A nice post on Martha Stewart's Dinner Tonight blog detailing ways to save money on food: plan ahead, stay in season, build a pantry, love your freezer.
The blog Sweeetheart Fever posts about a novel way to cook eggs: bake them in muffin tins. If it weren't so hot out, I'd try it this week. I can imagine plunking one of this muffin-tin eggs on an English muffin with some good, sharp cheddar. Mmm.
This past week the New York Times had an interesting interview with a local Ohio grocer who offered his tips on buying high-quality food on the cheap. His tips tended toward the obvious, the silly, and the self-serving: Buying prewashed and premade food because we'll waste less doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to me.
But in these days of shrinking buying power, rapidly rising food prices, and economic insecurity, which we've all felt in one way or another, it does make sense for all of us to think about saving money while eating right and doing right.
I write this knowing full well that absolute costs of food are pretty difficult to figure out, but we've got to at least try, don't we?
So what should a person with a food conscience do who wants to eat right and do right by the earth and the farmers and still save money? Serious eaters want to know. Here are some ideas that might make some sense.
Earlier this week, I took a class at the Brooklyn Kitchen called Ice Cream for Everyone, taught by Elise Maiberger. Basically, it was an introduction to the wonderful world of homemade ice cream making, from simple vanilla to vegan coconut.
In addition to four tasty scoops, each student also received a packet filled with recipes and useful information. I thought Elise's "Tips" page was such a great idea that I decided to make my own, which includes much of her indispensable advice. After the jump, read my top 10 ice cream making tips.
Like wine, olive oil, and lots of other serious eats, there are so many varieties of cheese in the world that it is often all one can do to find just one that they really like. And despite one's best efforts to branch out and discover new tastes, often the risk of veering off course is too high (especially with the current wave of rising food prices) and we end up sticking with what we know. If you feel like you're in a cheese rut, here are some easy upgrades that will get you going again.
There's Cheddar, the cheese, and Cheddar, the place, but there's also cheddar, the verb, which refers to the back-breaking process of cutting and stacking blocks of curds during manufacture. This process aids in the draining and acidification of the cheese and is what gives cheddar its unique tangy flavor and crumbly texture. A similar process is used to make the delicious English cheese Lincolnshire Poacher, but the latter is fruitier and nuttier than most cheddars, making it a worthy next step if you enjoy Cabot Extra Sharp and the like. More upgrades, after the jump!
Photograph of San Francisco's Cowgirl Creamery from Neeta Lind on Flickr
Supermarkets aren't the best place to buy cheese. For many reasons, cheese requires more individualized attention than most supermarkets can afford. Some cheeses are quite fragile unless stored, handled and presented properly. Other cheeses suffer when the wheel is pre-cut and wrapped long before they're purchased. You will also fare better in a real cheese shop, where a knowledgeable cheese monger can help guide you through the sometimes overwhelming selection to a cheese that well suits your taste, or to the wines and foods you've chosen for your meal.
To this end, below are 10 things every cheese shop should have; if a cheese shop nails these, you're in good hands. What do you look for in a great cheese shop?
In 1858 John L. Mason of New York City received a patent for improvements on jars meant for food storage and preservation, including a continuous raised spiral or thread around the mouth of the jar.
This type of glass storage jar was inexpensive, more or less infinitely reusable, easy to clean, and imparted no off flavors, as was the case with metal containers. It became a favorite of home cooks, and Mason’s new jars could be easily sealed, unsealed and resealed with screw-on metal caps—a dramatic improvement over existing methods, which included the fussy and messy practice of using hot wax to seal lids and stoppers into place.
Mason sold his patent the following year and, before long, countless manufacturers were making screw-top canning jars based on his model. Commonly known today as Mason jars or Ball jars (after the most prolific manufacturer of jars of this type), these iconic vessels remain popular for their original purpose, canning, as well as myriad other uses.
Attractive and reminiscent of simpler times, they make for quick centerpieces when filled with simple bouquets, marbles, rocks, candles, etc.
For storing dry goods like flour, cocoa powder, and salt, they are often more practical and airtight than most canisters marketed for such purposes.
Used as rugged, no-fuss tumblers, the jars have an uncanny way of imparting extra refreshment to summertime beverages like lemonade and iced tea (for which they also make practical serving and storage vessels).
Serious Eats community member and food blogger Kevin Weeks shares his tips on cooking for a crowd at NPR's Kitchen Window: "Catering a large event yourself isn't impossible. But it does require careful, even obsessive, planning. My cutoff point is 25 guests unless I have access to a professional kitchen and have professional help. And even then I'll only do it with the right menu.”
"4401": A four-digit code indicates conventionally grown items, here white-fleshed peaches.
Those pesky PLU code stickers that you have to peel off your fruit and vegetables do more than just convey prices to the cashier. If you know how to read them, says Marion Owen at PlanTea.com, they can tell you a thing or two.
Conventional produce gets a four-digit number.
Organic produce gets a five-digit number that starts with 9.
