what's cooking? part 5: 2017-2027

Although I do covet Smeg and Big Chill fridges.

most annoying thing is that the trash can is too far from the cutting area. if i had my way they would be closer together.

― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Tuesday, June 12, 2018 5:05 PM (three hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is a good one.

my layout is pretty inoffensive; a big u shape with a peninsula with seating and the fridge on the opposite wall. if i had more space i'd add a center island because it's the best place to do prep. i'd def get a double wall oven if i could.

we added a butcher block in the middle of our kitchen (family heirloom of my wife's), it is slung low so I mostly use it for mortar/pestle grinding but it is extremely handy to put things on when you are in the middle of a project, islands rule

buzzfeed had an article on DJ Zedd's house. Most of it was whatever but I did like his costco room and the vacuum at the bottom of the kitchen cabinets that you can kick dropped food to get vacuumed up.

Trash placement is an excellent point. I was gonna put it near the sink/dishwasher opposite the island where I'd be doing prep, but maybe it should be at the island.

I have decided to say fuck it and put the rangetop in the island instead of against a wall. This is a highly controversial move in the kitchen design world, apparently, but I'm doing it anyway. This means a hood hanging over the island, but I can rig it so that it is over my sight line when I am at the rangetop.

Architect is urging me to put in a speed oven. I've never had a speed oven but it gives some more options than a microwave and could supplement the BRIGHT ORANGE WALL OVEN if for some reason I needed more baking power.

i just read about speed ovens for a minute and they sound like expensive bullshit

I have never heard of these either. I was trying to figure out if it was morelike a toaster oven or those weird mocrowave/oven combos that are all over europe.

yeah sounds like the latter. idk, i only use my microwave to reheat leftovers and melt butter, but it cost like 150 bucks and does those things fine. if you have a good-quality wall oven with convection idk what this thing is getting you.

So apparently you have a microwave mode, a convection mode (for baking), and a combo MW/convection combo mode.

I'm like you, destroyer, with the reheat and butter melt. But I guess having a second small oven isn't the worst thing, especially since I do a lot of cooking just for 2 ppl and it would be nice not to have to preheat the big oven all the time.

I'm really into toaster ovens but probably because I started using them at a much later age (when my house wasn't sending enough electricity to my oven so I was relying entirely on my toaster oven). They really can cook almost anything.

if my house didn't have a microwave-sized cutout over the range i probably wouldn't even have one of those b/c you can indeed get a lot of shit done with a toaster oven.

my new oven has a screaming-fast preheat time so i fire it up for all kinds of things now. not the best for energy consumption but it's a nice change after years of having underpowered gas ovens.

i hate our cabinets: they are impractical & all have huge doors thag dont catch properly & that swing so wide you have to stand a foot away for clearance, those would go first.
our counter is tiled & the grout gets soooo grungy. its gross. so i would get rid of the tile & i replace with something solid, even formica fuckit i dont care
gaps between counters & appliances otm
i would put a range over the stove
i like the ones with the built in microwave
and i would replace the flooring with faux wood laminate or something dark & easier to clean than shitty cream vinyl

also this would take serious remodelling but i hate that the kitchen is cut off from the dining room, i would rather it be open & more social.

omg i'm definitely not the cleanest person ever but a tiled counter would actually cause me to lose my mind

My current counters are 2-inch tile. Both surface and blacksplash. Royal blue with white (or used to be white) grout. LOL 80s I guess.

Ppl seem to be into induction cooktops for modern kitchen renos. Not I. Basic 4-burner gas range with one simmer burner and one mega BTU burner (I'll be able to pull off the grate and put a wok on directly! Totally going to end up burning the house down!).

Counter in this place is granite-like but it has widely spaced grooves, they’re not grouted they’re just grooves disrupting the counter surface for no reason. Do not get these counters.

My folks redid the kitchen about 13 years ago, counters are something called Silestone which has I think been bulletproof.

xp that's cool. i like my induction range but only have it b/c gas isn't available in my 'hood.

I found an old kitchen thread started by Jaq (miss u, Jaq!). Apparently I should poll single vs. double sinks. I know which camp I'm in.

Silby I'm gonna do Silestone, glad to hear your folks have been pleased. Actually I'm thinking zinc for the island, but that may be a totally stupid idea i dunno.

i have heard good things abt silestone

i like this topic so here's a little pano of my kitchen (it's open to the dining room which is where i was standing to take this):

https://i.imgur.com/gzKSJz9.jpg

my initial reaction when i saw this kitchen was that the peninsula + open layout creates a dead corner which is clearly visible on the far left. if i did a full remodel (unlikely) i'd consider ditching the peninsula and just extending cabinets/counters further down in a straight line, then adding an island. the peninsula is nice to sit at but still creates wasted space.

other than that i'd replace the counters with granite (prob will do that anyway next year). also to the right of the range is all our trash/recycling...once upon a time there was a steam radiator there until someone realized that having a radiator right next to a stove was extremely dumb. so the radiator is gone but i'd love to custom-build a counter extension with trash under it.

our cabinets are 1940s-era but fine...i don't see much i'm crazy about with newer cabinets that would cause me to replace them.

That's a nice layout! I'm in more of a Euro-sized space, but a prior reno (house is 1916) opened up the kitchen to the dining room--so it feels more spacious but still has some counter/cabinet limitations.

we put in a dark grey quartz silestone and have been happy with it. biggest upgrade in the whole remodel was the big two trash/recycling can pull out drawer. Only option before then was a small bin underneath the sink. there wasn't even floor space for a large bin on the floor in our tiny kitchen space. Could not live without that trash can drawer. I think the newer cabinets are worth it for the hidden hinges, slow close everything, and just maximizing space. For example, the narrow horizontal face below the sink flips down so that you can put the sponges, etc in a couple little baskets there. worst part of kitchen reno is not having a kitchen while it's done.

