Carefully Outfitting Your Kitchen (Part 1)

The Simple Dollar recently published a list of pots, pans and knives for a beginner to get to start cooking

That blog is usually spot on with money advice, however I think this time people are being told they need to buy a lot more than they do to get started cooking. He preached restraint then told you to buy 10 pots. They said sets are silly then suggested you buy a set of knives. They were right you are going to ruin things but they didn't think about all the other parts of a beginner's mindset. A beginner will:

• Ruin Food
  
• Ruin Pots/Pans/Dishes
  
• Misuse Knives
  
• Possibly Give Up
  
• Hate Doing Dishes
  
• Will always want to use the dishwasher
  
• Sometimes find they don't like cooking that much
  
• Have have no frame of reference to pick out a knife/pot they like
  
• Have a hard time justifying expensive dishes, and if they don't feel awful when they don't use them if they quit

I'm starting a three part series on how to outfit your kitchen, slowly and cheaply at first, then costing more money if and only if the new cook feels this is worth continuing. By the end, they'll be able to cook any amount of any kind of food for whomever they want. Even after the beginning, you'll be able to turn out edible and delicious meals for 1-5 people.

In this first portion, I'll get you started with what you could buy someone for "Their First Apartment" and yet not have a bunch of clutter that just confuses them and takes up space. The following list is skill-independent. It is enough to cook most things while not spending much money.

At this point you're just starting out and are possibly going to give up on this. This is a small investment that has a real chance of paying off for you, but at the same time, you won't feel like an idiot if you end up never using it like many Americans. (If I thought making you feel like an idiot would help make you keep cooking, I'd suggest more expensive stuff. I think you'll just not cook and feel like an idiot).

For a newbie, I suggest wooden spoons because:

• Dishwasher Safe
• They're cheap
• Doesn't Hurt Teflon Coated Pans
• No one ever got burnt grabbing a wooden spoon (that wasn't on fire)

You need only 1 knife and 1 cutting board. You're just starting. You really don't need more. For the "Big Pot" a huge aluminum one from a cooking supply store will be good enough. You can also buy them at places like Amazon and Bed, Bath and Beyond. For the other two pots, buy something cheap and coated with Teflon. These will probably be thrown away, although they may last a surprisingly long time (I finally threw out a pot I purchased in 2002 that was of this quality).

Here is a list of a reasonable amount of "gear" to get your kitchen able to cook enough variety you don't need to go out:

• 1 Microwave (I'm assuming this is already available)
  
• 1 Oven (I'm assuming this is already available)
  
• 1 Stove (I'm assuming this is already available)
  
• 1 Box (Cheese) Grater
  
• 3 Wooden Spoons
  
• 1 Big Pot (at least 4qts, preferably 6) and lid
  
• 1 Saucepan (Teflon coated 2 or 3 quart) and lid
  
• 1 Fry Pan (Teflon coated, at least 8 inches)
  
• 1 9x9 Glass Baking Dish
  
• 1 Cookie Sheet
  
• 1 set Dry Measuring Cups/Spoons
  
• 1 2-cup glass measuring Cup
  
• 1 slotted plastic scoop (like to scoop a casserole)
  
• 1 Silicone spatula
  
• 1 Plastic Colander
  
• 2 Metal Bowls
  
• 1 Plastic Cutting Board
  
• 1 Stamped Steel Chef's Knife (i.e. Crappy knife that doesn't stay sharp long but is cheap and will work for now)

Will allow cooking of:

1. Any boiled/poached food (e.g. Broccoli, Potatoes, Shrimp)
   
2. Any pan-fried food (e.g Panir, Sausage, Quesadillas)
   
3. Many roasted foods (e.g. Roasted Bell Peppers, Roasted Rosemary Potatoes)
   
4. Many seared foods ("Fried" Tofu/Steak falls in this category)
   
5. Salads (Mix them up in the bowl)
   
6. Nuts/Snack Mix
   
7. Biscuits
   
8. Pancakes
   
9. Gravy
   
10. Pastas
    
11. Rice Dishes
    
12. Most Sauces
    
13. Brownies
    
14. Cookies
    
15. Casseroles
    
16. Lasagnas
    
17. Sausage
    
18. Fried Hashbrown
    
19. Gellates (a pie wrapped up like a Crunchwrap(TM) then cooked on a cookie sheet)
    
20. Chili
    
21. Stew/Soup
    
22. Fried Eggs
    
23. Omelets
    
24. Poached Eggs
    
25. Scrambled Eggs
    
26. Stovetop Mac and Cheese (Homemade is easy, delicious and better for you)
    
27. Melted Chocolate Foods (the metal bowl on top of the big pot == double boiler)

On Amazon, I put all these into one place, and came out with a price of $194 before shipping. I'm going to be switching out comparable items over the next week or so (and as suggestions come in) to try to get the shipping cost down. Right now it's in the 40's, I hope to get that down into the 20's.

