Viva la Revol Revolution!

3-3/4 Round Cocotte in Pepper Red

Make this France’s second famous revolution.

The Revol Revolution line of porcelain cookware is truly amazing. These are porcelain pieces - yeah, that beautiful, white and allegedly delicate material – that are safe for use in the microwave, in the freezer or refrigerator, and on halogen, gas, and electric ranges. 

The pièce de résistance, though? This porcelain is induction safe.   

The Revol Revolution line takes the company’s renowned, time-honored made-in-France porcelain and updates it to 2012 standards – Revolution may even give cast iron and nonstick pans a run for their money. 

Revolution pieces come in a variety of quart sizes, from 1-3/4 to 4-3/4, plus 3-1/4 quart tagines (cone shaped slow roasters perfect for Middle Eastern and African dishes). The porcelain is non-porous, so it won’t absorb fat, chemicals, bacteria or anything else you throw at it. The interior is naturally nonstick, so you don’t have to worry about questionable spray-on chemicals. 

You can cook nearly anything in these pieces, from stews to lamb roasts to rice, or sautéing garlic and clams for a sauce, or even baking bread and casseroles – and you can cook that stuff anywhere, from the induction range to the oven. 

You probably won’t have any leftovers, but let’s pretend: throw the lid back on the cocotte and stash leftovers in the freezer or refrigerator for as long as you want. Ready to eat again? Toss the whole thing in the microwave and serve. Repeat, repeat, repeat. 

If you’re looking for a durable, versatile piece of cookware that can do virtually anything, then viva la résistance: Revol Revolution is the new king.

Mother's Day Mix'N Match Sale!

Kai Pure Komachi 2 Knives - 15% off each when you buy 3 or more.

We want you to give mom the perfect gift this Mother’s Day, so we’ve put together an excellent Mix’N Match sale to help you out. We’ve combined hundreds of items by Mu Kitchen, Kai Pure Komachi, Ritrovo, and Tienxi Tea – some of the best home linens, cutlery, and gourmet food and tea available – to make shopping for mom easy. 

Through May 6, buy at least 3 of these items and get 15% off each item. And you’re not just bound to buying three items – get 5, 6, or 10 items and you’ll still get 15% off each. 

Imagine surprising mom with a colorful new Kai Pure Komachi 2 Chef’s Knife, a stylish apron by MU Kitchen, and a glass bottle of gourmet Soline Fleur de Sel sea salt. The combinations of wonderful gifts are nearly endless! 

The Mix’N Match sale is just the tip of our Mother’s Day offerings. All Jason products - including placemat sets, coaster sets, serving trays, mugs and more – are 35% off. 

We’ve also compiled unique cooking tools, lovely new Le Creuset Café Collection pieces (for the coffee or tea lover), and some of our best selling and most in-demand bakeware items. You’ll find great new tools by RSVP Endurance, like the Hazel Nut Grinder, a banana bag that keeps fruit bright yellow and fresh for up to 2 weeks, and much more.

RSVP Hazel Nut Grinder - one of many unique cooking tools in our Mother's Day Department.

Help your mom get cooking this Mother’s Day! 

(Remember, Mother’s Day is May 13. For standard shipping, order by May 3 to ensure timely delivery.)

Cooking Green For Earth Day 2012

It’s always a good idea to consider the environment when shopping, but with Earth Day on Sunday, it’s especially important. We’re always looking for cool, new eco-friendly products to add to ChefTools.com – you like them, we like selling them, and they’re good for the planet. We typically consider 4 factors before labeling a product “green”: 

Waste: This includes whether the product is recyclable or biodegradable (breaks down completely within 1 year), and whether a product is manufactured as efficiently as possible.  

Renewability: Quite simply, what’s the product made out of? From bamboo to recycled plastic and paper, there are many ways to make products with a net zero drain on the planet’s resources.

Pollution: Sometimes it’s tough, but we can and do offer products that are made, shipped to us, and shipped to you, with minimal pollution. Consider this: we almost exclusively use FedEx as our shipping carrier; FedEx has committed to greening its operation. It has over 400 electric or hybrid vehicles for shipping, and has upgraded routes and airplanes to conserve gas and cut emissions – the company estimates that it saved 300,000 gallons of gas and cut 3,000 metric tons of emissions. 

Toxicity: Whether you’re gluten free or weary of BPAs, we strive to offer products that won’t impart unwanted chemicals or substances into your cooking.

We offer many “green” products at ChefTools.com, but there are a few that deserve special recognition. 