I have a white caeserstone stone and stainless steel counters. I know caeserstone is supposed to be stain resistant but I find that some red wine does stain it. I'm still a big fan of ikea cabinets. We put some in our first house (a basic lower end white model) and they held up really well for 10 years until we sold the house.

don't think i've ever seen ss counters in a home before. you like? i just got a new apt. that has the exact same kitchen counter tiles as my olde sf apartment of 23 years. hoping that's a good omen. moving in 2 weeks

My first house we got the ss counters made locally. Just double plywood cut to fit and then wrapped at a place down the block. I loved them. It was a smallish kitchen in so it made things brighter, more streamlined. I found it easier to clean than stainless steel appliances (which I don't like, but I somehow end up with them). The apt I am currently in came with stainless steel counters because the guy had just removated. The tap water is pretty minerally and hard here and the air is dry/dusty, so the ss is a bitch to keep looking clean/water spot free.

I really prefer counters to be one color, so I would always go for ss over a granite type of look (which is why I like my apartment that has white caeserstone). I would love to get poured cement counters one day.

our kitchen has stainless steel counter too, as well as Corian. Not a combo I'd have chosen (either on their own would look nicer) but it is practical

Yeah, we had a butchery block wood island with the stainless steel counters in my first place and that looked fine, but mixing it with other things might be weird. I guess it depends on the size of each piece. Right now even the baseboards under the counters are stainless steel and they kind of drive me nuts with how dirty they look sometimes.

This is why I am thinking about zinc countertop on the island and just letting it get thoroughly patinaed.

I think that would look amazing.

yeah, bar in sf, the toronado has zinc counter/serving area and i've always liked the simple utilitarianness. and it seems indestructible.

Made an Italian-themed feast for Father's Day. Before cooking, I whipped up some very strong frozen mango cilantro margaritas. Then I cooked up a few recipes from Lidia's Mastering the Art of Italian Cuisine, which is fast becoming my favorite cookbook. I made pork loin with balsamic onions, asparagus and cheese, and savoy cabbage and potatoes. It was a ton of stuff to juggle, but it was all very delicious. Now my son is whipping up a batch of chocolate chip cookies for dessert.

Have been gaining a lot of confidence in my cooking over the past 6 or so months. I went from dreading it to being excited about throwing together a meal. The process can still be stressful, but it's getting better.

Made a delicious smoky sheet pan chicken with cauliflower tonight. Features thighs and legs tossed in a paprika and vinegar marinade and then baked on sheets with potatoes, cauliflower, onions, and green olives. Had a bit more prep than I was anticipating, but then just gets tossed on the oven til ready, and tasted great!

that's a great feeling, well done

Made a potato galette from Smitten Kitchen’s second cookbook for the second time. Great use of a mandoline and very little work for a pretty impressive potato and cheese pile.

i made awful tacos last week (i know i know idk how u screw up tacos but boy did i) so tonight i waged taco redemption. spicy lime-marinated grilled chicken, homemade pickled vegetables, slaw, the whole nine yards. redeemed!

xp

The chicken I made tonight was also from Smitten Kitchen.

Not cooking again until the daytime temp drops below 80 degrees. So...September.

I don’t like the Smitten cookbooks, even though I think Deb runs a great blog (and I’ve emailed with her). For whatever reason, her voice seem to me to translate into book form.

Anybody doing anything special foodwise on the fourth? I made seitan burgers once a few years ago and it was the best veggie burger recipe I've used so looking forward to making that for friends and relations.

i grilled some chicken thighs and have been eating nothing but tacos for days
that's sort of how i'm going with cooking these days

make food to eat, eat it
i may have lost my desire to learn anything new technique-wise but i haven't lost the urge to experiment with assembly/flavor

Nothing for the 4th I don't think but I'll make potato salad for my July 14th block party, probably early the day before as it will mean the heat and sauna effect of boiling 5 lbs of potatoes. You can trust me, though--that potato salad has NEVER gone uneaten at any party. Clean. People take it home.

On the day of the party I'll cede the field to my bf who will make 3-4 racks of ribs in the oven and destroy my kitchen with home-made barbecue sauce in the process while I drink iced wine and sweet tea outside w my friends & neighbors. Best day of the summer imo.

had some flat rice noodles laying around that i wanted to use up and found this nice simple looking recipe: https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/hot-pepper-noodles
have a vegan that i was considering and found a recipe for vegan oyster sauce. man, the dish was sublime on account of this component: https://omnivorescookbook.com/homemade-vegetarian-oyster-sauce/
just sayin'

that sounds worth doing -- how long do you think the sauce will last once it's made? weeks? months?

recipe says it's freezable otherwise 10 days-ish imo. i added the optional miso btw. i also put twice as much in as recipe called for to up the flavor so only have about one more large stir-fry's worth leftover

large = how many servings?

This is very timely. I am embarking on a massive Use It Up project for fridge/freezer/pantry. I have flat rice noodles that need Using Up without purchase of additional stuff that will itself need Using Up!

Perhaps I can enlist this thread in some Use It Up challenges? For example: a quite large bag of (good quality!) dried shiitake mushrooms? I only seem to use four or five at a time. At that rate they will last me like five years and I want to finish them in about 3 months.

make this sauce and give extra to friends or freeze it!

Oh wait I failed to look at the sauce recipe! Even more timely!!!