cheekoli's Profile

I've had great results with my moka pot and french press.

For quick milk froth, just add your milk (and sugar if you desire) to a french press and pop in the microwave for 90 seconds or so, until hot and sugar dissolved. Then simply pump the french press filter through the milk for instant froth! Sugar should help to stabilize the froth (or better, a tiny pinch of xantham gum if you have it).

As with all coffee brewing, you're aiming for optimal time, water temperature, & grind size. For coffee in a moka pot, everyone seems to make it slightly differently, and there are lots of tutorials online, but here's a few important points I've learned after years of use.

1) Use the right amount of coffee. Moka pots are made for a set amount of coffee. Fill both the basket and the lower section. No need to tamp the coffee, but if you do compress slightly, your brew time and pressure is increased.

2) Start with hot water. Prep all the other components while you bring the water up to temp in a kettle first. Then fill the lower section with the water, assemble, and immediately return to the heat. This should start brewing immediately and avoids heating the grounds as much as possible. Total brew time should be 2-4 minutes.

We got the OXO model as a hand-me-down, and although it functions well, something about it bugs me.... Hard to complain with free though.

I much prefer the ratchet design of the BB&B model; I have used that one too, and IIRC, stopping is done by pushing the lever in the opposite direction.

I have come to like the plunger on the OXO model, but the stop-button really bugs me; its basically just friction on a plastic ring. Its difficult to stop quickly, and makes an annoying scraping noise, as well as I'm sure wear-and-tear.

Maybe it's just OXO in general, after I got their mandolin as a gift, and it broke shortly thereafter (and never was very sharp) I have been put off by them. I've come to see OXO as selling "americanized" (cheap, molded plastic, friendly-looking) versions of real kitchen tools.

Given that I usually end up with half onions needing storage, i find the easiest and quickest way to store them is with plastic wrap; the trick is in the way you wrap it.

Get a large enough piece of wrap and cover the cut side, making complete surface contact. Bunch up the exces wrap on the other side and twist the onion. This should take up any slack around the onion and works like a make-shift shrink wrap. Take the tail of twisted wrap and spin IT into a little pigtail--the friction on this is enough to hold the whole thing sealed.

This completely cuts off oxygen to the surface of the onion, so it keeps extremely well. (There's still oxygen inside any regular container.)

I'd choose a ThermaPen. They're usually just about $100, and most folks aren't willing to drop a Benjamin of their own money. Sounds like the perfect choice for a gift card purchase.

It will prove to be a useful and versatile kitchen tool, that you pull out constantly. It can replace your existing meat, candy, and fry thermometers. The quick response time and accuracy are just not substitutable with cheaper alternatives!

I think the trick is to limit the number of unique types of tupperware, and recycle or reuse the non-matching ones (like, say, for sending leftovers home with guests; probably the same way YOU got it in the first place).

Then it just comes down to diligence; to remember to take the time to put that piece away with all the others like it. We don't have a fancy system or the kind that are designed to lock and store together, but its just common sense. Store the round with the round and the square likewise :)