I shamelessly admit that cooking gear is my drug of choice, I really love kitchen knives. I have a load of them, ranging from a duet of paring knives, as well as 4”, 6”, 8”, and 12” chefs, boning, slicing, utility, and of course like all good dilettantes, a Santoku. There’s a cleaver in there somewhere, but some reckless chopping mission has ruined it. The knives stand at attention along a magnetic bar, arranged in ascending order. As I retire for the evening, I glance at the assemblage and hope that in the event an intruder breaks into the house during the night the plentiful array of culinary blades don’t give the criminal thoughts beyond taking the TV, PC, and other assets. More »

Welcome to the jungle baby…err, Nagrant Family Farm.

I’ve killed more plants than a Detroit auto executive. Everything, from finicky herbal seedlings to hearty tomatoes, has met the reaper that is my green, or maybe more appropriately, gangrenous, thumb. I once grew the tallest plant in a junior-high biology contest, but only after my father introduced me to Miracle Grow, and I juiced that bad boy like an agricultural Barry Bonds. That was a lifetime ago. Last month, despite their legend for weathering biblical droughts, two cacti in my living room recently developed a feathery mold. More »

Zevro’s new wine bottle opener

I’ve got corkscrew envy.

For years I’ve settled for the double lever wing style corkscrew, the standard kind you find in the cooking supply aisle in your local grocery store. Sure it takes five minutes and the strength of Vin Diesel to open a bottle, but it’s the style I grew up, and I’ve settled on it precisely out of nostalgia. More »

I’m a chef groupie. It’s not quite the same as being a rock star groupie. I’m not waiting near dumpsters in rat infested back alleys waiting for an opportunity to trade my body for a moment with culinary greatness. Instead it’s more of a tableside admiration and exploration of today’s best chefs plying their craft. It’s not a mindless adulation, which breeds mediocrity. I can watch TV celebrity chefs when I’m in the mood for that, rather, I’m interested in becoming a better home cook, and watching pros makes a difference.

Chefs like Grant Achatz of Alinea or Thomas Keller of the French Laundry are modern day secular monks, dedicating the majority of the waking portion of their life toward the pursuit of perfect technique and sublime ingredients. They have something to teach and I’m intrigued by the techniques they’re using, especially induction cooking. More »

Damn the cookware pimps at Marshall Fields.

I have this thought at least once a week. I can still see the sales lady in the kitchenwares department shaking her head disapprovingly as I fingered the shiny finish of an All Clad sauté pan. I still see her slinking over as my wife and I John Wayned our way through the bridal registry with a wireless scanner gun. More »

In every cook’s arsenal lies one trusty tool for every mission. More often than not, that tool is the knife.

Sleek, sharp, and deadly.

Norman Bates showed us how useful it could be in the shower. Men all over the world cringed uncomfortably at Glen Close’s deft handy work in Fatal Attraction. An no one could forget how our beloved Julia Child demystified haute cuisine in the 60’s by showing men and women everywhere how to properly wield a sharp French blade. More »