An Argument in Support of Cooking

[scmhogg]

Fellow tool collectors:

If you haven't taken up cooking you are missing a good bet. Now that you have saws, jointers, planers, etc., some of you are running out of things to buy. My point here, is that cooking opens up whole new vistas. They even call them cooking TOOLS.

My mother was not a great cook. We are from England and we ate simple food. I thought cooked beef was gray until I left home.

I have always like to make the occasional dish. But, when my wife became a full time public defender, and I started to practice from my home, I started to do all the cooking.

I have purchased All-Clad pans, and Global knives, and a Kitchen-Aid mixer, and so much more. As an aside, the high dollar, professional equipment is so much better than stuff we all got when we got married.

You haven't lived until you slice with a good Mandoline, braised in a Le Creuset Dutch oven, sliced tuna with a sashimi knife. The joy of using good tools also exists in the kitchen.

I particularly like the New Best Recipe book from America's Test Kitchen. As their name implies, they test different versions of a recipe and come up with the combination their panel deems best. They explain the why in choice of ingredients and technique. This allows you to apply this knowledge when you ad lib. The book has over 1000 pages. http://www.cooksillustrated.com/book...il.asp?PID=265

I also like Paul Bocuse in Your Kitchen. This book has simple French food you can easily make at home. His Potato and Leek Soup is great and simple to make.

So, my friends, discover creme fraiche, make your own mayonnaise, cook with wine, make sauces...Buy more tools!

Steve

[leehljp]

Thanks for the tip on the book.

Good "tools" in the kitchen are a must. We often go to a "restaurant" store for our cooking tools - where we can get great prices on high quality pots and pans.

My kids always ask us to bring some of the thick stainless steel pots and pans back to the States that would cost two to three times the price there. Even in home centers here, the same pots and pans cost more than twice as much as in the wholesale restaurant stores.

[Daryl]

A man should have a twenty quart Hobart floor standing mixer.
My wife claimes the kitchen as her territory and I am happy with that.

[Bruce Cohen]

Far out,

I'm not the only one hooked on cooking. I'll almost trade my table saw for a 6 burner Viking range.

At one time, I wanted to quit my job and go to the CIA (Cooking Institute of America),not the one in Langley, I had enough of that one when I was in SE Asia.

True to form, the wife said "No Way". She wasn't going to support me for the 2 years it took to finish and I wasn't even going to look for a job in the field. I just wanted to cook better than the majority of restaurants we were eat at.

Bruce

[TB Roye]

I went to one of the finest cooking schools in the United States and it didn't cost me a cent. I was sent the the US Army cooking academy at Fort Ord, CA. I can make the best SOS in the world but no one wants to eat it. I don't cook now as I learned to cook for 600 not 2. When to boys were young I made SOS, they thought it was fine untill they asked what SOS stood for. Told them sent sdthe boys and LOML to the bathroom, never made it again. For years I was in charge of the Easter Breakfast at church, becuse I could organize and feed 300 in the short time between services. Cooking is like any craft if you have the right tools it is so much easier and better.

Tom

[RodKirby]

As long as I can find someone (ANYONE) to cook - I WILL NEVER COOK - way, way too messy for me. I mean why would anyone voluntarily sink their hands into mushy, squishy, "stuff"?

I am quite happy taste testing and/or cheering on...

[jonmulzer]

I agree with everything you have said, except one thing. Lodge products beat Le Creuset on everything, especially price. I have used both and the Lodge cast iron cookware is the best on the market at the most attractive price. I have used my cast iron cookware almost daily for years and it cooks better everytime I put it on the flame. If you do not cook with cast iron, start. It lasts forever and is much healthier than any non-stick pan out there. It adds iron to your diet which is beneficial whereas after a non-stick pan get a few scratches it puts aluminum into your food which has been linked to Alzheimers and Parkinsons.

My three domains are my basement workshop, my office and the kitchen. My girlfriend can have the rest of the house for foofoo stuff and whatever her heart desires but those areas are mine. I love making things. Whether it is out of wood or food. And if you guys want a guy's cooking show see if you can catch Good Eats by Alton Brown. He is the man and explains why you do things instead of just what to do. And as we all know, the why is much more important than the what.

Women fight for their equal portion of the workforce and I think we men should fight for our equal place in the kitchen. Get out the food processor and make some homemade mayonnaise. You will never again want the stuff in the screw top jar. Grab a dutch oven and a big hunk of beef and make some roast beast. And if you get involved in the kitchen you can convince your wife that you need the JET slow-speed sharpener to take care of the kitchen knives.

[jking]

America's Test Kitchen is one of our favorite shows to watch on Saturday. Over the New Years weekend we made overnight sticky buns from ATK's recipe. The whole recipe uses half a pound of butter. Yumm...

A few years ago my wife decided she wanted to upgrade our mixer from the 50 yr old Sunbeam we had (it was my grandmothers mixer). She decided she wanted the biggest KitchenAid (6 qt. professional) we could buy. It was pricey, but, she bargain shopped & caught it on sale. We don't use it every day (or even every week), but, have never regretted buying it.

[JR]

LOML does most of the cooking these days, but we've alternated the prime repsonsibility over the years.

I had a great time hanging out in Williams-Sonoma while Christmas shopping this year. I coveted the Kitchenaid mixer, but by previous arrangement had to settle for a handheld Cuisinart.

FWIW - we've had bad luck with ATK. We bought a cookbook from them and then spiraled into telemarketer ****. Their shows are intersting, but doing business with them was less than satisfactory. YMMV.

JR

[crokett]

I grew up near the CIA (the cooking school). At at the restaurant a few times. Tasty.

I don't have time for my shop and wouldn't have time to really cook.

[Ed62]

My wife does all the cooking. One of her favorite programs is America's Test Kitchen, but she did very well before it came on TV. When she quits cooking, we'll be eating out. My job is to make a nice piece of wood into fire wood.

Ed

[mater]

I don't think I can afford another hobby where I have to buy tools.

[chopnhack]

Cooking is one of life's pleasure's - but since getting married the only cooking i do is grilling/bbq'ing. Alton Brown is awesome! I too watch him when I get the chance. As far as a dutch oven?? Isn't that when you....

[luteman]

Woodworking, cooking, boatbuilding....three of life's greatest pleasures involving tools!