Chapter 1
Finding Your Way around the Kitchen
In This Chapter
Making your kitchen more practical
Putting hygiene and safety first
Checking out the most useful kitchen tools
Investing in pots, pans and … food processors
Every house contains a dream. — Japanese proverb
From time to time, there’s a report in the media that gravely informs us of yet another extensively researched study that concludes that family meals are a thing of the past. We don’t know who the researchers spoke to — certainly not to the people who enjoy preparing their own home-cooked meals in the evening. The fact is, the majority of us never abandoned our kitchens in favour of going out to restaurants or getting in takeaway.
There are as many reasons as there are cooks to explain why we like to prepare our own meals at home — having to live on a budget is only one of them. People are getting more and are more interested in their homes, their kitchens and their gardens, encouraged by a plethora of glossy magazines and lifestyle programs on television. Family members are drawn to where the action is in the evening — first, the kitchen and then around the dining table. Food brings people together, offering an opportunity to relax and socialise.
In this chapter, we discuss how to get the best out of your kitchen and ways you can improve it without major renovations. Tips on storage and safe handling of food follow. The rest of this chapter is then devoted to the real nitty-gritty: kitchen utensils, all types of cookware like pots, pans and baking trays, and lots of other really useful stuff.
Making Your Kitchen Work for You
While kitchen design has responded to demands for a more casual and relaxed lifestyle, there are a few basic things that you should bear in mind if you’re doing any kitchen renovations:
Maintenance-free floors: Given all the things that drop on the kitchen floor, go with flooring that’s as maintenance-free and easy to clean as possible. Tiles, wooden floor boards and good old lineoleum are some examples.
Easy-to-clean walls: When you really get into the swing of things — stirring furiously — soups, stews and sauces have a habit of getting everywhere, including on you. For your walls and splashbacks (and ceiling, too, if you plan on making pancakes), choose a material or finish that’s durable and easy to wipe. Keep in mind that white and black show up every splash.
Functional lighting: In addition to a light in the ceiling, it’s a good idea to have tube lights as your working lights placed under eye-level cupboards over your workbenches.
The two things that always seem to be in short supply in the kitchen are space and time. Here are some tips on what you can do to improve both.
Space: Think about all the things you are likely to do in the kitchen — you bring food into it, unwrap it and then store it away. When you are preparing to cook, things need to be washed, chopped and sliced. Then there’s the actual cooking and serving, and finally, the clearing up, washing up and putting away. Make sure you have enough space for all this. Remember to allow for both a preparation area and storage space; building a huge pantry isn’t very useful if it means you have no space left over in which to chop vegies.
If your kitchen is very small, keep a bench or a table nearby to create extra preparation space.
Time: If your budget stretches to it, obtain the most functional labour-saving devices you can, but not if it means losing valuable preparation space. To avoid a cluttered workbench, be sure to assemble only those gadgets you can’t do without.
Storing your supplies
Whether you have open shelves or cupboards, store the items you use most often where you can reach them easily, generally on the first shelf above or below the workbench. Use your other shelves to store items you don’t use as often. Store heavy pots and pans fairly low down — if you put them on the top shelf, you probably won’t see them again until you’re moving house.
Cupboards and drawers: A bench-height cupboard for appliances is a good idea if you have the cupboard fitted with power points and an inside light. Large pantry cupboards are brilliant for storage, especially if they have deep shelves. Under the work bench, the top drawers are usually the handiest place for cutlery and small kitchen utensils, and the deep bottom drawers are very practical for storing large items.
Wire baskets: These can provide really useful extra storage space. Wire baskets come in several different sizes and shapes and you can see what’s inside them at a glance. Larger baskets are handy for storing vegetables, and smaller ones can fit on the insides of cupboard doors to store small, light items such as spice jars.
