I don’t usually review products, and generally I’m not one to get suckered into kitchen gadgets, but this product is worth the touting.

I’ve seen Jamie use his Flavour Shaker on his show Jamie At Home and thought, “eh, just one more unnecessary thing to clutter the kitchen.” Then my friend Tracy got one for their 10-day sailing trip, and swore it was the best thing she had ever used. So we rushed out and got one to give it a try.

She’s right, it rocks.

It grinds and crushes. It mashes garlic cloves faster than you can with your chef’s knife on a cutting board. It crushes and mixes your fresh herbs perfectly in seconds with just a few shakes. Darn, I sound like an infomercial.

Basically, the Flavour Shaker is a mortar and pestle, but in a different shape. The “mortar” is the two-part container, the “pestle” is a round ceramic ball. You toss your ingredients in, throw the ball in, put the top on, and shake, shake, shake!

For a tasty and easy rub, try shaking a couple of cloves of garlic, a pinch of kosher or sea salt, and some fresh thyme.

I love when food is fun.

Update: The Flavour Shaker is now available in a limited edition gold exclusively at Oil & Vinegar.

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I was reminiscing today about one of my favorite destinations in Tokyo. Mecca for the culinary connoisseur. Nirvana for the “kitsch-en” collector. A place where the Yen in my purse would start to shake and quiver the minute I was within spitting distance. Kappabashi market.

Marked by a giant statue of a chef’s head, Kappabashi is the fabulous restaurant supply district of Tokyo. If you love to cook and entertain, or just love to collect cool kitchen gadgets, this is the place to go.

Before I moved back to the States I took a trip downtown to stock up on authentic Japanese kitchenware. Hashi (chopsticks), beautiful lacquerware, small sushi plates, big serving dishes, rice bowls, ramen bowls, cedar bowls, ceramic tea and sake cups, decorative soy sauce bottles…oh the list goes on! I think about half of my shipping container was filled with treasures from Kappabashi. Honto ni! (Really!)

If you ever have a chance to hop on over to Japan -which is most definitely worth the trip, even with the outrageous prices – make a point to stop by Kappabashi. If you don’t need kitchen stuff you can a least have a splendid time perusing the endless aisles of plastic sushi.

Thank you Bento.com for your great photo!

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There’s never a bad time for a roasted chicken. Especially when the weather is still a bit crisp, and you feel like tucking in for the evening and enjoying a good meal. The smell of roasting bird wafts through the house, taunting your hunger. You almost want to grasp fork and knife in hands and bang on the table, urging it to cook faster.

But roasted chicken can all too often turn out dry. One way to avoid unwanted dryness is to soak your bird in brine, which locks in moisture and enhances all those wonderful flavors we so desire. Another excellent way to ensure your bird comes out of the oven juicy-licious is to roast it on a vertical roaster. Vertical roasting helps sear the inner cavity, keeping all those desireable natural juices and flavors in the meat and not in the pan. Roasting vertically also allows fat and grease to run off, much like rotisserie cooking.

We decided to combine moisture-retaining efforts and both brined and vertical roasted. Crazy, I know. But that’s just the kind of wild, recklessness we throw down in the kitchen every day (OK, that’s a slight exaggeration).

If you want to skip the brining step (it does take at least 24 hours) and get down to the roasting bit, then pull out your roasting pan and place the vertical roaster in the center. Our preparation was simple and no-frills, but you can certainly add more veggies, herbs and seasoning.

To prepare our bird for roasting we rough chopped a large sweet onion and placed it in the bottom of the roasting pan. We sprinkled a bit of fresh cracked pepper in the inner cavity, but did not season with salt since we had already soaked it in the salt water brine. We respectfully placed our bird on the vertical roaster and gave her a little massage with olive oil. Then, we sprinkled the outside with pepper, squeezed the juice of one lemon over the top and popped it in a 375 degree oven for about 45 minutes (time will vary depending on size).

Finger lickin’ good!

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Bamboo is one of the most commonly used plants and in recent years new applications have exploded, including the use of it’s fibers in textiles (I have a very nice bamboo t-shirt) and even bicycle frames!

So what does that have to do with cooking you ask?!? Well bamboo also has many uses in the kitchen. The shoots are common in Chinese food, though they add a nice crunch, there’s not a ton of flavor. I think the best use of bamboo in the kitchen is in cutting boards and kitchen floors. Reportedly 16% harder than Maple, it has a wonderfully soft feel and beautiful grain. Boards were quite expensive when I first saw them 6-7 years ago, but prices have dropped significantly in recent years. Check out the nice selection at Amazon.com.

Technically a grass, bamboo has all kinds of environmental advantages, including the fact that it can grow up to 60 feet in one year! Most gardeners will tell you that bamboo seems intent on world domination and it is generally considered sustainable. That said, bamboo is also subject to over-harvesting in some parts of the world. Check out this great New York Times article to learn more about this versatile natural resource.

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Don’t you just hate when you’ve finally gotten your favorite little omelette pan perfectly seasoned only to have it get that sticky, tacky feel? You scrub and scrub and it comes off, but you also lose that nice seasoned coating. Chef’s Secrets: Insider Techniques from Today’s Culinary Masters, a fun little gem of a book, offers a simple remedy to reestablish that nonstick surface.

1. Heat your pan on high heat until very hot.
2. Pour a bunch of salt into the pan (the book says to use iodized salt, but I used about a cup of Kosher and it worked quite well).
3. Swirl the salt around in the pan (I pushed the salt around with a Silicone spatula to make sure I got the sides). This will clean out the pores in the metal and remove impurities.
4. Dump the salt out and wipe with a clean towel.

Voilà! Your pan is now back to its seasoned self.

Check out Secret Sauce for some chef secrets of the culinary variety.

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