Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Fudge nirvana
John Kelly Chocolates’ Truffle Fudge Bites, topped with a sprinkling of gourmet sea salt balance sweet and salty. A semi-sweet chocolate and caramel with red Hawaiian alaea sea salt and a dark chocolate with French grey sea salt come in four-piece, 4-ounce boxes for $14 each, mail-order only: johnkellychocolates.com or (800) 609-4243.
Oven thermometers
An oven thermometer (that is, a thermometer that measures the temperature of your oven) is one of the handiest devices to have in a kitchen, especially if you do a lot of baking. Ovens are notoriously unreliable.
An oven thermometer (especially the kind with a wire and an outside-the-oven display) lets you keep track of how hot your oven is and adjust the heat accordingly — and it will give you a better sense of how long your specific oven needs to preheat, and just how much heat is lost every time the door is opened.
Braising meat
If you’re braising meat in wine, the best pairing to drink with it is a wine similar in flavor to what you’re cooking with — of course, you don’t need to break the bank on braising wine, but a similar region and grape will do the job nicely.
Cookie trick
Store or ship baked and decorated cookies with a small packet of food-safe silica gel, which will help retard moisture. The packets can be purchased online, or you can reuse the ones found in several packaged food products. (Do not use gel packets found in non-food packages.) The gel packs can be restored for reuse by placing them on a baking sheet and baking them in a 170-degree oven for 15 minutes.