The pressing issue of coffee
The automatic drip coffee machine is standard equipment in many U.S. homes. For the most part, it's reliable. Coffee stays warm.
But discriminating coffee drinkers may prefer the stylish French press or plunger pot method. Near-boiling water is mixed with coarsely ground coffee in a glass carafe. The plunger/filter is depressed, and essential oils are released from the grounds into the brew oils that paper and metal filters remove. The result is fresh, rich-tasting coffee.
Chef's Choice, best known for producing knife sharpeners, is on the cutting edge as well of plunger-pot technology. The new
8-cup Electric French Press Plus, above, has a power base that quickly heats water to the perfect temperature and a carafe that lifts off for serving.
Chef's Choice Electric French Press Plus ($69.95) is available from Chef's catalog,
(800) 338-3232.
Click your way to learn 'How To Cook Everything'
Here's a cool idea: Turn on your computer or laptop in the kitchen, pop in the "How To Cook Everything" CD and listen to Mark Bittman tell you exactly how to make gnocchi, truss a bird or fillet a fish. Bittman's award-winning "How To Cook Everything: Simple Recipes for Great Food" (Hungry Minds Inc.) offers a bonus with its 1,500 recipes and useful cooking tips and techniques: a CD-ROM with the latest special edition of the cookbook for $39.95.
The CD features nearly everything in the cookbook, minus a few menu suggestions. Like the book, the CD doesn't have flashy, glossy food photos only a few generic background photos with the same useful step-by-step instructions. You will also find handy links to food-related Web sites.
Barbecue restaurant keeps it kosher
When Gabe Feldman was growing up in a Jewish household in New York City, the kosher section of the telephone book included almost any type of cuisine from Mexican to Italian to Argentine.
When Feldman decided to go into the restaurant business in the Atlanta area, he thought, "Why not barbecue?"
The result: Twelve Oaks Barbecue in Decatur, Ga., which opened in December.
But customers won't find the traditional Southern pork barbecue here. Twelve Oaks is kosher, meaning it serves only foods that meet strict Jewish dietary laws.
Dishes include ribs, fried green tomatoes, peach cobbler and okra things found at any Southern home-cooking diner.
"But no pulled-pork sandwiches, sorry," Feldman said. "Only kosher cuts like beef and chicken."
The term "kosher" means "fit or proper." The pig is considered an unclean animal, thus unfit to eat.
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