Today we’re returning to our Savour Fare Kitchen series with a post on Essential Kitchen Tools. While pots and pans are a little more universal due to either their straightforward functionality or their high space requirements, the tools you keep in your kitchen are idiosyncratic. I have a tendency to pick up kitchen tools right and left — people give them to me as gifts, I receive them in goodie bags at blog events, and I am magically drawn into every Sur La Table or Williams Sonoma I walk past. As a result, this list is not going to be a comprehensive listing of my personal kitchen tools, nor can it be an exhaustive list of every tool you should own. If you really love cherry clafoutis, you should probably indulge in a cherry pitter. If you make cobb salad every Saturday for lunch, an egg slicer might be your bag. This list is just intended to serve as a starter list of some tools I use and brands I love. Additionally, read on to the end to find out how to enter the first entry in the Savour Fare March Madness Giveaway series and win some of my favorite kitchen tools!
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Tags: Giveaway·Kitchen Equipment·The Savour Fare Kitchen
Nothing frustrates me more than visiting someone’s house and seeing their beautiful kitchen, decked out to the nines, and stocked with the latest kitchenware. I compliment them on it, and the person says, “Oh thank you. But I never cook.” What a waste of good tools. On the other hand, I also see the kitchens of people who really love to cook but don’t have the right kitchenware, which is also frustrating. I think to the words of the great comedian, Eddie Izzard, who said “‘Guns don’t kill people, people do,’ but I think the gun helps, you know? I think it helps. I just think just standing there going, “Bang!” That’s not going to kill too many people, is it?” Having great tools isn’t going to make you a great cook, but it’s certainly going to help make cooking a more pleasant and successful experience.
That’s why I wanted to write a series of posts about the tools in my kitchen that I just love. If you’re looking to buy some new kitchen accessories, or you’re building a wedding registry or equipping a new kitchen, I hope this guide will give you some ideas of what kinds of kitchen tools would be useful.
I’m starting the series with the backbone of the kitchen — pots and pans.
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Tags: Kitchen Equipment·The Savour Fare Kitchen
Skip straight to recipe
I have a confession to make. I have not been entirely truthful with all of you. I have been cooking this summer, but not dinner, and not dessert. I have been making jam.
I understand jam making to be the latest trend among “hipsters” (google “hipster” and “canning” and you’ll see what I mean.) I never really thought of myself as a hipster, I mean, I’m certainly not a hippie because I don’t like hiking or Phish, and I can’t be a yuppie because it’s not 1987, so I turned to Urbandictionary.com to determine if I am, in fact, a hipster. A quick skim of the 138 definitions of hipster yields a person in their 20’s or 30’s (yes) who lives in Brooklyn (no), values “creativity, intelligence and witty banter” (yes), drinks a lot of Pabst Blue Ribbon (no), sports “high cultural tolerance and a slight tendency towards intellectual arrogance” (yes), is too ironic for their own good (maybe), and is cooler than cool (heck no).
I am still confused.
What I am not confused about is this: making jam is a) fun b)easy and c) cool (which may be the hipster connection. I’m certainly not putting PBR into my jam). There’s something special about those little jars of homemade preserves, all lined up, ready to be eaten, or given away as gifts, or, if you have a packrat nature (like nobody I know, nosirree) to be stored in the pantry and gazed at lovingly. My husband makes fun of me, pointing out that I have an Ivy League education, am admitted to the Bar in two states, have a successful career and yet I am proud of making jam, something his great-grandmother did on a regular basis without much fuss. So sue me. I’m proud of my jam. I love my jam. I bid thee to go forth and make your own jam. You won’t be sorry.
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Tags: canning·fruit·jam·pantry·plums
