Chef Michael Schwartz's 7-Item, $300 Kitchen Upgrade

Esquire:

In our second installment of the $300 Upgrade Challenge -- wherein we ask chefs to tell us how to upgrade our kitchens with only $300 -- we've enlisted chef Michael Schwartz, owner of Michael's Genuine Food & Drink, in Miami. Schwartz, a 2009 James Beard Award nominee, suggests tools for everything from impressing a woman with homemade pasta to displaying your kitchen knives in a way that maximizes their reachability and makes you look like an actual chef. For all that, plus the reason you should never use plastic cutting boards, click below.

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Comments

[kareemachan]

03:20 PM on 09/18/2010

This is minor, but plastic cutting boards are just fine in my book, as 1) they can go in the dishwasher, and 2) I don't have room for a big wooden cutting board.

[KellyRyan]

10:53 PM on 09/14/2010

Good set of knives, Cuisinart, pasta roller, bread board, Kitchen Aid mixer, garlic press, lemon reemer, my essentials.

[Absolon]

03:17 PM on 09/14/2010

A good knife is not "a guy thing." It's "a good cook" thing.
BTW, Joyce Chen has a pasta roller for less than $25 that can be used for pasta, crackers, et al.

[Ozark Homesteader]

10:20 AM on 09/13/2010

The pasta maker is unavailable. Does anyone have any more recommendations? It's one of the few things I've thought would be nice to add to our kitchen.

[capsaicin]

11:20 AM on 09/13/2010

If you already happen to have a KitchenAid stand mixer, the pasta roller attachment is great. It's a little spendy, but enables you to have both hands free to feed the pasta and it gets the pasta as thin as you want.

[Ozark Homesteader]

11:20 AM on 09/17/2010

No KitchenAid mixer here. I'd like one, but we don't have the room right now. :-(

[cabinetmaniac]

04:00 PM on 09/13/2010

Amazon has four pages worth.

http://www.amazon.com/s/177-7493207-1668207?ie=UTF8&tag=mozilla-20&index=blended&link_code=qs&field-keywords=pasta%20machine&sourceid=Mozilla-search

☮

[Ozark Homesteader]

11:20 AM on 09/17/2010

Ah, yes, but have you used any of them?

[aristippe]

01:17 AM on 09/12/2010

I have a large wood cutting board that i use for veg only. Meats fish are cut on my plastic board. Seems more sanitary.

[aristippe]

01:15 AM on 09/12/2010

I had a wall magnet for my knives but lost it during a move. It works wonderfully must get another one.

[henrypapillon]

12:33 AM on 09/21/2010

Not very effective for stainless steel knives.

[littlebrowngirl]

11:28 AM on 09/11/2010

The blender has been on my list for a while. I may pick one up.

[capsaicin]

11:33 AM on 09/13/2010

They are pretty great, and also fun to use! I have the KitchenAid immersion blender set with the chopper/whisk attachments, and I absolutely love it. The mini-chopper is great for chopping small quantities of onion, garlic, nuts, etc -- and is also the only motorized device I've ever known that is able to mince herbs pretty well. I admit I have not used the whisk attachment yet (I don't do much cooking that involves extended whisking), but since I use the chopper a lot, the attachment set was worth getting over the blender alone.

[kareemachan]

03:21 PM on 09/18/2010

Thanks for the review - I'm putting it on my shopping list!

[Charles Holden]

10:36 AM on 09/11/2010

Cucina Pro Pasta Fresh Maker dit we not all buy one of these and then throw it out 6 years later?

[Ozark Homesteader]

10:20 AM on 09/13/2010

What was the problem? I'm in the market for one.

[kareemachan]

03:22 PM on 09/18/2010

Probably. I bought mine at a garage sale for $5 a while back, and I use it!

[Vivian Alicia Evans]

06:47 PM on 09/10/2010

Have
Cuisinart Smart Stick Hand Blender, love it.

Want
Hardwood Knife Magnet. I have a shortage of counter top and this would be perfect.
Microplane Zester. I really want this and keep forgetting to pick one.

Don't want or need.
Misono 440 Series Chef Knife, I have an 8 inch J.A. Henckels that I love.
Wooden Cutting Block, my husband made one for me that I had him cut down as it was too big and took up too much room on the counter. Next time I will just get him to make the countertop a cutting board.
Pulltap Waiter's Corkscrew: have one that works great.
Cucina Pro Pasta Fresh Maker, have no need I don't make pasta. so sad but true.

So I guess I don't need $300 dollars to upgrade the kitchen just around $30. Not too bad.

[chardonnay48]

03:04 PM on 09/10/2010

I have those plastic cutting boards too. I like them.

[Candace8383]

09:10 AM on 09/10/2010

lol well i have all the items except the knife and the cutting board it, the knife, seems like a good buy but i have cutting boards i prefer.They are plastic? and you buy a pack of 4 colors yellow red blue and green
its so convienient to use the red only for red meat the green for veggies the yellow for chicken and the blue for fish .they last a long time and are cheap and for me who does alot of prep in advance its a god send

[Stephanie71]

01:55 PM on 09/12/2010

I have them as well but I use them on top of my wooden board (which I've had for nearly 20 years now). Just the thin plastic alone on the counter bothers me. The wood board underneath does a really good job of absorbing the energy of the knife as I chop.

But yeah, much easier to clean those sheets than to carry the board over to the sink to get the scraps off of it.

