Posts Tagged ‘kitchen’

Why you SHOULD put your knives in the dishwasher

January 18th, 2012

If you listen to the so-called knife “experts,” they always give you the same two pieces of advice:

  1. Buy fancy, expensive knives
  2. Never put them in the dishwasher

The first point is of course, insane. That $250 knife at Williams-Sonoma can only do one thing: cut. And guess what? The $15 knife I bought at Safeway has the same feature. Look, if you’re an eye surgeon or something go ahead and spend the extra cash on knives for your operating room. But for your kitchen? Right, like you’ll be able to tell the difference. Give me a break.

The second point is very strange. No dishwasher? I didn’t spend $350 on a dishwasher to hand wash stuff. “But wait!” they say. “The dishwasher will RUIN YOUR KNIVES!!!!!”

To which I answer: so what? A dryer slowly will ruin your clothes but we all still use them. At best, the dishwasher might make your knives dull slightly faster. But that’s why knife sharpeners were invented. And even if my knives do get “ruined” by the dishwasher in the long run, I’m only out $15 per knife. No huge loss.

So there you have it: ignore the “experts” and throw all your knives in the dishwasher. You’ll save time and have the satisfaction of sticking it to the know-it-alls.

Coffee roasting at home

February 10th, 2011

Coffee roasting

You’re looking at me like I’m crazy, but roasting your own coffee is where it’s at.

It’s pretty damn easy and it doesn’t take much to get started. I tinkered with roasting for years using nothing but a $3 electric popcorn popper I got from Goodwill. But you don’t even need that — Blue Bottle’s James Freeman got his start roasting coffee in his oven.

I got this particular roaster because it has a catalytic converter to reduce the smoke output. I also like the humor of the word “Professional” written on the plastic housing. It’s great for home use, but professional? Please.

There’s a number of places to buy raw coffee beans. Oakland-based e-tailer Sweet Marias is the best.

Anyway, I’ve been using the Nesco roaster for almost a month now, and give it two caffeinated thumbs up.