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As we think about the approach of Mother’s Day, we’re reflecting on one of the lessons our mothers taught us at an early age: remember to send Thank You Notes. One of the things we seem to have lost during the Pandemic is the habit of writing Thank You Notes! … and that’s a shame! But now, as we begin to travel and socialize, this once again has become an important courtesy to remember.

A Thank You Note, at its essence, is an acknowledgement, after the fact, that someone went out of their way to do something nice for you. While we almost always remember to say “Thank You” at the time, a Thank You Note shows a consideration and deeper appreciation by the sender…and makes the recipient feel that their efforts were well spent.

There is, of course, a hierarchy of Thank You Notes, but that is less important than the fact of conveying one. At the top of the Thank You Note food chain is the hand written note. There is nothing that quite compares to the feeling you get when you receive a hand-written Thank You Note. But this is followed closely by a phone call or an email. Obviously, the more personal you can make it, the better: “the pasta carbonara was out of this world” … “you made your beautiful dinner look easy, but I know it took a lot of effort” ... “you made us feel very welcome, indeed” … “thank you for including us in this elegant evening of good friends and good food” … “the setting was so warm and festive” … etc.

The key is that it’s your purpose-built communication to thank someone for an effort on your behalf. It doesn’t take much time or energy to be a gracious guest! And it just may get you invited back!

Cooking can be one of the most rewarding and enjoyable, and at the same time one of the most stressful, things you can do. Rewarding and enjoyable because you’re taking raw ingredients and, through skill, ingenuity, and love, you’re turning them into the whole that is so much greater than the sum of its parts. Stressful, because even with the simplest recipes, there is a lot to keep track of. That’s why we recommend that the first step in any recipe should be “Measure and Mise”: whether it’s written in the recipe or not. We’ve often been guilty of violating this rule, but acknowledging our mistakes has led us to codify this ‘first principle’ in Colbrook Kitchen.

There are several reasons why Measure and Mise is a good idea. But first let’s discuss what it is. Your recipe, if it’s a good one, will tell you how much of each ingredient you will need. It may be by weight: pounds, ounces, grams, etc., or by volume: cup, teaspoon, tablespoon, etc. If you measure each ingredient in advance and put it into a separate bowl, then you don’t have to stop between cooking steps to do it later. The same with mise. “Mise” is short for “mise en place”: in French, literally, “to put in place” or ‘to set up’. This refers not only to measuring your ingredients beforehand, but doing the step that usually (but not always) comes after the comma in the ingredient listing: e.g. chopped, diced, minced, grated, juiced, toasted, etc. It’s getting your ingredients prepared in advance so that, when you are cooking, you can focus on the process and not be interrupted by further prep.

So here are just some of the reasons why your first instruction in any recipe should always be Measure and Mise:

1. You are compelled to read all the way through the entire recipe before you start to cook. As Julia says in Mastering the Art of French Cooking: “We therefore urge you, however much you have cooked, always to read the recipe first, even if the dish is familiar to you. Visualize each step so you will know exactly what techniques, ingredients, time, and equipment are required and you will encounter no surprises.”

2. You save time in the long run. This is why restaurant kitchens do it. Doing all your cutting, chopping, measuring, toasting, etc. at one time, in advance, gets all your ingredients into a ready state, and allows you to “clear the decks” so you are ready to cook your dish without distractions or interruptions.

3. You can focus all your senses, so you can react to whatever is going on in your bowl, pot, or skillet, without your attention being diverted to do a preparation step, in the middle of cooking your dish.

4. You achieve better results because you’re not risking something boiling over or over cooking because your attention was elsewhere.

5. When you’re entertaining, you can Measure and Mise before your guests arrive, leaving your cooking to look effortless.

6. In long recipes, the ingredients may be on a different page than the instructions. If you Measure and Mise first, then you can avoid having to flip back and forth between pages.

7. You have less stress because you’re not rushing to prepare an ingredient just before you have to add it to your dish. Your cooking becomes a ballet, rather than a hip hop routine.

Many of the Cool Tools on our site were selected to make this Measure and Mise step easier. Take advantage of this principle and make your cooking process more rewarding, less stressful, and more enjoyable.

English Muffins, which are neither English nor muffins (at least not in the American blueberry muffin genre) are one of the most popular breakfast breads in the US. Whether you top them with marmalade, peanut butter, lemon curd or a poached egg and hollandaise, they are a much-loved breakfast treat. But what do you know about their origins, and, more importantly, what makes them so special?