Practising good hygiene
Food contamination problems like salmonella and listeriosis can occur when poor hygiene is practised in the kitchen. Although there has been a rise in the number of food poisoning cases reported, most occur in large food-processing plants. However, it’s wise to be on the safe side, so here are a few tips on kitchen hygiene:
Washing up and wiping down: It’s a good idea to get into the habit of washing your hands thoroughly before handling food. Keep the workbench, refrigerator shelves and all cooking utensils clean. Using one chopping board for meats and another for vegies is an excellent idea, but all boards must be thoroughly cleaned. Plastic chopping boards in particular should be well-scrubbed; regularly putting them in the dishwasher is ideal. Wipe down wooden chopping boards after each use and scrub with salt every week.
Storing food in the fridge: Store food in clean containers and keep them covered. It’s advisable to keep food that you’re about to serve either very cold or very hot; bear in mind that bacteria multiply very quickly between 5°C and 65°C. Never store cooked food and raw food together in the same container, or allow juices from raw meat to drip onto other things in the fridge. Don’t forget to keep an eye on use-by dates and discard everything that’s past its time, especially dairy foods.
Freezing food: There’s no point in freezing food items that are not in good condition. Remember to wrap food well in good-quality plastic bags, cling film or foil before you freeze it. Containers should be firmly sealed. Meat, fish and poultry should be defrosted in the refrigerator before you cook them, and don’t attempt to re-freeze anything that’s already been defrosted.
Reheating food: When reheating food, make absolutely sure that you have heated it all the way through. Again, bacteria might be lurking.
Fire!
Of all the rooms in the house, the kitchen has the most potential to catch on fire. It’s best to be prepared for a flare-up. Have a small domestic fire hydrant on hand or keep a fire blanket nearby (a woollen blanket is also effective if you don’t have either). Keep the underside of the extractor fan clean of grease — otherwise, you have a fire waiting to happen. If a small fire does occur, immediately smother the flames with a blanket or a saucepan lid. Whatever you do, don’t throw water on a grease-based fire, but it’s alright to place burning objects in a bucket of water with tongs — as a friend deftly did one night when she cooked the oven mitts in the oven instead of the roast. Baking soda is also good at quenching small grease-based fires.
As a general principle, it’s best to discard any food that has mould growing on it, as some moulds produce potentially harmful poisons. Cheese and jam are the only exceptions, so long as they have been stored in the fridge. If you notice mould on them, carefully remove it all, as well as the area around the mould — a good safety margin is 2 cm.
Guarding against kitchen hazards
Heaven forbid anything should happen while you are in the middle of serving up a scrumptious dinner for your boss. However, it’s as well to know what to do to prevent kitchen disasters:
Put saucepans that have boiling liquid in them on burners at the back of the stove. If you have to use a front burner, turn the handle of the saucepan towards the back away from any direct heat.
If a frying pan is spluttering fat and you don’t have a lid for it, cover it with a splatter lid, colander or a piece of aluminium foil.
Keep a pair of tongs handy for removing hot food quickly in case something on the stove flares up.
If you do happen to burn yourself, the first thing to do is stop the burn penetrating any further into the flesh. Remember to immediately place ice cubes on the site of the burn. This arrests the burning and eases the pain by reducing the flow of blood to the injured area. Then put ice cubes and cold water into a basin or bucket and plunge the injured area into it. Depending on the severity of the burn, you need to keep this up for 1 to 2 hours.
When the burned limb gets too cold in the ice bath, take it out for a minute to two and then plunge it back in. Seek medical attention for bad burns, but don’t stop the ice treatment. If you must leave the house in order to see a doctor, place ice cubes in a towel and wrap the towel around the affected area. A handy alternative is to use packets of frozen peas.
Cooking Tools and Equipment
When you’ve got the right tools, cooking is much faster and easier. You don’t need a lot of stuff but, whatever you do get, make it the best you can afford. While they tend to be expensive, good knives and saucepans are dependable and will last a lifetime. It pays to buy a few excellent pieces rather than lots of inferior ones, and to add extra items whenever your budget allows. If you have the opportunity, check out specialist cook shops; these places cater for professionals, so knives and other items may be cheaper than in department stores.
