Estate Sales for the Low Budget Chef

Why spend hundreds of dollars on basic needs like mixing bowls, measuring cups, baking pans etc when you can take a weekend trip to a nearby estate sale where all of these items can be found for a fraction of the cost?

I have come away from estate sales with vintage glass carafes, good quality mixing bowls, two piece steaming pots, a steam/fry basket, unused cast iron pans (for $5!!) and more for very reasonable prices. It's also a great place for odds and ends you want to try but know you really won't use. It's okay to buy an apple slicer for $1 and then give to a friend or family member.

Living outside of D.C. we are VERY lucky. People in this area have a great deal of wealth, which translates to very high quality kitchen items.

Kitchen items to look for at an estate or garage sale

Cast Iron Pans

These puppies can last forever if taken care of correctly and are an essential for chefs. We found a set of three pans (6", 8" and 10") that were clearly never used (although a well used, well kept for pan is a great find) and bought them for $5. Not too shabby!

Mason Jars/ Bell Jars

 I just pop them in the dishwasher and replace the tops and they are as good as new. You can freeze stock in them, bring them to work filled with juice or smoothies, fill them with sugar and add vanilla beans to them, make pickles with them, and just about anything else you could possibly think of. New jars don't cost a whole lost (~$1 per jar usually), but I try to do my part in the whole reduce, reuse, recycle deal. Just make sure you try to buy them for no more than 50 cents each or so, or even less if you can find a lot at once. Sometimes people will also just give them away.

Planters

I don't know how much money I've saved by not buy a pack of basil whenever I want a couple leaves for dishes, but it has to be a decent amount by now. Instead, I bought a living basil plant and planted it in good quality soil and keep it on  a sunny window sill in the apartment. I get big fat leaves every few days and I pinch off a few to add to sandwiches, smoothies, pasta, you name it. Fresh basil has a wonderfully spicy aroma and adds flavor dimension to your food. That one $2.50 plant has been around for a few months now and still going strong. I have also come across free seeds at a recent food convetion (basil and parsley) and will be planting those too. Estate sales almost always have planters that no one will want. Grab them for super cheap and start growing your own herbs!

Kitchen Odds and Ends

Candy thermometers, meat thermometers, pyrex measuring cups, rollins pins...even wax paper, parchment paper and foil. The sellers are trying to get everything OUT, so you can find every day items as well as useful kitchen accessories for a fraction of the price.

 

Items you'd never normally buy

I found a working vintage Alexanderwerk meat grinder at an estate sale recently for $15 (not a great price for a regular meat grinder, but I paid the extra money because it's a vintage piece). Given all the recent news about pink slime in meat products...I figure why not give meat grinding a shot?

I also bought a big glass carafe from the same sale. With spring coming soon (and the weather being gorgeous already), it's about time to start making lemonade, cucumber water, sangria and iced tea. Carafes are a pretty way of holding these drinks and keep you looking classy (which I always need help with).

This past Sunday I also found some Ferragamo flats for $5 and driving gloves for 50 cents. Not too shabby!

Flavor Forecast for 2012

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Ian and I went to the Les Dames d'Escoffier "Celebrating Food" Conference the other weekend where I found out about a brilliant research department within McCormick & Company...the Forecasting Department. A scientist from the company explained that, just like fashion designers deliberate about whether sky high heels or flats will be in, or meteorologists calculating the odds of destructive hurricanes this summer...food trends are yet another phenomena that can be predicted. Here is the list of flavors to watch out for in 2012   Some of the combinations, she warned, may sound strange, but we were instructed to not pay attention to the words. Instead of naming a spice cinnamon, we were to note the level of cinnamic aldehyde in the mix (the compound that has people for miles running towards Cinnabon) and imagine what would pair nicely with it. Ian, of course, was annoyed at how amazed people were by this ground breaking way to cook...he's been doing this for years. It's a rare moment in the kitchen that I don't find Ian with his nose in some jar or another while preparing for dinner as he tries to find flavor/smell combinations that work the best. What a fashionable, culinary trendsetter. One of the combos for 2012 is: Ancho Chili  & Hibiscus If you have ever had hibiscus tea...you'll find this combination as mouth watering as I do. Here are some of the tantalizing recipes to try out from the website: Ancho Hibiscus Sparkling Sangria Ancho Chile and Hibiscus BBQ Brisket Chocolate Fudge Ancho Cupcakes with Hibiscus Buttercream I have already bought a bag of dried hibiscus flowers from Amazon. The bag is HUGE! This will definitely last a while.  I want to try out the Brisket recipe. It sounds pretty damn tasty! I also want to try and make a hibiscus reduction sauce for pouring over deserts and meat alike. I'll need to research a bit more about reductions, but will report back with my findings.

