121–130 of 209 posts
Also, I really like my slow cooker, it also works great for either hacker or hustler with a lot on their mind because you just cut meat & veggies, throw it in the pot with some seasoning, set it and get on with your life. Nothing like a good beef stew..
One mans' MVK = another mans' WTF. My MVK? A refrigerator, a knife, and a cutting board. A little background... 90% of what we eat = raw produce. So it's pretty straightforward. We just eat produce at home and an occasional hot meal out. Every meal at home is either fresh fruit or a salad. (I haven't eaten anything other than fruit before noon for 25 years.) We have lots of nuts & seeds, cereals, snacks, and many won…
Would you mind sharing some of your favorite places? There's lots of food places in Miami, but I find most of them to be rather heavy on the stomach :-)
Line by line, my disagreements: - You don't need cookbooks. The internet is better in terms of 'MVK', and the best cookbook is the one you make yourself. - Get rid of half of the pots and the dutch oven. Cast iron is indeed the greatest. - A stand mixer is nice, but by no means is it Minimum Viable. - If you insist on getting a mixing bowl that isn't a regular bowl, don't get three of them. - Ditch the whisk. - Sayin…
* The Internet is full of terrible cooking information, and if you don't have any authoritative sources at all, it's hard to separate the good from the bad. You should have one trustworthy cookbook. * You will be unhappy if your only cooking surface is cast iron. I agree that you can do without the dutch oven but it is the "pan you can do without" that is the most valuable; it is the immediate runner up to the the "l…
The internet is full of terrible information in general. That's why PageRank was invented. Is there something unique about cooking information that means PageRank won't work with it?
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* The Internet is full of terrible cooking information, and if you don't have any authoritative sources at all, it's hard to separate the good from the bad. You should have one trustworthy cookbook. * You will be unhappy if your only cooking surface is cast iron. I agree that you can do without the dutch oven but it is the "pan you can do without" that is the most valuable; it is the immediate runner up to the the "l…
> The Internet is full of terrible cooking information, and if you don't have any authoritative sources at all, it's hard to separate the good from the bad. The internet is full of terrible information in general. That's why PageRank was invented. Is there something unique about cooking information that means PageRank won't work with it?
I'll find the eHow "how to cook a steak" that was pegged to the top of a SERP in a bit.
Another counterexample to your belief about the miracle of PageRank: try searching for symptoms some time.
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I do spaghetti sauce in a cast iron all the time. Am I doing something wrong?
Unless you're talking about enameled cast iron (Le Creuset, Staub), then acidic ingredients like tomatoes will remove the seasoning from your pan. It shouldn't hurt your sauce, but re-seasoning your gear is a pain in the ass.
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In theory, the acidity of the tomatoes breaks down the seasoning of the cast iron.
Isn't it the opposite? Doesn't seasoning of cast iron allow you to cook acid foods? Washing your pan is what breaks down seasoning, but also, seasoning is easy to fetishize. Just wipe the pan down with canola and stick it in a fast oven. Seasoning cast iron is even easier than sharpening a knife.
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Isn't it the opposite? Doesn't seasoning of cast iron allow you to cook acid foods? Washing your pan is what breaks down seasoning, but also, seasoning is easy to fetishize. Just wipe the pan down with canola and stick it in a fast oven. Seasoning cast iron is even easier than sharpening a knife.
Takes a lot longer though. I don't want to bake a pan for 2 hours every time I use it.
If something particularly hard to clean was in there, I do what scouts do on a campout: put an inch of water (with a little oil) in and set it to boil, then go back to the "wipe it out" step above.
The nytimes author seems less fussy about things and imho has a better list for people who need a basic version of most often needed kitchen items.
This priceonomics article is pretty good. I definitely agree with the Victorinox suggestion and only buying a chef's knife and paring knife upfront. I think getting an ice cream maker is kind of ridiculous. I do think it's good to have a few basic cookbooks handy (finding good recipes on the internet is definitely an acquired skill).
One very helpful thing I haven't seen mentioned is to check out restaurant supply stores. They generally charge way less than most retail places, while their presentation isn't always as pretty they work fine (obviously, since they're used in restaurants). The only issue I've had is that the size of things necessary for a restaurant can be too big for my home use.
Title should read "The Minimum Viable Kitchen for heavy consumers" Go and live in a developing country for a few years, see and taste the phenomenal food, then double check if you need to spend a fraction of $971
One mans' MVK = another mans' WTF. My MVK? A refrigerator, a knife, and a cutting board. A little background... 90% of what we eat = raw produce. So it's pretty straightforward. We just eat produce at home and an occasional hot meal out. Every meal at home is either fresh fruit or a salad. (I haven't eaten anything other than fruit before noon for 25 years.) We have lots of nuts & seeds, cereals, snacks, and many won…
If you're eating out most nights except for the ones where you eat salad, you don't have a viable kitchen.
We eat better than most people I know who do cook. Come on over the next time you're in Miami and we'll show you. :-)