November 23, 2010
Thanksgiving Plans
We'll be heading up to Juli's parents' place tomorrow night, so in all likelihood we won't be posting as much as usual for the next several days. Since her parents don't have internet access, it is possible we might even miss posting at all for a day or two, for the first time since we launched the blog. We'll be back home some time on Saturday, and I suspect we'll have a thing or two to post about Thanksgiving when we get back.
Last Week's Potluck Lunch
Once a month, there's a potluck lunch where I work. The potlucks have various themes. The most recent one was last Wednesday, and the theme was "comfort food." I made up a big double batch of my Quick Marinara Sauce and used that to make up a crock pot full of spaghetti and meatballs.
I also brought the Apple-Cranberry Pie I made earlier in the week. I didn't figure Juli and I really needed to finish off a whole pie just between the two of us, but I also didn't want it to go to waste, and I will admit that I also wanted to show off my first attempt at making a pie.
I ended up making the spaghetti and meatballs a couple days prior to the potluck, and in doing so, I used a trick I'd picked up from another pasta recipe I saw awhile back on the Cook's Country website, one for making pasta ahead of time. Like the author of that article, I've noticed sometimes that when you make pasta ahead of time and then warm it up, the pasta sometimes gets mushy. The article offered a solution to that problem: don't cook the pasta all the way through, and add some extra liquid to whatever sort of sauce you're using with it. That way, when the two are mixed together and later rewarmed, the pasta finishes cooking, absorbing the extra liquid in doing so, and the result is fresh-tasting pasta in a nicely-textured (and not too runny) sauce.
That worked out great. I cooked the spaghetti for about 2 minutes less than called for on the package directions, and added an extra cup of water to the marinara sauce before dumping both the undercooked pasta and the sauce into the crock pot, along with meatballs I had cooked in the oven. I then warmed up the spaghetti and meatballs in the crock pot, starting a few hours before the potluck. That gave plenty of time for the dish to warm up, the pasta to finish cooking and the sauce to thicken. All that remained was to top the spaghetti with some grated cheese and some fresh basil I'd sliced up that morning, and I completed those final touches just a few minutes before the start of the potluck.
We had a lot of tasty stuff at the potluck. The dishes included some really tasty nacho dip, a very nice black beans and rice dish, and a big platter of the excellent ribs for which one of my coworkers is justifiably well-known. I'm happy to say that my spaghetti and meatballs and the pie were also well-received. My coworkers finished off all but two servings of the spaghetti (which I then packed away and froze for future lunches) and one slice of the pie (which I left, and which got finished off the next day). One of them said the pie was among the best he'd ever had, and several others complimented me on it; all were surprised when I told them it was the first pie I'd ever made. Several coworkers also praised the spaghetti, and two asked me for the recipe. I directed them to this blog, of course.
Next month's potluck is a holiday-themed one, naturally enough. I'm not sure yet what I'm going to bring, but I'm definitely looking forward to the occasion.
I also brought the Apple-Cranberry Pie I made earlier in the week. I didn't figure Juli and I really needed to finish off a whole pie just between the two of us, but I also didn't want it to go to waste, and I will admit that I also wanted to show off my first attempt at making a pie.
I ended up making the spaghetti and meatballs a couple days prior to the potluck, and in doing so, I used a trick I'd picked up from another pasta recipe I saw awhile back on the Cook's Country website, one for making pasta ahead of time. Like the author of that article, I've noticed sometimes that when you make pasta ahead of time and then warm it up, the pasta sometimes gets mushy. The article offered a solution to that problem: don't cook the pasta all the way through, and add some extra liquid to whatever sort of sauce you're using with it. That way, when the two are mixed together and later rewarmed, the pasta finishes cooking, absorbing the extra liquid in doing so, and the result is fresh-tasting pasta in a nicely-textured (and not too runny) sauce.
That worked out great. I cooked the spaghetti for about 2 minutes less than called for on the package directions, and added an extra cup of water to the marinara sauce before dumping both the undercooked pasta and the sauce into the crock pot, along with meatballs I had cooked in the oven. I then warmed up the spaghetti and meatballs in the crock pot, starting a few hours before the potluck. That gave plenty of time for the dish to warm up, the pasta to finish cooking and the sauce to thicken. All that remained was to top the spaghetti with some grated cheese and some fresh basil I'd sliced up that morning, and I completed those final touches just a few minutes before the start of the potluck.
