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Holiday Cooking Wishlist
As indicated in my profile line, I’ve collected quite a few kitchen tools over the years. With the holidays approaching I thought I’d offer some suggestions on gifts for you or your favorite home cook. (No compensation or consideration is provided by purveyors of my suggestions.)
With time at a premium, it is sometimes helpful to utilize shortcut methods for food preparation. Tried and true for many years, the crockpot is a common tool used for unattended cooking and most home cooks are already equipped with this great invention. But I have found a pressure cooker as one of the appliances I find helpful during a time crunch. Providing shortened unattended cooking cycles, this wet cooking method provides a result of moist and tender proteins that result from this method when appropriate. The newer countertop cookers (i.e., Instant Pot) are multifunctional and the most capable units can be used as a crockpot, pressure cooker, air fryer, dehydrator, steamer, or rice cooker.
Read the rest of Ron's column below ...
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Sushi and comedy come together
Ronin Sushi and Ramen is teaming up with Soul Joel's Comedy Club to bring you dinner and a show. We call it a Ram-Com. Get it? It's like a romantic comedy only its ramen and comedy... Ram-Com. OK, we're definitely keeping the day job. So here's the deal. If you already have your ticket to any of the shows this weekend just show it to your waiter or waitress at Ronin Sushi & Ramen, which is at the corner of Main St. and Schuylkill Ave, just a few blocks from Westover Golf Club, home of Soul Joel's, and you'll receive an incredible 15 percent off your entire check. If you don't have your ticket go online using the link above and use promo code: sushi for $5 off and you'll receive $5 off of your ticket to the show. We're talking serious savings here!
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Bangin' Brunch Spots in PA
Two local spots made PAEats Brunch Bucket List! The article explains brunch as as "a way to recover from a weekend night out with indulgent food and socially acceptable day drinking, brunch can also be a great time to catch up with family, or to enjoy a quiet, solo venture with a crossword puzzle in hand." No matter your reason for indulging, be sure to check out White Dog Cafe in Haverford, and Nudy's Cafe in Conshohocken for some satisfying brunch delicacies!
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Eggs Benedict / Nudy's Café Conshohocken
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Starr Restaurants, Aramark sign collaboration deal
Starr Restaurant Organization, one of the largest multi-concept and independent restaurant groups in the country with the likes of Buddakan, Barclay Prime, Upland and The Clocktower, has entered into a strategic collaboration with Aramark. The collaboration of both Philly based companies includes an exclusive licensing agreement that will allow Aramark to operate designated Starr concepts and brands within its various markets while providing Starr, which is currently concentrated along the East Coast, with national visibility, says Mike Buzalka in an article on restaurant-hospitality.com. Learn more, and read the full article here! _______________________________________________________________
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Conshohocken staple Lucky Dog closes its doors
On November 30th via Lucky Dog Facebook page, Barrie and Steve, the owners of the gastropub in Conshohocken announced they would be closing their doors. For 20+ years 'the Dog' has been a staple in Conshy, and Barrie and Steve say there was never a day they spent there that felt like work!
Lucky Dog is now closed, and in its place the location will be transitioning to a new husband and wife team with previous experience in the restaurant industry. Stay tuned here as the new restaurant will be opening in the near future.
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Your Guide to Great Food & Great Fun is proud to present out newest feature, an ongoing calendar of fun events in our area. If you have an event you would like to have included just send an email to the A Moveable Feast Guy and he'll take care of the rest!
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Elmwood Park Zoo's Wild Lights
Check out Wild Lights at the Elmwood Park Zoo running November 19th thru December 30th, 5:00 PM - 9:00 PM. Each night of Wild Lights features live entertainment, unique animal encounters, performances, holiday music, and a chance to see Santa himself. Get your tickets here.
Northern Star Farm Winter Fest
Pack up the kids and meet your friends and family at Northern Star Farm on Route 113 in Trappe, PA! With activities ranging from visiting Santa, picking your Christmas tree, to hayrides, a play barn, and live reindeer, this is an event you won't want to miss! Running on Saturdays and Sundays from 10am to 5pm, November 20th thru December 19th, you can find more info and the daily schedules at Northern Star Farms website.
