Heart of the home

In days gone by, when Dad went to work and Mum stayed home with the kids, the kitchen was the heart of the home. I remember, when I was a child, spending a lot of time in the kitchen with my mother. I would sit and read, draw or do homework while she did laundry, ironing or washed dishes. Often we would cook and bake together, plan meals and make shopping lists – even do dressmaking! All at the kitchen table. The kitchen was my favourite place to be, and I remember sitting in the lounge only in the evenings, when all the chores were done.

These days, Mum and Dad are – more than likely – out at work all day while the kids are at school or day-care. The kitchen is left in chaos after breakfast; dirty dishes stacked waiting to be washed – not the kind of environment you want to rush home to!

For you to lead a healthier lifestyle, your kitchen needs to be a haven; a place you want to come home to. To be a haven, it doesn’t have to have all the latest mod-cons, gleaming marble worktops and masses of cupboard space – but it does need to be organized. You should be able to put your hand on whatever you need in the way of utensils in a matter of seconds. If you have to search through three drawers of tangled cutlery to find the garlic press, chances are you will skip the garlic altogether.

Take a day to turn out your kitchen. Throw out or give away all the stuff you don’t use or want any more. Arrange your drawers and shelves logically – like items grouped together, most frequently used items to the front of the shelves. If you’re short of drawer space, you can always keep plastic bags or dish cloths in a basket on top of the fridge. Stand kitchen utensils in a large vase or flowerpot on the counter next to the stove. Knives do need to be kept in a drawer or knife block, for their own protection – and out of the reach of little fingers. Make sure all your small electrical gadgets are in full working order and within easy reach. Check all your plastic storage pots have lids that fit well – odd lids and odd boxes need to go. Got a large collection of empty glass/plastic bottles and jars? Are you really going to use them? Recycle.

Tidying cupboards and drawers is enormously therapeutic and emotionally satisfying. I bet, once you’ve done the kitchen, you’ll do the bathroom cupboards and wardrobes too. I did.

Dishing up

Over the time that I’ve been writing this blog, I have collected a variety of plates and bowls – just to keep the photographs from becoming boring; though you may have noticed that you’ve been seeing the same old pasta plate with almost every pasta dish I have presented for the last six months.

When we first move into a ‘home of our own’, we are often gifted odd plates and kitchen ware by family and friends – not much matches anything else. But, after all, we won’t start having formal dinner parties for a while, so odd plates don’t matter.

For anyone buying new china, I would recommend plain white, with no edging or embellishment; plain white china shows off food to its best advantage. I was recently looking through an old cookery book, and what struck me most was the fussy china – I find it detracts from the meal presented on it. You can't decide where the food ends and the pattern starts!

Try to buy from a range that is not going to go off the market; that way you will always be able to match and replace breakages. Woolworths (the S.A. equivalent to M&S or BHS) carry a good range of classic white china. The pieces come individually as well as in boxed sets of four, all at reasonable prices. I have two beautiful Noritake dinner services, but both the designs are no longer produced, so I can’t replace the pieces that have broken over the years. Also, both are trimmed with silver, so I can’t put them in the microwave.

For starters, I think it’s a good idea to buy four of each: dinner plates, side plates, soup/dessert bowls, cups and saucers; I would buy eight mugs – they always seem to be used first. Of course, if you have a dishwasher or a lot of people in the house then you will need more. Again, for serving dishes, stick with plain white or clear pyrex. That way nothing gets dated and it all matches.

Cutlery is another thing best purchased as plain as possible. However many knives, forks and spoons you get, buy four serving spoons. And at least a dozen teaspoons. At least.

Essential equipment – Measuring up and mixing

I have two pyrex measuring jugs, two sets of (plastic) measuring cups and two sets of (plastic) measuring spoons. They are in daily use.

At some stage of food preparation we will need to mix or whip something, or just soak dried beans overnight before cooking. Of course, if you’re soaking beans, you could easily do that in the pot you intend to cook them in, but if you want to whip cream or beat up some eggs for a soufflé you will need a bowl or three.

I like glass mixing bowls; they are adaptable in that they can go in the oven, microwave and dishwasher, or you can sit them over a saucepan to make a double-boiler (glass is a good heat conductor). They are largely scratch resistant, so they always look good, but of course, they will break if dropped on a tiled floor! The other disadvantage of glass is that the larger the bowl, the heavier it gets.

Plastic mixing bowls, on the other hand, are light weight. You can still use them in the microwave and dishwasher, but not in the oven or as a double boiler, since plastic is not a good heat conductor; it will melt and even burn under extreme temperatures.

I own and use both glass and plastic mixing bowls, depending on what size I need for the specific task at hand.

Essential equipment – Storage

Many years ago I was, for a short while, a Tupperware agent. I never made any money out of the job because all my commission was spent on the product! I’m sure we all have entire cupboards devoted to storing plastic storage containers. This is the cupboard you are afraid to open in case the contents falls on your head – as has happened to me on more than one occasion.