Did you know, for example, that they are not baked, but rather cooked on a griddle? And while the idea of a round, yeast-risen bread cooked in a ring mold on a griddle dates back to tenth or eleventh century Wales, the modern English Muffin was created by Samuel B. Thomas in the late nineteenth century in New York. (10 Things You Didn’t Know About English Muffins)

But the things that make English Muffins so very special are the “Nooks and Crannies”, a term that Bimbo Bakeries USA, Thomas’ English Muffins’ parent company, trademarked to describe the open grain and texture that is unique to English Muffins. The “Nooks and Crannies” allow the muffin to create a texture, when toasted, that almost crackles with goodness and crunch because of the little peaks and valleys on the surface of the split muffin.

And that brings us to the discussion of how you split a muffin. The creators of the English Muffin (both original and of later versions--the Model Bakery in St. Helena, CA makes one of our favorite versions) have gone to a great deal of trouble to create a texture with peaks and valleys that give English Muffins their unique appeal. Cutting an English Muffin with a knife is tantamount to “peakacide”: it destroys the peaks and robs the muffins of their delightful character. 

Here is the guidance for splitting a muffin from the Thomas’ English Muffin site: “First, use your hands. Find a crease on the side and pull the muffin apart. If you prefer, you can use your fork. Just poke a hole in three sides of the muffin with a fork and pull apart. Do not use a knife. This cuts away the delicious "Nooks & Crannies" texture. Place each side of the English muffin in separate toaster slots to toast all sides evenly.” 

While this guidance works, we think we’ve found a better way. Check out the Sirius Chef Muffin Splitter on Colbrook Kitchen, and take your breakfast to a whole new level!

Enjoy!

Cool Tip: The Case for Fresh Pineapple

I was about 10 or 11 years old, when my family took our first vacation to California from Chicago; and that was the first time I had fresh pineapple.  Wow, it blew away the canned stuff I was used to (sorry Dole!). It was sweet and tart and juicy and just plain delicious … and it still is.  It’s sunshine in a bowl! So what a treat to learn that it’s healthy as well.

In a Healthline article, the author lists the following key health benefits of pineapple:

• Pineapples contain large amounts of Vitamin C and Manganese. “Vitamin C is essential for growth and development, a healthy immune system and aiding the absorption of iron from the diet. Meanwhile, manganese is a naturally occurring mineral that aids growth, maintains a healthy metabolism and has antioxidant properties.”

• Pineapples are loaded with antioxidants. “Pineapples are a good source of antioxidants, which may reduce the risk of chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and certain cancers. Many of the antioxidants in pineapple are bound, so they may have longer lasting effects.”

• Pineapples contain digestive enzymes (which, by the way, is the reason not to use fresh pineapple in Jello). “Pineapples contain bromelain, a group of digestive enzymes that breaks down proteins. This may aid digestion, especially in those with pancreatic insufficiency.”

• Pineapples may reduce the risk of cancer. “Pineapple contains compounds that reduce oxidative stress and inflammation, both of which are linked to cancer. One of these compounds is the enzyme bromelain, which may stimulate cell death in certain cancer cells and aid white blood cell function.”

• “Pineapples have anti-inflammatory properties that may boost the immune system.”

Now that you know the pineapple is good for you, we’ve provided you with advice on how to choose a pineapple, and we’ve found a Cool Tool to make preparing a pineapple so much easier, ... what are you waiting for? Enjoy!

What do you do with Rotisserie Chicken?

(Sung to the tune of “What Do You Do With a Drunken Sailor”)

Our recent practice during the pandemic (and it will probably continue after as well) is to go to Costco about once every 2 weeks. Each time, I buy 2 rotisserie chickens (just about the best $10 you can spend). Here’s what I do with it:

NIght 1: Sliced roast chicken with a veg and maybe a starch--in this case, microwave steamed peeled asparagus (1.5 minutes) with leftover hollandaise and homemade pasta with truffle butter and freshly grated parmesan cheese. Total time: about 15 minutes, including peeling the asparagus--it does make it taste better.

After dinner: I break down the rest of the chickens into chicken meat (to be used in salad, pasta, tacos, chicken salad or soup)

and the bones to be turned into bone broth …

The bone broth cooks overnight in the pressure cooker setting on the Instant Pot.

Which leaves me with a good quantity of chicken bone broth to make some of our favorite soups:

Matzoh Ball Soup

Thai Shrimp, Pork and Chicken Soup with Jalapenos

Slow Cooker Lentil Soup with Sausage and Spinach

What do you do with a Rotisserie Chicken?

It’s tomato planting season, which means not only that we search for the perfect tomato seedlings but, almost as important, we need the perfect way to support them as they grow. Tomatoes always seem to outgrow their cages and commercially available cages just aren’t all that attractive or effective.