Christmas Village: Philadelphia
Set to return in 2021 with shopping, food, drinks, and ferris wheel! One of the top open-air authentic Christmas markets in the country is back from Thanksgiving to Christmas Eve. Running from November 25th to December 24th, there is something for everyone at the Christmas Village located in LOVE Park at North 15th & Arch Streets. Find more information here!
Winter Wonderland Drive-In Movies
For one weekend only - December 10th, 11th, and 12th, catch some of your holiday favorites on the big screen at the drive-in! The Sunny Brook Ballroom in Pottstown is hosting this family friendly event, and they say space is limited so get your tickets in advance. Find more information on the drive-in here!
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9 pastry-chef hacks for better holiday cookies
Don't toss that rock-hard brown sugar! There's no need for a last-minute grocery store run when there are cookies needing made... Christina Ferrari, owner and chef of the Shoreline Lake Boathouse & American Bistro in Mountain View, CA says to place the brown sugar in a bowl with a moist paper towel on top. Microwave for 15 to 20 seconds and you’ll bring it back to life! Read about more holiday cookie hacks in the article from foodnetwork.com here.
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There's something about the holidays and going to the movies that just goes together. Sign up to be a member of the A Moveable Feast Members Club, post a foodie photo on Instagram with #amfeastagram, or just send an email to the A Moveable Feast Guy and you'll be entered to win two tickets to a Regal Cinemas near you!
Join our Members Club below and you're automatically entered to win every month. Remember, 10 percent of your 99 cent membership each month goes to the Montco Anti-Hunger Network!
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New swag offer
Put your John Hancock here! Send a link to this newsletter to just 3 of your friends, and if they sign on to receive our free newsletter, or even if they don't, you'll receive this incredibly cool, ultra luxurious A Moveable Feast pen! All you have to do is email us at amoveablefeastmontco to let us know you did indeed send the link to three friends and we'll send you a pen! Oh, and just to make it as easy as possible, here's the link!
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... the rest of Ron's column
A Food Saver Vacuum Sealer is another tool that I find utilized much more than I ever expected. Vacuum packing seals food in an airtight pouch for freezing and is handy for breaking down larger packs of chicken or steaks found in grocery family packs or at the local Warehouse stores (Costco, BJ’s, Sam’s Club). The vacuum sealer helpful for leftover storage and can also be used for packing proteins for sous vide cooking.
The prevalence of barbeque restaurants is evidence of this popular food preparation technique and barbeque cooking hobbyists would love a smoker as a holiday gift. Smoking Ribs, Turkey Legs (a la the Disney Parks), Pork Shoulder, Brisket, and Sausages lets you recreate the restaurant BBQ experience at home. My first smoker was a charcoal model that took quite a bit of attention when smoking (purchased to make my own smoked garlic kielbasa when my favorite butcher closed shop). I have since switched to an electric Masterbuilt Digital Smoker which maintains its temperature automatically and periodic pitching of wood chips is all the attention that is needed.
There are a couple smaller items in our kitchen that get a lot of use and are less expensive than these larger items. A digital thermometer that’s frequently seen in a professional chef’s coat arm pocket is indispensable to check the temperature of roasts, steaks, casseroles, bread, and cakes. It removes the guess work inherent in the “touch” method to determine steak doneness and makes a great stocking stuffer. Slightly more expensive but of equal utility in our kitchen is a countertop digital scale. The digital scale is great for portioning out hamburgers for preparation or freezing, weighing up portions for a uniform cooking size (meatballs, biscuit, and cookie dough, etc.), or for scaling recipes up or down (Choose a scale with both ounces and grams unit selections.) Whipping potatoes with a hand mixer can destroy the consistency of potatoes, turning them into a gummy mass, so I use a potato ricer to gently process the cooked potatoes and maintain fluffiness as I fold in my finishing mixture of butter, sour cream, and milk.
