Craving Some Air Fried Roasted Garlic?

The idea did not occur to me. But I bumped into a review of the Phillips Twin TurboStar XXL this morning and started to ponder.

What can an air fryer do that I cannot do otherwise?

The answer is not that much. But apparently it can do a few things of note. One of them is to roast garlic

… it was air-fried roasted garlic that really blew my mind. You can — without the fuss of heating up an entire oven — have golden nuggets of roasted garlic perfect for smothering on bread in as little as 15 minutes.

There is more

(You can) turn a can of chickpeas into the most delicious happy hour snack? I found that the air fryer does a much better job than the oven does at crisping these legumes. The convection dried each chickpea to crisp perfection.

And there are the fries. And the roast chicken. And … doughnuts

It was Air Fryer Every Day that turned me onto the idea of making doughnuts in the air fryer. The book has a recipe for apple cider doughnut holes that is so good — and for me, it was the single recipe that changed my opinion of the air fryer the most. (These doughnuts were seriously as good as their stovetop-fried counterparts.) I also tried a quick batch using a pre-made crescent roll dough one Saturday afternoon and they were just as delicious as the deep-fried kind, without all the mess.

Dangerous! There is more. So, do I need this? No. Am I curious? Yes.

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The Web in My Kitchen – Dreaming of Better Cooking

Brad Leone offers this piece of sage advice

Take notes while you cook. When you’re deep into cooking, especially if you’re riffing, you may not remember what you did. And if you nailed it when all is said and done, you’ll want to be able to go back and remember what you did. I keep a journal in my home kitchen for jotting down notes.

This happens to me all the time. I sit back after a great meal and say “Wow! How did I get here?”  I remember things in general terms – but not well enough to upgrade my cooking routines.

For example — I experiment with using ground walnuts, but regularly forget to buy walnuts when I am at the food store.

But I am not in favor of writing down notes while cooking. Too much of a distraction. I would like a simpler interface.  A laptop in the kitchen? Or perhaps an Alexa style device that talks to me and records what I want to remember from cooking?

Something along those lines would be very cool. Sadly, I do not see that kind of product on the market. Will it come?

Stay tuned!

Excuse me, Do You Carry Urokotori?

Sadly, most kitchen stores would have to say “no”. Indeed, most would not know how to respond.

Urokotori is the Japanese word for fish scaler — so what we are talking about is a particular design. What’s the big deal?

“With an average one, scales fly all over the place—in your hair, eyes, everywhere! But the side wings on these block the mess. Brass head, great feel, and it also doubles as a meat tenderizer.”

Aha!

Yet another example that it is the little things  that add to our pleasure. A design tweak here, better materials there, and you feel the care that someone has put into the tools that you use.

And there is a store that specializes in just these types of kitchen tools. It is Coutelier in Nashville and New Orleans. BA offers a peek at some of their other products.

Check it out!

 

Orbital to NASA HQ. We are now Ice Cream Capable

After much cogitation, I did it. I bought the Sage.

And I made the first, experimental batch last night.

My initial reaction — the most complicated part of this is buying the ingredients. This machine is the ultimate in ice cream made easy. And the result? I set the “hardness” indicator for gelato and I go a very creamy soft product.

Next up — I will be experimenting with (1) chocolate, and (2) non-dairy (for my son). Almond milk with banana?

Stay tuned!

Lads, The Time Has Come for Home Made Ice Cream

I read this article

And I started to think “If I am going to splurge on an ice cream maker, the time to do it is now. Not in August or September. Now”.

So I went over to Euronics to check out what they have. And they had this Sage model.

It is expensive and it is big. But is it worth it? I then checked out this video

And then this

I found this very positive review of the Sage.

So … I will have to think about this one for a day or two!

OH Lord Won’t You Buy Me a Breville Barista …

You do not need a semi-automatic espresso maker. On the other hand,  if you like a flavorful cup, or if you like a wonderful latte in the morning, you might consider squeezing off a few dollar bills .. that is a few hundred dollar bills … to ge one.

Bu which one?

Don’t sweat it! Epicurious has a wonderful comparison test. And yes, the Breville Barista won, hands down.

As long as you’re pulling shots within the right range of pressure, the Breville espresso maker produces full-flavored, densely textured shots that were the closest to what you might get in a cafe. The concentration compared to other machines was unrivaled, and the crema was dark and varied—or tiger striped, as coffee connoisseurs would call it. Other machines produced shots with a uniformly white or tan crema that could be dense but was rarely flavorful.

Another call to my banker?

Air Fryer Madness

Full Disclosure: I go crazy for kitchen gadgets, no matter how silly they are, I have to try them out.

And so now we have “air fryers”. What are they? They look like this

And they are supposed to be a replacement for deep fat frying. Yes, we are talking about a new way to make french fries and that kind of stuff.

Does it work? Check out Melissa Clark’s thoughtful piece for NYT. Her take is that it does work for certain things, but perhaps not well enough to give it counter space.

Ho Hum! That means I will have to try it!