We had a lot of tasty stuff at the potluck. The dishes included some really tasty nacho dip, a very nice black beans and rice dish, and a big platter of the excellent ribs for which one of my coworkers is justifiably well-known. I'm happy to say that my spaghetti and meatballs and the pie were also well-received. My coworkers finished off all but two servings of the spaghetti (which I then packed away and froze for future lunches) and one slice of the pie (which I left, and which got finished off the next day). One of them said the pie was among the best he'd ever had, and several others complimented me on it; all were surprised when I told them it was the first pie I'd ever made. Several coworkers also praised the spaghetti, and two asked me for the recipe. I directed them to this blog, of course.
Next month's potluck is a holiday-themed one, naturally enough. I'm not sure yet what I'm going to bring, but I'm definitely looking forward to the occasion.
November 22, 2010
Converting can sizes in old recipes: PROBLEM SOLVED!
I've been making some family-favorite recipes in anticipation of the holiday season, and two in the last two days have called for old can sizes, as in "Add a #2 can of crushed pineapple". The internet, which steered me so cruelly wrong on how much ground coffee to add to a vintage percolator (thanks for helping out, IowaSue!), looks to be more reliable this time. This info comes from the Iowa State University Extension website.
| Can Size | Volume | Average Net Weight |
| No. 1 picnic | 1 1/4 cups | 10 1/2 ounces |
| No. 300 | 1 3/4 cups | 15 1/2ounces |
| No. 1 tall or 303 | 2 cups | 15-17 ounces |
| No. 2 | 2 1/2 cups | 20 ounces |
| No. 2 1/2 | 3 1/2 cups | 29 ounces |
| No. 3 | 4 cups | 33 ounces |
| No. 3 cylinder | 5 3/4 cups | 46-51 ounces |
| No. 10 | 3 quarts | 6 lb. 9 ounces |
Cranberry Fluff
Cranberry Fluff- Make this a day ahead!
1 bag cranberries, ground
1 cup sugar
20-ounce can crushed pineapple, drained
10.5 ounce bag mini marshmallows
1 pint (2 cups) heavy cream, whipped
1. Pick through the bag of cranberries, discarding any that are soft and squishy. Rinse the remaining firm cranberries and grind them. There are a number of ways you can do this; the easiest is with a food processer (I've also used an old-fashioned meat grinder). Put the ground cranberries into the biggest bowl you have. I use a Tupperware Thatsa bowl
, which holds 32 cups.
, which holds 32 cups.2. Add the sugar and mix well. Next add the drained pineapple and marshmallows and stir everything together.
3. Using a stand mixer 
with a wire whip attachment, beat the cream until it's firm. You'll know it's done if you can confidently hold the bowl upside down without anything sloshing around or sliding out.
with a wire whip attachment, beat the cream until it's firm. You'll know it's done if you can confidently hold the bowl upside down without anything sloshing around or sliding out. 4. Gently fold the whipping cream into the cranberry mixture. Cover the bowl and put it in the refrigerator for at least a day before serving. Doing so allows the sweet ingredients to temper the tart cranberries.
November 21, 2010
Chicken Fried Steak and Crisp-Fried Potatoes
When planning my cooking for this weekend, I decided to make something different for Saturday's breakfast, so with that in mind I picked up some cube steaks and made sure I was stocked up on onions and potatoes, because I was going to try my hand at Chicken Fried Steak with Cream Gravy and Fried Potatoes.
In both cases I started out with a variety of recipes from Cook's Illustrated, Cook's Country, allrecipes.com and a couple of my more basic cookbooks, and in both cases I ended up taking a little bit from one source, combining it with a bit from another and tossing in a few of my own touches.
The results as I cooked them were pretty good overall, though I was more pleased with them than Juli was. She thought the amounts of onion used were a bit excessive, especially given that both dishes had onions, and she would have preferred to have a more simple Cream Gravy and skip the onions entirely. The recipes below differ a bit from what I cooked on Saturday morning, reflecting adjustments based on the obtained results.
I should note also that if one isn't too concerned about cholesterol, my Sausage Gravy Recipe would also work fine with the Chicken Fried Steak. As often as not, that's probably what you'd get if you ordered it in a restaurant, as places that have Chicken Fried Steak on the menu usually also serve Biscuits and Gravy, and they end up using the same gravy for both dishes.
