I’m no fan of non-stick cookware. At high temperatures the non-stick coating can release toxic chemicals into the air and inhaled into your body. Once in your body, these chemicals can bond to your cells and can do one of two things. The first possibility is turning you into a superhero know as Non-Stickulous. Your super power would be the ability to slide around on your butt knocking over criminals like bowling pins. What a cool power. Ask yourself–Would you rather be Spider-Man or Non-Stickulous? I think the choice is obvious.
Or the other thing that could happen if the chemicals get into your body is that you keel over dead. Like a goldfish left at home alone during your family’s 10 day vacation to Disney World. I’m talking all dead, not just mostly dead. Yes, the dangers of non-stick cookware is that serious. Now I don’t have any conclusive proof of this. And I don’t personally know anybody that has gained super powers or has died from non-stick cookware, but I think that is due to a U.S. Government cover up.
So, with this in mind – there is a better way to cook meals without resorting to non-stick cookware or worrying about using regular (non-non-stick) cookware and risking the burned on mess that an unattended stew, chowder, or sauce can turn into.
The Pauli Cookware stock pot has a patent pending 7-layer bottom that alternates layers of stainless steel and aluminum around a sealed oil chamber creating a non-stick surface without any chemicals touching your food. Even if both of your arms were broken from a freak letter opening accident and you were unable to stir your famous clam chowder, it wouldn’t burn. Heck, it couldn’t burn even if your clam chowder decided it wanted to burn. This pot is that crazy.
Here’s a touching testimonial from a satisfied Pauli Pot user…
I was cooking spaghetti sauce one night when I got an unexpected knock at the door. It was the FBI. To make a long story short, after doing 24 months of hard time at Sing Sing prison I came back home and my spaghetti sauce was still simmering away…without burning. Even after 2 years! Amazing! Thank you Pauli Pot!
Peanut butter and chocolate: Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
Peanut butter and jelly: The peanut butter and jelly sandwich
Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder: Ebony and Ivory
Julia Roberts and Lyle Lovett: Two years of tabloid fodder
Odd pairings sometimes work… and sometimes they don’t. Case in point… The other day while perusing the gourmet food section of my local World Market store, I found myself staring face to face with a Mo’s Bacon Bar by Vosges. In a nutshell a Mo’s Bacon Bar is an apple wood smoked bacon and milk chocolate candy bar.
A few thoughts flashed through my mind as the bacon bar stared me down — should I run through the store like a little girl flailing my arms about, screaming that there are pig parts in a chocolate bar — or, should I man up and spend $7 on a chocolate bar… with pig parts in it… and is probably not kosher — and lastly, if a Canadian Goose could speak like a human, would it speak French or English? I opted to not buy the Mo’s Bacon Bar, as $7 for a 3 ounce bar of chocolate is a bit spendy — but I am considering it. I think I’ll continue to mull over the Canadian Goose issue for now. Maybe it would be English with a French accent.
Happy New Year from Unfork! I’ve got some huge news to pass along. Unfork will be sponsored by Spendy Fish Caviar Company out of Wahoo, Nebraska. Starting January 5th, 2009 we’ll have weekly guest blogs from celebrity chefs like Martha Stewart, Rachel Ray, Bobby Flay, Martin Yan, Mario Batali, and many others. Also look for reviews of high end kitchen products, contests, and exclusive recipes from Cook’s Illustrated, Bon Appetite, and Cat Fancy magazine. Getting a sponsor changes everything here at Unfork and you’ll get to enjoy in the changes along with us. Our first sponsored giveaway will be a $50,000 kitchen renovation sponsored by Home Depot, All-Clad cookware, and Band-Aid. Check back on Monday, January 5th for complete details. Thanks again for making 2008 so great and here’s to a stellar 2009.
