After watching these videos, I’ll definitely consider Blendtec’s Total Blender for our next blender!
Will It Blend: Golf Balls
Will It Blend: Coke Can Smoothie
Will It Blend: Marbles
Will It Blend: Rake Handle
Plus, it nice to see the resurgence of hokey corporate cinematography.
We’re a couple months shy of living in our new home for a whole year, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to give a critical review of our appliance choices.
Oven: Frigidaire GLEB27T9DB Double Oven
We’re really happy with it. The controls are easy, food cooks evenly, it’s easy to clean, and convection makes baking several trays of cookies a snap. There are a few annoyances that we’ve encountered, but they’re all minor: At times, one oven seems to take a while to get up to temperature; one of the convection fans occasionally makes noise; and hot condensation sometimes builds up around the door and sprays onto entering hands. The only pan I’ve ever had trouble fitting in the oven was an extra-large disposable aluminum tray, but pizzas, turkeys, lasagnas, etc., all fit fine.
As for the Sabbath/Yom-Tov features, they work as advertised; it’s really nice to be able to adjust the temperature on holidays. (I recommend keeping an oven thermometer inside to monitor the temperature, since the display doesn’t change.)
In any case, for $1,300, I think it’s a great value. If I had the space, the 30″ model would have been ideal.
Cooktop: Dacor SGM464GG
The big draw of this cooktop was its integrated gas grill, something I especially wanted to due to our lack of outdoor grilling space. While I enjoy having the option to grill, I’ve learned that excellent ventillation and a dishwasher should be required accessories. We’ve had trouble keeping smoke from the grill under control with our existing hood (which doesn’t exhaust to the outside) and the greasy parts (thankfully all removeable) would be a terrible hassle to clean without a dishwasher. On top of it, the grill definitely has hot spots and cool spots, and cooking takes longer than an outdoor gas grill since there’s no cover to trap in the heat.
As for normal cooking, it’s been a struggle getting used to gas burners, knowing how high or low to set the heat. Simmering is a challenge, but the included simmer platter helps once you get the hang of it.
We don’t use the cooktop at all on Shabbat or holidays. It’s spark-ignited, so it can’t be turned on during yom tov, but I’ve never felt comfortable leaving on gas appliances unattended anyhow.
Overall, the convenience of a grill is nice, if imperfect, and instant gas heat is also a welcome improvement over electric.
Dishwasher: GE Triton XL Built-In Dishwasher (GSD6200JWW)
This choice was a bit less critical than the previous, made mostly in terms of price and place of manufacture (I prefer buying American). Since we weren’t concerned about kashering it (or about hard water), we went with a cheaper, vinyl interior, but everything else has been top notch. The “pots and pans” cycle gets our pots and pans clean; the “china and crystal” setting gently scrubs away a Sabbath’s-worth of china and crystal, so far with no damage to stemware or our plates’ gold trim. I had to bend back one spoke on the top rack to fit the largest piece, but the dishwasher accomodates all our Dacor grill’s parts. Only the grate requires some after-wash scouring to get tough char off.
It’s not particularly noisy, but I don’t really care about noise, since we can set the dishwasher on a multiple-hour delay for overnight operation, or just close our kitchen doors.
I’ve been using the Alligator vegetable dicer for a few months now, since my mother and I both bought one at Williams-Sonoma. We had the chance to try it in the store, which convinced us to buy it, but I really wanted to give it some work before coming to any firm conclusions.
The premise is simple. Open the device, place an appropriately-sized vegetable chunk (usually a half or quarter of an onion) on the plastic base, and very firmly press the Alligator closed, causing the metal grid to forcefully extrude your vegetable into a perfect 1/4-inch dice.
By and large, the Alligator delivers as expected. Onions are a snap — I never use a knife to chop them anymore, but I’m careful to hold my hand over the onion as it emerges so the pieces don’t fly all over the kitchen. Fresh peppers work reasonably well, but some extra force is needed to get through the tough skin. I’ve also had success with slices of potato, slices of carrot, chunks of celery, and seeded cucumbers.