The materials that kitchen tools are made of, as well as their sizes and shapes, often determine their usefulness. It is generally best to buy tools with surfaces that can be easily cleaned, and that are free of unnecessary grooves and joints that can catch food. Look for tools made of materials that are impervious to acids and rust; these will be the easiest to keep clean.
When you’re buying your tools and equipment, think about how you will store them and where. Are you going to hang them up over your kitchen workbench, or stick them in a jug?
In addition to the kitchen tools and equipment that we consider to be the basic essentials for any cook, we’ve also listed the ones that are ‘nice to have’ — as your repertoire expands (and your budget can stand it) you might like to acquire some of these, too.
When you’re checking the ingredients you need for the recipes in this book, don’t forget to also check what tools and equipment you need. You may find that you need something that doesn’t feature in your current kitchen collection.
Small tools and utensils
Wooden spoons, vegetable peelers, knives, spatulas, skewers, rubber bands and odd lengths of string, are among the things likely to be found in most cook’s kitchens. The following is a breakdown of the essentials that help make cooking a joy. Store them systematically so they are always on hand.
Knives: a lifetime investment
Good sharp knives that are comfortable to hold are essential — take a deep breath and pay what you must for a good chef’s knife, at the very least.
Chef’s knife: A knife with a stainless steel blade that is between 18 cm and 22 cm long is the most useful. Get one with a heavy blade that runs the full length of the knife; this will make it very strong for heavy tasks. This knife is the kitchen workhorse — use it for chopping, mincing, dicing, slicing, cutting up chicken and smashing garlic.
Vegetable knife: This knife is a smaller version of the chef’s knife and has a stainless steel blade up to 12 cm long. It fits snugly in the hand for peeling and coring, and also for segmenting fruit.
Serrated bread knife: This knife will allow you to cut bread, pies, tarts and cakes without squashing them flat. The most useful blade length is 20 cm.
Boning and filleting knife: You will find this knife useful for trimming fat off meats, for filleting fish and for slicing meats. It has a narrow, flexible blade as opposed to the rigid blade of the chef’s knife.
Remember, if you want to get many years of service out of your knives, it’s essential that you care for them properly. See the section ‘Caring for Your Kitchen Knives’ further on in this chapter.
Graters and peelers
These implements do what knives can’t do — they’re simple but ingenious. These are the ones we couldn’t do without:
Grater: Graters all have one drawback — they love to slice knuckles as often as they do cheese or carrots, so take care. Choose a sturdy, stainless steel grater that will sit firmly without slipping, and that can perform at least three types of slicing or grating. The four-sided upright ‘box’ style of grater is a good bet.
Mandoline: No, this isn’t music to work by, but a very useful board on which to slice firm, crisp food such as potatoes, carrots and cucumbers in a variety of thicknesses from thick to transparent slices. Hold it firmly with one hand, and with the other pass the food over the blade with a regular movement as shown in Figure 1–1 below. Be careful not to grate your fingers — use a handgrip if so.
Cheese plane: Just the ticket for shaving off fine slices of cheese for salads and is useful if you like to produce salads with extra bite.
Vegetable peeler: This tool has a swivel-action that moves swiftly over the surface of fruit or vegetables, shaving off the peel faster and more finely than is possible with a knife. It can also double as a cheese plane.
Citrus zester: This is a tool that is often seen behind bars, as it produces the thin sliver of lemon rind that you find in your vodka tonic. The zest is the coloured part of the skin of citrus fruit, and the zester removes the citrus skin in fine ribbons, leaving behind the bitter white part, the pith.
Figure 1–1: Slicing with a mandoline ensures fine, even slices.