Scanpan:  This Danish company makes exceptional nonstick cookware. But the No. 1 reason their products are so green? They last forever. You won’t end up throwing these pans away in a year – or a month – because the nonstick finish has worn off. The cooking surface is made of super strong nonstick ceramic titanium, a PFOA-free cooking surface that's literally impossible to destry. The pan will never blister or interact with food, and is safe to use in the oven up to 500 F and with metal utensils. The body of the pan is made of recycled aluminum, which means no strip mining. Buying a Scanpan is an investment in your kitchen that will pay off by reducing future waste.

 

MU Kitchen: MU Kitchen’s line of stylish bamboo dish towels are made out of bamboo fiber, a naturally bacteria resistant and renewable resource. But why is bamboo so renewable? It’s an exceptionally strong wood that grows like grass. You can grow, harvest, and regrow entire forests within months. And, these towels are more absorbent and dry quicker than most towels  MU uses no pesticides on its bamboo, and uses non-azo dyes.

Architec: The first thing you’ll notice about these kitchen bowls is how stylish they are. These bowls are made of 98%-recycled materials – and, they’re made in the USA, cutting pollution emitted during shipping. A commitment to environmental awareness extends to all of Architec’s products, too.  If it’s not made of recycled material, Architec uses bamboo and cork, two sustainable resources.

Architec Mixing Bowl Set

On Earth Day 2012, we encourage our customers to consider buying products that are eco-friendly – whether it’s a long-lasting Scanpan, or a tool that helps you be greener at home – like a compost pale. Shop in our Green Tools department for more great eco-friendly housewares and cooking tools.

Lucky Cooking Tools for Friday the 13th!

In honor of today, April 13, a Friday – better known as, uh, Friday the 13^th – we’ve put together 13 scary, freaky items from the ChefTools.com inventory. Why are these items so ghoulish? Because that all have the number 13 in common! Without further ado:

Nos. 13 - 9: Various Fat Daddio’s 13-inch cake pans: these 4 pans are scarily practical. Whether you’re baking a standard square or round cake, or building a tiered layer cake, these pans are durable and have natural nonstick properties. Range in prices from $13.11 (oh my!) to $27.26. 

Revol 13oz. Souffle Dish

No. 8: Revol Porcelaine Grands Classiques 13 oz. Soufflé Dish: this wonderful French white porcelain dish holds an unlucky 13 ounces, but is excellent in all other respects. Use to make crème brulee, gratin, or as a serving dish at the dinner table. This French made porcelain is durable and beautiful! $13.45

No. 7: Heavy Weight Deluxe 13-3/4” Beechwood Spoon: use to mix salads, stir tomato sauce, or as a serving piece at the dinner table. Or, use it to exact revenge on teenage campers. We recommend using it for culinary purposes. $5.45. 

USA Pans 13" Sheet Cake Pan

No. 6: USA Pans 13” Nonstick Sheet Cake Pan: an excellent pan made in America – no doubt inspired by the Friday the 13^th series of films. $19.99.

No. 5: RSVP Endurance 13” Splatter Screen: protect your walls and countertops from splatter – not blood splatter, of course, but hot cooking oil, sauce, and all that. This handy mesh screen rests on top of pots and pans (up to 13” in diameter) preventing splatter, but still allowing air to circulate. $18.99. 

No. 4: Ateco Soft Gel Paste Food Coloring, 13-1/2 oz. bottle (assorted colors): paint your food blood red … and sun orange, and earth brown, and tree green. Ateco gel paste mixes well with any base. Perfect for when you’re mixing it with non-dairy products. The color will never break down in frosting. $5.60 per bottle.

No 3: USA Pans 13” Large Nonstick Pullman Loaf Pan: Why is the USA Pans company so obsessed with the number 13!? Just kidding. They make excellent products here in America, and this Pullman pan is no exception. Use a Pullman for creating dense breads, or for when you want a perfectly square loaf – just like supermarket-bought loaves. $24.99. 

Sweet figs go perfectly with meat and cheese

No. 2: I Peccati di Ciacco 13 oz. jar of oven-dried figs: 13 is even an omen in Italy – an omen for quality! These sweet, marinated figs are perfect for serving with meat and cheese. Imported from Italy, made in small batches. $14.85/jar.  

LamsonSharp vegetable cleaver - scar, strong, and made in America!

No. 1: LamsonSharp Pro Chinese Vegetable Cleaver: What does this have to do with Friday the 13^th? Well, nothing, except that it’s a large, scary knife. But! It’s also an incredibly useful knife. Chop vegetables and meat quickly and easily with this large, made-in-America cleaver. A high carbon stainless steel blade resists rusting, warping, and dulling. A walnut handle with brass rivets is comfortable and strong. Get one today – just make sure your vegetables don’t run away in fear! $34.99.