Update: I’m sad to report, but due to the floundering economy, Spendy Fish Caviar Company is unable to sponsor Unfork at this time. I’m still excited, though, as we have picked up a new sponsor: Top Ramen — the official food of the 2009 Recession. We’ve canceled most of the celebrity guest bloggers. You are pretty much stuck with me and a dishwasher named Juan-Carlos. He works at a Chinese restaurant near my house and will be blogging about matching wines with the many flavors of Top Ramen. The $50,000 kitchen renovation has been replaced by, well, I think I can scrounge together a wooden spoon, an egg slicer, and a bottle of Tums, the official heartburn reducer of the 2009 Recession. I know you are as excited about the changes to Unfork as I am. So, here’s to a grand 2009!
Saks Fifth Avenue has the craziest gift set for the food connoisseur that I’ve seen so far this year. The Peter Luger Ultimate Steak Gift Set consists of two 37-oz USDA Prime dry-aged, hand-selected porterhouse steaks, one 12-oz bottle of Peter Luger steak sauce, a black Peter Luger apron, a cherry wood cutting board, and eight milk chocolate coins for… Wait, you’re not drinking milk are you? I’d hate for it to squirt out of your nose when I tell you the price. OK, no milk, good, the price…only $299.
I honestly would have to say, I’m probably not man enough to cook a steak that costs well over $100. Let alone having to cook two of them. And that’s exactly what you’re in for if you are on the receiving end of the Peter Luger Ultimate Steak Gift Set. I’m pretty sure I can foresee what would happen if Mr. or Ms. FedEx rang the doorbell and dropped this off at my house. I’d put on the Peter Luger apron, fire up the grill, proceed to get light-headed and pass out, then slip into a deep coma only to wake up several years later to find out that my neighbor’s dog ate the steaks after I hit the ground. Why couldn’t I live next door to Lassie?
When I see this orange food tray I think back to my days in lockup at the notorious Sing Sing prison in New York; doing hard time for swiping frozen burritos from 7-11. Frozen burritos, once you try just one, you’re hooked and it only gets worse. Burritos lead to Hot Pockets and the next thing you know—you’re doing time at Sing Sing, eating off orange trays and discussing molecular biology as well as the fine art of making a shank from a toothbrush with a guy named Bubba.
Sing Sing is where I got one of my favorite prison tattoos—Julia Child holding a raw turkey with wings outstretched—representing my longing for freedom.
Sure, the experience at Sing Sing sounds like a good time, but if you have a full time job or a phobia of jumpsuits, you might not want to do a 3 year sentence there. You can still replicate prison life by spraying yourself in the face with pepper spray and eating off one of these reproduction Sing Sing Food Trays which, according to the manufacturer, is “food safe.”
Don’t forget to stab yourself in the arm with a Bic pen about a thousand times too—for the tattoo experience. If you’re going to replicate what prison life is like, you might as well go all out.
I’ve got this whole recession/economic meltdown/end of the world thing all figured out. So, you’ve got a kid in college and it’s costing you a fortune. Send them the Zing Spoon food launcher by Fred and Friends and all your troubles will be over in a jiffy. Your kid will be giddy beyond belief and take their new toy to the college cafeteria at the first opportunity. They will zero in on a target — probably on somebody named Kip, Biff, or Scooter and let Thursday’s Mystery Meat fly. With some luck, your kid will get kicked out of school and sent packing. With nowhere else to turn, your kid comes home.
Well, no kid of yours is going to just loaf around the house taking up space, so you have them mow and weed the lawn. Now you can cancel the lawn service. So, with the purchase of this $10 spring loaded spoon, you’ve saved the college and lawn care expenses. Life is grand now. Recession smeesession—or whatever the media is calling it–doesn’t affect you.
But thinking about this plan a little–your kid is probably going to eat 3 times their weight in food each day. Always wanting to borrow the car, begging for money, blasting their music, and playing the Wii until 2am. Isn’t this why you sent them off to college in the first place? Maybe you should skip the Zing and send them a care package consisting of a bag of Cheetos, deodorant, and new underwear instead. Perhaps this recession thing isn’t all that bad after all.
The ubiquitous coffee cup, it’s attached to the hand of 57.8%* of the American public at any given time. See someone without a coffee cup and they fall into one of two categories: the non-coffee drinker or the cranky coffee drinker.