Other handy kitchen tools
There is a huge range of kitchen utensils, and you certainly won’t want to get all of them immediately. This is a fairly lengthy list, but it gives you an idea of what’s available to make life in the kitchen easier:
Apple corer: An apple corer removes the apple core when you are preparing to bake apples or similar fruits. You simply place the corer over the top of the fruit and push it firmly through the centre. Some corers also slice the apple, so you may want to get one that performs both operations.
Colander: This piece of equipment comes with an enamel finish or in stainless steel; make sure yours has a firm base. Ideally, the kitchen should have one large colander and a smaller one. Colanders have a range of uses; one of the most common is straining vegies after they’ve been cooked. You just put the colander in the sink, take the saucepan off the stove and tip the vegies out into the colander.
Fork: A couple of four-pronged table forks are essential tools for your kitchen drawer. They can be put to all sorts of uses, such as beating eggs. There are a couple of other types of fork you may also find handy:
• A long, strong fork to pin down the roast while you carve it.
• A large, wooden fork to twirl your pasta while it’s cooking and, along with a matching spoon, to toss salads.
Ladle: A ladle looks like a big metal spoon with a large round bowl at the business end. Ladles are mostly used to quickly transfer stocks, soups and stews to serving dishes without making too much of a mess.
Mixing bowl: Mixing bowls usually come in graduated sets of three. There are ceramic mixing bowls, stainless steel bowls and pudding bowls, all designed to make food preparation easier, from whipping up eggs for a souffle to stirring together the mixture for a sponge cake.
Olive stoner: This is a useful gadget that works in much the same way as an apple corer, and neatly ejects the stones from olives. It can also be used to remove stones from cherries.
Scissors: Buy strong, sharp stainless steel scissors designed specially for kitchen use. Choose ones powerful enough to do really tough jobs; some are capable of jointing poultry.
Scraper: These implements are made of either rubber or plastic, and are especially useful for scraping out the last bits of cake mixture prior to baking. It’s the only implement that can scrape a bowl perfectly clean — except perhaps for a small child.
Shears: If you like eating chicken, you may get a lot of use out of a pair of poultry shears. These shears work on the same coiled-spring principle as secateurs.
Skimmer: This is a shallow, lightweight wire basket on a handle. A skimmer is used to scour the surface of soup or stock to clear the liquid and to lift food out from a deep-fryer. Skimmers made of stainless steel with perforations in the metal, rather than a basket, will skim surfaces more finely.
Spatula: A wooden spatula can be just as useful as a wooden spoon. It gathers up everything in its path and fits neatly against the sides of saucepans and bowls.
Spoon: Quite apart from the tablespoon variety of spoon, there are spoons dedicated for use in the kitchen. The most useful are:
• Wooden spoon: This comes in varying sizes and is one of the most useful tools in the kitchen. Use it for stirring, beating and mixing — it won’t scratch the saucepan or convey heat. You may prefer to keep one wooden spoon solely for savoury dishes and another solely for making sweet recipes — this way, you avoid your teacakes tasting of garlic.
• Metal spoon: A metal spoon is handy for stirring and beating and transferring food. Slotted metal spoons are used to remove solid food from liquid.
Tongs: This tool doesn’t need an introduction, as it’s present at every barbecue. It’s a must for turning hot food on a griller or frying pan — it lifts but doesn’t penetrate the food. A pair of tongs is also an invaluable tool for getting hold of awkward-shaped food such as cooked spaghetti.
Whisk: These are convenient to keep in the kitchen and are especially useful if you are into cake-making. Whisks come in two types:
• Balloon whisk: This whisk is made of a number of loops of wire bound together around a handle, and comes in a number of sizes. It’s used to whisk egg whites and sauces.
• Flat whisk: This is a spoon-shaped wire tool (see Figure 1–2) that is handy for whisking egg whites or food cooking in a pan.
Figure 1–2: Whipping up egg whites with a flat whisk.
