The single biggest problem in home kitchens. Photo by Donna Turner Ruhlman.
Was it two years ago? Three? Donna and I had people over on New Year's Day and an old high school friend, Mac Dalton, said, "Michael, I gotta show you what I do. I make things. What do you want to make?" "This," I said, standing at my stove, and held up a spoon I'd awkwardly bent for basting. "I can make that," he said. And he did. Chef Jonathon Sawyer of The Greenhouse Tavern picked it this year as one of his holiday gift ideas for Food & Wine. I love these spoons. They're elegant just to have in your hand. We immediately started to make more useful kitchen tools. Here's our whole catalogue, available on my site. Another thing happened. I'd partnered with OpenSky, an Internet commerce site that finds really cool products, sends them to me, and asks me if I'd like to recommend ...
Meal planning and mise en place. Photo by Donna Turner Ruhlman
Making a traditional Hollandaise, yolks in a vinegar reduction (all photos by Donna Turner Ruhlman).
The best, I mean the very best and most useful kitchen tools, are almost always the simplest. Yes, you've got the kitchen workhorse, the standing mixer, the food processor (I almost never use mine), the hand blender (my favorite small appliance). But really what I love most? Two really sharp knives. A thick flat hard surface that gets really hot. A heavy wood cutting board. And these: Rocks and sticks. Point is: fewer rather than more, simple rather than complex. (One clarification in the video that I failed to make clear at the time. For testing the temperature of frying oil, I use the chopsticks I save from Chinese take out, not really nice ones.) Once again, many thanks to Todd Porter and Diane Cu. I called them saints among us in the last "something to say" video. That was wrong. They're angels. Stay here! If you liked this post on I ...
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