Genetically modified items also get a five-digit code, but that code starts with 8.
Examples
4139: Conventional Granny Smith apple
94139: Organic Granny Smith
84139: GMO Granny Smith
If you want a full list of PLU codes, hit up the International Federation for Produce Standards, where you can look up the look-up the look-up codes and find out even more info. For instance, some PLUs are restricted to items grown in certain regions. (4138, for instance, denotes a Granny Smith grown in East/Central North America.) But if you want to decode those at the store, you'd have some memorizin' to do. And if you're really into it, here's the IFPS's PLU Codes User Guide (pdf). [via Lekkercraft]
A quick portioning tip, from Lunch in a Box
"Biggie," the proprietor of bento-box-mad site Lunch in a Box, is fluent in Japanese and says on her site that she often turns to her library of Japanese bento books for great tips on speeding up the lunch-making process. Here's one she passes along, for storing individual portions of ground foods or thick sauces in freezer bags. Simply fit the food into the bag as flat as you can, squeeze out as much air as possible, seal, then use a chopstick or similar item (a ruler would work, too) to "score" the food. If you want, you can even fold the bag into thirds, along the score lines, to maximize freezer space. [via Neatorama]
Photojojo gives ten simple, but very effective tips for tasty food photography. My major tip would be their second one: use natural lighting. It looks the best and costs nothing—you just have to time your photo with the most appropriate position of the sun.
"Brown butter is one of the great ingredients quietly hiding in your refrigerator." Michael Ruhlman reminds us that brown butter, or butter that has been cooked until the solids turn brown, can be used in just about anything that uses butter to impart nutty and caramel flavors.
Matt at 37signals shares three food tips: make your own soda, order the dish named after its restaurant, and use fresh garlic.
In my experience, this time of year has a way of testing (and overcoming) the capacity of even large refrigerators. Opening the door, out comes a bottle of mustard and a head of lettuce, and a slippery little pouch of baby carrots—and where exactly were you planning on putting that container of freshly made cranberry sauce that you balance in one hand while you stuff and shuffle to make space with the other hand? Oh, and there’s that block of cheddar you looked all over for earlier, crammed in the back, next to the pickles, under the hummus, sort of behind the cocktail sauce and sandwich meat, of course.
Using your crisper drawer as your starting point, you can alleviate some of the clutter, freeing up valuable fridge space for cream cheese loaf and leftover roast beast.
Thinking of buying a fancy rice cooker but don't know which kind to get? Over at Just Hungry Maki Itoh posted a great FAQ about rice cookers regarding size, features, and price.
Don't know if you should eat that tuna sandwich that has been sitting out all day? What about those potatoes that are growing sprouts? Or the 9-year-old Spam found in the trunk of your car? Macbebekin rounds up the best, "Is this safe to eat?" questions from Ask Metafilter in these two entries.
Ed wrote earlier this morning:
"There seems to be more and more choices every year, and I don't know about you, but I think there's a conspiracy afoot to befuddle and confuse us with these choices.
Just consider what we are confronted with: fresh, frozen, frozen basted, free-range, free-roaming, all-natural, heritage fresh, heritage frozen, organic, wild, kosher fresh, kosher frozen. It's mind-boggling."
To help you navigate your way through the turkeys, we've put together a brief guide to reading turkey labels.
Photograph from OS2k on Flickr
Jane Black wrote a fine piece for the September issue of Boston magazine decoding the labels we all see at fish counters—"organic," "day boat," "wild" versus "farmed."
The first myth she debunks is whether it's worth paying extra for organic seafood. Black correctly points out that there are no USDA standards for farmed fish, "so the 'organic' designation can mean whatever the seller wants it to." Her hilarious conclusion: "A fish without an 'organic' label is like a fish without a bicycle." Hey, wasn't that a lyric in a U2 song?
So, yeah. Tomorrow's the Fourth of July. We thought some quick burger-grilling tips might be in order for those of you with the day off and some time to grill.
The Meat: It's the most important part of the burger. Sure, some of your guests may top theirs with all manner of nonsense that may overpower the flavor of the beef, but you want to start with a good base. Chuck that's freshly ground from a butcher you trust (or that's ground at home) is a good place to start. If you're feeling up to it, you can experiment with mixtures that use different cuts, but you can't go wrong with chuck—it has the requisite fat content for a juicy burger. Go no leaner than 80 percent.
Mixing the Beef: Mix the meat as little as possible, whether you prefer the simple addition of salt and pepper or more exotic mix-ins. Overmixing leads to toughness. Toughness leads to anger. Anger leads to burgers you'll hate. Just form some loose patties quickly and without much fuss. They may not be perfectly round or what not, but they'll taste better. And who cares what it looks like once it's on a bun?
Get Depressed: Until a few years ago, I had a problem. No matter how even the thickness of my patties, the center of the burger would swell up on cooking. But I learned a trick from coworkers at my previous employer—make a depression in the center of your patties. With thicker edges and a thinner middle, the swelling will eventually even things out.