When we are finished with our beloved coffee and have to throw away our paper coffee cups, it’s like having to say goodbye to a dear friend. “Goodbye my paper coffee cup friend. I will miss you and the times we had together. I’m sorry it has to end like this. I will see some of your friends in about 39 minutes when I take my next coffee break. I will tell them that you lived a great life, worked hard, and didn’t spill any coffee on my pants. Thank you for being you.”
But what if you didn’t have to say goodbye? The “I Am Not A Paper Cup” is a double-walled, thermal porcelain coffee cup with a silicon lid and the best part, you never throw it away. Well, not on purpose anyway. It looks like a paper coffee cup, but it’s so much more. No more heart tugging goodbyes–this coffee cup relationship can last forever.
As I write this post, I dig deep for the perfect word to describe this 7-piece Shun Bob Kramer Knife Set from Sur La Table. I could use beautiful, breathtaking, gorgeous, fantastic, stunning, awesome, radical, far-out, or even pulchritudinous, but the word I choose is nifty.
Nifty is an underutilized word in 2008. I hope to bring nifty back into vogue with this post about the niftiest knife set I’ve ever laid eyes on. Sure, it’s a little spendy and you could easily opt for the $39.95 “As Seen on TV” Miracle Blade knife set, but that would be a travesty of all that is good and pure in the cooking world.
Each knife is meticulously crafted by 150 expert artisans to achieve the precise heft, balance and shape of Bob Kramer’s original design. The 3mm steel blades are composed of an SG2 core (64-66HRC) clad with true pattern-welded nickel and stainless steel Damascus for beautiful, razor-sharp and lasting edges. Gently rounded and richly grained red and black Pakkawood handles are crafted in Bob’s signature contoured shape, and mirror the curve of the palm for a wonderfully natural hand-feel. This complete collection includes the knives essential to any kitchen: 8″ chef’s knife, 10″ bread knife, 7″ santoku knife, 4¾” utility knife, 3¼” paring knife, honing steel and easel-style bamboo wood block.
$1499.95 — Buy from Sur La Table or see all the Shun Bob Kramer knives HERE.
Sometimes a kitchen gadget comes along that is so revolutionary and fills such an important need, making our lives easier, richer, and increase our joy of cooking and eating–as Squishy Bowls do. Sadly, the Pizza Pro Scissors isn’t one of these revolutionary kitchen gadgets. At first when I saw this tool I thought, “That’s kinda dumb.” But then, after a while, and after giving it some consideration, I thought, “That’s kinda dumb, and I’m afraid of it.” I tried to envision a situation when I would use this pizza cutter/scissor/thingy and my mind drifted off and I started thinking about Lionel Richie’s pants in the All Night Long video. I don’t know which I’m afraid of more, the Pizza Pro Scissors or Lionel Richie’s pants.
I’ve lived in Virginia for quite a few years now and have seen the classic yellow can of Old Bay in the spice isle and in the seafood section of my local grocery stores oodles of times. But not being much of a crab guy, and Old Bay being a primary seasoning for crab, especially in the Mid-Atlantic and Gulf States, I thought I didn’t have much use for it. And the crab on the can kinda freaked me out. Did I mention I’m not really a crab guy?
Anyway, on a recent trip to Baltimore my wife ordered fish and chips. The fish was great and the fries were seasoned with none other than Old Bay. I loved them. As I bit into the fries I heard a choir of angels sing. I jumped up on the table and sang the praises of Old Bay. I even did a bit of a Saturday Night Fever dance too, until our waitress flung a side order of corn on the cob at me and knocked me off the table. After I regained consciousness I found that the corn was seasoned with Old Bay as well, and because it hit the floor after hitting me—I got it for free. That was a savings of $1.99. Not a bad deal if you ask me.
