kitchen

Make Your Own Yogurt Incubator

I originally stumbled across this great Instructable detailing how to make a straw slow-cooker, and was so thrilled by it that I soon made one myself. After the first attempt I discovered that it made a great incubator for home-made yogurt (I currently incubate my yogurt for around 24 hours for maximum probiotic action). As a result I modified the design slightly to easily accommodate a 2 litre jar. I find that 2 litres will probably last around a week for two people depending on what you are using the yogurt for. I like to drain it and make it into cream cheese and then make a tasty probiotic mustard with it for one thing.

The Hay Slow Cooker (hooikist) was invented in the Netherlands around 1900 and especially popular during the Second World War, when heating fuel was scarce. Nowadays it is forgotten, which is a pity as it can save up to 80% on cooking fuel costs. The Hay Slow Cooker is ideal in temperate climates for long cooking food in liquid such as beans, pulses, rice, grains, stews with meat like goulash, chicken pots like coq-au-vin, potatoes, porridge, soup, etc.. In warm climates a solar cooker is probably more practical. –kadewei

My Favorite Kitchen Helpers

My Favorite Kitchen Helpers

These are some of my most helpful friends in the kitchen. I tend to like to do things as manually as possible, I think this is just habit from growing up in a place without much electricity. I also find that doing things this way gives me a good workout. I have often thought of putting together a cu ...

The Basics of Spirituality

The Basics of Spirituality

One should not pass over these things, simply saying they are food. They are in reality a complete civilization. -Abdulhak Sinasi, Camlicadaki Enistemiz (1944) I really like the philosophy and spirituality of the Mevlevi (a Sufi brotherhood which originated in the Seljuq period, under Mevlana Ja ...

Kitchen Education Manifesto

Kitchen Education Manifesto

I discovered this, written by a Shaker while I was studying at the Culinary Institute of America. One of the most fantastic aspects of that school is the huge library they have of culinary works from across the centuries. I was writing a paper on the Shakers. When I first read this I got goose bum ...

Kitchen Community

Kitchen Community

During the Winter Olympics I helped out at Lazy Gourmet which was very busy catering to French House, General Electric Hosting, Price Waterhouse Coopers, events for the Polish Government, Vanoc, Richard Branson and a bunch of other stuff. Given this line up, and knowing Lazy Gourmet's reputation as ...