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What's your favorite kitchen sound?

Food is mostly about taste and smell, but what's your favorite kitchen sound? Sizzling bacon? Whisking eggs in a glass bowl? What else?

71 Comments:

cooking mushrooms over high heat, it makes a weird squeeling sound when they are moved around

A can of beer opening

the immediate sizzle of ingredients hitting a hot frying pan.

Sizzling is nice, but I love that quiet, "puh, puh, puh" sound that is made with polenta or other thick grains beging to boil.

Nobody asked, but my least favorite kitchen sound is the sizzling sound things make when they boil over onto the oven floor. Then they begin to smoke. Lots of work, not a lot fun.

Mustard seeds popping when you fry them. My least favourite sound is of an exploding pyrex dish. I've only heard it once, but that was enough.

The "pop" of the cork when opening a nice bottle of wine and then the Sizzle as I pour a little from my glass to deglaze a skillet. My least favorite is The KABOOM from the microwave where a spaghetti squash exploded. Blowing open the door and the splat as it lands all over the kitchen.

I'm with JerzeeTomato on this one. Sizzling bacon is the finest sound, taste, and smell imaginable.

I'm with JerzeeTomato on this one. Sizzling bacon is the finest sound, taste, and smell imaginable.

Sizzling bacon - oh, the anticipation!

My favorite kitchen sound is the sound of my Braun coffeemaker's brew cycle finishing with this great expulsion of steam. That means the coffee's ready and there is NOTHING BETTER.

i love the sound of chopping vegetable like carrots and celery and radishes .. the sound of a sharp knife cutting through a hard vegetable and hitting the cutting board...both the action of cutting and the sounds are soothing tome.

i love the sound of chopping vegetable like carrots and celery and radishes .. the sound of a sharp knife cutting through a hard vegetable and hitting the cutting board...both the action of cutting and the sounds are soothing tome.

The sound of searing.

The whirrrrr of the air popper and the jingle of popcorn kernels, followed by that first POP!

garlic browning in oil in a wok right before the vegetables intrude.

I may have to go with the beautiful silence of a kitchen when working well, besides the sporadic bursts of the expediter calling an order out.

The sound of someone else doing the dishes!

Guests saying: Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

@Baha: Heh. That's the best sound, no? That or the dishwasher (appliance) gurgling away. Second to the that, I'll take the whir of my Kitchen Aid mixer kneading a batch of pizza dough!

"Dinner's ready" (hey, it says serious eats, not serious cooks)

When I make devilled eggs at my parents home, the last step is damning the eggs. My father declaiming "Go to hell, eggs!" sends me into fits of giggles. And it's definitely a cooking specific sound.

if I had a KitchenAid, any sound it made would be my favorite kitchen sound

I'd have to say the sound of the big fresh pepper grinder...

A cork being pulled from a chilled bottle of Chablis

Onions sizzling...probably because there are millions of ways the dish can proceed from that point...maybe a sauce, maybe a soup...the posibilities are endless. And it smells so damn good!

I'd say the "ssshhhhh... WHOOSH" of the coffee in a glass vacuum pot being sucked from the top compartment back into the bottom.

Sizzling bacon, obviously.

My favorite visual in the kitchen happens when you salt almost-boiling water for pasta at just the right temperature. If everything is right, the salt dissolves instantly in a sort of reverse mushroom cloud effect, and the water jumps right up to boiling. Amazing. It's about 3 seconds of beauty.

The changing sounds of sugar syrup as it rises in temperature.

Pudding on the stove as it thickens and makes that satisfying plopping sound that lets you know it's done.

That little "Ding!" when the timer on my oven reminds me: "It's ready!"

My wife's voice - when you says "Honey, the porcini mushroom ravioli is ready."

the hum of the kitchen aid

A rolling pin lightly banging on the counter as it manipulates pie crust or biscuit dough or any number of fat laden delights.

The sound a well-baked loaf of homemade bread makes when you thump it. *sigh*

Also, the sound of a pizza peel scraping against the baking stone/oven floor as it takes a hot pizza out of the oven.

wow! such great entries... I think for me the emersion blender as I whir the gravy into blended perfection. yum yum yum

nice one, nita!

my favorite sound is one i became aware of by reading a book by my beloved edna lewis. she said that she could tell when a cake was finished by listening to it, and you know what? it's true! at least it's true with oil-based, soda leavened cakes.

it's a subtle sound, but loud enough so that you can hear it over the roar of the gas flame. it's a sort of a popping sound ... like the sound of a simmer, but heavier.

probably not a good description, but hey, any chance i get to mention grande dame lewis, i'll take.

oh, and i agree with meowises, "such great entries ..."

just reading what ya'll have written makes me feel warm and happy.

viva the kitchen!

my late mother was a brilliant cook. one of my favorite memories of her is the sound of her chinese cleaver mincing garlic (shallots / ginger / scallions etc) on her beloved worn cutting board. it was a soft gentle drum roll that promised delicious things in the hours ahead.

the sound of the steamer on my espresso machine

Cooking cranberries or for that matter blueberries as well, as they pop during the cooking process...it's such a neat sound....it too is the sound of anticipation!

