Noodle Strainers

Understandably, most people use colanders for pasta, but Asians mostly use strainers for the noodles.  The fine mesh gets rid of water quickly and the design of a great noodle strainer is there to help you out in the kitchen.  I recently got a strainer like they use in ramen restaurants.  It's super useful!

It's a deeper strainer with a hook to latch your strainer to the pot.  Oftentimes, a strainer that is not as deep means that the water won't sufficient cover the noodles and consequently, the noodles don't get cooked well.  With this deeper strainer, you may need a slightly taller pot, but it keeps the noodles swimming in the water and it allows the noodles room to move.  I drop one or two portions of noodles into it (I find you shouldn't do more than two portions or else it's too full), hook it on the pot, and work on the rest of my ingredients while the noodles cook.  I used to not even use a strainer when cooking.  I'd just slowly fish out the noodles to a bowl and hope that I got all of it out of the pot.  With this, I've been cooking noodles and easily tossing the perfect portion right into the bowl when ready.  Add soup or sauce and meat and veggies and you have an awesome bowl of noodles ready to eat!

Get it from Amazon

Kitchen Tools: Starter Cooking Sets

You made the decision to be a home cook and start practicing it daily, but what will you do without the pots and pans to cook things in?  There are a lot of options ranging from cheap to expensive, different colors, different materials, even things made for different stoves!

It may be a bad experience for you if you go to Bed Bath & Beyond and pick out the cheapest set to use.  Then, after maybe a month of daily use, your pot is warping and your pan is discoloring. There are things to look out for when selecting your pots and pans:

1. What type of range do you have?  Is it an electric, gas, or induction cooktop?
2. How many people are you cooking for regularly? Just yourself?
3. How often do you expect to cook?  Daily?
4. What kind of meals do I want to cook? Will it be larger or smaller portions?

Once you determine your answers to those questions, you can get a sense for the sizes and number of pans you may need.  You may want a decent range of sizes or you may only need one or two.  For information about the different types of materials, check out this House Beautiful article.

For myself, moving into my first apartment as a senior in college, I was cooking for me and my boyfriend.  I purchased one 12" pan with a glass lid, one small saucepan, one larger saucepan, and had a set of three glass pots (small, medium, stockpot) taken from home.  These functioned well for me since I liked to cook daily and I am cooking for myself and my boyfriend.  Also, everyone else in our apartment often wanted to borrow my large pan because they wouldn't spend the money to get their own.  I shared, but now, I regret letting my housemates abuse my pan or else it would've lasted longer (I had to throw it out after 2 years).

Moving into a new apartment this past year with only myself and my boyfriend, I was happy to buy myself a nice gift of a full set of matching pots and pans.  I spend a long time debating on how much I preferred to spend and what type of set I want to get.  Sales on Amazon finally convinced me to go ahead and buy a nonstick, decent-priced starter set.  I decided that should it last me long enough through when I have a house of my own and a gourmet kitchen,  I would upgrade and get a real stainless set.  So, without further adieu, these are the reviews for items I have owned and recommend.

• Anolon Advanced Hard Anodized Nonstick 12-Inch Covered Ultimate Pan
• KitchenAid Hard Anodized Nonstick 10-Piece Cookware Set

Review: Anolon Advanced Hard Anodized Nonstick 12-Inch Covered Ultimate Pan

Anolon Advanced Hard Anodized Nonstick 12-Inch Covered Ultimate Pan

In buying this pan, I expected it to last me a while since it was a little on the expensive side for starting out.  This is just one pan and it was around $55 when I purchased it.  I took the plunge however, because it was difficult to find another hard-anodized pan at this size for the price.

I used this as my main pan to cook a variety of things while I was in an apartment off-campus.  It was large enough to make several portions.  I could stir-fry, make fried rice, and toss together pastas with ease.

The pan itself was heavy, which is good.  A thin pan may not heat evenly enough and a thicker one may not either.  It was just the right thickness and the solid base was perfect for cooking on an electric range (fits the largest coil).  I chose this one because it is hard-anodized nonstick as opposed to stainless.  Stainless gives great sears but are a little harder to clean when things stick.

I used this pan daily for two years before the food started to stick and there was rust starting to develop from scratches to the inside.  I attribute this to my own fault for letting my housemates borrow the pan and they didn't take care of it the same way as I did.

As with any nonstick pan, you can easily scratch the coating if you use metal utensils or even plastic spatulas.  I always used bamboo wood spatulas to handle my cooking.  In washing the pan, you cannot use an abrasive sponge, such as a wire one, if there is food stuck to it.  You either soak it to wait until the bits lift off or boil water in the pan to ease the bits off.  I always use mild soap and warm water with the soft side of a sponge to wash my pans.

Overall, this pan served me well!

What's in Your Kitchen?: The College Cook, Part 2

Welcome to Edible Culture's mini-series: What's in Your Kitchen?


Today, I'd like to start with...

The College Cook: Apartment Life

Whether it is living in school apartments or an apartment you found on your own, living in an apartment gives you full control over what your eating habits will be.  I had moved out to an apartment for my senior year at college and never looked back.  The key to what types of tools you'll need is what kind of cooking you will be doing and how often you'll really cook.  It's best to make a conscious effort to cook when you can instead of opting for takeout.