Amazon is not the best price for some of these items, but you'll *easily* save the $200 (or even $240) within 2 months of cooking for yourself rather than eating out for every meal. You have 27 kinds of things to make, that is more than enough dishes to hold you at home eating for two whole months. You'll get away with an even cheaper start bill of you go by a cooking supply warehouse. A word of warning: don't get fooled by kitchen specialty stores that try to look like supply warehouses. If you don't see restaurant gear there, it's not where you want to be (at least right now).

Subscribe to make sure you catch part 2 of the series. If you want recipes for "beginner" versions of any of the above, comment and I'll post all of them together.

--Michael

Cheese and Pepper Enchiladas, Fried Jalapeños, and Sauteed ZucchiniCorn

Today we're making food from Mexico.

Main Dish: Cheese and Pepper Enchiladas

This is out of Sundays at the Moosewood Diner. We wanted something simple that dealt with the fact many fresh veggies are not yet available in stores. We use the fresh corn tortillas that are sold throughout the US. They come in a stack and cost about 2 cents each.

Inside they will be filled with chilies, bell peppers, cream cheese, cheddar cheese, cottage cheese and onions. They will be doused in a homemade enchilada sauce made from onions, coriander, cumin bell pepper and chilies.

We will serve them on a bed of rice (as suggested).

Fried Jalapeños

This is an amazingly simple dish stolen from Willy's Mexican Grill. They have something on their menu they called jalapeño poppers. This is a misnomer. A jalapeño popper is a stuffed jalapeño that is fried. What they serve at Willy's isn't stuffed (or even breaded).

They slice longitudinally through the jalapeño in two different directions, leaving parts all connected at the stem, dangling in 4 parts. You then take this and throw it in a fryer (stem and all). You then let it fry till soft, then remove, dry some residual oil off of it then salt and squirt lime juice over it. They're delicious and the frying lessens the heat of the jalapeño quite a bit. They are priced at 50 cents at Willy's, which is quite a bit of markup from my calculation.

Sauteed Zucchini Corn

After not finding something simple enough to complement this rather simple meal, we decided to take to the internets and look for something tasty or tasty enough once adapted. We found this misnamed dish. There is nothing slightly casserolish about this dish, but I think it can be turned into something tasty.

First off, while butter would be tasty and work well with the corn (evoking the "buttered corn on the cob" idea), I think the dish would be just as tasty if lighted up a bit. So we're going to substitute olive oil here for the butter.

As "fresh" tomatoes aren't ripe, we elect to used canned diced tomatoes (which are). As we're going to lighten up and simplify the dish, a little bit of acidity in the dish (from the tomatoes) isn't a bad thing, so we're going to half the sugar. In addition, we're going to serve it with ribbons of chopped cilantro on top.

--Michael

Empanadas, Pinto Beans, and Tomato Lime Soup

Today we're making something a little Mexican/Caribbean.

We're making empanada filled with what we call, "El Pollo Chicken". Yes, I know, El Pollo means "The Chicken". However, that what it ended up being called over time in the house I grew up in. My mother makes this out of real chicken. We, out of Quorn. It is inspired by the chicken they serve at El Pollo Loco, however, not exactly the same, being more Caribbeanesque with the pineapple juice.


Marinade For "Meat":
1/3 cup Lemon juice
1/3 cup Pineapple Juice
1/3 cup Lime juice
1/2 cup Oil
1 teaspoon Ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon Garlic salt
1/4 teaspoon Pepper


With it we're serving spicy beans in cumin, stock and love:

Canned Pinto Beans (Rinsed Extremely Well)
Cumin (1.5 tbsp per can of beans)
Jalapeno Peppers (1 per can of beans, sliced into rings)
Can of Veggie Stock (1 per 3 cans of beans)

And a soup from the Sundays At Moosewood Resturant Cookbook called Sopa de Lima. It is a tomato based soup with limes, garlic and chiles, we well as some monterey jack and cilantro.

In addition we are serving a delicious rum punch from that same cookbook. I must share the mix with you:
1 oz Pomegrante Syrup (Aka Grenedine)
1 oz Lime Juice
8 oz Orange Juice
8 oz Pineapple Juice
6 oz Rum (The Darker The Better)

It reminds me quite a bit of the drink served on the way back from our snorkeling expedition on St Thomas during our honeymoon. At the time of writing this post, I've tasted several glasses full of our Pitcher, and will need to make more.

--Michael