Carrot curler strikes again

Gave a carrot curler as a souvenir to my girl friend from college.
- I remember how your Mom always made beautiful appetisers and salads for your birthday parties. Visually pleasing not just tasty.
These carrot curlers reminded of those good old days. 

Sur la Table @ $9.95

Carrot Stripper Curler Curls Vegetables for Garnishing-Kitchen Tools & Gadgets

Kitchen Tools & Gadgets  @ $18.95

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Sieves, sifters, shakers

In old times every kitchen had a sieve in heavy use - flour came from the mill with  bran and germ, and sifting was used not just to air the flour (practice long forgotten) but to separate these extras.

Nowadays one will consciously pay extra money for the whole wheat flour.
Great for making something like cauliflower or broccoli cheese quiche or bread (don't take whole as a substitute, just add some) but troublesome when it comes to baking of something that is supposed to be light, white and tender. Why don't skip the desert instead of spoiling your dough or batter? But I digressed.

I see the following principally different kinds of sifters:

de Buyer® Stainless Steel Flour Tamis @ Sur La Table, $32

a mesh spoon or strainer for powdering (sizes vary), crank-handle flour sifter, drum mesh sieve (also called tamis) and coffee-shop style sifter / dredger  one can use for sifting powdered sugar, cinnamon, cocoa etc. over his cappuccino, pancakes, donuts or like. 

Sur La Table® Stainless Steel Sifter, 5 cup @ $13

Rösle® Fine Mesh Kitchen Strainer @ Sur La Table, $48

Donuts (photo credit)

Here are homemade donuts (milk-eggs-sugar-yeast batter). Sprinkled with powdered sugar dispensed with the shaker.

I own one and you can get one for a few bucks at random store or Amazon.
Won't use it for cinnamon at home since turnaround it low and the spice will loose its flavour.

Dredger shaker with handle @ Amazon.com

labels: amazon, consumer review, cookware, de Buyer, dessert, food, gadgets, recipes, sur la table

Pans buying guide. Some ranting on Le Creuset.

The things I look for in pans:

• A pan should be heavy. I don't mean cast iron heavy, I mean made from aluminium or steel and heavy because of think bottom. This gives you some assurance that the heat will be conducted evenly and that the bottom won't warp and will be in direct contact with the stove when in use for the years to come.
• Protection from burning and sticking: it better be anodized aluminium / forged steel / cast iron rather than some toxic "non-stick surface coating" (Teflon or like) which you'll eventually consume with your food. New coatings come to the market: tried ceramic coating but was not not happy overall; probably the fact that it was a light pan with thin bottom was to blame. 
• Some cast iron and steel pans require seasoning which you apply yourself. Such pans become better with use or you stop using them very soon. Depending on the quality of the pan, maintaining it's non-sticking properties by seasoning could be easy (aforementioned Blue Steel Pan from Sur La Table) or restricting (in which case you revert to tactics 2a) or 2b)).  
• Look for right sizes and shapes. I use 3 basic sizes: 12'', 10'' and 8'' for everyday cookiong. Shapes: I prefer round. The stove burner is round, so why use square pan? Sides: shallow are good for crepes and omelets, higher sides are good for sauteing and cooking moderate size stew.
• Cool handle is a nice bonus.    
• A pan should not be too heavy. I bet Le Creuset cast iron pans are as good as they are expensive but I can't imagine using a regular and large size Le Creuset cookware item for everyday cooking and not injuring your back, shoulder and/or wrist. 

In my opinion, ads for acupuncture, muscle relaxant /  hot patch / ice hot roll, massage therapy, chiropractic and physical therapy, yoga and Pilates as well as personal trainer services should be placed right next to  Le Creuset 13 1/2 qt French oven ($410).Or to 11 3/4 cast iron skillet ($155), cookware.lecreuset.com, ships for free. Of course, you have better chances of staying injury-free with a skillet, but imagine the weight of French oven with Portuguese Fish stew inside!


Not to be completely unfair to the Le Creuset I must admit that I like them and want them so much that ordered ceramic soup bowls from Sur La Table. Do no chip, microwave, oven and dishwasher safe. And Sur La Table is doing an exceptional job in packaging/wrapping mail orders.
Got a set of Le Creuset soup bowls as a gift for myself. Very aesthetically pleasing and high quality. Won't chip.  Use them for soup and pasta. They are pretty shallow and I like using them for pasta dishes more than for soups.