I was a late bloomer when it comes to cooking. Until I was in my 60s I ate three meals a day in restaurants. I told myself I didn’t have time to cook, and definitely no time to clean up afterward. I think I may have had a phobia about ovens. The thought of opening a hot one terrified me. Something to do with wicked witches in deep-forest cottages.
My friend, the actor Ian McKellen, is a great cook and he got me started. We made scrambled eggs and vegetable soup together and then he gave me a recipe book with a few dozen easy soups. His method for scrambling eggs avoids frying them, by starting with a cold pan and all the ingredients in: eggs, butter, a little cream or milk and seasoning. Turn the heat on medium-low and scramble, stirring constantly until done. I use a whisk for extra-fluffy results. It’s a bit more work but the results are worth it.
I made progress one dish at at time. Even before the pandemic of 2020 I was baking no-knead bread and making my own pasta. My real breakthrough, though, was when I discovered small kitchen appliances. Now I have about 30 of them, and they make cooking easier and quicker. I rarely use the big, scary oven except for cookies and rolls. I tend to buy quality brands such as Cuisinart, Breville, OXO, Zojirushi, Cuckoo and Kitchen Aid. They work better and last longer. You can save money on ingredients, avoiding pre-made, processed foods by mixing your own seasonings, waffle mix etc.
People hate bread machines. Most people have bad experiences, using them once or twice before they go into storage or donation. The cheaper ones do not produce good results, which require two kneaders. People are ambitious and want to try lots of fancy variations, but they might have better luck sticking to basic multi-grain loaves. A bread machine like the Zojirushi BB-PDC20BA gives you the ability to bake cheap, nutritious loaves of bread without the chemicals, preservatives and sugars of the commercial loaves. I save time and effort by pre-mixing the dry ingredients and putting loaf-sized portions into mason jars. When I want to bake, I use a jarful of mix with the wet ingredients and yeast. I also use the “dough” setting to knead sponge dough that I use for hamburger buns, which are then baked in the regular oven.
An air fryer will also save money versus a full-sized oven. After trying a few of the drawer-type, I settled on a countertop convection oven, the Cuisinart TOA-95. For french fries, I use a stainless steel cutter or just slice them into wedges. I throw them in a bowl and add a tablespoon or two of peanut oil and seasoning. They cook in about 25 minutes and I flip them twice. Bacon cooks in about 8 minutes and chicken thighs (oiled and seasoned) are perfect after 18.
Speaking of french fries, for superior results, cook them three time. First, slice them and parboil in a pressure cooker for about 15 minutes. I use the Cuckoo CRP-P0609S. When done, immediately throw them in to an ice bath to stop the cooking. Then, pat dry and air fry for 13 minutes at 350F until they start to brown. Then spread them on a baking dish and freeze for at least a couple hours (or weeks). Air fry the frozen fries for 15 minutes at 375F et voila.
The pressure cooker is also great for cooking beans. I don’t soak them overnight and I don’t boil them for hours. 75 minutes in the pressure cooker (ratio water to beans 4 to 1) gets them ready.
I’ve given up on gas ranges with their pollution, and replaced mine with induction hot plates such as the Duxtop 9600. Induction is faster, easier to control, and easier to clean. I turned off the gas to my range, put a marble slab on top and set up a couple of hot plates. The only issue is that each one uses about 1800 watts, so they need to be on separate circuits. You might use a 20-amp extension cord for one of them, installed using a raceway, but your electrician can do a better job, if needed.
An electric wok is an amazingly versatile (and portable) way to cook vegetables, meats and stir-frys. I take mine out onto the patio to cook outdoors, so my fire alarms don’t alert. The Breville Hot Wok is best for many reasons. It’s heavy but that’s a plus. If you’re concerned about non-stick coatings, go with the Lodge cast iron and use it with one of the induction hotplates above.
For waffles, I mix up the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in 1500 gram batches. Then I use about 300grams of mix with egg, oil, milk (or buttermilk), vanilla and cinnamon for a few days’ worth of batter that goes into the Cuisinart WAF-F40 waffle maker.
For boiled eggs, the egg pod is the first device I’ve found that actually works well.
