THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 18, 1994 TAG: 9412160086
SECTION: FLAVOR PAGE: F1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARY FLACHSENHAAR, SPECIAL TO SUNDAY FLAVOR
LENGTH: Long : 264 lines
Coffee bean grinders,
And machines that make noodles,
Bright copper cookware,
And peelers in oodles,
Cleavers of quality, knives fit for kings,
These are a few of their favorite things.
WHEN WE ASKED 10 local professional cooks to compile a list of holiday gift ideas for the home kitchen, their favorite things included just about everything but the kitchen sink.
Monroe Duncan of Monroe's in Norfolk even listed a kitchen range.
A set of good knives, a food processor and a KitchenAid mixer were repeatedly suggested. More unusual is the theory from Mike Hall of Bienville Grill in Norfolk that the well-stocked kitchen needs a hypodermic needle - for injecting sauces into large cuts of meat. Amy Brandt of the Lucky Star in Virginia Beach recommends sterile gloves, masking tape and a looseleaf binder.
But most of the items are more typical and can be found in the housewares sections of department stores, at kitchen shops such as the Kitchen Barn in Virginia Beach and Bouillabaisse in Norfolk and at restaurant supply stores such as Frank Spicer Co. Inc. in Norfolk.
The hypodermic needle will require a visit to a feed-and-seed store, and Brandt's three items, a stop at a pharmacy.
Before you shop, you might snoop through the kitchen cabinets of the home cook you're buying for, to see which of the following gadgets, appliances, books and ingredients he or she already owns. MONROE DUNCAN
Monroe Duncan has been a chef and restaurant owner in Hampton Roads since 1979. He is chef/owner at Monroe's: The Way It Was, the Way It Should Be in Norfolk. The restaurant is at the site of his previous restaurant, Piranha: an Eating Frenzy.
``Good cutlery for the home kitchen is a necessity,'' said Duncan, who likes knives made by Chicago Cutlery, Henckels and Sabatier.
High-quality cookware such as that made by Calphalon, Cusinart and Spring is another of his gift choices. And every cook should have a copper mixing bowl, he said, because it is the best for beating egg whites for meringues and souffles.
One of Duncan's favorite cookbooks is ``The Four Seasons Cookbook'' by Charlotte Adams (Crescent Books, 1971). Although it's old, the book tells how to produce perfect sauces, making it a good addition to a beginner's library, he said.
When shopping for a gift, don't underestimate the worth of small kitchen items, Duncan added.
``For instance, you can never find a potato masher when you need one. And every kitchen needs about six vegetable peelers so you can toss them one by one as they get dull.''
The absence of a sturdy, sharp can opener in a kitchen can bring all progress to a halt, he added.
For those who have something larger in mind, Duncan suggests giving a chef for Christmas. ``Why not book a favorite chef to prepare an in-home dinner for two or more?'' he said. Or make a present of cooking classes with that chef, or classes at Johnson & Wales University in Norfolk.
Need something larger still?
Duncan's choice would be a Vulcan six-burner commercial range with matching hood. JOAN BRUNGES
Joan Brunges of Virginia Beach has been a caterer since 1988. Owner of the business Catering by Mrs B., she cooks for groups numbering 10 to 300.
Brunges uses her Cuisinart food processor every day. She believes any cook who doesn't already have one, should. Also high on her hit parade of gifts are a KitchenAid mixer and a microwave.
Another great gift, said Brunges, is a wok. Many folks are unaware of just how versatile this piece of cookware is. ``I use mine for soup-making, deep-frying, stir-frying and steaming,'' she said.
A well-made cleaver, like the ones Brunges bought in Seattle's Chinatown 29 years ago and uses to this day, is an excellent gift. So too are a zester, whisk or supply of wooden spoons to replace those that have become worn or splintered.
Pretty candles, placemats and napkins are luxury items people tend not to buy for themselves, she added.
