Free Coffee from Dunkin Donuts!
Add comment November 28, 2009
Music to cook by… (and it’s free!)
Add comment November 19, 2009
Free Medium Papa John’s Pizza!
Add comment November 18, 2009
Free Gift Tags and Ornament PDFs from Nordstrom’s!
Print my own gift tags – good idea, Nordstrom’s! I think I’ll build a small ski town with the cute holiday Chalets, too.
Add comment November 17, 2009
One Good Pan per Lifetime
I’ve been cooking my whole life and there has been one constant with me for the last 10 years. One pan. One good pan and it’s an All-Clad LTD saute pan. It’s almost my oldest friend, and I’ve spent more hot nights with this pan than anyone.
Consider that I’ve used this pan at least 10 times a night, 360 nights a year for the last 10 years. That’s 36,000 times it has been in my hand over 15,000 btu’s of fire, cooking an entree for a restaurant customer.
The amazing thing about this pan is that I honestly believe that it could do it all over again. Everything about it is still as good as it ever has been. The rivets are solid, the pan lip is round and the base is flat. I’ve thrown out so many pans over the years that have warped and given way over time and heat, but this one – this one pan – has never wavered. It has always been the first choice in a battery of pans, and seen more use than any other.
I imagine with a Dremel and the right wire tip, I could bring back the original pan beneath the layers of carbon built up, but this is a matter of battle scars – a war paint of fire and sauce – a pan patina. I like the way it looks and feels now. Its 36,000 uses to date only beg for more.
If I had to do it all again, I would have purchased 20 of these at the very beginning of my career and saved myself the anguish of buying and discarding inferior pans.
If you have a Chef in your life or the need to cook 2 meals a day for 49 years (35,770 uses), you can find one of these priced right at Macy’s. It will be the pan you will use for the rest of your life.
2 comments November 16, 2009
Fresh and Easy – Cranberry Sauce
So fast. So easy. And so perfect for everyone at the table. Diabetics included.
Take one bag of whole fresh cranberries and one large can of frozen White Grape juice. Combine in a saucepan and simmer with a cover for 20 minutes. Remove cover and reduce liquid by half. Done. Refrigerate.
I’ll bet my friends at Savings.com could dish up deals on fresh cranberries from Ocean Spray and Welch’s White Grape juice concentrate!
Relax. It’s a holiday.
Cheers!
5 comments November 12, 2009
Free Bird is just a Skynard Song.
Turkey time means turkey deals. Perhaps. If you’re in the market for disappointment. Now I’m not going to say that all frozen turkeys are bad but the ones that they are giving away probably are.
You’ve seen the signs. Spend $10 and the turkey is free. Great if the budget is tight but this is one area that you really get what you pay for. This turkey could in fact be from last year! Just sitting in a freezer for 12 months going through daily defrost cycles and refreezing – 365 times since its last appearance.
Think of the turkey as a big orange. The little cells of juice in an orange are just like the tiny capsules of fat in a turkey. Once frozen. Ruined forever.
“Self basting” turkeys are injected with sodium solutions in an attempt to compensate for juices lost in cooking. Not my idea of wholesome holiday cooking but it is a tool some will need. The trick here is to baste with fat. If you baste with the pan juice – a watery juice – you will essentially rinse the fat from the meat. Just what you do not want to do. Best idea is to brush with melted butter and possibly take it to another level by flavoring the butter with lots of fresh herbs. The pan juices will benefit and you can separate the fat from the juice as the turkey rests for awhile prior to carving.
A fresh capon is the height of poultry. This gender neutral bird develops naturally into lusciously fatty flightless fowl. If you have the availability of fresh capons, I could not recommend them more.
If you are really freaking a bit about your kitchen chores forthcoming and have a question, please email me or Skype me at FoodieDaddy Wednesday night from 5-9 and all day Thanksgiving day. I’ll walk you through it.
Cheers!
4 comments November 12, 2009
Skype HELP!
I’ll be going live soon on Skype for Turkey day questions and tricks. Really! You got a question? Skype me….
Diabetic cranberry sauce? Got it covered.
Schedule will follow soon!
Add comment November 7, 2009
