Kitchen Essential

The kitchen also unintentionally shares some other similarities of attitude with Biedermeier — emphasis on veneered surfaces, use of simple lines, distinct metal handles, use of inlay and no nonsense detailing. It also has, I hope, in common with Biedermeier, a sense of quiet fun, including unexpected elements such as cupboards linked into a series of intriguing repetitive small lockers, funny hats on storage pillars, doors with miniature glass windows, Continue Reading »

Not for nothing is the kitchen called the heart of the home.

The family tends to gravitate towards the kitchen at all times of the day and, while it must serve primarily as a food preparation area, it’s good if it also has a comfortable, companionable and welcoming atmosphere.

If there are children in the house, try to incorporate a space in the kitchen where they can play, paint and draw and, when they’re older, do their homework. It will allow you to keep an eye on them while you get on with your own tasks and, at the same time, provide them with occupation, education and company. Continue Reading »

The perfect kitchen is toasty and warm in winter, cool and airy in summer but, alas, the situation is often reversed.

The Kitchen Floor

However magnificent they may look in an old farmhouse, cold, grey flagstone floors don’t conjure up a sense of winter comfort. The fact is, if your feet are cold, so is the rest of you. Ironically, in the right location, solid floors are an important factor in maintaining a good ambient temperature. Continue Reading »

TOPS

The requirements of a worktop are that it should be tough enough to cope with all sorts of attack, yet sufficiently good-looking to be a design element in the kitchen.

The worktop is probably the most hardworking part of the whole kitchen; over the years it has to stand up to all sorts of abuse from knives, hot saucepans, water, kitchen chemicals and certain foods.

Some materials wear better than others or are relatively easy to repair; think about these things when you’re deciding what to use for your worktop. You should also consider what maintenance will be required, and how often; whether splashback edges and corners can be well sealed; if you have a long worktop, how many joints there will be; and then, look at the relative prices of the different materials. These are the practical considerations — after that it’s a matter of making your decision purely on aesthetic grounds. Continue Reading »

Kitchen Storage Behind Closed Doors

Cupboard storage ideas are only as limited as your imagination.

• Glass doors can often be incorporated into cupboard design — these are generally at eye level to show off colour-coordinated china and glassware.
• Plastic-coated wire baskets are popular for storing numerous items from pots to vegetables.
• A tea-towel rack may be useful in a small narrow space.

Continue Reading »

In any kitchen, but especially a small kitchen, where space is at a premium, it is important to make use of all available space for storage.

These DIY projects will enable you to keep kitchen essentials within easy reach. While they are simple to make, they look smart and help keep your kitchen neat.

All these projects are suitable for novice carpenters. Continue Reading »

If you take a look around your well-equipped kitchen at home, with its plumbed-in sink, its spacious oven, its four-ring hob, its refrigerator, dishwasher, electric food-mixer and so on, it is fairly clear that no portable camp kitchen is likely to match up to it for sheer convenience and labour-saving efficiency. It follows, therefore, that when you go camping you should not expect to cook and eat as elaborately as at home. Continue Reading »

Pasta

We believe that pasta may be the one and only reason why we’re still alive and kicking. When all else fails you can always boil some pasta and grate some cheese over it! Quick and easy.

Allow about 3 litres of water for 500 g of pasta, which is enough pasta for 4 to 6 people. Bring the water to the boil then add 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1 tablespoon salt. (Adding oil is a cook’s preference; some say that it keeps the pasta from sticking together, others say this is a myth.) Slip all the pasta at once into the rapidly boiling water. Stir immediately to separate the pieces. Pasta cooks in 8 to 15 minutes, depending on the shape and quantity. Test periodically until cooked to your liking. It should be al dante, which means soft, but not ‘pap’. Continue Reading »

Omelette

The secrets of a successful omelette were recently revealed by a friend of ours who showed us a somewhat unconventional but foolproof technique.

Use three large eggs per omelette (never mind the cholesterol problem), a tablespoonful of milk and a small pinch of baking powder. Whisk until fluffy adding any seasoning just before cooking. Heat some butter in a pan and pour in the egg mixture. A moderate heat setting and a little patience will give you a good start. Cover the pan and leave the omelette to set. It normally takes 3-5 minutes depending on your stove, but keep checking it. Once most of the egg has set, place the omelette under a hot grill for about 30 seconds without removing it from the pan. This will set any runny egg at the top as well as brown the omelette. Then add cheese or any other topping of your choice before placing the omelette under the grill again. When sufficiently browned, fold it over and serve. Continue Reading »

Isn’t it interesting how the truly basic basics of cooking, like how to boil an egg that’s just right or cooking a perfect pot of rice, are ironically the last things we master? What we know (as with everything else), we’ve learnt the hard way. Allow us to make yours a smoother ride. If you start by getting the basics into the kitchen, mastering the cooking basics will just be so much easier.

Cooking (without waves)

If you know how to cook eggs, a pot of rice, pasta and veggies, you will survive. If you can do a decent braai, you may even thrive. So read on and see if you can master the basics. Continue Reading »

Eat your vegetables! This little sentence was drummed into all our heads when we least wanted to hear it. But as the universe is strange, when you move from your mother’s home you suddenly start eating vegetables by choice and you may even become a vegetarian! Most veggies are really easy to prepare, and depending on how you prepare them, they are healthy.