The sophisticated cook might appreciate upscale ingredients, she said. ``I'd suggest jars of sun-dried tomatoes and capers,'' said Brunges. She uses them, for example, in pasta dishes, omelets and homemade breads. ED AND SUSAN BATTEN
Ed Batten and his wife, Susan, are chef instructors at the Norfolk campus of Johnson & Wales. She specializes in American regional cookery; he, in continental cuisine.
The Battens said they can't imagine a kitchen without sharp knives. A good sharpening stone is a great gift, they said. So is a gift certificate to have knives sharpened at a hardware store or kitchen shop.
In the appliance category, they recommend a pasta machine with a pasta-drying rack or an electric juicer.
A big stockpot is essential, the Battens said. A pizza stone and a pottery or wicker garlic keeper are smaller, more fanciful items that make nice gifts. CINDY GROMAN
Cindy Groman has been a chef instructor at the Norfolk campus of Johnson & Wales for 10 years. Before that she cooked at The Williamsburg Inn.
`As you get better at cooking, you tend to give up gadgets,'' said Groman, ``but you never outgrow your need for cookbooks.''
Although two of Groman's favorites are textbooks for professionals, she feels they also are appropriate for the home cook.
She said recipes work well and can easily be reduced in ``The New Professional Chef'' from the Culinary Institute of America (Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1992) and ``Professional Cooking'' by Wayne Gisslen (John Wiley & Sons, 1993). These can be ordered through local bookstores.
She also recommended the old cooking bibles. ``When I'm at a loss for a recipe, I still turn to `Joy of Cooking' and `Fannie Farmer,' '' Groman said.
The home cook who already owns enough books on the basics might enjoy one that's a bit more exotic. ``Asian Pacific and Caribbean cooking are in now,'' she said.``I hear that Moroccan cooking is the up-and-coming cuisine for 1995.'' BETTY DOUGLASS
Betty Douglass is a home economist and a free-lance food writer living in Portsmouth. She writes columns and occasional stories for The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star.
``My pride and joy is my KitchenAid mixer,'' said Douglass, adding that a good food processor is another kitchen staple.
Cooks who already have these items might appreciate an immersion blender, also called a hand processor, a mixing device that can be inserted directly into a stockpot or saucepan to puree the contents, Douglass said.
Douglass said she couldn't operate without her 4- and 8-cup glass measuring cups, which she uses often to make sauces in the microwave. She also depends mightily on her Oriental cleaver and kitchen scissors, both by Joyce Chen.
A kitchen scale, useful when working with international recipes or preparing precise quantities of food for special diets, is an item many cooks don't own.
Smaller goodies that could be tucked into a cook's stocking include a bulb baster, fat separator, stainless-steel skimmer, professional tongs, a garlic braid, parchment paper, peppermill, wire whisks, straight-edge metal spatulas, rubber spatulas, measuring spoons and cups and a metal scraper for the bread board. MIKE HALL
Mike Hall is chef and owner of Norfolk's Bienville Grill.
Hall likes to give and get gifts of pottery. His three china cabinets of platters, trays and bowls in various colors and styles allow him to make artistic presentations of the food he cooks at home.
Because pottery can be expensive, many people don't buy it for themselves, he said.
Like many others in his profession, Hall believes no kitchen is complete without a good knife and a Cuisinart food processor. And he couldn't do without the coffee bean grinder he uses three or four times weekly.
As for the hypodermic needles: He buys them at a feed-and-seed store, fills them with a mash of garlic, onions and peppers and then injects the mash several times into a turkey before frying it at the Bienville Grill.
``This is common practice in Louisiana,'' he said. ``Anybody who fries turkey knows about it.''
The home cook could use the needle to administer a few shots of appropriate spices to any large piece of meat, such as pot roast or duck, said Hall. The finished product will be flavorful and moist, he said. AMY BRANDT
Amy Brandt is co-owner and head chef at The Lucky Star in Virginia Beach.
Yes, agrees Brandt, every home kitchen should have a food processor, a KitchenAid mixer, a blender and a juicer for citrus, preferably the Mighty OJ Juicer. No one can cook well without good knives, a knife sharpener and well-made pots and pans, including a Dutch oven with a tight-fitting lid and ovenproof handles.
