Re: [london.food] Odd Bits Of Kitchen Equipment

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From: Rev Simon Rumble
Subject: Re: [london.food] Odd Bits Of Kitchen Equipment
Date: 14:04 on 05 Jul 2007
This one time, at band camp, Simon Wistow wrote:

> Maybe a couple of other things but not much.

You need a rolling pin, of course.  The solid cylinder type are far 
superior to the ones with shaped handles.

We've recently bought a salad spinner and I'm pretty keen now.  We eat a 
lot of salads, and the dressings stick better (and you use less) when 
the salad is properly dry.

A stick blender is the bare minimum of electrical appliances.  I have my 
grandmother's antique Kenwood Chef in storage, but it needs some work.  
I'm quite looking forward to using its dough hook when I get around to 
having it fixed.

Oh and I love our stainless-steel benchtop.  AU$170 at Ikea for the 
bench unit for our barren rented kitchen, which is an amazing bargain 
for a piece of furniture so solid.  You can put hot stuff right down on 
it.  It's nice and cool for pastry rolling.  And  it's so damn easy to 
clean!  Wouldn't want it on every surface, but every home should have 
one.

> A really nice pestle and mortar

A cheap one does just fine.  And is essential.

> a rice cooker (once you use one you'll not go back to the absorbtion 
> method).

I've always wanted one of these, but never got around to it.  I've 
actually only recently worked out how to get basmati rice to cook 
properly.  Some years ago I gave up and started using american long 
grain exclusively, because it's idiot proof.

Back here in Australia, I refuse to buy Australian rice because it's 
ridiculous to be growing such a thirsty crop in such a dry country.  We 
don't seem to import any long grain rice, so I bought Pakistani basmati.  
Following the instructions, I found I can actually make proper rice 
without it turning to glue.

The tricks are:
* Rinse the rice until the water washes clear
* 1:1.5 by volume of rice:water

I'm sure I've tried these tricks before, without success, but the ratio 
seems important.  I'm pretty chuffed to be able to do rice at last.  I 
felt like such a tard.

-- 
Rev Simon Rumble <simon@xxxxxx.xxx>
www.rumble.net

The Tourist Engineer
Just because you're on holiday, doesn't mean you're not a geek.
http://engineer.openguides.org/

I've found Jesus.  He was behind the sofa the whole time.

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