A Traditional Irish Soda Bread Recipe

Photo courtesy of Heather "Moria"

I’ll be making a loaf of soda bread tonight, though it probably won’t last until St. Patrick’s Day on Saturday. If you’ve never made this bread before, give it a try. It’s easy and this stuff tastes great – enjoy it as a sweet treat with butter at breakfast or to scoop up savory dishes like lamb or beef stew. Here’s my first-generation Irish grandmother’s soda bread recipe:

Ingredients:

2 cups of all-purpose flour (a pinch more for dusting)

2 cups pastry/cake flour

3-1/2 tablespoons of sugar

1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons of salt

2 tablespoons of butter

1-3/4 cups whole milk

1 teaspoon of white vinegar

1 cup of raisins

1) Preheat oven to 425
2) Sift together dry ingredients.

3) Mix dry ingredients and butter together in a ceramic bowl with a paring knife.  This is a key part of the recipe: you want to cut across all the ingredients until – somehow – they form a crumble.

4) Add the milk and vinegar. Knead only until smooth, about 15 times. I advise you to knead sparingly to avoid creating gluten. But, my grandmother would beat the bejesus out of it, so go with your gut.

5) Place the dough on parchment paper on a baking sheet or in a bread pan (if you want a loaf shape) and bake for 45 – 60 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 180 F.

Enjoy! And remember, you can buy all of the tools mentioned in this recipe at ChefTools.com - just follow the links!

歓迎 Hello Kitty To ChefTools.com!

Hello Kitty Large Paper Plates

We’re always excited to launch a new product line on ChefTools.com, but I think the addition of a line of Hello Kitty party supplies by Meri Meri deserves special recognition. Why? Because Hello Kitty (her real name is Kitty White) might be the most iconic brand available on our site – only products with the Mona Lisa or that Barack Obama image by Shepherd Fairy could rival Hello Kitty’s iconography. 

Briefly, these are the Hello Kitty party supplies we just added: paper plates (small and large), an invite and thank you card set, napkins (small and large), paper cups, party hats, cupcake picks, cupcake cups (mini and standard sizes), garland, a cupcake kit, cupcake boxes (large and small), and an absolutely awesome stationary set (it has notepads, stickers, envelopes … a ton of cute stuff). 

Hello Kitty Invite & Thank You Set

What’s interesting about Hello Kitty is how she went from the brain of Japanese designer Yuko Shimizu to 20 years later being a 1 billion per-year powerhouse.  It was in 1992 that Shintaro Tsuji founded Sanrio and noticed how lucrative cute could be – he started out selling sandals with pretty little flowers on them. Sanrio began merchandising Hello Kitty in 1994, and she and her friends (Chococat, Deery-lou, My Melody, among many others) exploded in popularity – Hello Kitty has appeared on almost any consumer product you can think of, even on the side of an jet liner. 

I’m pleased to say that Meri Meri has done – as usual – an exceptional job creating this line of Hello Kitty goods. They’ve perfectly captured the aesthetic of Hello Kitty, with broad color fields, Kitty’s love of bright colors and soft lines – and her love of cupcakes. Whether you’re a longtime fan, throwing a birthday party, or just love art, check out these party supplies. (I have a feeling that this line of Meri Meri is going to be particularly popular and sell out fast!)

Hello Kitty Party Hats

St. Patrick's Day Enjoyment Guide

As much as St. Patrick’s Day is a day to enjoy inebriation and parades, it’s also a great food holiday – for everything from sweets to meats. Start preparing for your St. Paddy’s day celebration now and shop ChefTools.com for everything you need for eating, drinking … and, yes, dying things green … .

24 cupcake cases, 24 cupcake toppers

 Festive treats: Meri Meri St. Patrick’s Day Cupcake Kit

All the tools you need to bake sweet and beautifully decorated cupcakes. A set of cupcakes wrapped in shamrock-clad wrappers, topped with dancing leprechauns is pure fun, especially for young lads and lasses. And, you can bake more than just cupcakes with this kit – line up early along the parade route to get a good seat and chow down on a batch of warm breakfast muffins!

Dye anything green: Ateco Forest Green Soft Gel Paste

And what would your cupcakes and muffins be if they aren’t dyed green? Forest green is my favorite, but we carry every shade of green from teal to leaf to mint. The beauty of Ateco Gel Paste is that it works with any food. Pour it in your cake batter, buttercream frosting, and whipped cream – whatever. It will maintain its luster and rich coloring across all your recipes. Will this color beer? We don’t know – but you could always try!

8 quart Fennel Green stockpot - from soup to nuts, your corned beef!

Irish soda bread: Fat Daddio’s 13” x 4” Pullman Bread Pan

My grandmother’s Irish soda bread method: mix up a couple of pounds of lumpy, wet dough, plop it on an ancient sheet pan in a big ugly pile, and just bake until hard – not gold brown, not cooked all the way through, just rock hard. And, actually, it usually comes out OK. But the key to dense, moist bread is a Pullman pan. The lid seals in moisture and does not allow the dough to expand and take on air while it’s baking. This is the perfect tool for perfect Irish soda bread … just don’t tell my grandmother.

Corned beef: Le Creuset Fennel Green Stock Pot (on sale!)

You’ll need this stockpot for every step of the long, but rewarding, corned beef process. First, you boil the beef brisket in the pot alongside lovely spices like juniper berries, mustard seeds, sugar, pepper, etc. After that, cool it with ice in the fridge for a couple of hours. Then brine for 10 days (not in the stockpot; use a large bag or plastic container). Then, on the morning of March 17, put that hunk of beef back in the stockpot and simmer it until the meat falls off the bone.