A rolling pin, cutting board, peppermill, large stainless steel bowl and cast-iron pans make good gifts, says Brandt. So does a coffee grinder. (Don't forget to use it to make powders out of fresh herbs and spices, she advised.)
And then there's always a nice set of kitchen towels.
So much for the commonplace.
Brandt's list is also peppered with many out-of-the-ordinary items, which might make nice surprises for the home cook who thinks he or she already has everything.
How about a magnet bar, a powerfully magnetized strip of wood for hanging knives? Piled together in a drawer, knives go dull quickly, said Brandt.
Or fresh herbs in individual pots.
Or a loose-leaf binder with plastic page covers for storing recipes.
Or surgical gloves for handling hot chili peppers and raw meat. Masking tape and permanent marker for labeling freezer items. Disposable paintbrushes from a hardware store for basting. A vegetable juicer, salad spinner, garlic slicer, springform pan or tart pan. Bar pour spouts to cap bottles of cooking wine, making them handy for use.
From a restaurant supply store, Brandt suggests restaurant-style whisks and rubber spatulas, heavy-duty tongs and a vegetable peeler strong enough to peel squash.
Santas who are set to splurge might consider installing an exhaust hood over the kitchen stove, Brandt said. ``This allows the home cook to use much higher heat that is needed to blacken foods.'' JOHN COBB
John Cobb is head chef at Chick's Oyster Bar in Virginia Beach and Buckroe's Island Grill in Hampton.
Cobb suggests arranging a number of small items in a decorative basket. A corer, corkscrew, vegetable peeler and more can be piled high in a basket dressed up with a string of chili peppers, for example.
Because he is frequently designated carver at dinners to which he is invited, Cobb is aware of how few kitchens have good knives. Electric knives, excellent for carving and filleting fish, are making a welcome comeback in the marketplace, he said.
Cobb also recommends a smoker for outdoor cooking, a set of barbecue tools and a cage for grilling fish.
``And one more thing: an oven thermometer,'' he said. ``So often people wonder why their holiday turkey is so dry. They might have set their oven to 325 degrees, but in reality it's running at 375.'' GLORIA GIBNEY
Gloria Gibney is the director of the Norfolk catering company called Renaissance. Previously she owned Savories, a Norfolk restaurant and catering business, and worked at Taste Unlimited in Norfolk and the Trellis in Williamsburg.
Since Gibney bought her Cuisinart food processor in 1979, it has been humming away in her home kitchen.
``I couldn't live without it,'' she said, and she doesn't think anyone else should either. So the Cuisinart would be her first gift suggestion, followed by a good stockpot.
``I own stockpots in 8-, 12- and 16-quart sizes,'' she said. ``Many home kitchens don't even have one.''
For the kitchen already well-stocked with utensils and appliances, Gibney recommends bottles of aged balsamic vinegar, which she uses to marinate sweet and savory dishes.
A seasoned cook, she said, might appreciate gourmet items like fresh shiitake, portabello and porcini mushrooms, available in gourmet shops and in some supermarkets. ILLUSTRATION: RICHARD L. DUNSTON/Staff color photos
DECORATIVE POTTERY BOWL
$25-$35 from Kitchen Barn. Recommended by Mike Hall.
KITCHEN SCALE
$70 from Bouillabaisse. Recommended by Betty Douglass.
GARLIC KEEPER
$16.95 from Bouillabaisse. Recommended by Ed and Susan Batten.
VEGETABLE PEELER
Recommended by Monroe Duncan, Amy Brandt and John Cobb. This style
is available from Tupperware.
POTATO MASHERS
$16.98 each from Kitchen Barn. Recommended by Monroe Duncan.
PASTA MACHINE
$44.95 from Bouillabaisse. Recommended by Ed and Susan Batten.
COFFEE GRINDER
$64.98 from Kitchen Barn. Recommended by Mike Hall and Amy Brandt.
Photo
RICHARD L. DUNSTON/Staff
Monroe Duncan recommends a copper mixing bowl. This one is $89.98 at
Kitchen Barn.
by CNB