Have a happy and lucky Friday the 13^th! 

New: Fat Daddio's 2012 Bakeware

Fat Daddio's Flat Bottom Mixing Bowls

We added to Chef Tools last Thursday a host of new bakeware by Fat Daddio’s. Fat Daddio’s has always been a bakeware innovator, but they’ve introduced a couple of new products this year that are particularly exceptional. My favorite is the line of flat bottom mixing bowls: they don’t move or rock like round bottom bowls, and they’re super easy to use with spatulas (also, if you buy a couple of different sizes, they stack on top of each other really well). 

Here are some other highlights from the new 2012 Fat Daddio’s line:

Silicone Veiners (molds) in multiple shapes

Silicone veiners: Use these veiners – or, more simply, molds - to form beautiful fondant shapes quickly and easily. Simply press your fondant into this mold and remove. The silicone is naturally nonstick, so your shape will release easily every time. Made of durable, FDA-approved silicone. 

3-Cup sifter: Perfectly sift your dry ingredients with this sifter. A squeeze handle operates it, so you can sift with one hand.  This design also reduces tension on the sifting blades, which means this sifter will outlast others – no more sticking (or stuck) sifting blades.

Silicone string molds: Ever see a professional wedding cake outlined with pretty little fondant pearls? Now you can do that at home. Simply add a thin rope of fondant to this mold and squeeze shut. You're left with a string of beautiful pearls. Comes in a variety of sizes and shapes, too (pearls, roses, braided rope). 

Balloon whisk (multiple sizes): These are the most solid, comfortable whisks ever produced. Fat Daddio's manufactured these whisks in response to customer requests for a better, higher-torque mixing tool - the result is an entirely new design, with a solid core handle and solid, easy to clean stainless steel blades.

Fat Daddio's Confectionary Funnel

Confectionary funnel: Reenact “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” in your home kitchen with this incredible tool. This machine doles out perfectly sized drops of chocolate, ganache, jelly or any food. Simply fill this funnel and dispense by depressed the lever with your thumb. A stainless steel piston pushes out fillings evenly and quickly. Perfect for garnishing plates, filling chocolates, or portioning out melted chocolate. Includes a stand and tips for decorating. Does not include Oompa Loompas.

Check out all the new Fat Daddio’s products at ChefTools.com!

With Bread Armor, No More Stale Loaves

Bread Armor Ciabatta Saver (2-pack)

 This is the story of the last stale loaf of bread I ever owned:

I bought a loaf of French bread a couple of months ago from Essential Baking Company, a local artisanal bakery here in Seattle. After using half of it to scoop up sauce from my dinner of linguine with fresh tomatoes, basil, and capers, I wrapped it in a paper bag and placed it on the counter for later. 

Of course, the next day when I went to make sandwich, the loaf was hard as a rock and unusable except as bird food; a pitiful waste of good bread and money. 

I’ve done this 1 million times – foolishly wrapped a loaf of good bread in a paper bag, expecting it to stay fresh. (I more often get the supermarket brand loaf, which is loaded with chemicals and preservatives, and will stay strangely soft for days out on the counter.) 

Then, I remembered that we carry a product called Bread Armor. It looks like a fancy plastic bag - but it saves bread, and here's how:

I first tried it on an artisan ciabatta loaf (from the Pike Place Farmer’s Market). I wanted to see how long the Bread Armor would keep the bread fresh. So, I sliced off a hunk, leaving the soft interior exposed, and just threw it in the Bread Armor. The loaf was still good the next day – and the next day, and the next. Bread Armor helped my ciabatta remain soft and edible for 6 days! (I would’ve eaten it, of course, had I not been experimenting.) I’m told that these bags are great for gluten free bread, which tends to dry out quicker than regular bread. 

The secret to keeping bread fresh is to keep oxygen away. Bread Armor is thicker and seals tighter than standard plastic bags. Another key: the bags are shaped like the loaf instead of just like a giant square or rectangle. There’s less area for oxygen to occupy. And, I still have the 2 Bread Armor bags I bought  (recently used for freezing some homemade pierogies); these bags are much more durable than standard kitchen bags, and I feel safe washing them because they contain no BPAs. 

More reasons Bread Armor bags are awesome? They’re made in the USA and are recyclable. Want to save money and make your artisan or gluten-free bread last longer? Buy a pack of Bread Armor.