Chopping boards
One thick, large wooden chopping board is extremely useful, and to have a few smaller boards is handy. Contrary to popular belief, wooden boards are hygienic — wood naturally cleans itself but, of course, you must wash the boards down after each use and scour them with salt after you’ve used them to chop onions or garlic. Occasionally rub your boards over with vegetable oil after they’ve dried. Plastic boards, which come in different sizes and colours, are popular, probably because they can be washed in the dishwasher.
I keep one board for meat and smelly things like onions, garlic and herbs, and another for use when I’m cutting fruit, vegetables and meat. This way, unwanted flavours won’t be transferred and your dinner guests won’t have any unpleasant surprises.
Foil, film and oven bags
How did grandma manage before we had these wonders? There are lots of different brands in the supermarket; few of them need an introduction:
Foil: Foil comes in rolls that you tear off along a serrated edge at whatever length you want. Among other things, foil is used to cover dishes before and after they’re cooked, it’s placed under the grill bars of the barbecue to catch the drips, and it’s wrapped around the bony ends of little lamb cutlets before they go on the barbecue to prevent the ends from burning.
Baking paper: This is essential if you are into baking. Lining a cake tin makes it easier to get the cake out when it’s cooked. Some baking paper is pre-coated, so it doesn’t need to be greased before use: Check what the packet says.
Cling film: A dozen different uses exist for cling film: You can use it to cover cooked and uncooked food, to wrap pastry while it’s being chilled in the fridge, and to keep the flies off the sandwiches at a picnic. Like foil, it comes in handy tear-off rolls.
Greaseproof paper: This paper is an alternative to baking paper, and is used in much the same way. It is also used to wrap food.
Oven bag: This is a wonderful invention that cuts down the frequency with which you need to clean the oven. Oven bags are greaseproof bags designed to hold large cuts of meat while they are roasting in the oven. Complete instructions are given on the packet, including the length of time needed for the various cuts of meat or poultry.
String, poultry pins, skewers and toothpicks: What the unenlightened might consider to be no more than kitchen clutter can be vital for the cook. String should be cotton or jute, not synthetic, and it has myriad uses, not the least of which is tying up your Christmas turkey prior to roasting. Use the poultry pins as anchors. Skewers are inserted into food to check for doneness, and toothpicks are used to hold small food items together, such as in Saltimbocca. A fine skewer is used especially for cakes.
Measuring tools
Reliable measuring equipment guarantees that your recipes are as perfectly balanced as the original cook intended. Use cups and spoons as your unit of measurement to simplify preparation.
Remember that, whether using a cup or a spoon, the ingredient should be levelled off to the top of the measuring tool (do this using the back of a knife); this ensures an exact quantity.
Invest in these measuring tools. They’re inexpensive and some cooking requires precise measurements.
Nest of four gradated measuring cups: These plastic measuring cups come in 1⁄4 cup, 1⁄3 cup, 1⁄2 cup and 1 cup sizes.
250 ml cup: This cup is for measuring liquids, and is made of either glass or plastic. Metric measurements are indicated on the side.
Litre measuring jug: This is the one you need for measuring larger liquid quantities. On the side of the jug are marked metric measurements for every 100 ml up to one litre and every metric cup (250 ml) up to 1 litre.
Set of gradated measuring spoons: The Australian and New Zealand standard tablespoon is 20 ml and a teaspoon is 5 ml. The set of metal spoons includes a tablespoon, teaspoon, half-teaspoon and quarter-teaspoon.
Scales: A good set of scales is very handy for weighing meat and vegetables. Choose one with a large plastic bowl and small, compact shape.
Mashers, crushers and grinders
These tools have a long lineage. They go back to the days when our ancestors pounded grain to make bread, and ground seeds and spices for use in cooking and to make medicines:
Chinois: This is a cone-shaped sieve made of stainless steel, and is useful for heavy puréeing work and straining stocks. Several sizes are useful, but not absolutely necessary.
Pepper mill: This is one piece of kitchen equipment that moves constantly between kitchen and dining room. Buy a good-quality grinder with plenty of capacity so you don’t have to fill it up too often. Make sure it has an efficient steel grinding mechanism.