Chicken Fried Steak with Cream Gravy
yield = 4 servings
Steak
2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt,
1 teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 cup buttermilk
1 large egg
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
4 cube steaks, about 5 ounces each, pounded thin
1 1/2 cups peanut oil
Cream Gravy
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/2 small onion, finely chopped (about 1/3 cup)
1/8 teaspoon dried thyme
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 cups whole milk
1/2 teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 pinch cayenne pepper
Preparing the Steak
Add the flour, salt, black pepper and cayenne to a large, shallow dish and whisk to combine. In another large, shallow dish, beat the egg, baking powder and baking soda together, then stir in the buttermilk.
Set a wire rack over a rimmed baking sheet. Pat the steaks dry with paper towels and season both sides with salt and pepper to taste. Place one steak in the bowl with the flour mixture, press it into the flour, turn the steak over and press the other side into the flour. Shake off excess flour, then use tongs to dip the steak into the egg mixture, turning it to coat both sides. Allow the excess egg mixture to drop off, then return the steak to the flour mixture, again coating both sides and shaking off any excess before placing the steak onto the wire rack. Repeat the procedure with the other steaks. Reserve three tablespoons of the flour mixture for use in the gravy.
Line a large plate or baking sheet with paper towels. Heat the oil in a conventional or electric skillet until heated to 375 degrees. Prepare a second wire rack atop a foil-lined baking sheet, place the sheet into the oven and preheat oven to 200 degrees.
Place as many steaks as can comfortably fit into the skillet and fry, turning once, until deep, golden brown on both sides (5-6 minutes). Transfer the steaks to the plate or baking sheet lined with the paper towels, then transfer the steaks to the wire rack in the oven to keep them warm. Pour the oil through a fine-mesh strainer. Discard the oil, but save any browned bits caught in the strainer.
Preparing the Cream Gravy
Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and thyme and cook untilt he onion has softened and is beginning to brown, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook one minute, then add two tablespoons of the reserved flour mixture to the pan and stir until the flour is combined with the onion and garlic and any large clumps are dissoled. Whisk in the chicken broth, using the whisk to scrape any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Whisk in the milk, salt, pepper, cayenne and browned bits reserved from the cooking oil, then bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Cook until thickened, sprinkling in a bit at a time of the reserved flour mixture if necessary.
Transfer the steaks to a serving platter and the gravy to a gravy boat or measuring cup. Pour or spoon a generous amount of gravy over individually-served steaks.
Option:
If you would prefer, omit the onions. Simply melt the butter, add two tablespoons of the reserved flour mixture to make a roux, and continue as written above.
Crisp-Fried Potatoes
yield = 4 servings
1 1/2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 3/4-inch pieces
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
1 small onion, minced
1/2 teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Put the potatoes in a large, microwave-safe bowl, top with 1 tablespoon of butter and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Microwave on high for about 6 minutes, shaking the bowl (without removing the plastic) to stir up the potatoes halfway through cooking.
While the potatoes are in the microvave, heat one tablespoon of butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, until golden-brown (approx. 8 minutes). Transfer the onion to a small bowl.
Add the remaining two tablespoons of butter to the skillet over medium heat. Add the potatoes to the melted butter and cook the potatoes without stirring for about 5 minutes or until browned on one side. Turn the potatoes and continue to cook, stirring them occasionally, until they are well-browned and crisp on most sides (about 15 minutes) then stir in the onion, pepper, garlic powder and salt. Serve.
In both cases I started out with a variety of recipes from Cook's Illustrated, Cook's Country, allrecipes.com and a couple of my more basic cookbooks, and in both cases I ended up taking a little bit from one source, combining it with a bit from another and tossing in a few of my own touches.
The results as I cooked them were pretty good overall, though I was more pleased with them than Juli was. She thought the amounts of onion used were a bit excessive, especially given that both dishes had onions, and she would have preferred to have a more simple Cream Gravy and skip the onions entirely. The recipes below differ a bit from what I cooked on Saturday morning, reflecting adjustments based on the obtained results.
I should note also that if one isn't too concerned about cholesterol, my Sausage Gravy Recipe would also work fine with the Chicken Fried Steak. As often as not, that's probably what you'd get if you ordered it in a restaurant, as places that have Chicken Fried Steak on the menu usually also serve Biscuits and Gravy, and they end up using the same gravy for both dishes.
 |
| A bit over-cooked, but still tasty. |
Chicken Fried Steak with Cream Gravy
yield = 4 servings
Steak
2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt,
1 teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 cup buttermilk
1 large egg
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
4 cube steaks, about 5 ounces each, pounded thin
1 1/2 cups peanut oil
Cream Gravy
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/2 small onion, finely chopped (about 1/3 cup)
1/8 teaspoon dried thyme
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 cups whole milk
1/2 teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 pinch cayenne pepper
Preparing the Steak
Add the flour, salt, black pepper and cayenne to a large, shallow dish and whisk to combine. In another large, shallow dish, beat the egg, baking powder and baking soda together, then stir in the buttermilk.
