Alton Brown's Gear for Your Kitchen
by Alton Brown
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Book Summary Information
Author: Alton BrownEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2003-10-01
ISBN: 1584792965
Number of pages: 256
Publisher: Harry N. Abrams
Book Reviews of Alton Brown's Gear for Your Kitchen
Book Review: The love hate relationship continues
Summary: 4 Stars
In the interest of full disclosure I have always hated Alton Brown. I think sometimes he just plain, ruins food by making it too scientific. For the record baking is a science, cooking is an art. While I still hold that to be true I have come around on Alton Brown. On his show he is not afraid to say when he has changed his mind on a cooking process. Usually due to further experimentation. This is an excellent book.
Pots, pans, utensils and other kitchen gear needs to be looked at from a keen scientific prospective. And no one does that better than Alton Brown.
The first section of the book is house cleaning. Go through all your kitchen gear. Anything you have not used in a year, get rid of it. Anything you have not used in 6 months, Label and put away. Check again in a month to see if you have used it. Label again. Check again in another month. If you have not used it, get rid of it. The book is almost worth it alone just for this advice. When you hold on to things you don't need/use you can't find the things that you want to use to make better meals.
Alton is a fan of multi-tasker tools/devices. He does not like uni-tasker tools/devices, unless they do something much, much better than the alternative or there is no real alternative (very rare).
He dispels myths about cutlery. Shows some inexpensive alternatives to some of the pricier kitchen gadgets. He goes through every single kind of pot. Tells you which are essential, which are nice to have, and which are a waste of money. The pros and cons of the various cooking materials are discussed; cast iron, aluminum, anodized aluminum, stainless steal ceramic. He covers all types of electric appliances, and other small tools. It is the most comprehensive book of it's kind.
The only downside to this book and the reason I did not give it 5 stars is that was written in 2003. The paperback is published in 2008 but none of the content was changed. Alton has changed his mind on a few items (I am basing this on what he says on his tv show), so it would have been nice for everyone to get the updated information. It would not have taken the publisher more than 15 page edits to do it. Maybe you can't make changes from the hard cover to the paperback unless you call it "revised" or "updated" version, and perhaps they did not want to do that.
So I continue to watch the show and enjoy shows such as the "greens" show, the pies show, the ribs show, two shows dedicated to pasta, the show dedicated to proper frying technique to keep foods from becoming greasy..........and of course shake my head and ask what on earth is he doing when he does a show on Buffalo wings and tells the viewers to steam the wings first, then refrigerate them for an hour then bake them for 40 minutes. Oh Alton if you have to do all of this you need to skip the wings. Wings are supposed to be quick food. Once you make a quick food slow it loses it's appeal. And I could get the same results from one of the lovely deep fryers that you recommended to me in this book.
Summary of Alton Brown's Gear for Your Kitchen
Dedicated viewers of Alton Brown's acclaimed Food Network show Good Eats know of his penchant for using unusual equipment. He has smoked a salmon in a cardboard box, roasted prime rib in a flowerpot, and used a C-clamp as a nutcracker.Brown isn't interested in novelty, he's just devoted to using the best-and simplest-tool for the job. Alton Brown's Gear For Your Kitchen offers honest, practical advice on what's needed and what isn't, what works and what doesn't. His advice: You only need three knives, but they are a lifetime investment. And don't bother with that famous countertop grill-it doesn't get hot enough to properly sear.
In his signature science-guy style, Brown begins with advice on kitchen layout and organization, then gets to the lowdown on these cooking elements: Big Things with Plugs; Pots and Pans; Sharp Things; The Tool Box; Small Things with Plugs; Storage and Containment; and Safety and Sanitation. Along the way he delves deep into kitchen science and appliance history and legend. Included are 25 brand-new recipes that employ featured gear.
Alton Brown's Gear For Your Kitchen is essential for all of his fans-and anyone who wants a good guide to great kitchen gear.
"I think cooking is a lot of fun and I hate to see people not having fun doing it just because they don't have the right tools--which is not to say they need the prettiest, best, most expensive tools. They just need the tools that are right for them." Such is the organizing principle of Alton Brown's Gear for Your Kitchen by the selfsame Alton Brown, star of Food Network's Good Eats as well as award-winning author of I'm Just Here for the Food. It's an interesting, effective principle. It comes from a guy who serves pie with a four-dollar mortar trowel he picked up at the hardware store.
Brown's opening challenge is a 60-day, four phase process of ridding your kitchen of all things unused and insignificant--easy on the surface, but tough in the doing. That leaves room for essential gear. And to help make those choices, Brown looks at pots and pans, sharp things (not just knives, but graters, mandolins, and cheese slicers, too), small things with plugs (as in small appliances--from food processors to coffee makers to deep fat fryers), kitchen tools unplugged (those items that fill drawers), storage and containment, and safety and sanitation.
If this were just an encyclopedia, what an unwholesome bore it would be. But Brown turns this relevant information into a romp. He's talking about the tools he uses, after all, and has no fear of naming likes and dislikes--based on his own experience. He also includes unending side chatter about cutting corners, saving money, and actually putting good tools to work. You'll find recipes throughout, and techniques, too. Like, how to bake a chicken in a flower pot. If you wonder why you would even want to attempt it in the first place, Brown clues you in. Alton Brown's Gear for Your Kitchen is about as guilt free as pleasure will ever get. --Schuyler Ingle
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