Check this vid on how to make Halloween cupcakes: mummy, monster and eyeball as demonstrated by Lisa Bracigliano of The Chocolate Swirl at our event last weekend. Need any pastry tips or bags? KitchenArts has them!
KNIFE SHARPENING
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We teach people how to keep their knives sharp every day (watch this demo), and we have an overnight sharpening service for when they've gotten just too dull. Also: blade repairs and re-shaping.
Click here for details.
COOKING BLOGS
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Crash Test Kitchen (videos)
Super Chef
I Heart Bacon
Chef Joanna
Accidental Hedonist
Cooking for Engineers
Kitchen Review
Chocolate & Zucchini
And there's a great local blogroll here:
Public Radio Kitchen
This is a category archive, go to KitchenArts main.
Check out the action from our recent canning event with Donna Wren of CanningDoctor.com. In this vid Donna demonstrates how to make classic dill pickles, recipe at http://tinyurl.com/KApickles. Enjoy!
The Kyocera Ceramic Mandoline is featured today on Daily Grommet, check it out in the video above or click thru to their site for more info. KitchenArts has partnered with Grommet to fulfill orders, you can buy it here for $24.95. Here's my lead in quote from their site:
The Kyocera Mandoline has become one of my kitchen staples. It's adjustable to four different thicknesses ideal for thin slicing veggies for salads and stir frys; I've also found it useful for shaving parmesan cheese and chocolate. Use it on garlic and shallots too, but watch your fingers! The blade is super sharp. Made of ceramic, it will retain good-as-new cutting abilities for years as long as it's treated properly: try to avoid the dishwasher, and store it in such a way that the blade doesn't get knocked around. Highly recommended by local chefs and national publications alike, this tool is hard to beat.
Our second farmer's market trip video can be seen above or on Leah's site, click over and check it out! Tips on selecting veggies, cooking squash (and onion greens!), sampling berries, how to work the market, and more!
Boston food blogger Leah Bloom recently led KitchenArts fans on a shopping trip to the Copley Farmer's Market, providing tips and insight on how to make the best selections. In this vid she provides an overview of the food scene, and discusses the growth in sustainable agriculture and the related raw food and slow food trends. Check out Leah's blog on sustainable food here.
Continuing my series of knife chats, this time a bit on the difference between forged and stamped knives. Knife manufacturers always make a big deal about their steel, but there's less discussion of how the edges are ground. Are forged knives worth the extra $$? Watch the video! (ps sorry for the shaky camera, I tried a new shooting technique on this one that wasn't so great...)
New Item! In this vid Michele tests the new Cuisipro Decorating Pen. Fill it with your favorite sauce and decorate plates, pastries, etc. as easily as writing with a thick pen. We tested it with ketchup...but I'd rather see it full of chocolate sauce! First person to bring a cupcake into the store gets a decorating pen to take home and test themselves. Watch the video for details! Available for $9.95, in store and online.
Twist Biodegradable Cleaning Cloths and Sponges: Another DailyGrommet feature available at KitchenArts. One reusable Twist Clean sponge cloth outlasts 17 rolls of paper toweling, and yet it’s made of natural fibers and is totally biodegradable when you’re done with it. Check the vid, we're partnering with Grommet to offer a pack of Twist products for $15, order them here.
KitchenArts owner Owen Mack appears today on DailyGrommet.com talking about the Mac Pro Santoku (one of our fave knives). Check it out! Click thru to the Grommet site for more info, or buy it here.
And we have a winner! Patrice from the Fenway brought us an ear of corn this morning, so we immediately made her run the new Kuhn Rikon Corn Zipper over it. Check the video and see! Patrice got hers for free, the rest of y'all will have to fork over $11.95 if you want one.
Another new item, another fan challenge: We need to test out the new wide Kuhn Rikon Corn Zipper. First person to bring an ear of corn into the store for us to zip gets to keep the Corn Zipper. (I know it's not really corn season yet...do your best) Ready, set....GO! The corn zipper retails for $11.95. It's available online here.
Imp't knives #2 and #3: paring knives and serrated knives. These two knives (plus a chef knife) will do 95% of your food prep. Other knives are for very specific purposes: boning, carving, etc. So the answer to the "Do I need a set of knives?" question is: No. Not a "full" set anyway.
A good general purpose paring knife has a 3.5" blade. My faves are the Wusthof Classic ($39.99) and the red handled Forschner ($5.95). My favorite serrated knife is also a Forschner: #40547 goes for $29.95. Wusthof makes these knives in a few sizes. The 8" (as seen in the video) is really too short and narrow. Get the 9" or 10" instead.
Coming up next: The difference (besides $$) between forged and stamped knives. Is the $$ worth it? What makes a knife good anyway?
The #1 most important knife to have is an 8" chef knife. Not a 6", and definitely not a slicer with a narrow blade. Watch this video and find out why. The #2 most important knife is a paring knife. More on that later.
Our favorite 8" chef knife remains the Wusthof Classic. It's been our favorite ever since we opened in 1980. This knife is the benchmark, the gold standard. $119.99 in our web store (and in our real store too!) A less expensive alternative is the Forschner Fibrox for $29.95. I'll get into the differences in a day or two. What's your favorite chef knife? Drop a comment and let me know!