In the pizza arena, our oven pizza stone with an accompanying pizza peel comes in handy whether making pizza from scratch, reheating leftovers, or the rare occasion of cooking up the frozen variety. It provides a browned crispy pizza crust and finds other similar uses including Stromboli, calzone, or flatbread. The upscale pizza tool that’s getting some attention is the portable Ooni Outdoor Pizza Oven, fired by wood, charcoal or gas, the oven preheats to 950°F and bakes a pizza in sixty seconds. The quick cook cycle would be great for an outdoor pizza party. Sadly, I don’t own one of these…yet. Don’t forget The Pizza Bible Cookbook that offers recipes for many styles of pizza and baked Italian creations and introduced me to the secret dough ingredient diastatic malt powder. (If anyone needs some, let me know. I have a multi-year supply.)
There are number of recipe books that are a great resource and would help a home chef step up their game. One of my favorites is the Culinary Institute of America “The Professional Chef”, which instructs on cooking terms, techniques, and descriptions of vegetables, legumes, pasta, and various cuts of meat and their recommended preparations.
A couple of my favorite cooking shows “Cook’s Country” and “America’s Test Kitchen” are supplemented in print form by the Cook’s Illustrated Cookbook and Cook’s Illustrated monthly magazine. Paralleling the video offerings, the books and magazine offer a hard copy print version of comparisons of cooking ingredients and kitchen tools. Consider a subscription to Cook’s Illustrated as an ad-free periodical to be added to a library as a handy source for techniques and recipes.
The Internet find J. Kenji Lopez is a staff member of web based “Serious Eats” who has created a cookbook with a scientific approach to food preparation documented in the James Beard award winning recipe book “The Food Lab – Better Cooking Through Science”. His Fried Chicken recipe targets duplication of popular restaurant preparations and he offers many unique methods for food preparation. The book covers the technique and the science of cooking and presents recipes with this in mind.
Some of the favorites in my collection:
- CIA Textbook – “The Professional Chef” (Wiley) - Fantastic reference with recipes
- Cooks Illustrated Cookbook – The America’s Test Kitchen Cookbook – Perfected techniques for home cooking compiled from CI Magazine
- The Food Lab – Better Cooking Through Science - J. Kenji Lopez
- The Pizza Bible – Tony Gemignani – Thorough and wide ranging
- How Easy is That? - Barefoot Contessa Cookbook – Ina Garten (great comfort food)
- ad hoc at home– Thomas Keller (Finer Dining Technique - my go-to Brined Chicken recipe)
- On Food and Cooking- McGee (Explains the chemistry and science of cooking) James Beard Book Award
- Salt Fat Acid Heat- Samin Nosrat James Beard Book Award
Over the years we have tried cooking classes at several locations but found the experience at Sur La Table to be among the best. A full calendar of various cooking experiences is available, conducted in a hands-on modern environment by professional chefs (with an at-home virtual option also available). It makes for a great gift for cooks of all skill levels. We have not tried Williams Sonoma classes, but they are currently offered virtually. A local spot also worth mentioning is Really Cooking with Robin (BYOB) at the Hillcrest Plaza in East Norriton that conducts regular public classes as well as private bookings for birthdays, team building events, bachelorette parties, etc.
If none of the items I’ve listed have synced with your wish list, I can offer a few more ideas. Other items that find some utility in our kitchen include the enameled cast iron Le Creuset Dutch oven and an induction hotplate that provides a way to precisely heat cookware right on your tabletop without the risk of damaging counters or tables (as seen in “The Melting Pot” restaurants). A mini- food processor is good to make small batches of salsa and sauces and also consider an immersion hand blender which is useful for blending and thickening sauces, soups, and dressings right in the prep container. I also own an air-fryer but have not really explored all its capabilities. Sous Vide cooking techniques can be explored with a Sous Vide immersion heater.
If you have any suggestions to add to my kitchen inventory that you find useful, please share them with me!
Ron Knerr is a 30+ year cooking hobbyist who has been a “foodie” before the term was popular. His home arsenal includes a smoker, a sous vide immersion heater, a sausage stuffer, and several crockpots.
Send comments and suggestions to: RonKnerrFeast@gmail.com
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