Pestle and mortar: This is still the most effective way to pulverise nuts, garlic, seeds and herbs. Even though it’s quicker to use the food processor or coffee grinder, they don’t give as good a texture or taste. It’s worthwhile using a pestle and mortar when you have time: You can pound a small amount of ingredients much more easily in a mortar than in a food processor or blender. There are many shapes to choose from — a large one with a smooth but gritty curved bowl and a pestle made of the same material is best; one made of stone or unglazed porcelain is the most effective.
Potato masher: When a large fork doesn’t get your mashed spuds as smooth as you’d like, invest in a masher. Choose a strong stainless steel one, capable of forcing its way through all types of root vegetables, not just potatoes. Mashers with wooden handles are more comfortable to hold, so you can exert more pressure.
Potato ricer: If you’re flush, consider a potato ricer, which is very good at mashing potatoes, carrots or turnips. The food is placed in the container and a plunger is pushed down into the food, pressing it out through tiny holes. The result looks a bit like rice, hence the name. Your best bet is a strong, stainless steel potato ricer.
Salt mill: Try and find a mill with plastic parts as some salt mills with metal parts can rust due to a chemical reaction between the salt and the metal.
Sieve: A sieve looks rather like a large basket made of mesh on the end of a wooden handle. It’s very useful for sifting flour or straining liquid off. A sieve can also be used for mashing heavier foods, which you force through the sieve with a large spoon or a mushroom-shaped pestle. Sieves come in two or three different sizes, so pick the one that best suits your needs.
Pots, pans and useful cookware
Before you venture into the pot and pan section of the department store, here’s a fine and useful distinction to bear in mind: Pots have handles at the top, one on either side, and have a lid; pans have one long handle and don’t always have a lid. As for serving dishes, they come in all sizes, shapes and materials.
Pots and pans
Saucepans are one of the major investments in a cook’s life. They really deserve as much thought as buying a car. Whichever material you choose — be it Teflon, stainless steel, cast-iron and enamel, or aluminium — choose heavy saucepans with a thick, heavy base. Heavy-based pans hold the heat well and distribute it without scorching the food. A quality stainless steel saucepan with a copper base for fast transference of heat is ideal. But don’t get too carried away with a heavy saucepan: You need to be realistic — imagine trying to heave it off the stove when it’s full of stew.
Remember to check out the saucepans’ handles and lids once you have decided on the metal and the base you want. Ideally, handles should be riveted on, and made of a material that’s cool to handle while on the stove. Make sure the handles allow you to hold the saucepan comfortably, and that they are long enough. Lids should seal tightly, and have a knob on top that, like the handles, remains cool enough to touch. You might also want to check that the entire pan can be cleaned in the dishwasher.
The following list is of pans that we consider to be the absolute basics:
Three saucepans with lids, in graduating sizes that fit into each other for easy storage. The smaller ones are used for sauces and rice, while the larger is for soup or big vegetables.
Frying pan, between 25 cm and 30 cm in diameter: This is your all-round pan for frying eggs, cooking chops and mince, and lots more. It’s best to get one with a Teflon coating or a similar non-stick surface.
Large stockpot: These pots come in a range of sizes, to 10 litres or more. You use a large pot like this for making stock or cooking large quantities of soup, vegetables and pasta. It is also handy for large poached dishes. You will find plenty of other uses for it.
Sauté pan: This is a pan with straight sides, about 5 cm deep. Sauté pans come in a range of sizes and have lids. These pans are used for braising, frying and making sauces, as well as — you guessed it — sautéing fish, poultry, meats and vegetables.
Ribbed grill pan or sheet: This is almost a necessity — the chargrill look is de rigour for chicken breast, steaks and vegetables.
Figure 1–3 illustrates some of the pots, pans and casseroles that are mentioned in this book.