Set a wire rack over a rimmed baking sheet. Pat the steaks dry with paper towels and season both sides with salt and pepper to taste. Place one steak in the bowl with the flour mixture, press it into the flour, turn the steak over and press the other side into the flour. Shake off excess flour, then use tongs to dip the steak into the egg mixture, turning it to coat both sides. Allow the excess egg mixture to drop off, then return the steak to the flour mixture, again coating both sides and shaking off any excess before placing the steak onto the wire rack. Repeat the procedure with the other steaks. Reserve three tablespoons of the flour mixture for use in the gravy.
Line a large plate or baking sheet with paper towels. Heat the oil in a conventional or electric skillet until heated to 375 degrees. Prepare a second wire rack atop a foil-lined baking sheet, place the sheet into the oven and preheat oven to 200 degrees.
Place as many steaks as can comfortably fit into the skillet and fry, turning once, until deep, golden brown on both sides (5-6 minutes). Transfer the steaks to the plate or baking sheet lined with the paper towels, then transfer the steaks to the wire rack in the oven to keep them warm. Pour the oil through a fine-mesh strainer. Discard the oil, but save any browned bits caught in the strainer.
Preparing the Cream Gravy
Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and thyme and cook untilt he onion has softened and is beginning to brown, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook one minute, then add two tablespoons of the reserved flour mixture to the pan and stir until the flour is combined with the onion and garlic and any large clumps are dissoled. Whisk in the chicken broth, using the whisk to scrape any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Whisk in the milk, salt, pepper, cayenne and browned bits reserved from the cooking oil, then bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Cook until thickened, sprinkling in a bit at a time of the reserved flour mixture if necessary.
Transfer the steaks to a serving platter and the gravy to a gravy boat or measuring cup. Pour or spoon a generous amount of gravy over individually-served steaks.
Option:
If you would prefer, omit the onions. Simply melt the butter, add two tablespoons of the reserved flour mixture to make a roux, and continue as written above.
Crisp-Fried Potatoes
yield = 4 servings
1 1/2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 3/4-inch pieces
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
1 small onion, minced
1/2 teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Put the potatoes in a large, microwave-safe bowl, top with 1 tablespoon of butter and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Microwave on high for about 6 minutes, shaking the bowl (without removing the plastic) to stir up the potatoes halfway through cooking.
While the potatoes are in the microvave, heat one tablespoon of butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, until golden-brown (approx. 8 minutes). Transfer the onion to a small bowl.
Add the remaining two tablespoons of butter to the skillet over medium heat. Add the potatoes to the melted butter and cook the potatoes without stirring for about 5 minutes or until browned on one side. Turn the potatoes and continue to cook, stirring them occasionally, until they are well-browned and crisp on most sides (about 15 minutes) then stir in the onion, pepper, garlic powder and salt. Serve.
Christmas Comes Early for Jeffrey
I got an early Xmas present, and I'm as happy as I can remember ever being over any present I've ever received. When I was a kid and holiday gift-giving was a much bigger deal to me, I doubt I'd have been able to imagine a bunch of pots and pans would not only excite me, but actually make me smile every time I used one of them.
The present in question is the Tramontina Ultimate Cookware set, a 10-piece set consisting of six stainless steel pans, four with lids.
Awhile back, Cook's Illustrated
reviewed cookware sets. To nobody's surprise, the much-vaunted All-Clad took the top rating. There's a good reason for this: Sturdy, long-lasting products designed with an eye to function and based on decades of actual use by working chefs and cooks. This is as opposed to various celebrity lines designed more to look nice than to actually be useful, not to mention the various cookware sets out there that give you a lot of pans for a little money, but which don't stand up to even a year of regular use without showing a lot of wear and starting to have significant problems. All-Clad makes great stuff, no question. The only problem is, that top-of-the-line stuff comes at a hefty price.
The other two sets that made Cook's Illustrated's"recommended" listing both featured the same full-clad, tri-ply construction as All-Clad. Tri-ply refers to a layer of aluminum sandwiched between and bonded to layers of stainless steel, while full-clad means the pan is made this way from bottom to rim. Lots of cookware features sorta-tri-ply bottoms, typically involving aluminum discs encapsulated in stainless steel, but these can be problematic, as the try-ply and non-try-ply parts of the pan conduct heat much differently. The result is uneven heating, which usually translates to lots of burning along the outer edges of the bottom of the pan. Full-clad pans, on the other hand, heat evenly.