Essentials for apartment life:

• A standard set of eating utensils
• A medium-sized bowl (ceramic or plastic)
• A large plate (ceramic or plastic)
• A few tupperware containers (Rubbermaid)
• A mug/cup/tumbler
• Cooking utensils (wooden spatulas, etc)
• A small set of pots and pans
• Microwave (if your apartment doesn't provide one)
• An all-purpose/santoku knife or a set of knives (I got this one)
• An electric kettle (Proctor Silex) or a stainless steel one for the stove
• Coffee maker
• Can opener
• Peeler
• A wooden or plastic cutting board

Extras

• Rice cooker
• Slow cooker
• Blender
• Measuring cups and spoons

Pantry Items

• Salt & pepper
• Other spices (basil, parsley, garlic powder, oregano, etc)
• Vegetable oil or olive oil
• Sugar

As an experienced cook, I had a use for having a wider variety of tools.  This includes getting the knife block set of 14 instead of just a set of 5.  If you are not as experienced a cook, start small since you will likely not need to use so many knives (such as a fillet knife).  Start with at least one large knife to cut raw meats and vegetables and have one or two smaller knives for fruits, smaller ingredients (like garlic), or cutting cooked meats like chicken or steak.

The same goes when deciding on what pots and pans you will need.  I started out with one large pan, Anolon Advanced Hard Anodized Nonstick 12-Inch Covered Ultimate Pan, so that I could easily make anything.  Hard anodized means that the aluminum material was treated to heat more evenly and provide a more non-stick cooking surface.  Having the glass cover allows you to watch things more carefully if you're simmering or boiling.  The size is useful to fry rice, cook vegetables, steam fish, boil spaghetti--you name it!  That's why I selected this pan to start with.  With cooking pretty much every day at least twice a day, this pan lasted me about two years.

It is useful to also have a smaller sized pan for eggs.  That leads me into the pots I had.  For pots, I recommend getting a 2 or 3 quart sized saucepan, also with glass covers.  The pot is large enough to cook 2-3 packs of ramen in one go if you wish.  You can also comfortably cook half a package of pasta.  I bought a set which had a 3-qt saucepan and a smaller 1-qt saucepan (similar to the ones pictured here) which shared a lid.  I used the smaller saucepan as my egg pan.  I also had a larger stainless steel pot, probably 4 quarts, for boiling noodles, pasta, or making soups and stews.

What's in Your Kitchen?: The College Cook, Part 1

Welcome to Edible Culture's mini-series: What's in Your Kitchen?

I thought I'd set out and break down what kind of tools I started with as a college student and items I've added as I've grown as a home chef.  Keep in mind that everyone is comfortable with different things and everyone needs different tools to run an efficient kitchen.

Today, I'd like to start with...

The College Cook

As a young adult and someone who is balancing classes, activities, studying, and eating healthy, cooking while being a college student is a luxury.  Most people probably envision microwaving ramen and popcorn as the most a college cook would do.  Let's break the list down into two sections, dorm life and apartment living.  Today, we'll cover dorm life!


Essentials for dorm life:

• Microwave
• Mini-fridge
• A medium-sized bowl (ceramic or plastic)
• A large plate (ceramic or plastic)
• A few tupperware containers (Rubbermaid)
• A mug or tumbler
• At least two spoons, forks, knives (metal for durability)
• A kitchen towel
• An electric hot water kettle (I use this Proctor Silex one)
• A small bottle of dish detergent and a sponge
• Coffee maker
• A kitchen utility/santoku knife

Extras

• Another set of bowl, plate, and mug for friends/visitors
• A slow-cooker
• A rice cooker
• Wooden spatula

With this list, dorm life is much better than living without and only having campus food or takeout.  Many dorms limit the types of cooking accessories that you're allowed (no hot plates, slow-cookers, etc) for safety reasons.

Microfridges are a good investment (renting or buying) since it would cost just as much to buy a microwave and fridge separately.  Also, some campuses will not allow a microwave of your choice due to power usage, so you'd be left with only a microfridge option anyway.  Microwaves are truly, incredibly versatile when it comes to cooking in a dorm.  You can heat up water, ramen, popcorn, leftover takeout, etc.  Fridges are great to keep a cool drink on hand or to save up leftovers and fruits.

In terms of utensils, I also had wooden chopsticks to eat my ramen with.  I kept two sets of utensils so that if I used one, I could still be lazy and not wash it until I used the other.  It was also good for sharing a meal with friends.  I collected plastic utensils from the campus center in case I ever needed more.  It's also great to stock up on napkins from the campus center or dining halls as well.  Having buttery popcorn in your room will always warrant paper towels and napkins.  Also, if your takeout doesn't have enough, you'll be stocked.

I'm not a coffee person so I only had an electric kettle.  I used it to boil water for my ramen and to make hot chocolate or tea when I got sick.  Electric kettles are quick to heat so you can have hot water ready in less than ten minutes.

Having a decent kitchen knife is good for cutting up fruits or other things.  Mostly for fruits.  Sometimes, you can get away with just having a good steak knife or a paring knife.