If Anna Ross’ trusty ‘cupcake apron’ is a recipe for her pastry-loving kitchen, it’s a good luck charm with a touch of functionality and whimsy. Since high school, she’s worn a pink-trimmed apron dotted with tiny cherry-topped chocolate cupcakes.
“That apron I wore almost every day in high school, even when I started my own business from home. Pastry chef and owner Ross says, “This apron is a constant reminder of my high school baking days and the beginnings of Anna Bakes.”
A dedicated cook like Ross has kitchen secrets, habits, and go-to gadgets. That cupcake her apron might be part of Ross’ baking ritual, but her superpowering tool is her extendable pastry cutter.
“Without my accordion cutter, I would be lost!” says Ross, who turns 26 this month. “It’s ten times more time efficient for him to mark bars and brownies than it is to use a ruler and knife to cut them evenly.”
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Ghost kitchen heirloom spoon
West Palm Beach chef Emerson Frisby finds old-fashioned magic in his commercial kitchen every time he reaches for the quenelle spoon he inherited from his grandmother—the kind that creates delicate ovals of sweet savory cream or fluff. increase.
“This is a little silver spoon that I use to plate, scoop quenelle, and taste. It’s always in my Bain Marie (double boiler pot),” says Frisby. I remember sitting in her kitchen when I was a kid.”
Frisbee is the chef at the Palm Beach Meats gourmet shop and pop-up venue. He also heads a series of delivery-only food businesses and is also executive his chef on his series of Friday night dinners called Clandestine. One might imagine that his commercial kitchen is stocked with all sorts of gadgets.
Frisby says his delivery-only business doesn’t have much to offer.
“I run six ghost kitchens a week, and their menus are less gadget-dependent,” he says. “My everyday cooking isn’t very technical. That said, I don’t necessarily use a lot of gadgets.”
But the dishes in his dinner series, which Frisby presents as a chef-tasting concept, are a different story. says.
Favorite first tool
Speaking of haute cuisine skills, steakhouse chef Jamie Steinbrecher candidly describes the most honed piece of his culinary arsenal as “a very sharp chef’s knife.”
Stein Blecher, executive chef of Jupiter’s new Lewis Steakhouse and former long-time executive chef of sister restaurant Okeechobee Steakhouse, said, “As a young cook, it was definitely the first tool I invested in, and the chef. It is a staple of the kit of.” “Having a variety of tools is certainly an advantage, but a sharp knife is invaluable.”
He jokes: “That’s why it’s called a ‘knife roll. [protective case], not a “gadget roll”. ”
Steinbrecher’s go-to tool may be as classic-inspired as his menu, but he says he’s always up for culinary adventures.
“It’s fun and exciting to do new things,” he says. “My favorite dishes that can be cooked at any time, regardless of gadgets or techniques, have never been made.”
ancient grain adventure
Striking a balance between tradition and adventure, local corporate chef and restaurateur Lisabet Summa has invested in her Tribest brand grain mill, a new kitchen tool she uses when making rustic bread and other baked goods. I am in love,” he says.
“It’s not the most common thing to think about in a kitchen. But it’s absolutely beautiful – except for the round stone inside, it’s all wood,” says Summa, corporate culinary director at Big Time Restaurant Group. says.
At work, Summa manages the group’s six restaurants: Elisabetta’s Ristorante (named after Summa’s childhood nickname), City Cellar, Louie Bossi’s, Rocco’s Tacos, City Oyster and Sushi Bar, Grease, and Big City Tavern. I oversee the kitchen. West Her Palm At her home on her beach, her cooking is inspired by fantasies she’s gleaned from her travels and vast cookbook collection.
Lately, those fantasies have all been about interesting grains.
“I make whole wheat bread. I buy whole wheat or rye kernels and grind myself,” Summa says. “I love the freshness of whole grains.”
Countertop grain mills are “very easy to use,” she says. “It adds character to baked goods.”
For example, Summa enjoys making 100% rye flour in her mill. Add spices such as cardamom and coriander before making the bread.
“I love toasting it with European butter and topping it with smoked salmon,” she says. “Freshness lasts and is moist.”
keep it ‘old school’
Making bread is life for French-trained Master Baker Billy Himmellich, who has owned and operated the Old School Bakery in Delray Beach for over 20 years. Fine dining restaurants rely on him for authentic, artisanal bread. Local hunger-fighting efforts, including Palm His Beach County Food His Bank, are supported by his generosity, with Himmellich donating much of his leftover bread.
But his go-to kitchen tool, a French aluminum nonstick skillet, has nothing to do with baking. However, it has to do with the memories that feed his own soul.
“When I was learning to cook in Burgundy in the late 80’s, this was my ‘go-to’ pan. If you close your eyes, you can see the cepe (mushrooms) and the river perch on the stove,” says Himmellich.
He trained at the Ritz Escoffier Cooking School in Paris, and refined his skills while training at a three-star Michelin restaurant in France. Today, he still reaches for his Matfer brand pans. He has two 10 inch pans and he has two 12.5 inch pans.
“We replace it at least once a year,” says Himmellich, who packed one of the pans to take to Maine for vacation cooking. “Aluminum is very heat sensitive, and the skillet does well from the stovetop to the oven. Whether it’s fish you catch, frittata, or wild mushrooms, you can’t go wrong.”
What is his favorite dish to make in his favorite frying pan?
His taste for “old-fashioned” equipment and methods is reinforced by the framed typewriter letters he keeps at hand. New York Times food critic Craig Claiborne wrote for New York readers.
Claiborne wrote in an October 1983 letter, “I think a microwave is totally unnecessary in a full-fledged kitchen.” occupy.”
your turn
reader: Do you have a favorite kitchen gadget? Tell me about it! Email details and photos to lbalmaseda@pbpost.com. I may cover it in a future article.