Whiskey: Duralex Picardie 8-3/4 oz. Tumbler

Irish whiskey tastes wonderfully different than any Scottish, American, or Canadian type. You have to try it to know the difference. Enjoy with a side of water to cleanse the palate. It’s the perfect cap to a long day of parades, cupcakes, and corned beef.

To Pie For: Tovolo Pie Pops

The complete Pie Pops kit by Tovolo

The Tovolo Pie Pops kit is definitely one of the most interesting gadgets we’ve offered in a long time. Pie on a stick? What’s next, cake on a … errr … cookies on … shoot.  At this point, what treat hasn’t been affixed to the end of a stick? (Muffins?)

A stick in itself may not add flavor, but it does add another dimension, just like how eating a burger on a bun allows you to introduce onions, ketchup, etc. Of course, eating a pie on a stick is a cleaner eating experience. It also bends the laws of pie eating physics – a Pie Pop allows for dipping, a task that’s tricky with traditional fork/pie combo. Dip the pie in whipped cream, take a bite; dip the pie in chocolate chips, take another bite - and on until you’re full.

The best I can tell, the Pie Pops experience is for parties.  From the baking to the communal eating/dipping, it’s perfect for birthday parties, Friday family nights, bridal showers, and more. The baking tray comes with little bowls for condiments, and you can arrange the Pie Pops around the condiments for leisurely snacking.

But how does it work? It’s as easy as you-know-what.

1)    

  L   1) Place your dough inside the pie molds and add filling

2)      2) Insert a wooden stick through the hole in the pie mold (notice how the mold adds those awesome crust crosshatches?)

3)      3) Place the molds inside the baking tray

4)      4) Bake

5)      5) Enjoy

My only wish is that Pie Pops were available at the local convenience store, like lollipops. Pick up one of these neat kits for your next birthday bash, or just get one because it’s fun. Remember: food on a stick is always better.

Welcoming De Buyer to ChefTools.com

The De Buyer Mineral B Element 12" Fry Pan: old reliable.

There’s a scene in one episode of Anthony Bourdain’s “No Reservations” where he’s working (his rump off) as a line cook in his old restaurant, Les Halles; after searing a steak or fish or some other piece of meat on top of the burner, he quite literally throws the pan under the broiler. Just tosses it, not at all caring whether it’ll break. The star of that scene was neither Bourdain nor the food, but the pan. The steel battered and dented like the hull of a battleship, blackened by years of frying, sautéing, braising, baking, etc., that pan will be there forever for Bourdain or whoever takes his place.

It’s exactly the type of pan we all need in our kitchen: old reliable. 

When I held a De Buyer Mineral B Element pan for the first time, I could feel in its heft, its thick construction, and its unbendable handle that it would last forever. 

ChefTools.com is extremely proud to welcome De Buyer as the latest addition to our Cookware Department. Handcrafted in France, these 100% natural iron mineral pans come pre-seasoned with organic beeswax, which helps promote the natural nonstick finish and prevents rusting. 

We’re starting off with De Buyyer’s line of Mineral B Element workhorse frying pans ranging in size from 8 to 14 inches. But there’s more: grill pans in 10 and 12-inch sizes, plus high-sided saucepans (called Country Chef Pans), 3 sizes of crepe pan, and a blinis pan. For all your De Buyer mandoline owners, we’re offering a variety of accessories for De Buyer’s La Mandoline Ultra, from julienne blades to extra-large pushers. And for those in need of the finest garnishing tools ever produced, we have the De Buyer Core Concept Universal Corer in 3 sizes. 

When you buy a De Buyer pan, it’s forever. Come to ChefTools.com and invest in one of these incredible pans – throw it under the broiler, expose it to ungodly temperatures, freeze it, and it lives on for you to pass down the next generation of home cooks. 

Enjoy this quick little De Buyer tutorial - from factory to stovetop, it shows how to properly season and use these excellent pans.

NEW Scanpan Cookware At "Try Me" Prices

The 2-piece CSX (top) and CTX fry pan set.

We’re rolling out a bunch of new pans and sets by Scanpan this week – but even better, most of the pans are at “try me” prices. That means you can get a $210 CSX Series fry pan for just $99.95 (no sales tax (except Washington state residents) and free shipping, too!). There are some other great deals on these excellent pans, but it’s for a limited time only. 

A little background on Scanpan: hand forged in Denmark (hence the name Scanpan, as in Scandinavian Pan), Scanpan makes some of the most durable and environmentally friendly pans in the world. The Classic Series pans are great for home cooks; perfect for frequent sautéing, braising, and frying. The Classic Series pans feature a layer of ceramic-titanium nonstick coating, which means there are no harmful chemicals on there; plus, the chemical-free nonstick layer is tough, able to stand up to scrapes from metal utensils. 

At the top of the Scanpan line, you’ll find the CSX and CTX Series pans. CSX pans feature 4 layers of super-conductive aluminum; the stainless steel cooking surface seals and protects the aluminum, while allowing the pan to heat evenly with no heat pockets. 

CTX pans use the same aluminum layering method for excellent heat distribution, but feature a non-toxic, PFOA-free nonstick cooking surface (much like the Classic Series pans). A set of 2 (pictured above) CTX and CSX pans is on sale for a limited time, so you can try both and figure out which one best suits your needs (you'll find that both do!).

In other words, Scanpan manufactures its products with two goals in mind: to be kind to the environment (both the Earth’s and yours), and to provide an exceptional cooking surface. 

So hurry over to our Scanpan Department and get 50% or more off new Scanpan pans – anytime you see a price highlighted in red, it’s a “try me.”