February 2010 Archives

A flat top griddle is a fabulous tool for the home kitchen but like all the appliances we cook on at home it needs to be easy to clean.  When Thermador produced a Titanium surface griddle that can be wiped clean with a damp cloth or a silicone spatula it quickly became one of our favorite tools to cook with. We love to use this griddle for making hot sandwiches, fried rice, fajitas, quesadillas, shrimp stir-fry, appetizers and of course breakfast but when I came back from Costco with these monster slabs of brisket it turned out to be the perfect tool for searing the brisket prior to the low and slow cooking process.

Breakfast for Three: Griddle Potatoes with Linguica Sausage and Fried Eggs

Brisket for 25: Searing the Brisket Before the Low & Slow Cooking

Last week we were pleased to host a meeting of the Northern California Chapter of the Decorative Plumbing and Hardware Association in our Brisbane Showroom.  Prior to the meeting our guests enjoyed a delicious meal prepared by our Culinary staff and a tour of the Showroom.

New Franke displays include the Kubus Glass Framed Sinks

The BTU output of gas burners has increased tremendously over the past few years and even though high heat is fantastic to cook with, controlling the heat is also an important part of burner performance.  The Thermador Professional cooktop has several simmering options, the 18,000 BTU burners can be set to the lowest setting but when you need really low and slow heat you can use one of the two burners that have the Extra-Low feature. This is a timed cycle that cycles the burner on and off in different increments.  For example at the highest setting the burner is on for 50 seconds and off for 10 and at the lowest setting it is on for 10 seconds and off for 50. This on/off action maintains enough residual heat in the cast iron burner cap and grate and that in turn keeps the food in the pan at a consistent temperature preserving the precious cooking liquids that are the key to great flavor. These burners have single point ignition so they do click once when they re-ignite which actually is a nice reminder that you still have something cooking.

There are many ways to effectively use this terrific simmer feature and cooking custard for crème brulee on the cooktop is just one of them.

Induction cooktops are not new to the appliance industry but when they were first brought to market some thirty years ago the trend was powerful gas cooktops and ranges, the Induction just didn't spark an interest with consumers. However, times have changed and the high performance of Induction cooktops combined with the many other features they offer has made them a top choice for many people.

It's hard to understand how amazing Induction is unless you see it in action, so here are some pictures that I thought might give you a better idea of the capabilities of the Thermador Induction cooktop.  A few weeks ago we were making soup for 50 people for a cooking event we hosted with Joyce Goldstein as our guest instructor, so the first thing we had to do was make lots of chicken stock.