Around the Kitchen Table: What's New in Your Kitchen? + 5 Book Giveaway

MAYA CORRIGAN:  Any new gadget, appliance, ingredient, recipe, etc. in your kitchen? If not, do you have something old in your kitchen that you won't part with? 

My kitchen has a big shiny new thing. I recently had to give up on my 30-year-old electric stove. Having grown up with a gas stove, I never liked how long it took for the electric coils to heat up and cool down. But the oven was well insulated and its temperature so accurate that I kept the ancient range even though the repairman visited often. When the oven temperature settings no longer worked, however, the appliance had to go. 

Fortunately, the price of induction ranges has gone down recently, making them no more expensive than standard electric ranges with similar features. Induction burners heat up and cool off as fast as gas stoves, but without the negative environmental effect. Rather than heat up the cooking surface or the air, the induction burners transfer heat to the pot. Remove the pot and the burner shuts off, leaving a stove top that's warm but not red hot. Induction requires magnetic cookware like stainless steel and cast iron. I was afraid I'd have to buy a lot of new cookware, but I was able to use half of my existing pots and pans. To fill in the gaps, I bought induction-ready pots inexpensively at T. J. Maxx and Marshalls.

THE VERDICT: I love induction cooking with its precise controls. I can select from 10 different heat levels for the burners. The lowest setting keeps food warm without continuing to cook it, and the highest boils water in a flash, three times faster than my speedy electric kettle.  

Readers, do you have any recent additions in your kitchen? Leave a comment to enter a drawing for a stack of books.

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LESLIE BUDEWITZ:  Congrats on the new stove, Maya! Hard to make a big change like that, so how gratifying that it's working so well. I grew up with electric and when I discovered gas -- we've got a dual-fuel range, with a gas cooktop and electric oven -- I was hooked. But technology evolves, and the shift to induction seems like a good one.

My newest kitchen addition is hardly revolutionary, but welcome. We love King Arthur recipes and flours -- who doesn't? -- but it turns out their cooking equipment is just as stellar. I bought a pair of quarter sheet pans, just 13X9 -- the more common size is a half sheet, 13X18 -- and they've been enormously versatile and useful. We're a household of two, so I don't typically want to bake a lot of bacon on the occasional Sunday morning, or roast a scad of veggies or broil bruschetta for a crowd, and using the right size pan just makes sense. They're super easy to clean -- the dishwasher isn't recommended -- even if you're not using parchment paper, as I often do. Yay for the little things that make the kitchen an even happier place!   

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LUCY BURDETTE: I love all things King Arthur Leslie! I especially love their ceramic mixing bowls with little animals around the edges. But my newest acquisition was a waffle iron, which I bought when the grandkids visited this summer. The waffles were a big hit! Then I made cottage oat waffles with fried chicken one night--an even bigger treat!

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MADDIE DAY: I'll have to check out King Arthur pans, Leslie. I use their flour exclusively. I have a single Mickey Mouse waffle iron, Lucy. Hoping to put it to more use when grandkids start coming along! And Maya, I lust for an induction stovetop, but our gas stove is only nine years old and works great.

My newest acquisition is the cutest red electric teakettle. I had an old-fashioned looking one that sat atop the stove, but it took forever to heat water. My son got me this electric teakettle, and it heats SO fast. Plus, it's pretty and adds another punch of color to our white and black kitchen (as the trusty, not-new cobalt-blue mixer does, too). Maybe I should do an ad for KitchenAid?

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VICKI DELANY: I'd have to say my favourite kitchen appliance is my trusty, tried and true slow cooker.  I live alone and usually cook for one. I use the slow cooker a lot because I like to do soups and stews and the like, have a serving for dinner, and then freeze the rest for other meals. I've provided plenty of slow cooker recipes over the years I've been at MLK.  My daughter has just given me a newer one, that she never uses. I hope to give it a try in the next few days, which means I might part with the long-serving reliable one. Wish me luck. 

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LESLIE KARST: I’m not one for kitchen gadgets. I have no slow-cooker, air-fryer, or KitchenAid mixer. And although I do possess a sous-vide machine (which was a gift), I’ve only used it a couple times. Part of it is that I don’t have the counter or cupboard space for such items, but I think it’s also because I’m pretty old-fashioned when it comes to cooking. I’ll simply pull out a hand grater for that cheese, and use a hand-mixer for that whipped cream. (The fact that I’m not much of a baker makes it easier to do without the KitchenAid). 

I do have room on the counter for my beloved Roy Rogers lunch box! 

But I’m not a complete Luddite: there are certain things I would be very loath to part with: my coffee maker, my hand-juicer, my toaster, and my Soda Stream machine! 

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MOLLY MacRAE: Like Leslie K, we don't have room for kitchen gadgets. I would LOVE to have a Kitchen Aid mixer (blue, please). When recipes call for lots of beating and mixing of heavy doughs, I usually end up with blisters. They're worth it, though, and easily forgotten when the recipe turns out just right. 

One new-ish thing in our kitchen is an ingredient - nutritional yeast. It adds a wonderful flavor that's hard to describe. Nutty, cheesy, slightly meaty? Umami - savoriness - probably covers it. Our favorite use for nutritional yeast is in Chickpea Noodle Soup - a delicious vegetarian version of chicken noodle soup. 

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PEG COCHRAN/MARGARET LOUDON: What's new in my kitchen? I can't think of anything off-hand if we're talking appliances or other kitchenware. I actually have a lot of old things in my kitchen--the cast iron pan that belonged to my grandmother, the bench scraper I got as a wedding gift in 1974, a 25 year old food processor (the original one finally bit the dust!). I do have an air fryer and an Instant Pot (both gifts) that are probably the newest things in my kitchen. If we're talking ingredients, I'd have to say the miso paste I bought recently. It's the first time I've used it in anything. It went in the Japanese salad dressing I made recently.

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TINA KASHIAN: Congratulations on the new, shiny stove, Maya! Our newest gadget is an air fryer. I know this isn't something new on the market, but we are trying different recipes and enjoying it. We have many busy days coming home from work and then rushing to watch high school volleyball games, swim meets, concerts, or other activities. The air fryer has been helpful. I plan to post some of my favorite air fryer recipes in the future.

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CLEO COYLE:  Fun topic, Maya. Like Leslie K., we don't have much counter space, but one new appliance Marc and I did purchase recently was the personal blender (pictured below). I wanted something that had a powerful motor, didn't take up much space, and was within our budget. The 1/2 price sale at Sur La Table was too good to pass up. It just arrived, so we haven't tried it yet, but we're looking forward to making smoothies, shakes, salad dressing, and (of course) iced coffee drinks with it like our Easy Vanilla Latte and Home Kitchen Iced Mocha. For anyone curious abou the bullet-like blender, the sale is still on, and we're happy to share this link to learn more. Happy cooking, everyone! 

Our new "personal blender"
(happily half priced!)
Photo courtesy Sur La Table

To be entered in this week's drawing

for the 5 terrific mysteries below,

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 > CRYPT SUZETTE by Maya Corrigan 

> STEEPED IN MALICE by Vicki Delany

> BREWED AWAKENING by Cleo Coyle

> AGRYLES AND ARSENIC by Molly MacRae

> CHRISTMAS MITTENS MURDER 

with a novella by Maddie Day

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