Clean-up is pretty easy; on occasion, onion gets stuck in the metal grid and requires scrubbing.
While I highly recommend the Alligator, improvements are possible. It could be heavier overall, employing a metal frame, rather than plastic, and the cutting grid could be sharper. A collection bin over the grid would also be a nice touch. I’d also enjoy one with a larger size for a 1/2-inch dice.
If you’ve been paying any attention to my ramblings on kosherblog, you might recall my obsession with BBQ thermometers - or more specifically, my interest in creating the ultimate BBQ thermometer. I’m happy to report that I have succeded, and created the worlds first BBQ thermometer with an embedded web-server for remote temperature monitoring. Take a look at this screen-grab:
That’s a live graph of the internal temperature of a beef brisket (PROBE2), and the temperature inside the smoker (PROBE1). (Click the image for the complete screen-grab.)
Here’s what the device looks like. A non-descript black box with wires sticking out of it. And a Linksys wireless-internet bridge connect it to my home network. The thermometer and the bridge both need to be plugged in, so the area around the smoker had extension cords everywhere - not a problem as long as it doesn’t rain, right? The meat probes that I was using came from a neat little Williams-Sonoma meat thermometer that I bought on sale for $9. Relax - I’m not going to go into detail on the internal workings. Unless you ask me to :)
I left the smoker on while I went to work, checking the temperature periodically from my Treo 600. While I was at the gym that evening, my brisket reached the target temperature and I headed home to take it out. Here’s a picture of what I saw on my Treo. When I got home, I was greeted by a perfectly done brisket, complete with a delicious smoky crust. You’ll notice from the images that it was after midnight, but that didn’t keep me from enjoying a piece or two while I was slicing it up. A little slice of carnivore-heaven.
So there you have it - my BBQ obsession meets my inner electronics-hobbyist and creates a tool for better BBQing. If that doesn’t interest you, don’t worry - I’m currently working on a review of “Dr. BBQ’s Big-Time Barbecue Cookbook“, by Ray Lampe. I hope to have that ready for you tomorrow - with a recipe of course.
After about two years of evaluating the different kinds of pans we registered for and received as wedding gifts, I think I’ve come to some useful conclusions about what works for me in the kitchen. One, Calphalon’s hard-anodized flat-bottomed wok is a terrible choice for anything resembling stir-frying (hmm, a wok that ought to stir-fry, go figure). Two, despite Cook’s Illustrated’s never-ending love for All-Clad products, I just can’t get the hang of purely stainless-steel pans. My food just sticks way too much.
So, I’ve cooked and cooked and settled on a line of pans that works particularly well: Anolon Titanium. I have two now, a 12″ French skillet and a 5-quart covered saute pan. They’re dishwasher-safe, food develops a reasonable fond but rarely sticks on the hard-anodized surface, and it’s not the end of the world to use metal utensils with them. The stainless-steel handles stay cool and have a comfortable shape. Also, since the pans are heavy-weight aluminum, they retain and distribute heat very well. For all that, and the piece of mind that they’ll last a good, long time, I don’t even mind the price (skillet - $75, covered saute - $130).
The best of every world! But, in LeVar Burton’s timeless words, you don’t have to take my word for it: pick up an 8″ skillet at Amazon for $19 and give it a shot.
Several months ago, our cheap cheese graters broke due to heavy usage. The folks at our local Sur La Table recommended Cuisipro brand graters, and had an ample selection from which to choose. I bought two — the fine grater (for hard cheese like parmesan), and the coarse grater for softer cheeses (cheddar, mozzarella). Both graters work acceptably for parmesan, but softer cheeses don’t stand a chance against the coarse one.
The holes in the grater are so small that the cheese (especially mozzarella) becomes a torn-apart, pasty mess before the shredding is done, and I end up wasting more cheese than shredding it. Plus, the shreds that do emerge are so thin that, unless you’re in a very cold environment, they all stick together into a giant glob.