Old Bay has a hint of heat and layers of flavor. It’s a mix of celery salt, bay leaf, mustard seed, cloves, allspice, mace, cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, black and red pepper, and paprika. It doesn’t get much better than that for a seasoning mix. And it works on just about anything: seafood, poultry, meats, salads, popcorn, Snickers, peanut butter and jelly, etc. Check out the testimonials and see how others are using Old Bay in their neck of the woods. You might just start singing the praises of Old Bay, just like me. Just be warned, waitresses in Baltimore frown on you dancing Saturday Night Fever style on their tables. The video below is an accurate depiction of my dance, minus the corn incident.
It’s that time of the year, gravy goodness will be flowing soon–or it could be gravy grossness if you don’t get rid of all that fat from the meat drippings first. There are all kinds of methods for separating the fat from the drippings, but using a fat separator is, in my opinion, the quickest and easiest. The OXO Fat Separator comes in two sizes, a 2-cup and a 4-cup. They are heat resistant and have a built in strainer. I personally have the 4-cup and love it. OK, did I just say I loved a fat separator? I think I’ve been spending way too much time with all these kitchen gadgets.
“Touch my Le Creuset cookware with that metal spoon and face my wrath–and could you please run to the store and pick me up a can of evaporated milk?” Boy, I wish I had a nickel every time I’ve said that.
Sure, there’s plastic, rubber, or silicone–but the plastic and rubber can melt, turning your world famous macaroni and cheese into macaroni and cheese and globs of melted cooking utensil–and the silicone has about as much personality as a vacuum cleaner. In my personal opinion, nothing feels better in the hand, looks better, and is as safe for your fine cookware as wood.
These Mediterranean Olive Wood Spatulas and Spoons, with such rich and colorful grain, pretty much blow every other wood utensil I’ve ever seen, completely out of the water. Crafted in France. 5 piece set comes with 2 spatulas and 3 spoons. Also sold individually.
At first these meatloaf cupcakes kinda freaked me out. OK, they still kinda freak me out. But I’ve decided–I could probably put away at least eleven of these bad boys.
Eek gads! What is that unsightly thing? Oh, it’s your old plastic salad spinner. Hide that thing quick, before the neighbors see it. A salad spinner is a necessity in the kitchen as nothing is better for cleaning and drying leafy vegetables, herbs, and berries. But plastic? Plastic is so 1997. Bamboo is the new plastic. This Bamboo Salad Spinner works just like a standard salad spinner, but replaces the plastic bowl with an environmentally friendly bamboo bowl for spinning and for serving. A serving bowl you could be proud to show off to your family members, neighbors, or the UPS driver. And you could even burn it if you needed warmth in a freak indoor ice storm. Try that with your plastic salad spinner.
Everyone has a top three list of things they fear most in life. Mine are food poisoning, shower curtains, and being attacked by an angry mob of chickens outside a KFC. I feel I can control the food poisoning fear by frequent hand washing, especially during meal preparation. I must wash my hands a dozen times for every meal I make. With cereal, it’s only about nine times.
Call me a freak, but get food poisoning a couple times in your life and you’ll be a hand washing convert. I even hate touching the soap dispenser. I always try to find that itty bitty spot on my hand that hasn’t been touched by the food I’m preparing, so I can push down on the dispenser to get my soap fix. That can be a pain and usually ends up with soap missing my hand altogether.
The SimpleHuman Sensor Soap Pump makes hand washing a snap and reduces the chance of cross-contamination by automatically dispensing soap into your hand for touch-free operation. After dispensing the soap, a 20 second timer kicks in so you know how long to wash your hands, ensuring they are bacteria free. Made of polished stainless steel, black plastic, and acrylic.
*With the availability of the SimpleHuman Sensor Soap Pump, I have replaced food poisoning on my fear list with the fear of the planet Venus.
The fine folks at Fred have taken the spoon rest design literally and created… drum roll please… The Spoon Rest. A soft silicone pillow, perfect for cradling your spoon and minimizing stains and spills on your stove top and counter. But most importantly, it gives your spoon some needed rest from all that cooking. We all know how cranky a spoon can get without their rest. They complain about how much salt you use, laugh at you for breaking the Hollandaise sauce, and talk about you behind your back to the forks and butter knives about you buying Velveeta cheese. Spoons can be very elitist, especially without adequate rest.
