We rather covet a French door fridge. Have you seen these? The fridge is on top, with side-by-side doors, and there is a freezer drawer on the bottom. We love having the freezer on the bottom, and the two doors of the fridge just seem more adaptable and reasonably-sized in a small kitchen. Here are some of the main brands and models of French door refrigerators — from high to low!
Heirloom apples are something to get passionate about. Old-fashioned breeds of apples offer tastes, textures, and unexpected delights that just aren’t found in those supermarket Red Delicious apples.
These are some of the reasons that Slow Food and Renewing America’s Food Traditions Alliance (RAFT) are proposing 2010 to be the Year of the Heirloom Apple, with efforts to save at least 90 heirloom varieties.
Q: Longing for spring, I decided to make a classic Italian Limoncello. I got the recipe from Francis Mayes’ book In Tuscany. The recipe calls for the peels of 8 lemons. So now I have a pile of naked lemons, and I’m looking for something to do with them.
I already have a small jar of lemon juice from a few lemons last week, and I’m looking for something more original. I’m also trying to avoid carb centered things right now – I’ve “gone Primal” and only partake of sugary or carby things on occasion.
Do you and your readers have any good recipes?
Sent by Susan
The answer, of course, is: It’s both!
Look at this oversized measuring cup from King Arthur Flour’s Baker’s Store. It’s a 3-cup measure, which is actually very handy for measuring out large quantities of flour for big batches of bread and cookies (if you’re not using a scale, of course).
But it also does double-duty as a teeny-weeny saucepan, and we can think of a lot of uses for it!
Are you working on cleaning out a cluttered freezer this week? Take a look at this tip from reader Alice, who was having a hard time keeping her freezer organized. She came up with an ingenious (and cheap!) tip for adding an extra compartment.
Here’s a story for you Curees. It turns out that most Americans have terrible habits when it comes to cleaning out the refrigerator, and appliance makers know it. So they are waging a campaign to educate consumers on how to best use their refrigerators, and, it turns out, they are also working to accomodate consumers’ bad housekeeping habits. Here’s how.
Q: I was at a party recently and my foodie host gave me a small bottle of bitters starter to take home with me. I completely forgot about it until recently, with all the buzz about bitters shortage.
Does anyone know how to make bitters from a starter, or have any thoughts on what I should do with this stuff?
Sent by Katie
This week a year ago we were discussing Marmite and marmitouts, peeking inside Mark Bittman, Julia Child, and Uncle Thorvald’s kitchens, attempting to create an anatomically correct LEGO cake, and showing you how pressure cookers work. Read on for these posts and more from a year ago this week.
A snapshot of Curees’ progress from our Kitchen Cure Flickr Pool: Here are snow day pancakes from cneu, who says: “what better way to clean out the freezer? we made a nice compote/syrup out of the rest of our summer berries today…YUM.” Yum indeed – a great example of clean-out-the-freezer cooking!
Is winter over yet? We got a whiff of spring, and suddenly we can’t wait for the garden, and fresh lettuce, and tender young growing things. One of our chief kitchen consolations, late in the winter, is lemon. We squeeze it over everything, savoring that tart, fresh flavor, and the promise of sunnier days to come. Here are nine savory lemon-dominated recipes that will bring a little sunshine to the dinner table.
Thank you so much to our good friends at Saveur! We discovered yesterday that they nominated us for an award in their 1st Annual Food Blog Awards. We are nominated in the Best Kitchen Tools & Hardware Coverage. We’re very honored!
Take a look at the nominees in our category and the other categories as well. There are some great blogs to be found here. And of course, if you’re inclined, we’d love a vote. But truly, it’s an honor just to be nominated, and to be in such illustrious company!
• Saveur’s 1st Annual Food Blog Awards
Q: I found a taco recipe that I’d really like to try. It calls for “Mexican Seasoning.” I usually avoid buying this type of premade seasoning mix, preferring to buy spices I like and use separately and then mixing them as necessary.
What blend of spices could I make myself that would be comparable? Thanks!
Sent by Chelsea
This week of the Kitchen Cure is all about cleaning out your pantry and refrigerator. Given that it is also Kitchen & Bath Month across our network, and that we are discussing kitchen hardware, appliances, and materials all month, we thought it would be appropriate to start with the refrigerator! We are curious: What kind of fridge do you have?
How’s your fridge cleaning and pantry purging going? If you’re deep into cleaning your refrigerator, you may have found a few bottles of this and that with just a smear left in the bottom. Do you scrape the last bits out, or just chuck the whole jar into the recycling?
Well, here’s one great tip from Martha Stewart on getting full use out of the last little bit left in the mustard bottle.
I clean everything with tomato paste. Copper, stainless, silver… let it sit a bit and then scrub off.
The Maiden Metallurgist, How Do I Clean the Bottoms of My Pots?
Q: I finally have a hanging pot rack and love it, but not the bottoms of the pots. They’re a collection of copper, stainless, aluminum and Teflon. Any help in cleaning and care of each of the different metals? I know they’ll never look like the ones in the catalogs and lifestyle mags, but anything would be an improvement!
Sent by Nancy
What are you listening to as you clean out your pantry and your fridge this week? Need some beats for your Kitchen Cure? Here’s a peek at Kitchen Curee Swisstine‘s mix. She says: A mix of Q-tip, Corrine Bailey Rae, The Smiths and Snob Scrilla.
Herbed, salty shortbreads, a chewy and fresh farro salad, and a retro key tea towel — all in today’s Delicious Links!
French onion soup is an utterly delicious thing. It is elemental in its goodness: It is made of just a few basic things (onions, broth, salt, pepper) and yet it transcends those simple building blocks to become such a deeply dark and flavorful dish. Here’s a basic template for making French onion soup; it’s one of the simplest, most frugal things I know how to make, and so supremely satisfying too.