Figure 1–3: Choosing which of these pots, pans and casseroles to buy may well depend on your culinary ambitions!
Roasting dishes and serving dishes
Some of the best meals are those that involve minimal washing up. Gratins and casseroles are types of meals that can be brought directly from the oven to the table so, for many people, they are perfect.
Casserole dish: A good number of casserole dishes are designed for oven use as well as the top of the stove. They are good conductors of heat and are ideal for slow-cooking soups, stews and other hearty winter dishes. The most practical size is the 4-litre one. Invest in a heavy-gauge, cast-iron casserole dish with a tight-fitting lid.
Gratin dish: This is a very versatile, shallow dish which is excellent for a one-dish meal, such as cauliflower cheese. They don’t have a lid, are made of porcelain or pottery, and come in many sizes. Gratin dishes are used to bake food in the oven, and can also be placed under a griller to brown the top layer of the food. Often, grated cheese is sprinkled on top of the dish just before it goes under the griller.
Roasting pan: Here’s where you can save on storage space. An oval roasting pan, handy for smaller poultry and cuts of meat, can also double as a gratin dish; get one of enamelled cast iron. A larger, rectangular pan should be of heavy-gauge aluminium or of stainless steel, and able to handle two chickens at once or a large roast. When buying your roasting pan, invest in a flat roasting rack of chromed steel. This fits in the base of the pan and prevents your roast from sitting in its own juices and fat; it can also double as a cake rack.
Other serving dishes: There’s a huge selection of large round or oval platters and other dishes, such as tureens, on which to serve the meals that you whip up in your kitchen. If you enjoy roasting, you may want to invest in a gravy boat and a sauce boat — especially if you like giving celebratory dinners. The materials of which these dishes are made range from porcelain to pottery to metal.
Electrical gadgets
Expensive, electrical appliances save so much time they’re worth it; that is, if you’re going to cook regularly. Which gadgets you get really depends on your budget and the amount of storage and bench space you have.
Blender: The food processor has just about put blenders out of business, but they’re still good for puréeing large quantities and making mayonnaise when you’re in a hurry.
Electric mixer with stand and bowl: If you are going to make stacks of cakes, this mixer saves hard labour. They do take up a lot of space though, and are expensive.
Food processor: This machine does everything but divulge the name of the winner of the Melbourne Cup. It excels at chopping, slicing, shredding, grating, mincing, whipping and beating, kneading and puréeing. Attachments, such as citrus squeezer, coffee mill, pasta maker and a small bowl for making smaller quantities, only increase its usefulness.
Hand-held mixer: This compact, versatile appliance allows you to whisk eggs or a sauce directly over the stove’s burner. You can purée vegetables in the saucepan without having to transfer them to another bowl. Definitely a worthwhile appliance.
Microwave oven: This appliance is as convenient for the one-person household as it is for busy cooks with big families. A microwave can defrost frozen food evenly and speedily, it cooks vegetables well and heats up meals and snacks fast.
I’ve never been inspired by a bunch of electrical gadgets; instead, I operate on the ‘buy less but buy the best’ philosophy. The one electrical appliance I can recommend, though, is the food processor. Choosing a model with a heavy-duty motor saves you money because the machine lasts much longer.
Baking equipment
The function of baking tins is different to that of saucepans. A baking tin is placed in a hot, dry oven which cooks evenly in all directions — it doesn’t have to conduct heat from one source as a saucepan does. A baking tin has to respond to heat as fast as possible. Tin plate is the cheapest and most widely used; its only drawback is that it can corrode. Non-stick Teflon tins are excellent but rather more expensive; however, they do save time in that you don’t have to grease and line them before baking to stop the cake sticking.
If you’re using tin-plated tins, remember not to use abrasive cleaners on them, and to dry them in a warm, dry place after cleaning.
The following is a list of the baking tins used in this book. You may wish to browse through the recipes before you decide which tins you need.