The other two cookware sets CI recommended were made by Calphalon and Tramontina. Both were much cheaper than All-Clad, but the Tramontina set - which cost only $10 more than a single All-Clad skillet - was selected as the best buy. The CI folk rated its performance as on par with All-Clad. Their only real criticism was that too many of the pans were too small to really be useful most of the time (and, truly, they had a point - a one-quart saucepan really isn't useful for very much other than melting butter), though they did notice that when you compared the same basic pan (two 10-inch skillets, for example), the Tramontina pans featured a tiny bit less cooking surface.
Tramontina (sold by Wal-Mart) released the Ultimate Cookware Set in response to that article. They even include a copy of the issue of Cook's Illustrated that features that review! The set features a selection of sizes and types of pans Cook's Illustratedconsiders essential (12 inch skillet, 4 quart saucepan, Dutch oven and 12-quart stock pot). The selection is similar to that in All-Clad set CI reviewed, but with a Dutch oven and a larger stock pot than All-Clad. This set has gotten rave reviews by users on the Cook's Illustrated bulletin board and elsewhere online, and while it is more expensive than the smaller 8-piece Tramontina set CI reviewed by about $100 (current cost is $259), that's still cheaper than the similarly-ranked and smaller Calphalon set, and you'd have a hard time buying two All-Clad pans of any sort for that cost.
I haven't tried out all of the pans yet, but based on the ones I have tried, I can see why people love these pans. They are sturdy, but very well-balanced, with solid, comfortable handles. The lids fit perfectly and the pans themselves heat evenly and conduct heat wonderfully, such that they get very hot at only a medium stove top setting. I'm still getting used to this last feature, honestly, and as a result, I've burnt a few things a bit when they cooked a lot faster than I'd expected based on the mostly-crappy pans I've been using for the past several years, but that has given me a chance to recognize another great feature of the Tramontina cookware: it cleans up really, really easily. Burnt-on onion and potato came off with a couple passes of the scrubbing surface of a kitchen sponge, and burnt-on sugary and tomato-based sauces came off with only minimally more effort. The interior stainless steel surface does discolor a bit when exposed to higher heat settings and/or when stuff gets burnt on to the surfaces, but as stated in the manufacturer's information, a quick, light scrub with a mild abrasive cleaner (we use Bar Keepers Friend) corrects that, bringing the pan back to an even, mirror-like shine.
The arrival of these pans has pretty much filled up my kitchen rack. As seen below, the two skillets have found a place at the right edge of the top shelf. The second shelf is taken up almost entirely by Tramontina pans, including the new stock pot and Dutch oven, plus a smaller stock pot with a pasta insert and a double-boiler/steamer combination we bought awhile back. The new saucepans are center and right front on the next-to last shelf.
And yes, I truly do smile when I go into the kitchen and see those shelves all nice and well-stocked like that. But not as widely as I tend to smile when I see the results of cooking in these new pots and pans.
And yes, "early Xmas present" aside, Juli gets to use them, too!
The present in question is the Tramontina Ultimate Cookware set, a 10-piece set consisting of six stainless steel pans, four with lids.
 |
| The Tramontina Ultimate Cookware Set Clockwise, starting at the top of the picture: 12 Quart Covered Stock Pot, 4 Quart Covered Sauce Pan, , 12 Inch Steel Saute Pan (skillet), 5 Quart Covered Dutch Oven, 10 Inch Saute Pan Center: 2 Quart Covered Sauce Pan |
Awhile back, Cook's Illustrated
reviewed cookware sets. To nobody's surprise, the much-vaunted All-Clad took the top rating. There's a good reason for this: Sturdy, long-lasting products designed with an eye to function and based on decades of actual use by working chefs and cooks. This is as opposed to various celebrity lines designed more to look nice than to actually be useful, not to mention the various cookware sets out there that give you a lot of pans for a little money, but which don't stand up to even a year of regular use without showing a lot of wear and starting to have significant problems. All-Clad makes great stuff, no question. The only problem is, that top-of-the-line stuff comes at a hefty price.The other two sets that made Cook's Illustrated's
"recommended" listing both featured the same full-clad, tri-ply construction as All-Clad. Tri-ply refers to a layer of aluminum sandwiched between and bonded to layers of stainless steel, while full-clad means the pan is made this way from bottom to rim. Lots of cookware features sorta-tri-ply bottoms, typically involving aluminum discs encapsulated in stainless steel, but these can be problematic, as the try-ply and non-try-ply parts of the pan conduct heat much differently. The result is uneven heating, which usually translates to lots of burning along the outer edges of the bottom of the pan. Full-clad pans, on the other hand, heat evenly. The other two cookware sets CI recommended were made by Calphalon and Tramontina. Both were much cheaper than All-Clad, but the Tramontina set - which cost only $10 more than a single All-Clad skillet - was selected as the best buy. The CI folk rated its performance as on par with All-Clad. Their only real criticism was that too many of the pans were too small to really be useful most of the time (and, truly, they had a point - a one-quart saucepan really isn't useful for very much other than melting butter), though they did notice that when you compared the same basic pan (two 10-inch skillets, for example), the Tramontina pans featured a tiny bit less cooking surface.
