Cookware – I Want To Cook

Yes, You Can Make Oatmeal In A Rice Cooker (And Why You Should)

First things first. It’s not hard to make oatmeal. I know this. You know this. Anyone who can boil water knows this.

But amid a busy morning, it’s one. more. thing.

For all its ease, homemade old-fashioned oatmeal (also called “rolled”) does require regular stirring and roughly 15 minutes to make. Steel cut oatmeal takes about double that time. In other words, it demands your attention.

Enter the rice cooker. Big news: It can cook more than rice. In a prior video, I showed how to make quinoa in a rice cooker. Now its oats’ turn in this simple yet unsung kitchen hero.

Behold The Food Mill: Still Relevant For The Modern Kitchen?

Take one look at a food mill, or better yet get your hands on one, and it might think it’s a relic from a bygone era. It actually is. The food mill as we know it was created a century ago by the Foley Manufacturing Company, and back then it revolutionized the home kitchen.

Essentially a hand-cranked blade attached to a sieve, the food mill is a food processor, in that it transforms food from one form to another. In this case, soft fruits and vegetables can be loaded into the bin, cranked, and are extruded through the bottom as a puree or juice.

While the modern kitchen is now filled with electric food processors, mixers, and myriad other devices, food mills continue to be made. Mirro makes this Foley model similar to my vintage Foley, and Oxo makes this model that is improved with interchangeable grinding discs that let you choose between fine, medium, and course grinds.

Or you can just hunt for one at a thrift store, as I did. If memory serves, I scored mine for like $7 from my local thrift.

But the question you might have, and that this post so prominently asks, is: Are food mills still relevant?

Le Creuset Enameled Cast Iron vs. Enameled Stoneware: What To Know

The next time you step into a Le Creuset store or shop online, you’ll find two similar-looking but very different options: Enameled cast iron or stoneware.

If you’re reading this, you probably already know about Le Creuset. But as a very brief background, Le Creuset is a famous French company known for its premium cookware. Le Creuset is most recognized for its enameled cast iron pieces, which are distinctive for their rainbow of colors.

Le Creuset has been making these beautiful pieces for nearly a century now, and they are equally loved by chefs and home cooks alike. Le Creuset also makes and sells a wider variety of cookware and kitchen gear, ranging from tableware to tea kettles and ramekins. But one particular type of Le Creuset cookware looks quite similar to its iconic enameled cast iron pieces, and that is its stoneware.

The Easiest Induction Cookware Test

You’ve probably cooked on a gas or electric stove before, but using induction might be new to you. As more communities and households wean themselves off natural gas, it seems induction cooking — and thus induction ranges — will only become more common.

Induction ranges have long been used in Europe and in professional kitchens, but they are still relatively new to the U.S., thus many home cooks have never used this method. I’m a chef, not an electrical engineer, so I won’t pretend to know all the intricacies of how these things work — here’s a better primer — but I can tell you that induction ranges heat cookware fast and efficiently. This is true whether you are using a built-in induction range or even a portable induction burner, like the one pictured above that I regularly use (my main range is gas).

But not all cookware works on induction. However, those that do all have this one thing in common: They’re magnetic.