20 cm round cake tin
23 cm round cake tin
Square cake tin, about 20 or 22 cm square
32 x 23 cm shallow cake tin
Madeleine tins, large or small cups
23–25 cm straight-edged tart ring
20 cm tart tin
12 x 1⁄2 cup muffin tin
Two flat, heavy biscuit trays without sides
Baking has its own special tools — the following are those you need for the recipes in this book. Just select the ones you think suit your needs best.
Biscuit cutters: Not essential but a lot of fun. Biscuit cutters are used to cut out pastry into varying shapes — think gingerbread men. if you have kids, best to let them choose.
Flour sifter: Not all baking recipes call for sifted flour. It’s used to aerate flour and remove lumps from it before cooking. A sifter isn’t absolutely necessary because flour can be sifted through a sieve (see ‘Mashers, crushers and grinders’ earlier in this chapter).
Metal skewer: This is a thin, pointed length of metal that is used for testing the doneness of meat. A fine skewer is used to test the doneness of cake — insert it into the middle of the cake and if it comes out without any cake mixture on it, the cake is done.
Pastry board: A good, wooden chopping board works as a pastry board, but you can always lash out and buy a marble slab if the baking bug has really bitten you.
Pastry brush: You need at least one of these. They resemble small paint brushes, but it’s best not to get one of those. Some people get pastry brushes in different sizes as they’re very useful for spreading glazes and melted butter on roasts. Pastry brushes are also used to apply butter or oil to the sides and base of a baking tin, which helps prevent the cake mixture from sticking in the tin after cooking.
Pie dish: It should be fairly obvious what you use this for! You can use a pie dish for steak and kidney pie or a cottage pie. Porcelain is a bit more expensive than tin or enamel but it looks good on the table. It’s also a useful size in which to serve other things.
Ramekins: These are small porcelain or pottery dishes used mainly for baked desserts, such as crème brûlée. Ramekins are usually oval or round; if round, they’re about 8 cm in diameter and 4 cm deep. Ramekins are also a handy size in which to serve nuts and olives.
Rolling pin: This is used to roll out pastry prior to baking. A two-handled, wooden rolling pin about 30 cm to 40 cm long with a smooth finish is preferable. If you don’t have a rolling pin, an empty wine bottle (label off!) is not a bad substitute. A rolling pin should be dusted with flour before it is used to roll the pastry out; this prevents the pastry sticking to it.
Wire rack: This is for cooling cakes and biscuits once they’re cooked and removed from the oven. The steamy cake moisture needs to escape soon after cooking or the cake may become stodgy and the biscuits soggy. If you have a flat roasting rack of chromed steel (see the description of a roasting pan earlier), you can probably do without a wire rack for cakes.
Caring for Your Kitchen Knives
There’s nothing worse than a blunt knife. To keep your knives razor-sharp, they should be stored separately in order to preserve their edge.
Store your knives separately on a magnetic rack or in a knife block specially designed for the job. Try to get into the habit of washing your knives carefully by hand as you use them. Never wash them in the dishwasher!
The best method for sharpening knives is to occasionally use a hand-held steel (see Figure 1–4 below) and occasionally use a sharpening stone.
1. Hold the steel firmly and slightly away from your body at a slight angle.
2. Holding the knife in your other hand, place the part of its blade nearest the handle almost flat against the steel.
3. Draw the edge of the knife, from handle to tip, down the front of the steel.
4. Repeat this on the other side of the blade.
5. Do this about 10 times, alternating from one side of the blade to the other. Test the edge of the blade gingerly with your thumb in order to assess its sharpness.
6. Rinse the knife before using it (to get rid of tiny particles of metal).
Figure 1–4: Sharpening a knife with a hand-held steel.
If you should be so unlucky as to cut yourself with a sharp knife, it will be a clean cut and probably not as deep as one from a blunt knife would be. Apart from slowing you down in the kitchen, a blunt knife is dangerous to use — it can so easily slip out of control if you press heavily on it and its cut can be quite deep.