Steaming Vegetables

It is almost always better to steam your vegetables as it is the healthiest method for the tastiest vegetables (you taste the vegetable instead of what’s been added to it). Now if you own a microwave there should be no reason for you to ever steam, boil or cook vegetables on the stove. Most vegetables are quickly and easily cooked in the microwave. Consult your manual — it probably has a very useful table giving you preparation and timing details. Continue Reading »

The pots and pans in your kitchen can make or break all future cooking experiments and experiences. If you’re still using your Mom’s or Gran’s discarded pots and pans, you’re going to have to replace them some or other time. On your first outing to buy a pot, you will find that there is such a wide variety that it is quite hard to choose. Here are some guidelines to help you with this treasure hunt. Continue Reading »

Fish

There is a completely erroneous belief in some quarters that stale fish can be used for smoking, as the smoking process will impart its own flavour to the fish and thus mask any defects in quality. Certainly it is just possible to ’save the life’ of stale fish approaching putrefaction, by smoking, so that it is just edible; but, at the best, only a very inferior product both in keeping quality and flavour can result.

Fish which is to be smoked must be completely fresh to obtain the best results, although this is a good point at which to dispel the belief that frozen goods are not suitable for smoking. This is completely untrue. All deep frozen fish, game, meat and poultry can be employed, and first-class results obtained. Continue Reading »

There are three varieties of salmon with which we who live in the western hemisphere should concern ourselves. Reputedly king of them all is the Atlantic salmon, the fish which runs up the rivers to spawn in Norway, Finland, Great Britain and Ireland and the rivers on the eastern seaboard of the United States and Canada. This is the fish which is famous the world over as a sporting and culinary proposition and is commonly associated with social prestige and affluence. There is no question that the Atlantic salmon is a very fine fish but perhaps his illustrious connections give him a somewhat unfair advantage over his Pacific cousins. Continue Reading »

Shrimps can either be cold smoked whole or as peeled meats. For the former method, the shrimps should have the heads removed and are then washed and drained for 30 minutes. They are then brined for 30 - 60 minutes (according to preference) in 40% brine (1 lb 3 oz salt to 1 gallon water), then boiled in the brine or in plain water, again according to taste, for 30 minutes. The shrimps are then allowed to air dry on racks for 2 hours.

Smoking

The shrimps are then placed in the kiln and smoking is carried out for 1 - 1¹/2 hours at a temperature of 80^° F. The yield of smoked meats after shelling is approximately 36% of the whole raw shrimp weight. Continue Reading »

At its most basic, the kitchen is the engine room that drives the long food processing chain. This stretches from the farmlands and oceans that produce our food to the landfills, rivers, and seas that take the eventual wastes and rubbish. But the chain does not start with the food growers and processors — it starts with you. For it is what each individual consumer decides to buy that ultimately determines the produce — and the price — from the growers and the food industry. The purse is very influential and we, as consumers, have both power and responsibility for making choices. Continue Reading »

The kitchen is the heart of the house, the centre of consumption, the hub of daily life. It is the place where family and friends gather to eat, drink, and chat, share their joys, or solve their problems. It is the base of all domestic operations and the one place where we can “act locally”, and play an active part in protecting the health of ourselves and that of the wider environment.

The kitchen of childhood dreams is a place full of appetizing and tantalizing smells, a farmhouse kitchen, perhaps, hung with polished copper pots and pans and warmed by a glowing fire. However, behind that dream lay the reality for the housewife of long hours of tiring work stoking fires, heating water, hand-washing and ironing, scrubbing and polishing, and cooking. Continue Reading »

How should you cook in a healthy and conserving way and yet still be able to enjoy the results of your efforts? Consider in the first place whether the food, in fact, needs to be cooked for lengthy periods of time. A healthy diet depends to a large degree on foods that are as near to their natural state as possible, thus retaining their vitamin content and nutritional value.

Vegetables should be absolutely fresh, preferably young, and they should be prepared with the minimum of wastage. Fresh raw vegetables and fruit are highly nutritious and retain most of the minerals, vitamins, trace elements, and fibre often destroyed by cooking. They are also good for the teeth and digestion. You can eat the overwhelming majority of vegetables raw, after thorough preparation, which includes washing them thoroughly to remove any trace of possible pesticide residues. You should peel some vegetables, including commercially grown carrots, for the same reason. Raw root vegetables, potatoes apart, are excellent grated and have better, more distinct flavours than when cooked. Leaf and stem vegetables should always be perfectly fresh whether you intend to eat them raw or cook them, since the vitamin and mineral contents decline rapidly once they are harvested. Continue Reading »

The working kitchen divides into six sections:

1. Storage of food

2. Preparation

3. Cooking

4. Serving

5. Dishwashing

6. Storage of crockery.

For efficiency and comfort of operation, it is not only necessary to ensure the layout is right; utensils, gadgets, saucepans must be in the right places.

Storage of food

Just because the larder has always traditionally held all the food, condiments and spices, there is no reason why things should not be changed around to give greater convenience.

What is the point of crossing to the other side of the kitchen to find the stock cubes or sugar when they are required at the cooker or the table? The larder can then be used for longer-term storage of cans, packets and bottles. Continue Reading »

Everyone has their own pet ideas on storing items that no standard kitchen unit could accommodate. For example, units don’t provide little hooks for all those rubber bands we can’t bear to throw away! So full marks to those British kitchen unit manufacturers who do look beyond merely what their Continental rivals provide, and actually try to see what the housewife really needs.

Recipes and recipe books are never provided for. Recipe cards or small notes are not easy to handle whilst making a new cake for the first time. A bulldog clip and a cup-hook attached to the underside of the wall unit solves this problem. Attach the recipe to the bulldog clip and simply hang it on the hook! Winchmore Kitchens have produced a recipe book holder which looks, when closed, like part of the pelmet concealing the strip light under the wall cupboard. When it is pulled out it holds the book — just like a mini-lectern. Continue Reading »