Flip Once, No Pressing! That spatula in your hand? It's used for flipping the burgers and used for flipping them once. You know what it's not used for? Pressing down on the patties while they grill. Don't do that! It releases all the precious moisture into the flame.
Flame Retardant: Flare-ups are a part of grilling. For most, simply close the lid of the grill; the reduction in oxygen should be all that's needed to quell the flames.
Photograph from iStockPhoto.com
This week's San Francisco Chronicle offered up a dozen brightly colored pieces on summer picnicking, which you can find here, tied up in a bow. From a speed tour of Sonoma's picnic-friendly wineries and the nearby Jimtown Store to a leisurely loll in Mission Dolores Park with an excursion for the delightful ice-cream concoctions of Bi-Rite Creamery (where the line frequently extends out the door, down the block, and half way to the park). If you don't live in San Francisco or aren't interested in a new picnic venue, you'll still find a nice list of picnic recipes—with options from fattoush with grilled lamb to three kinds of potato salad. In San Francisco, this long weekend will likely present the usual mixed bag of glorious sunshine and blustery cool, but around here that's par for the picnic, so pack 'em if you've got 'em and head for the park.
Do you find yourself continually stumped on what restaurant to try? Add a special occasion and the pressure only goes up. There's nothing like a little personalized concierge service from someone who knows the local restaurant scene backwards and forwards. If you're in San Francisco, Marcia "Rhymes with Garcia" Gagliardi is offering diners a pretty sweet deal through her well-read Tablehopper newsletter. Previously a "friends-only" service, Tip Please offers Gagliardi's expertise for the measly cost of an email. If you ask me, that's a bargain for even a whiff of the kind of inside dope that Gagliardi collects as one of San Francisco's most energetic restaurant reviewers. You fill out a short web form, which asks all the salient facts (time frame, occasion, vibe, budget), wait a day or two, and get some sage wisdom. The only catch is that you report back on your dinner after the fact. Sounds like a win-win to me. You either get to confirm Marcia's magic touch or save the next hungry soul from a restaurant that doesn't live up to its reputation.
File this one under the third "G" -- Unclutterer, a slick new blog that offers advice on staying organized, just posted a straightforward howto about creating a personal cooking notebook, using Post-Its, sheet protectors, and a three-ring binder. It's the site's latest post on reducing kitchen clutter, and while most Serious Eaters might be hard pressed to go on the drastic cookbook diet they suggested in a previous column, I can whole-heartedly endorse the wonders of sheet protectors to extend the life of printed recipes beyond one sauce-drenched session. They're also great for adding pages to the aforementioned three-ring binder without having to rummage through your desk drawers for that ultimate unitasker, the hole-punch. My only amendment to Unclutterer's recipe-binder recipe: spring for a "break-back easel" binder that's built to stand up on its own , saving you time and counter space as you dart between binder, mise en place, and stove.
ReadyMade Blog highlights the best tips from a Chow thread on how to deal with cramped kitchens.
Everyone in my family tends to packratting—my mom has Christian Dior clothes from the 60s in perfect condition that no longer fit still stored away—so my favorite idea is the one that recommends tagging items with tape, removing the tape when you use something, and then tossing out the stuff that's still taped six months later.
Friend of Serious Eats Matt Haughey, who happens to be Grand Poobah of the community weblog MetaFilter, bought a new grill for his backyard recently and asked his loyal followers for tips on learning how to use it.
There are lots of recommendations of books to buy in the thread, many of which don't just have chapters on grilling but are all about it, but the best thing is that people are also sharing both their favorite recipes and their best tips. Here's a bit from my favorite response, from Mr Gunn:
One method taught to many people when they're just starting out is to hold your hand out flat, palm down, fingers and thumb parallel. Feel the firmness of the muscle between your thumb and first finger. Close to the bone of the first finger is the firmness of a well done steak, and as you move out to the side of the muscle, it gets softer. Medium is about half-way out. I don't know if this helps, because you still have to get a feel for it, but some people use it.
Photograph from iStockPhoto.com
Xanthe Clay of the Telegraph goes to Paris to learn how to make the perfect soufflé: "Depending on who you listen to, a soufflé is the riskiest dish of all to cook, or something so easy an eight-year-old could throw one together. The truth, as ever, lies somewhere in between. Soufflés are simple, but they do require an under-standing of the engineering of the dish to be a success."
Clay includes five recipes, instructions on how to properly prepare the egg whites, tips on picking the right dishes as well as a short list of good things to add to either savoury or sweet soufflé bases.
All of Fodor's 5 Ways to Save When Dining Out in NYC are great, but the best to me is tip #1, Lunch Like Royalty: "If you have your heart set on eating in some of the city's fancy schmancy dining establishments, make lunch the day's best meal. By ordering off a heralded restaurant's prix-fixe lunch menu you'll appreciate the spot's distinct flavor as well as the cheaper tab."
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