Getting the Most Out of Stir Fry Pans

If you have the right pan and ingredients, a stir fry is probably one of the healthiest meals you can make.

A good stir fry pan will disperse oil evenly, meaning you can get great results out of using far less fat and calories. It will also ensure your ingredients do not stick to the bottom which requires you to constantly pour in more oil until your dinner is virtually deep fried. This is why it is important to look out for a non stick stir fry pan which can cope on very small top ups of oil, or even just a splash of water in some cases.

It is also good to remember that when it comes to stir fry pans, bigger is better - a large pan and a flat, rounded base will ensure the ingredients are evenly cooked all the way through.

I use Prestige pans when making stir fries and find that they tick all the boxes. Choosing a classic cooking brand such as this is a good way to ensure your pans are long lasting, which makes the meals the best they can be.

It is also important to check that the handle won’t heat up too much during cooking, and although it seems like an obvious thing to say it is easy to get caught up in a bargain and buy a pan with a mental handle. I learned that the hard way– safety first!

At the end of the day, if you buy a good quality pan you will need less oil and be able to cook your ingredients much quicker. And isn’t that the whole point of a stir fry?

Are Cupcake Makers Worth the Money?

As you all know, cupcakes are the fashionable cake of choice, even if getting the sponge base perfect is a bit tricky.

The thing about cupcakes is that they need to be made in batches, which takes a lot of time if you are making them for a big event. This can lead to an array of sizes, shapes and tastes as you whiz from oven to icing and back again. In my experience it is very hard to ensure all the bases match.

This is what led me to buy a cupcake maker after much deliberation. I know you might think this is cheating, but I justified it craftily by arguing that it doesn't matter what you use to bake the batter, as long as you put it together yourself.

I have to admit I didn't expect it to work but it was surprisingly useful - you simply pour the batter into the cupcake shaped dips in the machine, close the lid and exactly seven minutes later you have perfectly baked cupcakes. No opening and closing the oven required. I am usually a little unsure of so called time savers but this one seemed to do the trick.

So if you have been considering one it's definitely worth a shot - it gives you a lot more time to get the icing perfect.

Le Creuset Cookware (Video)

We've often spoken of our adoration for the Le Creuset range of cookware. This is an excellent little YouTube video showing the manufacturing process inside the Le Creuset foundry, enjoy :)

Furniture ideas

Furniture ideas.

You could:

Build your own furniture. my dad used to do a bit of this now and then, but I have to say that as someone who didn't train as a cabinet maker, his efforts were, while impressive, still kinda of the home made genre.

Import from abroad.Or find someone who imports from abroad - and see what original Mexican, Shaker, or Indian stuff is out there. This is one way of ensuring that guests don't say "Oh we've got that table/chair too..."

Like making your own stuff, but not as difficult - you could carry out your own modifications to what's there already. There are a few websites devoted to this hobby.

And for buying, there's a wide choice from online furniture stores, meaning that shopping expeditions are more a matter of leisurely browsing than a day's car parking and traipsing.

Kitchenware Sheen style

Charlie Sheen's been all over the internet this week, but this video of his cooking tips is the best yet. Well scripted ("this isn't a spatula! it's a cooking wand!") and tiger chef hatted, this is great fun.

Sadly no embed feature, so here's

a) the URL: http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/bfb12aea47/charlie-sheen-s-winning-recipes?playlist=featured_videos

and b)a picture of a tiger:

Pots and pans: the kitchen quest

Pots and pans are great. But only if you get the right ones. Something from the discount shop might please your accountant but if you want something that lasts the distance, you need the quality pots and pans.

You know you've got good pots and pans by the heft and the finish of them. They're the kind of gear that's made to last, and if there's a non stick surface, it's one that's also made top last.

You'll spend a lot of your cooktime with your pots, they almost become like old friends - all those ragu sauces you'll simmer there, all that vegetable stock reducing, egg frying, oh yes, the life of a pot is a happy one.

The marriage of great cookware and great ingredients is central to the philosophy of this brand I've been thinking about, Anolon, making it a great choice for the home chef. Just remember that when you've got your high quality pots and pans, you will also need to buy good ingrediants too.

Kitchen books

An essential piece of kitchenware is the chef's selection of books. In these books there will be everything that the chef ever needed boiled, grated, fried, toasted, blitzed, mashed, macerated, chilled, broiled, blanched, pickled, chopped, peeled or even just poured out of a packet.

Whether it's a book about what is supposedly the world's best restaurant, Noma, or even just the most basic student recipes for chili and spag bol, every kitchen needs its cookbooks.

Of course, some chef's take cooking that bit further than everyone else. Heston Blumenthal (who else) recently did a programme on medieval feasts, which was inspired by his research of centuries old cookbooks. Most of us would probably make do with an old Keith Floyd book from the 1980s.