Cooking

Eat the produce, leave the dirt

Today I came home from the farmers market with a full bag of produce for my impending Fourth of July barbecue, and by the time I got everything into the fridge, my hands were covered in dirt.

The beautiful thing about buying local organic foods is that they're free of all of the pesticides and hormones found in the frankenfruit that usually shows up on the shelves in the store down the street. The downside is that, since they travel directly from the mud to the market, I have to spend twice the time cleaning, cutting, and peeling as … Read more

Infrared oven keeps house cool

I'm always reluctant to turn on the oven in the summer time--my apartment is enough of an oven as it is. Infrared ovens can be a good option for a tasty meal without heating up your home enough to fry an egg on the tabletop. Nuwave makes a tabletop infrared oven. The full name of this small appliance is the Nuwave 20322 Pro Digital-Controlled Infrared Tabletop Oven, which may be bigger than the device itself. To operate the Infrared Tabletop Oven, just place food on the racks inside and set the timer: ribs, vegetables and chicken all cook just … Read more

Jenn-Air's 30-inch microwave is a roomy over-the-range option

With this Jenn-Air 30-inch microwave oven you're paying a little more than rival models for more features and a roomy interior for cooking larger dishes.

This oven, model JMV8208BAB, doesn't have speed cook or convection, but it offers a generous 2.0 cubic feet of cooking space and lots of functionality.

The oven's features include a halogen work surface light so you can keep an eye on food as it cooks, preprogrammed one-touch electronic buttons, more/less pads for adding or reducing cooking times, and a warming mode. A 30-second pad lets you heat in short increments. … Read more

Preserve Kitchen offers bright eco-friendly choices

Festive colors adorn the Preserve line of kitchen products. With fun colors such as Milk White, Berry Blue, Apple Green, and Ripe Tomato, these items are sure to jazz up your kitchen. Turns out, while you're spicing up your kitchen, you're helping the environment too.

Recycline, as the name suggests, is a manufacturer that relies on Earth-friendly, recyclable materials. All of their Preserve products are made from 100 percent recycled plastics or 100 percent post-consumer paper. By using recycled materials, the company is helping to preserve natural resources and create an incentive for communities to recycle.

From simple … Read more

GE's Profile Advantium over-the-range taps new technology to cook food faster

You won't have to wait long for food to cook with the GE Profile Advantium over-the-range oven.

That's because GE promises that this 1.2 cubic foot oven can cook up to eight times faster than a conventional oven, roasting a whole chicken in 20 minutes, baking a potato in four minutes, and cooking a pizza in about 5-and-a-half minutes.

The Advantium, model SCA2001KSS, combines halogen lights and microwave power (950 watts) to bake, brown, broil, and grill food. GE's so-called Speedcook technology uses intense halogen light to cook the outside of your food, while also penetrating … Read more

Big flavor from a small oven

When I was 19, I lived on a kibbutz in Israel, which meant that my living space was about the size of my current minivan. Back then, one of the kibbutz members let me use an ancient oversize toaster oven, and I cooked everything in it. It took up all of my available counter space, and because it had one setting--burn--everything I ate tasted like slightly burnt toast.

If only someone had told me about the Aroma AeroMatic convection oven back then.

This machine--about the size of a large crockpot---lets you broil, bake, fry, roast, boil, and grill right on … Read more

Solutions for small spaces

We've talked before about compact kitchens on wheels and on legs. Now let's take a look at two Design Centers from Fagor America that look good enough to complement a high-end kitchen.

In just 50 inches of space, the CX-5 Cooking Design Center resolves all your cooking and basic storage needs--and it looks good doing it, Made of high-end stainless steel, the unit keeps you organized by providing a cooktop in the same space as the pots and pans you'll use with it, so you won't need to run around the kitchen or squeeze into inconvenient … Read more

Hold on, I need to reboot my sous chef

Is it just me, or does it seem like technology is taking over as master of the house?

Technological advances like the ones you see on this blog are making cooking, eating, and entertaining easier and more convenient, but in the case of some inventions, like the KitchenAttendant, we're no longer faced with the responsibility of thinking about what we should eat.

Remember the Intelliscanner Kitchen Companion remote, a handheld scanner that keeps track of your pantry and helps you print out grocery lists? Meet a device that puts the runt remote to shame. The KitchenAttendant is a countertop … Read more

Is the stand-alone toaster an endangered species?

Pity the poor toaster. Like a single person surrounded by married couples, it seems destined to be fixed up again and again, with the promise that this coupling will be the match that lasts.

The latest pairing to come to my attention: a Breakfast Set from Team Appliances, which combines a two-slot toaster with a five-cup drip coffee maker. All the expected features are here, from a removable crumb tray and adjustable darkness settings on the toaster to a reusable filter and automatic shut off on the coffee maker. What's missing? A timer to start your coffee brewing before … Read more