Alton Brown's Gear for Your Kitchen
by Alton Brown
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Book Summary Information
Author: Alton BrownEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-04-01
ISBN: 1584796960
Number of pages: 256
Publisher: Stewart, Tabori & Chang
Book Reviews of Alton Brown's Gear for Your Kitchen
Book Review: Sneakily helpful
Summary: 5 Stars
Before I got this book, I heard many reviewers say oh you don't need this book unless you are stocking a new kitchen. Or borrow it from a friend. Not all of them said that of course, but enough did that it caused me to question if I needed this book. Let me tell you, I got it for Christmas and I'm very thankful I did. This book is awesome.
The very first thing I like about it? It caused me to rethink what I need in my kitchen. I'm getting married soon and as such I've been working on a registry and I'm registering for things that are a bit of an upgrade and replacement of old things that made do. That can cause you to think in the way of register for a set of cookware, register for a set of knives, etc. Well this book made me think hey, yeah, you are right, I don't need a set. I sure won't use every piece of it, so why do I want the pieces I don't want or won't use cluttering up my kitchen and stealing away my storage? Especially at the beginning of the cookware and the knives sections, he lists the items he uses often. This made me think more about what I use or would use and for what purposes. In this way I could register and purchase only what I really will use rather then getting useless pieces that companies wish to push on us. It also allows you freedom to choose pans from various brands if you want instead of all from one.
I love that it tells you what things to look for and consider for different items and why some items might not be the best choice (such as that electric wok.) It doesn't just say hey, don't get this because I'm the almighty Alton and I say so. He explains why they aren't such great items.
As mentioned by other reviewers, his section on sanitation in amazing and a must read. While I knew many of the things contained there there was more to learn. It's also nice to see things that many people don't always listen to in print. For example, the advice on sponges. How often do we STILL see people using sponges with no attempt at sanitizing them *Shudder*. Those people need to read this section.
I like that sprinkled around in the book are recipes that utilize the piece of hardware he has recently explained. It helps to get your creative juices flowing for what else you could do with it. I love to cook and bake and new ideas are always fun.
This book is a very worthwhile book whether you are starting a new kitchen, registering for new items, upgrading from older items, or even wanting to add a new item or appliance to your kitchen.
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. For instance: 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.
Gear For Your Kitchen is essential for all of Brown?s fans as well as anyone who wants a good guide to great kitchen gear. With more than 125,000 hardcover copies in print, this indispensable—and highly entertaining—book is now offered in a paperback edition that every home cook can afford.
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. For instance: 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.
Gear For Your Kitchen is essential for all of Brown?s fans as well as anyone who wants a good guide to great kitchen gear. With more than 125,000 hardcover copies in print, this indispensable—and highly entertaining—book is now offered in a paperback edition that every home cook can afford.
"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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