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Making Homemade Vanilla Extract

I am exceedingly vulnerable to new DIY projects and homemade items that cut down costs. Every time I see a new idea that I like, I simply MUST do it. My most recent project that I had to initiate was making homemade vanilla extract.

I love to bake and I always use a healthy dose of vanilla extract. When the recipe calls for 1tsp extract, I generally pour the extract like a bartender pours a shot of vodka into a glass after getting a $20 tip.You know what I mean. You watch the bartender hold the bottle upside down, fill the jigger, and pour the shot into the glass while the liquor is still pouring from the bottle. Makes for one tasty drink, as does the heavy handed vanilla in cookies. The only problem is...that gets expensive. 

I used to swear by Nielsen-Massey Vanilla Extract. Mainly because my mom and sister use it and that's just what I grew up with. However, an 8oz bottle of the Madagascar Bourbon extract steals just about $20 from your wallet. Seriously? For alcohol and vanilla beans? I then gave the Costco vanilla extract a shot. 16 oz ended up being 10 bucks or something like that.  My only problem was that I wasn't really too sure what I was getting with that bottle. Being celiac, I need to be extra cautious with where my food comes from. Gluten (wheat, rye and barley products) can hide in ingredient lists in the most obnoxious ways.

Then one day, I was perusing homemade food items on Etsy.com. For the love of God, do not go to this site unless you either have a lot of money you don't want anymore or you have some serious will power. I came across a seller who was offering homemade vanilla extract in cute little bottles.

 It seemed so simple and so...cheap...

Oh yeah, I'm totally on this.

Ingredients for Vanilla Extract

Vodka (750 mL for $13)

Vanilla Beans ($20 for 1/2 pound)

Yup, that's it

 From what I've gathered online. You do not need super fancy vodka. Higher end vodka tends to be higher proof, which apparently is not as effective as the 70-80 proof vodkas. I'm not saying buy vodka from a plastic bottle like you used to get in college...just not grey goose. I found Svedka on sale for 13 bucks for 750 mL, a little over 25 oz. Then, I bought my vanilla beans off amazon: 1/2 Pound LB Madagascar Bourbon Planifolia Extract Grade B Vanilla Beans 6~7" sold here. A couple of the reviews said that they were unhappy with the beans, but I got my super fragrant bag packed full of beans that looked like they were in good condition. I also got 3 free high end gourmet beans that I need to figure out what to make with.

I used about 30 beans (just about half my package) and cut them into 1" sections. Increasing the surface area of the beans helps with the extraction process. The vanilla bag instructed that you should use 1/4 pound of beans for every 16oz of vodka...I ended up with a ton of beans in my package and half the package seemed a little too much considering some places online said you could as little as a couple beans per quart. It depends on how strong you want your final product to be.

 To make space for all the beans, I poured out some of the vodka and started plopping the beans right into the vodka bottle. After cutting the beans up, you'll start getting covered in the vanilla bean caviar, or the gelly like insides of the beans that are little brown specks that you see in good quality ice cream, creme brulee etc. It's not a bad moment, you'll smell wonderful for the next few hours. 

You need to make sure your beans are absolutely covered with alcohol. Any exposed pieces might mold and then you're out $30 and have to go buy store bought extract and then this whole thing was a total waste of time and money. I filled my bottle back up to just about the very top. I also put in two whole vanilla beans that I'll use later in sugar to make vanilla sugar.

