Equipment

Photo: Manu Bastien www.manuphoto.com

I cook at home on a regular basis and definitely have equipment that I cannot live with out. If the outfit doesn’t seem like chef’s wear it’s because I feel that one should be able to cook in full evening dress!

• Fot instance, I always grind my spices just before I use them so I have an extra coffee grinder specifically for that purpose.
• My favorite cooking pot is a Dutch oven and I have them in various sizes.
• No Mexican kitchen i complete without a comal or griddle and i like a rectangular one so that I can make picadas or other small corn tortillas or sopes for parties.
• A sieve is imperative for straining the pulp from chiles when aking sauces or washing rice and other grains.
• One of the things I hate to do most is grate lemon peel so a microplane is very useful.  I use it for small  amounts of parmesan cheese too though Italians and most professional chefs frown on this
• Anne Mendelson, my friend and co-author, gave me odd-sized measuring  cupes 2/3, 3/4 and 1 1/2 cups and odd-size measuring spoons 1/2 tsps, 1 1/2 tablespoons (etc) and I thank her every time I use then.
• When I want a quick healthy meal I sprinkle Paul Prudhomme’s Magic seasoning on some fish fillets and blackened them in 2-3 minutes in my cast iron skillet.  It is also a great exercise piece of equipment.
• My other loved funnels and so do I The other day we needed to decant an old wine and it was extremely useful.
• My good friend, Arthur Schwartz, award winning writer, radio personality, and food maven (www.foodmaven.com) and prized friend gave me some Joyce Chen kitchen scissors and I can now cut a chicken in half in 2 minutes.
• Because I test recipes, a good scale is imperative when giving exact measures.  It also helps for determining how long to cook a roast or other meat.
• Stayed tuned for recommendations on larger or more expensive equipment