I suppose I could try the “ultra coarse” variety, but, instead, I found a cheap box grater with really big circular shredding holes that handily shreds 1-lb. blocks of Cappiello mozzarella on one side, and Miller’s Parmigiano-Reggiano on the other.
My wife and I closed on a condominium this week, and given the scheduling of the purchase and length of our current lease, we’ll have a couple months to get the new place in shape before we move. Given my affinity for the kitchen, we’ll be replacing some of the appliances. I started by consulting the Star-K appliance guide, and visiting each manufacturer’s website to collect information on their approved models. I laid the data out in an Excel spreadsheet for easy comparison. Here’s what we’ve chosen so far:
OVENS
The kitchen has an existing electric oven and microwave built into a 27″-wide wall space, but the oven is of a certain, older ilk that does not make wise use of its overall volume. The insulation around the oven cavity is substantial, and thus, the interior cooking dimensions are quite small. Luckily, manufacturers are doing good things with 27″ wall ovens these days, and offer substantially more cubic feet of interior volume.
Because all major U.S. manufacturers offer “Sabbath” modes in select models, our search is a bit easier, though Sabbath-compliant features vary from brand to brand. The Sabbath mode will typically disable any automatic 12-hour shut-off; disable beeps, digital displays, and interior lights; and sometimes allow the temperature to be changed indiscriminately on yom tov. On models with that last feature, it’s quite preferable to have a numeric panel to punch in temperatures (3-2-5) rather than a dial or up/down arrows that leave you guessing what the temperature is. (Certainly, over the course of the year, we don’t do an incredible amount of cooking on yom tov, so it’s not such a big deal.)
With plenty of religiously-sensitive models out there, we’re mainly left to choose from plenty of other nifty features that vary from one model to the next, like fully extendable racks (Dacor), temperature-probe cooking (Dacor, GE), convection (all brands, some models), self-cleaning cycle (all brands, most models), hidden bottom heat elements (most brands), and more.
In terms of our priorities, we definitely want a self-cleaning model, convection would be ideal, color isn’t so important, and temperature-probe cooking might be nice. Oh, and price: the simplest double-oven models (sans accouterments) start at around $1,300 MSRP and climb considerably higher, but actual retail prices can be much lower than MSRP depending on a variety of factors.
With all this in mind, and our spreadsheet in front of us, we quickly settled on the Frigidaire GLEB27T9DB. It has convection in both ovens, a numeric input panel, self-cleaning, and a bevy of other features. The Sabbath mode on this model is such that the temperature may be changed at any time on yom tov. Its MSRP is $1,749, but a Boston-area appliance supplier gave us a price of $1,249.
Wanting to see one in person, we visited our local EXPO Design Center, where we were told that they no longer carry Frigidaire products because they’re the “Yugo” of the appliance industry: less expensive, but poor quality. Dejected and confused, I decided to consult my parents on their recent appliance purchases. Turns out they have Frigidaire ovens, a Frigidaire cooktop, and a Frigidaire fridge, and they’re very happy with each of them.
Choice made!
COOKTOP
This choice was much easier, because I have peculiar tastes. The kitchen already has a perfectly useable five-burner gas cooktop, but since the condo has no porch or other outdoor space suitable for grilling, I really wanted a cooktop with a grill. And Dacor makes the perfect product. Four burners and a 10,000 BTU gas grill all in one, model SGM464GG. The Star-K approval was reassuring, and as a further nod to proper kosher use, Dacor sells a stainless-steel cover for when the grill is not in use to prevent dairy splashes from treyfing up the fleishig surface. The cooktop retails for about $1,200; nothing to sneeze at, but much cheaper than the “commercial-style” burner/grill combinations from Viking and Wolf. Plus, if we sells our existing appliances through the Want-Ads or Craig’s List, we can recoup some of the expenditures.
DISHWASHER
No research done yet. Recommendations welcome.