Several years ago, there was a wonderful, albeit short-lived, magazine called “Kitchen Garden” that covered everything from planting through harvesting to cooking your produce, with wonderful tips and advice. One day I voiced a long-held wish that we could find good-looking, effective tomato supports. The very next day, our latest issue of the magazine arrived and, lo and behold, (I’ve always wanted an excuse to use that phrase!) there was an article entitled “Support Your Vegetables in Style”. It recommended building a series of simple ladders that can be easily and dynamically hinged together in any configuration you want, year after year. We brought you the instructions for these ladders in a Cool Tip several years ago. We still love these ladders and there’s nothing like real wood. But fabrication can be difficult - you need to be able to drill 10 straight 1/2” holes per ladder - and wood deteriorates over time.
Here is our wood ladder graveyard:  

So this year we decided to try something new: it turned out to be so easy and it should last for a long, long time. The new secret ingredient is PVC pipe. We had some left over from an irrigation project, but it’s relatively inexpensive at your local hardware or ag supply store. 

Here’s what you need for each ladder:

• 8 - 12” PVC tubes (we used 3/4” diameter pipe because that’s what we had, but 1/2” or 1” would work as well; just pick a size for all your PVC components and stick with it.)
• 3 - 24” PVC tubes
• 6 PVC T-connectors (you can get these and the caps in colors to add a little pop to the ladders)
• 4 PVC caps - optional, but see Step 3 below.
• 4 eyebolts with nuts (we used 1/4” x 2 1/2”)
• 2 - 4’ garden stakes

The PVC lengths don’t have to be exact, but they should be consistent. We measured one piece of each size and then used that as a template to mark the other pieces.

Kennedy used an electric jigsaw (a PVC pipe cutter or a hacksaw with the right blade also will work) to cut the pieces as marked. 

Assembly is super easy after you have cut all of the pieces. Here’s what to do:

2. Now take one of the side pieces that you just assembled and insert 3 - 24” tubes into the  3 T-connectors. Then position the remaining side over the 3 - 24” tubes and insert the ends of those tubes into the 3 T-connectors on the opposite side piece. Gently tap into place. This is how your ladder should look at this point:

5. Place the eyebolts in the drilled holes with the “eye” on the outside of the ladder: parallel to the ground. Anchor the eyebolts with the nut.

These ‘ladders’ will provide sturdy support to your tomato plants, and they will disassemble and store easily after you’ve enjoyed your last tomatoes of the season.

Happy growing!

Here's a tip on how to bread something without creating a real mess...

Here's a tip to take the hassle out of fresh ginger

We love avocados...not just for the health benefits, which are legion, but for the way it just feels so creamy and luxurious in our mouths. But now there seems to be a new recognition of the dangers lurking in and around that beautiful fruit, or at least in its preparation. See this article from the May 10, 2017, issue of The Times of London….

Holy guacamole, that’s got to hurt!
Gurpreet Narwan
May 10 2017, 12:01 am, The Times

Jamie Oliver has posted a one-minute video to prevent more cases of “avocado hand”. Right, Meryl Streep also got caught out

No self-respecting bruncher would consider a late breakfast without a little smashed avocado on toast — but for many it comes at a high price.

Surgeons say growing numbers of amateur chefs are reporting to accident and emergency departments with what they are calling “avocado hand”: serious stab and slash injuries that are the result of failed attempts to penetrate the fruit’s hard outer casing with a sharp knife before encountering a resistant inner stone.

The British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons is calling for safety labels on the fruit to staunch the flow of injured patients to hospitals. Many cases involve serious nerve and tendon injuries, requiring intricate surgery — and even then some patients never recover the full use of the hand.

Simon Eccles, secretary of the association and former president of the plastic surgery section of the Royal Society of Medicine, said: “People do not anticipate that the avocados they buy can be very ripe and there is minimal understanding of how to handle them. We don’t want to put people off the fruit but I think warning labels are an effective way of dealing with this. It needs to be recognisable. Perhaps we could have a cartoon picture of an avocado with a knife, and a big red cross going through it?”

Hard figures for “avocado hand” have not been collated but it is a global phenomenon: Meryl Streep was photographed with a bandaged hand in 2012 after the fruit fought back. In New Zealand more than 300 people have sued for compensation from avocado injuries in the past five years. The New York Times ran an article this month headlined: “How to cut an avocado without cutting yourself” after the wife of a staff member had to be treated in hospital for a deep wound.

At Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London, Mr Eccles says he treats about four patients a week with avocado hand. Staff at St Thomas’ Hospital, in London, say they are well accustomed to the “post-brunch surge” on Saturdays….

Now think about how many times you’ve picked up a sharp knife to slice through an avocado and then banged the sharp edge of the knife into the avocado pit to dislodge it: all while holding the avocado in your hand. We’ve done it countless times, but now we think about the potential dangers to one of our favorite appendages.

But wait: there is no need to give up avocados, or to watch a how-to video every time you want avocado toast or to prepare guacamole, or to forgo drinking while preparing brunch. We’ve found a truly Cool Tool to deal very safely with avocados, and we can’t wait to tell you about it. Just glance here, and see what we’re talking about ....