Good Gadget, Bad Gadget Pt. VI

01 May 2012 9 Comments

by scolgin in Good Gadget, Bad Gadget Tags: , , , , , ,

I have a bad habit of bringing my favorite cooking utensils places, and leaving them there. You may remember the sad saga of my favorite wooden spoon which got left in a ski cabin at Big Bear. Similarly, I left my favorite tongs at a cooking lesson I was giving for my friends’ gourmet girls group. And then I left my next-favorite tongs at the Steve McQueen beach house in Malibu.

A man cannot live long without tongs.

So it was that I was out at Target, shopping for a new pair of tongs amidst the long aisle of mostly useless cooking gadgets. The very same day, I received the first of what will undoubtedly be a “Summer is coming” onslaught of emails from Sur la Table, Williams-Sonoma, Cooks.com and other helpful sources touting this season’s newest and greatest tools and resources for the outdoor cook. More

A Phoenix from the Flames

09 Aug 2011 12 Comments

by scolgin in Recipes, Video Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Among the world’s barbecue meats, next to regal rib-eyes and blissful racks of pork baby backs, chicken is the ugly red-headed stepchild.

More often than not, as I’m sure you’ve experienced at your share of backyard feasts, chicken is ruined on the grill. Rubbery thighs emerge black and blistered. Breasts languish on blazing grates while the host chats and tends to other things, turning them six or eight times over the course of an hour or so and eventually asking, “Do you think they’re done?” (Is it possible to successfully cook a chicken breast on the barbecue? Yes. Is it likely you will encounter it this summer? No.) More

The American Series, Pt. IV — The Soul of BBQ

04 Jul 2011 4 Comments

by scolgin in American Series, Pork, Recipes, Video Tags: , , , , , ,

50 million grills will be fired across America on the 4th of July. On many of them, the breasts of chickens who gave their lives for the event will be cooked long periods at a high heat into chalky oblivion. Burgers that held such promise will be transforming into rocky discs while their cooks chat with party guests over a beer. But on the best barbecues, magic will be happening. And I want that to be yours.

When I contemplate what to grill for Independence Day, my imagination travels the great barbecues of our country. More

Good Gadget, Bad Gadget Pt. IV

15 Apr 2011 9 Comments

by scolgin in Cooking Tips, Good Gadget, Bad Gadget, Observations Tags: , , , , , , ,

Summer is on the horizon. Which means it’s time for a new onslaught of absurd kitchen gadgets. (Next winter’s clearance items.) Kudos to kitchen gadget inventors everywhere for their continued creativity in coming up with an infinite procession of products we didn’t even know we needed. (And, if you’re like me, you’re just clamoring for new gadgets to fill up all that empty cabinet space in your kitchen.)

As usual, when I’m finished exploring the world of the ridiculous, I will delve briefly into the truly useful — which is, sadly, a much smaller category. But first, the Hall of Shame:

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This may be the worst kitchen gadget ever invented. Thank you, Suzanna, for passing this one along:

Tuna press — to press the oil out of the tuna can... I kid you not.

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