Just got in these sweet PolyFlax boards, made of recycled milk jugs and flax husks (!!) I need some feedback from a tester. Want a free board? Watch the video for details. UPDATE: The free board has been given away to John from JP. It took four hours for someone to watch this vid and come in the store. Cool. Enjoy the board John, we await your test notes...
Wow this site Supercook looks amazing. Supercook recommends recipes to you based on the ingredients in your kitchen. We here at KitchenArts (ok, I mean me...) don't know as much about recipes as we should, so that's why I want to be friends. Hey Supercook! Need some super gear? (Story via Mashable) Ok, ok, so I only watched the video above...anyway, off to check it out.
I just came across Bruce Tretter's site Gotta Eat, Can't Cook. He's a self-taught cook out in Westborough Mass. who has started up a cooking basics channel including video demonstrations and tips. In the vid above he talks about hand held or "draw through" knife sharpening. Good advice,and good chopping technique! The white sharpener in his vid is an EZ-Sharp, one of my favorites because ANYBODY can make almost any knife sharp in moments...but Bruce rightly warns against overuse of carbide sharpeners like the EZ-Sharp. They'll wear your knife down quickly if you're not sparing! Regardless, it's the best selling sharpener here at KitchenArts. We carry them in black only, $14.95.
When the weather gets cold (today it's 24F here in Boston) we start selling lots of raclette grills...well, maybe not lots...but more than we do in July. Raclette is an alpen treat kinda like fondue in that it's melted cheese you cook and eat at the table with friends and family, see the vid above (I found the vid online, it's in French!). You melt the Raclette cheese in the little individual holders, and you cook veggies and sausage on the hot plate above. Add a little bread, wine and beer into the mix and you've got a party...er..soiree. KitchenArts carries Swissmar's 8 person raclette (same as the one in the video), $99.95.
My friend Neal writes the Turkey Sandwich Report, a blog about (wait for it...) turkey sandwiches. He's a real pro, and as you might imagine, this is his favorite time of year. In the above vid he demos the preferred technique for dealing with Thanksgiving leftovers. (PS Neal is the head marketing poo-bah at Flying Dog Ales. If you want a good beer to go with that sandwich, ya might drink a Flying Dog).
Chef'N's Emulstir salad dressing mixer is a pretty nifty new item here at KA. Forget shaking and stirring your salad dressings in some drippy bottle--with this mixer you just squeeze the handle to blend the dressing, and store leftovers in the fridge. Nice! Check out this video of Michele showing you how it's done. Available in our online store, $14.95.
Boston Magazine has initiated a video series covering Best of Boston winners...and that means KitchenArts! Check out our video above, featuring yours truly.
Nespresso machines have been our favorite for a few years. But don't just take our word for it! Here's George Clooney:
A demo of the Nespresso D90 Essenza--love it. The D90 does not offer milk frothing (Nespresso's Aerocino is a great solution to that problem--it heats and foams the milk) but uses the same high quality 19 bar pump that's in all Nespresso machines. This machine has a small footprint (great for urban dwellers with limited counter space) and the capsule loading system is very cool. Why can't all kitchen electrics be this nice? The D90 is not programmable for cup size, you turn it off when your cup is full. $179.95 in our web store, silver or red. The C100 has the same footprint and specs, plus is programmable for cup size. $229.95 in our web store. These machines run exclusively on Nespresso's pods. They make great espresso quickly, consistently, and easily...with no mess to clean up.
People always want to know the difference between Cherry Pitters and Olive Pitters. This vid should help a bit (despite our use of a fake cherry!) Yes, a cherry pitter will pit olives--if you're careful. But if you want to do a bunch of olives fast, the olive pitter is much easier to use. An olive pitter will not, however, pit cherries--they usually smoosh. At last! Enlightenment. Olive pitter available online: $7.95
Ahh, the Benriner. Yet another example of cheap is good. The Benriner does not have all the functionality of more expensive mandolines (no french fry blade, no waffle cuts) and the finger guard is worthless, but if what you need is veryfine ("superfine") to medium slices and/or fine juliennes, this is the thing. We sell more of these than all other mandoline styles combined. $29.95 in our online shop.
There are a few julienne peelers on the market, but this one from Swiss manufacturer Kuhn-Rikon is the beauty. Works great on carrots, 'cukes, etc. For full length juliennes without a mandoline it has become a summertime staple. Available from us for $12.95, click here.
STORE INFORMATION
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KitchenArts is closed after 30 years on Newbury Street. Knife sharpening will be handled by the new business in our former location. For details click here.
GREETINGS
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Hi. I'm Owen Mack. My father opened KitchenArts in 1980, the offshoot of an importing business his father started in 1930; you could
say I've got kitchenware in my blood.
KitchenArts is a hardware store for cooks--a shop that is serious about carrying items that get the job done. We're not into trendy colors, trendy designs, or kitchen fads. We don't carry tea cozies, we don't carry tablecloths.
We do carry 248 different kitchen knives, 312 different pots & pans, 7 types of mandoline, 5 zesters, and 1 egg pricker.
Have a question? Ask us...many publications do. You've seen us in Cook's Illustrated, Cooking Light, Elle Decor, The Boston Globe, and the New York Times. Boston Magazine has named us "Best of Boston" so many times we're in the Hall of Fame. We've got an opinion on most anything kitchen-related, and we'd like to share our expertise with you.