Tramontina (sold by Wal-Mart) released the Ultimate Cookware Set in response to that article. They even include a copy of the issue of Cook's Illustrated that features that review! The set features a selection of sizes and types of pans Cook's Illustrated
considers essential (12 inch skillet, 4 quart saucepan, Dutch oven and 12-quart stock pot). The selection is similar to that in All-Clad set CI reviewed, but with a Dutch oven and a larger stock pot than All-Clad. This set has gotten rave reviews by users on the Cook's Illustrated bulletin board and elsewhere online, and while it is more expensive than the smaller 8-piece Tramontina set CI reviewed by about $100 (current cost is $259), that's still cheaper than the similarly-ranked and smaller Calphalon set, and you'd have a hard time buying two All-Clad pans of any sort for that cost. I haven't tried out all of the pans yet, but based on the ones I have tried, I can see why people love these pans. They are sturdy, but very well-balanced, with solid, comfortable handles. The lids fit perfectly and the pans themselves heat evenly and conduct heat wonderfully, such that they get very hot at only a medium stove top setting. I'm still getting used to this last feature, honestly, and as a result, I've burnt a few things a bit when they cooked a lot faster than I'd expected based on the mostly-crappy pans I've been using for the past several years, but that has given me a chance to recognize another great feature of the Tramontina cookware: it cleans up really, really easily. Burnt-on onion and potato came off with a couple passes of the scrubbing surface of a kitchen sponge, and burnt-on sugary and tomato-based sauces came off with only minimally more effort. The interior stainless steel surface does discolor a bit when exposed to higher heat settings and/or when stuff gets burnt on to the surfaces, but as stated in the manufacturer's information, a quick, light scrub with a mild abrasive cleaner (we use Bar Keepers Friend) corrects that, bringing the pan back to an even, mirror-like shine.
The arrival of these pans has pretty much filled up my kitchen rack. As seen below, the two skillets have found a place at the right edge of the top shelf. The second shelf is taken up almost entirely by Tramontina pans, including the new stock pot and Dutch oven, plus a smaller stock pot with a pasta insert and a double-boiler/steamer combination we bought awhile back. The new saucepans are center and right front on the next-to last shelf.
And yes, I truly do smile when I go into the kitchen and see those shelves all nice and well-stocked like that. But not as widely as I tend to smile when I see the results of cooking in these new pots and pans.
And yes, "early Xmas present" aside, Juli gets to use them, too!
November 20, 2010
Percolator Coffee- Need Some Advice!
Recently I was at an estate sale in Fort Dodge. It was the last day of the sale, and everything was half price. I spotted a Corningware Cornflower 6-cup coffee percolator in almost new condition, so I bought it - for $2.50!
Today was my first experiment in percolator coffee, and I'm maybe doing something wrong, because the coffee was VERY bitter. Maybe I'm adding too much coffee? I used 5 heaping spoons of coffee for 5 cups of coffee, which was what the innernets had advised me to do. Then I plugged in the pot, and was a little worried that the indicator light wasn't working. Later I realized that the light turns on when the coffee is DONE, not when you start the pot perking!
If you know how these vintage percolators work, please send some advice my way. Thanks!
Today was my first experiment in percolator coffee, and I'm maybe doing something wrong, because the coffee was VERY bitter. Maybe I'm adding too much coffee? I used 5 heaping spoons of coffee for 5 cups of coffee, which was what the innernets had advised me to do. Then I plugged in the pot, and was a little worried that the indicator light wasn't working. Later I realized that the light turns on when the coffee is DONE, not when you start the pot perking!
If you know how these vintage percolators work, please send some advice my way. Thanks!
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