We need various plastic boxes to house left-overs in the fridge or freezer. And perhaps to keep small fresh vegetables and fruit in. For cereal, for rice, for pasta, for biscuits and as lunch boxes. One of the Tupperware products I really like (and still use) is the sheet of sticky labels to identify contents. What often happens in my kitchen is that plastic containers get lost under other plastic containers, and without some sort of identification I would be hard pressed to visually distinguish between caster sugar and salt, or couscous and polenta. You can, of course, use a felt tip marker pen. I use a pen for stuff going in the freezer which I mark with contents and date. Otherwise, you can pull things out of the freezer that are totally unidentifiable and of unknown provenance. Plastic boxes in the fridge need to be kept to the front – use within a few days or throw out!

So we do need plastic boxes. But a whole cupboard full? Not really. Have a clear out – does every box have a lid? Does every lid have a box? Think what you could do with the freed-up space.

Zip-lock bags work well for short and long term storage – they are inexpensive and take up next-to-no space.

Equipment essentials (electrical)

I think the first piece of electrical kitchen equipment everyone buys is a kettle. There are so many designs and colours available these days, we are spoiled for choice, but they vary so much in price. Some years ago I went on a bit of a spending spree and bought a beautiful brushed stainless steel kettle – I only noticed the price when I got home, it cost me nearly R1,000! Did it last any longer than its predecessor? I don’t think so, or not sufficiently to justify the price. The replacement I bought cost less than a third!

The second purchase is probably a pop-up toaster. Again they vary in price enormously. They also vary in size (2 slice or 4), finish (stainless steel, lacquer) and functionality (toast, warm, thaw, loose crumb tray). This is something else I replaced recently, though for aesthetic reasons only. My new one is a 4 by extra thick slice, with all the functions mentioned above. It makes toast, and that’s all I’m interested in – though the thicker slice does allow me to toast English muffins and crumpets without having to dig them out with a knife when they’re done. I do like the loose crumb tray, it’s a neat feature.

Microwave ovens have gained in popularity. I like the microwave/convection variety. I use the convection function for baking, grilling and browning – it’s a far smaller area to heat up than a conventional oven, so more cost effective. And, of course, the microwave function is fantastic for re-heating and steaming vegetables, or thawing something in a hurry. I wish they would invent a ‘reverse-microwave’ for rapid cooling!

The last essential on my list is a ‘blitz stick’. I use mine to part-puree soups and baby food and to make smoothies, but the box says it can make breadcrumbs, chop nuts and crush ice too.

I have a large cupboard in my kitchen, known by the family as the ‘electrical grave yard’; I can barely close the door. It contains all the stuff I have enthusiastically bought over the years, used once or twice and shelved for various reasons – they don’t do what they are supposed to do, or they are a pain to clean or I have found a quicker, cheaper, easier way to perform the task.

What is your favourite, couldn’t-live-without electrical gadget?

Equipment essentials (non- electrical)

Have you ever stayed in a self-catering holiday flat or cottage? They don’t supply an awful lot in the kitchen, and it’s amazing how little equipment you can manage with. The extra fancy electrical stuff is nice to have and use but you can actually make do with far less and still cook healthy meals.

I couldn’t live without my wonderful knives, though I could probably dispense with quite a few of them. Mainly, I use a large butcher’s knife – even for de-hulling and cutting strawberries and filleting fish. And I like a small serrated blade for slicing tomatoes. If your knives have plastic or wooden handles attached, make sure to give the joint a good scrub when you wash them. Never put your kitchen knives in the dishwasher, it blunts them very quickly.

I have quite a collection of wooden spoons, but I seldom use them – stainless steel spoons are best for cooking. Wooden spoons are porous, so they absorb colour and flavour and never come entirely clean. And you have to remember which one to use for curry and which is safe for custard. A metal spoon is best because it washes completely clean and doesn’t get contaminated. Don’t leave it standing in the saucepan, though, or you will burn your fingers. I use my slotted spoon, large ladle, masher and fish slice all the time. And my steel whisk.

I don’t think you need more than three saucepans – preferably stainless steel, and ‘waterless’ if your budget can stretch to them; one small, one medium and one large. They are nice and easy to clean. Aluminium pans are not a healthy option. Then of course you need a large frying pan, with a lid. Mine is a non-stick, coated variety, but I trade it in about every eighteen months or so, because the coating does wear.

Wooden chopping boards are scary! Like wooden spoons, they retain smells and flavours – and if you have cut raw meat on them, then they will be full of bacteria too. No amount of scrubbing is going to get them properly clean. I use glass boards, or those inexpensive thin plastic bendy boards. The plastic boards need replacing quite often because they get scratched and cut allowing bacteria to build up.

Next week, I’ll be talking about essential electrical equipment. What do you really need?