For popcorn, the Cuisinart CPM-700P1 is the best I’ve found. Just be extremely careful and wear oven mitts when handling the bowl after popping. Others I’ve tried burned some kernels or blew popcorn and unpopped kernels beyond the limits of the bowls.
I will never again buy a refrigerator with a built-in icemaker. Leaking water inside your fridge is no fun. The cubes tend to escape their buckets into the depper recesses. The buckets are too small and difficult to maneuver. I’ve switched to a couple of Nugget Countertop Ice Makers, one upstairs and one downstairs. You could pipe them in, but I don’t have any problem filling them with pitchers of water. The ice melts after about 16 hours if you turn the machine off, but generally keeps a supply of ice ready for use at any time by recycling.
Don’t skimp on your coffee grinder. The Baratza products are noisy but produce great results. The Encore is for brewed coffe, the Sette is for espresso. For brewing coffee, nothing beats the Moccamaster.
For making ice cream, the Cuisinart ICE-21P1 is the only one I’ve found that works well. I use about half the amount of sugar in the recipes, maybe 3/4. The Ninja creamie was a disaster for me.
A vacuum sealer will save you lots of money. Use it to freeze leftovers. Make large batches of marinated meats and seal up usable portions to freeze for later. The “chamber” types are best, but very expensive. A top-of-the line Foodsaver like the Elite is a worthwhile investment. The cheaper models do not work as well.
A pasta maker like the Philips 7000 allows you to quickly and easily make a variety of fresh, delicious pastas: linguini, spaghetti, penne, orcchiette, lasagna etc. Just pour in the flour and add water. You can mix in egg if you want. You can mix up flours like semolina/durham, 00, whole wheat, all purpose and rice. The noodles will be ready before your water boils. It takes less than ten minutes and fresh pasta cooks faster than dried. Cleanup is tedious, but worth it. You can make 500g (5 goodly portions) at a time, and dry what you might use later.
With a rice cooker, all you do is pour in a cup of rice, add water and press a button. Zojirushi is the best brand, and they start at under $100. I’m crazy, so I bought the one with induction heating, fuzzy logic and the works that sells for about $900. The more you spend, the more you get in terms of perfect rice, but $50 gets you 90% of the way there.
Between the bread maker, rice cooker, pasta maker and air fryer you’ve got a different variation of starch for each meal. All unprocessed and chemical/preservative free.
Everybody understands the usefulness and versatility of blenders for everything from smoothies to soups. Vitamix and Blendtec are the gold standards, but there are some brands that are just as good or better, for less money. My Vitamix is in storage while I use the superior Waring Commercial MX1000XTX. With blenders, it’s all about the horsepower and the Waring has 3.5 of them. The result is the smoothest and most consistent drinks, sauces and soups.
I use a small food processor, the Cusinart Mini Prep, to make mayonnaise from eggs, salt, lemon juice, mustard and oil. A larger food processor like the Hamilton Beach is for chopping onions, celery and carrots for soffrito, mixing up egg or tuna salad, or pulverising blocks of cheddar cheese.
You only need to know two words about countertop mixers: Kitchen Aid. Some people swear by the Ankarsrum, but that’s an entire lifestyle.
If you think you know what goes into the ground beef you buy at the grocery, but you might be surprised. Once you start using a meat grinder, you’ll never buy pre-ground again. A basic one with multiple cutting discs will work just fine on a small scale. For ground beef, first grind using the large holes, then a second time with medium. (Small holes are for sausage.)
A basic meat slicer is worth having available. Watch your fingers!
Squeezing citrus for orange juice and lemonade can be done with an electric model or a manual one. I’m not sure which is better. A combination is probably best.
Salad spinners are genius. I have three of them, because they not only clean lettuce and fruit, they can be used for storage in the fridge. Just tear up a “dirty” head of lettuce into the basket and spray some vinegar on to disinfect. (I suppose that’s part of the reason it’s in dressings.) Then fill the bowl with water and slosh around to rinse. Empty the water and spin. Empty the water again and your lettuce is ready. Oxo is the best brand.
With a budget of $4,000 you can buy a complete set of these appliances. They will all last pretty much forever and will start saving you money on day one. Every restaurant meal you substitute with home-cooked will probably save $50 for a family of three. If these appliances make cooking easier or feasible for you, the payback might be a year or two at most, while saving you time and effort.
I’ll add more as I think of them.