Final step, give the bottle a good shake to get the beans soaked in the vodka. In the above picture you can see that the vodka is already tinted from the vanilla caviar suspended in the vodka.This is a long term project, as you need to shake the bottle daily for a month and then every few days after that. I'll keep posting pictures as the weeks go on so you get an idea of how the color changes over time as the alcohol extracts the flavor. Make sure to keep the bottle in a dark place, or use a dark colored bottle to protect against UV light. I'm keeping mine in the closet so that it's out of the way.

 Vanilla extract lasts for years and you can keep adding more vodka as you take it out as long as you remember to keep shaking the beans around every now and then. It also makes an awesome homemade gift. I plan on giving this trial run a go and if I like the flavor I'll make a larger batch for Christmas gifts. I'll strain the extract into re-usable bottles with the latches on top (because they're cute and I want an excuse to buy some) and dress them up with ribbons and labels.

I also might try something besides vodka, like a decent bourbon or something. Yum!

Update:

It's working! I took this picture about 10 days into the infusion process. It already smells amazing, and the color is very dark. When I shake it around I see more and more separate beans floating about, giving up their good flavor.

Here is an up close shot to give a better idea of what the color looks like (Day 14). I'm starting to think I used way too many beans. However, this ends up still working out because I can decant some out into a new bottle, move over some beans, and add more vodka to each. If you make a decent amount, you can continue adding small amounts of vodka, and the vanilla beans will continue to give off their flavor. This is basically a renewable source of vanilla extract...Take that Nielsen-Massey!!

Trying New Things

Over the past month I have been introduced to some new items that are fun:

(1) Tobasco Chipotle Pepper Sauce

(2) Xochitl corn chips

(3) Cactus honey with royal jelly

(4) Goji berries

Ummmm so was anyone going to tell me how AMAZING this pepper sauce is?? I am a huge fan of the BBQ sauce at Trader Joe's, and this pepper sauce has some very similar flavor notes. In a serendipitous moment at Chipotle, I saw this little bottle sitting at the table next to Ian and me, looking rather lonely. I figured I'd give it a shot and poured a tiny bit onto my food. This stuff is beyond fantastic. I'm going to start buying this by the gallon. Seriously.






 Ian and I liked to go to ethnic markets and check out all sorts of fun food items. Asian markets are the best...you have NO idea what you are going to find.This time we came across the honey section. I had never heard of cactus honey before. The honey comes from desert flowers and trees in places like Arizona and New Mexico. It took a while for me to read up on this because the internet mainly kicks back cactus honey powder, not actual honey. It seems to be fairly rare, which is fun. Royal Jelly, the essential nutrient for making queen bees, is known to have high levels of amino acids, proteins, vitamins etc. It is known in the cosmetic world for its anti-aging benefits due to its collagen boosting properties. This stuff tastes so delicious! Instructions say to take a spoonful twice a day. I'm working on every other day or so for now to make it last longer.

I am abnormally obsessed with tortilla chips. I need to have a bag on hand for the random chili dish, nachos or just plain ol' salsa. I have always been a big fan of the Tostidos Simply Natural Corn Chips because they are low sodium (I hate overly salty chips) and have a good crunch to them. Recently, I was introduced to the XOCHiTL brand...and damn, these chips are good. If you have ever been to Uncle Julio's Rio Grande, these chips are very similar. The thinner chips are lightly salted and seem more crispy than crunchy. They are perfect with a hot salsa. Ian noted that these do not work with hummus or other heavy dipping food, so I'd go back with the Tostidos chips with those items.

Last, but not least, are the elusive goji berries at a reasonable price. These puppies can be pretty expensive, but we found this pack of berries under the name Chinese Matrimony  Vine. Goji berries are the American name. They are also called wolfberries. Who knows why they have so many names. The important thing is that they are incredibly high in antioxidants which help to protect your cells against free radicals.