Tag: favorite kitchen tools

Choosing Wooden Spoons

On By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Baking, ToolsLeave a comment

I reach for wooden spoons all of the time; when baking, sturdiness and handle comfort matter most. Learn more at TwiceasTasty.com.
As the holiday baking and gifting season begins, you may want to check out my recent piece for The Spruce Eats. I tested a dozen wooden spoons for the website earlier this year, using each of them to stir multiple batches of cookie dough or quick bread batter, as well as sautés, soups, pasta, and more.

I reach for wooden spoons all of the time in my kitchen, but they probably get the most use when I’m baking. Overall, I found that sturdiness and handle comfort mattered most when mixing doughs, especially dense ones. Some spoons I tested had additional features, like an edge shape that easily scraped down a mixing bowl or a small rubber scraper on the top of the handle that could clear out a measuring cup. A few had a shape that worked best when gripped a certain way to mix dough.
Learn about choosing and using wooden spoons

Kitchen Favorites: Mortar and Pestle

On By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn ToolsLeave a comment

Testing mortars and pestles revealed not only the best ones for various tasks but also my favorite. Learn more at TwiceasTasty.com.
As I’ve taught spice workshops and ground spices into custom mixes at home, I’ve used a range of tools: coffee grinders, nutmeg grinders and graters, salt mills and pepper grinders, hand-cranked spice mills. But it wasn’t until earlier this year, when I tested seven mortar and pestle sets for The Spruce Eats, that I became enamored of this traditional grinding tool.

As I spent weeks using various mortars and pestles, I not only learned how to choose and use the best ones for various tasks but also found my favorite: the IKEA Adelsten Mortar and Pestle. In my latest piece for The Spruce Eats, I tell the tale of my prior poor choices in mortars and pestles that never made them my go-to grinding tool and why I’ve made room for IKEA’s set in my small kitchen.
Learn about choosing and using a mortar and pestle set

Kitchen Favorites: Ice Trays

On By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Freezing, Topic2 Comments

I write about my favorite ice tray for freezing food in 1-ounce portions in my latest piece for The Spruce Eats. Learn more at TwiceasTasty.com.
I’ve been writing a lot recently about some of my favorite tools for freezer storage: ice trays. As I mentioned last week in my Flathead Beacon column, ice trays that make 1-cup cubes have become my new favorite tools for freezing stocks. Earlier this year, I had the chance to test and review a collection of ice trays that produce cubes in a range of sizes. While most of my testing involved making ice for cocktails, I also used some of the trays to freeze pesto, sauces, and more for quick and easy storage.

One of these trays ended up being my favorite for 1-ounce portions, as I share in my latest piece for The Spruce Eats. The Everyday Ice Tray is part of W&P’s Peak collection, along with the Cup Cubes Freezer Tray that I’ve been using for stocks. I’m not a W&P affiliate and don’t earn a commission on sales; I just really like these trays for freezing food.
Learn about choosing and using ice trays

Kitchen Favorites: Grill Mats

On By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Grilling, TopicLeave a comment

People are drawn not just to what I’m grilling on a copper mat but to the thin, flexible mat itself. Learn more at TwiceasTasty.com.
Over the last couple of summers, I’ve been questioned often about one of my favorite cooking tools—one that I use not in my kitchen but on the grill. When I pull out a Yoshi copper grill mat, people are drawn not just to what I’m preparing on it but to the thin, flexible mat itself. So I was excited to share how I use grill mats in my latest piece for The Spruce Eats.

As I explain in my post, which joins my recent story about my favorite immersion blender in the website’s new “This Is Fire” series, my grill mats come in handy on a range of grills. At home, we use them on an old charcoal Weber kettle grill, which we restore to functionality every time a handle or wheel comes off. We also use Yoshi copper mats on public grills so that Grilled Fish Skewers don’t pick up the flavor of the prior griller’s burgers. We even use them aboard the Blue Mule on a small portable gas grill, setting it up in the sailboat’s cockpit to cook locally caught fish and—in a pinch—scrambled eggs.
Learn about choosing and using grill mats