When I make beer can chicken I feel very sorry for the chicken. The whole process just seems so wrong, but the end result is so worth it. The chicken is so incredibly flavorful and moist, no other cooking method even comes close. One thing I have a problem with is the beer can itself. Basically you’re shoving this beer can in the chicken and there is paint on the can and the can is getting really, really hot. Too me, in a freaky health conscious kinda way, I’m thinking that probably isn’t very good for us. Hot paint, in direct contact with my food. I mean you wouldn’t dump the contents of a one gallon can of paint, then make chili in that can, would you? So, what’s the difference? OK, maybe that’s not apples to apples, but you get my drift.
And I haven’t even gotten into the precarious balancing act of keeping the chicken upright on the beer can. I love beer can chicken as much as the next guy, but I liken the process to cooking with a 25 year old pressure cooker. It’s scary and exciting, and the end results are worth it, if nobody gets injured.
In my opinion, the Vertical Chicken BeeRoaster is great solution to the paint and stability issue. The roaster is made of 18/10 stainless steel and has a sturdy base so the chicken stays safely upright. Use it in the oven or on the grill and toss it in the dishwasher when you’re done for easy cleanup.
OK, call me a freak on the paint issue, I’m OK with that, because I probably got you thinking…now didn’t I?
When I was a kid I used to spread as much butter as a slice of bread could hold, then stick it in the toaster to toast. I was a child genius—isn’t it obvious? Mom, if you’re reading this. I don’t think that had anything to do with all of the toasters that caught on fire. Some coincidence, eh?
Many a toaster in my childhood could have been spared if the Toastabags were around back then. With the Toastabag, you can make a sandwich loaded with your favorite goodies, slide it into the space-age plastic bag (can I still use space-age in 2008?), then stick everything into the toaster to heat up. That is, provided the slots on your toaster can hold two slices of bread and all the fillings. If it won’t, sit on the sandwich after making it. It will fit. In just three short minutes you have a grilled insert yummy filling here sandwich without the laborious grilling. How cool is that? The inventor of this should win a Nobel Prize, or at least get a ride in the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile.
When you absolutely, positively need 1/4” tomato slices, what do you do? Sure, you could dig out the measuring tape, a hammer, and a laser level. Or you could even call in the Army Corps of Engineers, but there is a better way. The Amco Tomato Slicer cuts nearly perfect 1/4” tomato slices with just a press of your hands. Place a tomato, up to 3” in diameter, into the base, set the slicer on top and press down. Quickly and easily you are greeted with nine 1/4″ tomato slices.
See, isn’t that better than having the Army Corps of Engineers over? Can you imagine how many strangers would be using your bathroom?
When I first saw the RSVP Herb Scissors, I thought to myself, “Wow, those would really freak out a hairstylist.” I’m thinking if hairstylists have nightmares, these scissors are probably a main player. Well, these scissors and having to cut Donald Trump’s hair. Whoa, scary. Anyway, the five 3” stainless steel blades allow you to cut herbs directly into a pan or over a plate for garnish, which is pretty handy. Sure, you could use a knife and a cutting board, but seriously—check these things out and tell me you wouldn’t want a pair. You could run walk around the kitchen yelling, “WOLVERINE!“ How cool would that be?
I’m no fan of non-stick cookware. At high temperatures the non-stick coating can release toxic chemicals into the air and inhaled into your body. Once in your body, these chemicals can bond to your cells and can do one of two things. The first possibility is turning you into a superhero know as Non-Stickulous. Your super power would be the ability to slide around on your butt knocking over criminals like bowling pins. What a cool power. Ask yourself–Would you rather be Spider-Man or Non-Stickulous? I think the choice is obvious.
