Cool Tools in the Kitchen - Kevin Kelly [29]
Epicurious, Cookstr, Food52, SeriousEats, and Foodbuzz are my favorite recipe aggregators. To reduce my search load even further, I’ve created a custom Google search engine that queries these sites in addition to a few of my favorite individual sources.
—Camille Cloutier
Epicurious
Cookstr
Food52
Serious Eats
Foodbuzz
Ingredient Substitutions
The Cook’s Thesaurus
Although it has been online for years, I only recently discovered this incredibly handy resource. Use this simple website to find substitutes for cooking ingredients. Say a recipe calls for buckwheat flour, which you most likely don’t have on hand. What do you use? Type in the term and presto: The links take you to an entry which will suggest alternatives. I also find the site helpful in quickly introducing myself to new ingredients. While not exhaustive, it lists about 90% of the ingredients you’ll probably encounter, including many exotics, usually with a helpful photo and a short summary of its origin. This thesaurus of ingredients is fast, simple, and just right.
—KK
The Cook’s Thesaurus
Sample Excerpts
Pigeon Pea = goongoo pea = gunga pea = gungo pea = congo pea = congo bean = no-eyed peas = gandules Shopping hints: These are usually sold dried, but fresh, frozen, and canned peas also are available. They have a strong flavor, and they’re popular in the South and in the Caribbean. Substitutes: yellow-eyed peas OR black-eyed peas
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Jocoque = labin Notes: This is a Mexican product that’s halfway between buttermilk and sour cream. Substitutes: salted buttermilk OR sour cream OR yogurt OR crema
CSA Finder
LocalHarvest
LocalHarvest is a comprehensive one-stop resource for finding locally-grown food in the continental U.S. The site provides a customizable search feature on its homepage, and a simple zip code input provides you with a description and link to your closest Community Supported Agriculture option. Other search options include farmer’s markets, grocery co-ops, and restaurants that serve food made with organic ingredients.
—Elon Schoenholz
LocalHarvest
Sample Excerpts
Shared Risk
There is an important concept woven into the CSA model that takes the arrangement beyond the usual commercial transaction. That is the notion of shared risk. When originally conceived, the CSA was set up differently than it is now. A group of people pooled their money, bought a farm, hired a farmer, and each took a share of whatever the farm produced for the year. If the farm had a tomato bonanza, everyone put some up for winter. If a plague of locusts ate all the greens, people ate cheese sandwiches. Very few such CSAs exist today, and for most farmers, the CSA is just one of the ways their produce is marketed. They may also go to the farmers market, do some wholesale, sell to restaurants, etc. Still, the idea that “we’re in this together” remains. On some farms it is stronger than others, and CSA members may be asked to sign a policy form indicating that they agree to accept without complaint whatever the farm can produce.
Advantages for consumers
Eat ultra-fresh food, with all the flavor and vitamin benefits
Get exposed to new vegetables and new ways of cooking
Usually get to visit the farm at least once a season
Find that kids typically favor food from “their” farm—even veggies they’ve never been known to eat
Develop a relationship with the farmer who grows their food and learn more about how food is grown
It’s a simple enough idea, but its impact has been profound. Tens of thousands of families have joined CSAs, and in some areas of the country there is more demand than there are CSA farms to fill it. The government does not track CSAs, so there is no official count of how many CSAs there are in the U.S.. LocalHarvest has the most comprehensive directory