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The Minimum Viable Kitchen

priceonomics.com

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Re: The Minimum Viable Kitchen

#201

Post by infinite8s »

tptacek wrote: post #151
logicalmind wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One thing that I haven't seen mentioned yet is that most of the high-end makers of pots and pans (all clad, le creuset, etc.) also sell their "seconds" at significant discounts. You can get them online and at some of their outlet stores. The defects that make them seconds rarely impact their ability to cook. My opinion on pots and pans is that you should consider non-stick pans to be disposable. Even the best ones wi…

If you don't like eggs, you can also do without the nonstick pan. That's all you'll ever really use it for. Even fish works fine in a well oiled sautee.

If eggs are the only reason for a non-stick pan, you can skip it. I make my eggs (omeletes, scrambled eggs, etc) in a tri-ply calphalon frying pan without much butter or oil (no more than .5 Tbsp) and cleanup is a breeze. The secret is to use room-temperature eggs (this is true of protein in general). If you don't have enough time to let your eggs warm up, just fill a bowl with warm tap water, put the eggs in and by the time you're done the rest of your prep the eggs are the right temp.

+1 on the rest of your recommendations though. A good knife and set of pans (all tri-ply or anodized aluminum) helped improve my cooking skills a lot.

Re: The Minimum Viable Kitchen

#202

Post by infinite8s »

tptacek wrote: post #133
edw519 wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure I do. You don't need to cook food. 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. :-)

If that's your perspective, why even have a kitchen? You can put a fridge in any room. Replace one of your countertops with a stationary bicycle and add a power rack; call it an "eat-in gym". It's all love with this comment, you know. Come to Chicago sometime and we'll make you ceviche.

Ceviche doesn't require much more than a fridge and a knife too ;)

Re: The Minimum Viable Kitchen

#203

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

euroclydon wrote: post #195
tptacek wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are probably "better" stand mixers than Kitchenaid, but you want to be in the Kitchenaid ecosystem. Having a non-Kitchenaid mixer is like working in the receivables department of a Fortune 500 company and using Linux + OpenOffice. We have a pricy Vitamix blender, but I use my stick blender much more often regardless.

We bought a refurbished KitchenAid mixer a couple of years ago. It's pretty big. I don't know the model right now. We made pasta for the first time last week. Threw a bag of semolina down on the counter; cracked some eggs on it and, with a very little water kneaded for a long time. It was very stiff. We started making spaghetti with the meat grinder extruded attachment. Half way through the batch the mixer started ma…

If you make such a stiff dough then knead by hand. I did the same thing to my Kitchenaid a few years ago when kneading a too-large batch of challah. I have not damaged the replacement sacrificial plastic gear again (it's designed so just that cheap component will fail without causing more damage). I have taken apart lots of machinery and the inside of that Kitchenaid was beautifully made. I hope you repacked the grease when you reassembled it.

For pastamaking, I have an Atlas hand cranked pasta roller/cutter with various size attachments I bought over 20 years ago. It' all steel construction and will probably work for another 20 years.

Re: The Minimum Viable Kitchen

#204

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

tptacek wrote: post #94
jmduke wrote: post #5

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…

You should have one trustworthy cookbook

I'm late to the party, but wholeheartedly agree. My most read cookbooks are:

The Cake Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum. Had it since graduating college 25 years ago and every page has butter/chocolate/etc stains.

The Dean & Deluca Cookbook David Rosengarten. Simple recipes, good explanations.

Classic Home Desserts Richard Sax. Amazing collection of sweets over the last 200 years.

Rick Bayless' Mexican Kitchen A lot of people think he's a blowhard. Whatever, the food's great.

I have lots more, but those are probably the most thumbed-through.

OK, one more :-)

The Village Baker's Wife too lazy to get up and look up the author, but it's a fair to good pastry book.

The really important thing about the above books is that they build a knowledge base. Once you have that, along with some experience, it's much easier to evaluate online recipes and see if they even have a chance of being good.

Re: The Minimum Viable Kitchen

#205

Post by timr »

mattmaroon wrote: post #134
tptacek wrote: post #87

Notes: * Strong recommend on the Fibrox knife. If you don't already have a serious knife, don't buy one; get the Fibrox and use it for awhile. You may never want another knife, and if you ever do, you'll have a very good idea what you're looking for. Beware of knives: they're Veblen goods. * Don't get the expensive butcher block board. Actively avoid it. If you feel like arguing about this, you're not the reader this…

I left out consumables, but yeah on deli cups. Couple minor rebuttals: * The sharpener I recommended takes seconds to use and can't really be messed up. Cook's Illustrated says it works as well as an electric one that is much more difficult and more time consuming. I can sharpen my knife with it in less time than you can even safely package yours to take to get sharpened, and the Fibrox needs to be sharpened somewhat…

"the Fibrox needs to be sharpened somewhat often."

That's exactly why people say the Fibrox is cheap. Spend $100 on a good knife, and you won't have to sharpen it more than a couple of times a year, if that.

It's really worth spending about $100 on a knife. Beyond that, you're paying for fancy handles and/or damascus steel. Too much below that, and you're getting an inferior product.

Re: The Minimum Viable Kitchen

#206

Post by timr »

mattmaroon wrote: post #83
danielweber wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do spaghetti sauce in a cast iron all the time. Am I doing something wrong?

You know, I've always read that cast iron (even properly seasoned) reacts with acid and as a result is bad for both your food and the iron, but to be honest I haven't tried it. Googling around some people say their food tastes metallic. Some say it's fine. http://www.seriouseats.com/talk/2010/03/cast-iron-and-tomato...

I do it all the time. If your pan is seasoned properly, tomatoes aren't acidic enough to react.

In any case, the result isn't bad for you -- it just tastes bad.

Re: The Minimum Viable Kitchen

#207

Post by delwin »

$971? Are you fucking kidding me? It took me less than $200 to outfit my kitchen, and that includes a breadmaker, a rice-cooker, as well as things to eat the food with. Most of this was scavenged from estate sales and thrift shops.

This MVK post goes completely against the whole "minimal viable" spirit, which _should_ be self-explanatory: only what you need. This kitchen getup is certainly viable, but it's anything but minimal. This is more like the "I have $1000 and want a fancy ass kitchen" viable kitchen.

Re: The Minimum Viable Kitchen

#208

Post by GFischer »

Congratulations for an excellently written article. I found myself engrossed by the descriptions, and it has the appropiate amount of humor too.

Sadly I don't think I can find most of the items in my home country (maybe there's an opportunity there :) ).

Re: The Minimum Viable Kitchen

#209

Post by 4ad »

infinite8s wrote: post #201
tptacek wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you don't like eggs, you can also do without the nonstick pan. That's all you'll ever really use it for. Even fish works fine in a well oiled sautee.

If eggs are the only reason for a non-stick pan, you can skip it. I make my eggs (omeletes, scrambled eggs, etc) in a tri-ply calphalon frying pan without much butter or oil (no more than .5 Tbsp) and cleanup is a breeze. The secret is to use room-temperature eggs (this is true of protein in general). If you don't have enough time to let your eggs warm up, just fill a bowl with warm tap water, put the eggs in and by…

You don't have to keep your eggs in the fridge at all if you consume them in less than a week or so.
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