Peanut butter and chocolate: Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
Saks Fifth Avenue has the craziest gift set for the food connoisseur that I’ve seen so far this year. The 
When I see this orange food tray I think back to my days in lockup at the notorious Sing Sing prison in New York; doing hard time for swiping frozen burritos from 7-11. Frozen burritos, once you try just one, you’re hooked and it only gets worse. Burritos lead to Hot Pockets and the next thing you know—you’re doing time at Sing Sing, eating off orange trays and discussing molecular biology as well as the fine art of making a shank from a toothbrush with a guy named Bubba.
I’ve got this whole recession/economic meltdown/end of the world thing all figured out. So, you’ve got a kid in college and it’s costing you a fortune. Send them the 
The ubiquitous coffee cup, it’s attached to the hand of 57.8%* of the American public at any given time. See someone without a coffee cup and they fall into one of two categories: the non-coffee drinker or the cranky coffee drinker.
$1499.95 — Buy from 
Sometimes a kitchen gadget comes along that is so revolutionary and fills such an important need, making our lives easier, richer, and increase our joy of cooking and eating–as 
I’ve lived in Virginia for quite a few years now and have seen the classic yellow can of 
It’s that time of the year, gravy goodness will be flowing soon–or it could be gravy grossness if you don’t get rid of all that fat from the meat drippings first. There are all kinds of methods for separating the fat from the drippings, but using a fat separator is, in my opinion, the quickest and easiest. The OXO Fat Separator comes in two sizes, a 2-cup and a 4-cup. They are heat resistant and have a built in strainer. I personally have the 4-cup and love it. OK, did I just say I loved a fat separator? I think I’ve been spending way too much time with all these kitchen gadgets.
“Touch my Le Creuset cookware with that metal spoon and face my wrath–and could you please run to the store and pick me up a can of evaporated milk?” Boy, I wish I had a nickel every time I’ve said that.
At first these meatloaf cupcakes kinda freaked me out. OK, they still kinda freak me out. But I’ve decided–I could probably put away at least eleven of these bad boys.
Eek gads! What is that unsightly thing? Oh, it’s your old plastic salad spinner. Hide that thing quick, before the neighbors see it. A salad spinner is a necessity in the kitchen as nothing is better for cleaning and drying leafy vegetables, herbs, and berries. But plastic? Plastic is so 1997. Bamboo is the new plastic. This Bamboo Salad Spinner works just like a standard salad spinner, but replaces the plastic bowl with an environmentally friendly bamboo bowl for spinning and for serving. A serving bowl you could be proud to show off to your family members, neighbors, or the UPS driver. And you could even burn it if you needed warmth in a freak indoor ice storm. Try that with your plastic salad spinner.
Everyone has a top three list of things they fear most in life. Mine are food poisoning, shower curtains, and being attacked by an angry mob of chickens outside a KFC. I feel I can control the food poisoning fear by frequent hand washing, especially during meal preparation. I must wash my hands a dozen times for every meal I make. With cereal, it’s only about nine times.
The fine folks at Fred have taken the spoon rest design literally and created… drum roll please… The 
When I make beer can chicken I feel very sorry for the chicken. The whole process just seems so wrong, but the end result is so worth it. The chicken is so incredibly flavorful and moist, no other cooking method even comes close. One thing I have a problem with is the beer can itself. Basically you’re shoving this beer can in the chicken and there is paint on the can and the can is getting really, really hot. Too me, in a freaky health conscious kinda way, I’m thinking that probably isn’t very good for us. Hot paint, in direct contact with my food. I mean you wouldn’t dump the contents of a one gallon can of paint, then make chili in that can, would you? So, what’s the difference? OK, maybe that’s not apples to apples, but you get my drift.
When I was a kid I used to spread as much butter as a slice of bread could hold, then stick it in the toaster to toast. I was a child genius—isn’t it obvious? Mom, if you’re reading this. I don’t think that had anything to do with all of the toasters that caught on fire. Some coincidence, eh?
When you absolutely, positively need 1/4” tomato slices, what do you do? Sure, you could dig out the measuring tape, a hammer, and a laser level. Or you could even call in the Army Corps of Engineers, but there is a better way. The 
When I first saw the 