Cooking Tools For Your Festive Feast
10 November 2022, 10:42
With the festive season upon us, you will need to start thinking about cooking tools for your festive feast. Baking tools and equipment are some of the most integral objects in your arsenal when throwing a memorable and enjoyable bash. Not only will they slice the time you spend preparing in half, but they’ll ensure your food is impressive.
This article will talk you through a few essential cooking tools you need to prepare for a successful festive feast.
Tasty Treats
When it comes to baking tools and equipment, there are so many to choose from that it can be hard to determine which ones you actually need. Well, depending on the goods you choose to bake, you may only need some handy knives or you could need full-blown decorating equipment. So, we’ll go through the basics.
- Tins
Tins are some of the best baking tools you can have. Especially when you’re serving food at a large party. You can buy your tins as small or as little as you need them, so whether you’re making a 6” sponge or an 800g loaf, you’re sure to find something to suit your needs.
- Cooling Wire Rack
A cooling wire rack is going to be a lifesaver when it comes to your countertops. Although they’re designed to withstand many years of use, hot cooking tools can cause avoidable damage. A cooling wire rack can prevent heat damage to your countertops, protect your goods, and cool them down all at once.
- Seive
When it comes to baking delicious home goods, a sieve will help you to achieve that patisserie quality by fluffing up your ingredients and increasing the air content. Although air can make certain goods feel a bit empty, not introducing air into your baked goods will make the foods for your festive feast starchy and heavy. You can use a sieve to introduce flour into the mixture, or you could use it to sprinkle some sugar on your buns. Regardless of its intended purpose, a sieve will add a flair of professionalism to your festive feast.
- Standing Mixer
A standing mixer will not only have your goods baked in just a fraction of the time it would take to mix your dough by hand, but it will save you plenty of arm strength. Standing mixers are one of the best baking and cooking tools that money can buy. They’ll be able to mix your batters to perfection by applying the required strength and consistency that certain goods need to bake correctly.
- Food Portioner
It can be difficult to determine exactly how much mixture you need to make the perfect-sized goods, especially if you’re trying to replicate the exact size of a single cookie 40 times over. This is why food portioners are some of the best cooking tools you can buy. By measuring an exact quantity of batter, your goods will be uniform, aesthetically pleasing, and far easier to present on a platter.
- Depositor Filler
Whether you’re filling a doughnut or a savoury pie, a depository filler will make the filling process far easier and less time-consuming. These handy little cooking tools are used by hand and can efficiently fill your treats with minimal mess.
- Cake Divider
Occasionally, there is a dispute over the size of the cake slices you serve. Particularly with younger family members, the question of who has more than the other is common during festive feasts. The best way to avoid this is to use a cake divider! Cake dividers are wonderful little tools that will cut your cakes into identically sized pieces, which won’t only avoid arguments, but will also make your presentation skills look flawless.
- Piping Bags/ Nozzles
A common hack that I see across social media is opting out of piping bags and nozzles, and simply folding a plastic bag to cut at the end. Although this is a very inexpensive method of piping your goods, it is also a very messy and unsustainable decorating method. For this reason, investing in reusable piping bags with metal nozzles will do wonders when it comes to finessing your food.
Conclusion
High-quality cooking tools are invaluable when it comes to throwing a festive feast, and you’re sure to impress if you invest in the right baking tools and equipment. Fortunately, many online stores exist where you can purchase all of these wonderful tools at once and throw the most memorable festive feast with them.
How to Stock Your Home Bar the Right Way
19 March 2020, 14:14
If you like entertaining, are a budding mixologist, or simply like to have a nice drink from time to time, having a fully stocked tiki bar can be a great addition. However, this can be an intimidating project if you don’t know where to start. First off, you need to designate a place where you can construct your bar. Secondly, you need to choose a theme for the new addition to your house.
For instance, if you are into the tiki culture and would prefer that, then you can consider using the theme for your bar (you can check out tiki bar ideas for your home from here). Next, you need to have all the essential equipment and the additional accessories that will make your bar a place you’ll actually want to hang out. Lastly, you would be required to make it as comfortable as possible for your guests, and consider entertainment options as well. But the foundation of a great home bar starts with your selection. Let’s take a look at how to stock your home bar the right way.
Start with Things You Actually Enjoy
The first step is to make sure that you pick things that you actually enjoy drinking. Don’t make the mistake of buying expensive or exclusive bottles just to impress everyone. However, you should make sure that you keep a few bottles for special occasions.
You should at least consider having a few bottles of champagne. You can buy champagne online from most brands and in different formats. However, you should remember that you are your bar’s best customer, so whatever’s your favourite should always be in stock.
Choosing based on your preferences also allows you to showcase your taste and introduce your guests to something new. This will make great conversation fodder and could be much more impressive than that 1960 bottle of Petrus you’ll probably never open.
Start Small
Another thing you should do is start small at first and build your collection. While you’re your bar’s main guest, you still want people to be happy. So, instead of spending tons of money at the start, buy a few essentials. This way, you’ll be able to tell which drinks are the biggest winners, and stock accordingly. If you’re a beer lover, you could get some beer systems installed which can help you and your guests serve themselves easily. This will also allow to you stock up many of your favorite beers.
Know Your Main Spirits
Spirits will usually be the stars of your selection, so make sure that you get to know them. One of the most important ones you should have is gin.
Gin is a very versatile spirit that is used in a whole variety of cocktails, like Old Toms, Genevers, and London Drys. So, we suggest you always keep a few bottles in stock.
Vodka is another very common spirit for mixing. It doesn’t have a very strong taste, and is essential if you like your Cosmopolitans. They come in different varieties, including potato, sugar cane, and grain, and all have their own characteristics. So, you’ll have to try different ones to see which ones you like the best.
Then you have your whiskeys for straight shots, and your exotics like Rum and Tequila. Rum in particular is one of the best spirits to drink straight, and is great for punches as well. So make sure you stock up on a few high quality rums if you’re thinking of entertaining.
Conclusion
Stocking up your house’s bar doesn’t have to be difficult. Just make sure that you put yourself first and diversify your selection until you get the nod of the pros out there.
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