• 1/2c Mayonnaise (Light Mayo is also fine)
• 1/2c Grated Parmesan Cheese
• 1/2c Shredded Parmesan Cheese

Optional Ingredients

• 3 Tbs Finely Chopped Bacon
• 1 Tbs Fresh Thyme Leaves
• 1 Tbs Finely Diced Jalepeno
• 2 Tbs Finely Chopped Sundried Tomatoes

Garnish Ideas

• Fresh Basil, Thyme or Rosemary
• Smokey Spanish Paprika
• Cayenne Pepper
• Sundried Tomatoes
• More Bacon (is it ever possible to have too much?)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper
2. In a bowl combine mayonaise, both parmesan cheeses and any optional ingredients of your choosing.  Mix well and set bowl aside
3. With a very small biscuit cutter, cut rounds out of white bread slices and place on a baking sheet
4. Apply a light layer of the mayonnaise cheese mixture to each bread round
5. Bake in the oven for 8 minutes
6. Garnish with toppings of your choosing and serve promptly
7. **NOTE- If you notice that your cooked cheese puffs are no longer perfectly round due to an overflow of the cheese mixture melting off, take a clean pair of kitchen shears and trim off the excess edges. 

3 Culinary Resources I am Currently Loving

It is not a surprise that I love to both cook and bake.  However, for a while I had been stuck in a rut and was consistently making the same series of recipes over and over again (so boring!).  At the start of the summer I decided that I wanted to finally address this repeat cooking cycle issue and explore new culinary recipes, techniques and tools.  Since then I have learned to make creme brûlée, ciabatta bread from scratch, create husband approved dishes that contained lentils and purchase new kitchen tools as an informed consumer.   My culinary success over the summer can primarily be attributed to 3 resources:  Cook's Illustrated, thekitchen.com and Sprouted Kitchen.  Here is a little more detail on why I think these resources have been so inspirational and worthy of sharing with you all today.  

Cook's Illustrated

Cook's Illustrated has been around for a while and is a staple resource for a lot of people.  I have only recently come to the party and discovered the wonderful world of Cook's Illustrated.  Better late than never!  Cook's Illustrated can best be described as Myth Busters meets Consumer Reports meets The Joy of Cooking.  This cookbook along with the monthly magazines are great resources for not only laying out the best way to, for example- butterfly a chicken or properly season hamburger meat, but Cook's also provides you with the reasoning/evidence for why a certain technique is preferred and the best cooking tools to use for specific tasks.  The Cook's Illustrated cookbook contains a wealth of information for all of the most common recipes, so if you are looking for a resource that can help you to hone your culinary skills and provide you with a excellent knowledge base, I highly recommend checking out Cook's Illustrated Cookbook and Magazine Subscription.    

The Kitchn

The famed website Apartment Therapy, which features unique and well decorated spaces all over the country, has a culinary spinoff site called The Kitchn.  The Kitchn is a fabulous website filled with great recipes and all sorts of culinary information extras.  In addition to the extensive database of delicious recipes, what really sets this website apart is the way in which they present each recipe.  Not only does the Kitchn provide you with a detailed list of all of the ingredients and equipment you will need to successfully execute a given recipe, but they also include a gallery of images detailing what every step of the recipe should look like.  Love that!  I cannot tell you how many times I have gone through an entire recipe step by step and ended up with result that looked nothing like the picture (so frustrating!).  When I decided to try my hand at making my own ciabatta bread from scratch, it was beyond helpful to have images presented of what each step (for example- making the biga) should look like.  The Kitchn provides very detailed recipes that have really helped me to perfect the art of say, making creme brûlée or baking homemade biscuits from scratch.  All in all, this is another exceptional resource that I highly recommend checking out.  *Note- the Kitchn also has a cookbook available for purchase (see here).   

The Sprouted Kitchen and Bowl + Spoon

I first learned about Sara Forte from Ina Garten.  I had attended one of Ina's book tour events in DC at the Sixth and I Synagogue (if you are a DC local, I highly recommend signing up for their newsletter- they host a variety of great events).  During the Q&A portion of the event, one audience member asked Ina who her favorite chefs were at the moment.  Ina rattled off a few favorites including Sara Forte.  That evening after the event I went home and immediately googled Sara.  Lo and behold, I discovered the Sprouted Kitchen!  Sara's recipes are the very definition of whole foods cooking.  She has created a series of recipes (both vegetarian and non-vegetarian), which her husband has beautifully captured in photographs, that are delicious and filled with healthy ingredients.   Her most recent book, Bowl + Spoon, certainly does not disappoint!  More beautiful photos, delicious recipes and everything served in a bowl (love that!). If you are looking for a new and healthy repertoire of recipes, I highly recommend checking out Sara's website and her two cookbooks (The Sprouted Kitchen and Bowl + Spoon).