Either the rice cooker bubbling, and then shutting itself off, or a cork emerging from a bottle of wine.

The sound of my husband grinding fresh beans. It's my own personal alarm clock.

Oh, that's easy ! The lovely little plunk sound of moving my puree from the sodium alginate into the calcium cloride. I just well up thinking of grand mama everytime.

I love the "crack" of a perfectly ripe banana when you (forgive the vulgarity), break it's neck.

my fav sound in the kitchen is when someone walks in and says "what are you cooking it smells like heaven in here" least fav would be the sound the dog makes when I step on her foot on my way to the stove with a pot of boiling pasta, quickly followed by the sound of my cussing when I scald myself.

Popping the cork off a fabulous bottle of wine...

Ice cubes hitting the glass, the beginning of a cocktail

The sound of freshly made tea being poured into a cup. I begin to relax after a tough day at that sound.

The heavyish "ploop" sound when my tomato sauce is thickening and developing its flavor, when it is slowly simmering and bubbles bursting to the top . . .

When I'm making stock, and the mire poix has been sizzling for awhile, then you get that great whooosh when the liquid hits the hot pot, and the steam rushes up. The mire poix sizzle is sort of like foreplay, and the big whoosh is the ok, we are getting down to business now!

the "slooshing" sound of slippery linguini al pesto when you jostle it with two big serving spoons (serving claws?)

the buzzer of a timer when some kind of delicious good is finished baking.

I love the hollow sound a loaf of bread makes when you tap on it, and I love the scraping sound as I pull baking sheets out of the oven. I also love the soft, plopping boil that occurs when the butternut squash ravioli we get from the farmer's market starts plumping up and rising to the top of the water- that means they're almost ready to take out and eat with plenty of salted butter and a side salad.

Also, I can't deny that the sound of the toaster popping makes my heart jump. What a great question! : )

That muffled sizzle that occurs when cornbread batter is poured into a hot cast-iron skillet. It's the sound of grandmother's love, really.

The first sizzle in the iron pan, when you slide in your garlic and onions and the oil temperature is juuuuust right...

Bacon sizzling is pretty much impossible to top, but a good steak or a nice burger frying up in a big 'ol cast iron pan is a nice close second.

As to my preference of cooking bacon, I actually prefer the oven method because its easier to get bacon nice and evenly crispy and burned.

I'm with Jason Perlow and his "big 'ol cast iron pan."

ANYTHING frying in my cast iron skillets (from the monster to the ribbed steak skillet to the small egg skillet) usually results in fond culinary memories.

Teapot whistle or sausage sizzling.

That crackling noise bread makes as it goes from the heat of the oven to the air on the cooling rack. The first time I heard it, I thought it was a fan blowing on some paper.

I'm also fond of that non-sound of the plunger going to the bottom of the press pot.

Freshly cracking pepper, bread crackling as it cools, my ice maker dropping another batch, opening a vacuum sealed bag of whole bean coffee...

...my wife sniffing the air and then a sigh of approval (when I am cooking her dinner)

It's not necessarily an exclusive sound in the kitchen, but the gentle *glug glug glug* sound of the first pour from a bottle of wine.

Nobody asked, but my least favorite kitchen sound is the sizzling sound things make when they boil over onto the oven floor. Then they begin to smoke. Lots of work, not a lot fun.

i like the sound of pizza being sliced.

The sound of the hood fans being turned on first thing in the morning, and the shuffle of the morning crew as they prepare for the day.

not a cooking sound but the first crunchy bite of a crispy apple... and anything in the kitchenaid b/c anything im making in there is going to be good.

That pop, squeal then sizzle when one of my homemade sausages bursts slightly on the grill.

As Julia put it, the "quiet cooking noises" of a roasting chicken. Also, the squeaky mushrooms in the skillet, as L'Ecole mentioned. And the gurgle and hiss of the coffee maker when the coffee's just about done.

Onions sizzling in a pan. The sound as they first hit the hot oil--wow! Of course, it could be the smell that aids the sense of hearing. ANything sizzling sounds good to me--such a great onomatopoetic word!

I agree with Livingtoeat: The soft bubbling of a pasta sauce that's been simmering all day.

thanks to PETA, i can now hear live crawfish screaming as they are dropped into boiling seasoned water. when the potatoes, corn and mushrooms join in, it is a wonderful sound.

I love the sound of ice tinkering in a glass, the sound sauce makes as you pour it over a hot stir fry, and the perfect sound of a really sharp knife chopping vegetables on an old wooden chopping block.

B
Hand to Mouth
Making Stock of the Situation
A blog for penniless gourmets

The sound of the dishwasher, followed by the pop of a wine bottle opening. That means the kitchen is clean and we're ready to go outside and relax on the deck by the lake.

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