[Candace8383]

04:45 PM on 09/12/2010

i use a large dishtowel under it it cushions and if i am dissecting a chicken or even wet vegetables it absorbs all the liquid

[Bucket-Of-Love]

03:00 AM on 09/10/2010

Above all, my kitchen is equipped with a set of cast iron cookware. Preferably the smooth ones (they look like they are milled on the interior surface), rather than the ones that have a grainy textured interior surface. For accuracy in regards to what goes on at the point of contact between the food and the cooking surface, it's hard to beat cast iron. For developing and concentrating flavors, the steadiness of how the heat is distributed is a great advantage. Even with high enduring temperatures, a great amount of control can be obtained. Besides on top of the stove, they perform very impressively in the oven too.

[Candace8383]

04:49 PM on 09/12/2010

I have a couple of cast iron pans a 12 inch frying pan and a skillet with ridges i do use the fry pan often and you cant beat it browning anything. but i weighs a ton. how do you clean yours? i use salt and a vegetable brush is there a better way?

[Bucket-Of-Love]

12:17 AM on 09/13/2010

Bit of a long answer, but it explains why I clean cast iron as I do.

I just rinse and stove dry my cast iron pans. I don't pay any attention to oiling them, as some people do. I soak off food that's cooked onto the surface. Sometimes one can maintain a nice slick surface, but it's no big deal if it's lost to cleaning. Salt is good for removing stuck food and preserving the nice slick surface when that's possible. It's also good for removing rust from a pan.

But I'm not bothered by water for cleaning, and it's not a tremendous necessity to have an slick finish on the pan. Good results are mostly from iron skillets' ability to maintain and distribute heat really well. Heated properly and used properly, an iron skillet provides a highly controllable cooking surface. To understand how to take advantage of it, understand what's happening at the inner surface of the skillet during cooking, particularly the careful driving off of water from the product in a controlled, steady manner. Observe this interaction. It provides two key mechanisms for developing flavor: 1) higher heat can be applied because of the evenness of the heat distribution; 2) food can endure long periods of contact with the surface without scorching. Both of these are important. In the first case, it's because searing can be done evenly. In the second case, it's because the food can cook down to where it's more concentrated in flavor.

[Bucket-Of-Love]

12:24 AM on 09/13/2010

Part 2:

I mostly watch what's going on at the surface while cooking. I use oil, but not much, because it's the control of the food's moisture content at the point of contact with the pan that affects sticking. Not fussing with the food and allowing the food to developed it's cooked surface is important, too, but this is easily acheived because of the even heat distribution. Sometimes, I am relying on what I'm hearing. Sometimes, I'm detecting the cooked state by types of aromas emerging.

Try this: brown some stewing beef in a bit of oil. Start with higher heat, and don't crowd the pan. After the initial browning, where most of moisture has bet let out of the meat and cooked down, lower the heat. Add cumin seeds (or bay leaf, or..?), and a little salt. Stir so some seeds fall to the bottom of the pan (so they'll brown, too) and cook a short while. Add a large sliced onion. Cook until wilted and moisture is driven off. Cover, but be careful to never let moisture build in the pan. Remove cover as needed to allow moisture to cook off. Discard all water that builds on the inside surface of the cover. Stir every 5-10 minutes, ending any scorching that's going on. Add chopped garlic in the last 15 minutes. You should end up with the meat cooked down by at least 33% in size, that's tender and very concentrated in flavor.

[cookerman45]

01:43 AM on 09/10/2010

just give the $300 to the sous chef and tell him ta hurry it up.

[TCPITS]

06:28 PM on 09/09/2010

My two cents worth. Do not fill your space with single use stuff. E.g., a colander not a “salad spinner”, A decent chef’s knife (yes they are expensive) but not the skinny-ass one in the article, a set of heavy pots and pans including a Wok (inexpensive cast iron works on every kind of stove), the immersion blender and the microplane in the article I find indispensible, a mixer (stand mixer if you have space and bake a lot), and a food processor. A marble rolling pin, rolls lots of crusts, doughs, and pasta – if you don’t find yourself rolling out pasta, the pasta machine will see more dust than use. I have a much bigger cutting board that the one displayed, but I still use the little plastic ones cause I can stick them in the dishwasher. If you are just starting out, see if there is a restaurant supply store nearby. You’ll be amazed at both quality and price.

[sb250guy]

04:51 AM on 09/10/2010

I use a Misono (same brand) Chinese cleaver as my chef's knife. It cost about the same and it's awesome.

Good tips about everything else too.

Bon appetit!

[BBackSoon]

02:29 PM on 09/10/2010

I agree with the multi-use point. Not to mention I already have too many kitchen gadgets.

I like the Chinese style knifes, I have a 10in but could not live without the 7in. They were moderate priced ones and are serving me just fine. I also have some older German made Chef knifes including a 12in monster but only get it out if I am processing a Rhino or the like.

[thebigbike]

05:02 PM on 09/09/2010

You had me at the $139 knife..... not....

[BlueZoo]

10:35 PM on 09/15/2010

I have to admit to feeling just as you do until I actually was given one of those knives as a present. The difference in it and the cheaper knives I had been buying (and replacing!) over the years was just jaw-dropping! I gave all of my cheap knives away and invested in a really good set and I have never been happier. I bought them all from Williams-Sonoma and take them there when/if they need sharpening, as WS sharpens them free of charge if you purchase from them. It is an investment I wish I'd made 40 years ago!