Posted by: Angela Sellers, July 23, 2009 in Ask the Test Kitchen
Every recipe deserves the chance to succeed. And the success of a recipe depends largely on the quality of the ingredients used. Therefore I thought I would create a list of some of the test kitchen's favorite items and the reasons we love them, to help you become the great southern chefs you aspire to be. In these economic times it's tempting to always choose generic products, but sometimes it's worth it to spend a little extra.
A Few of Our Favorite Products
- Land O' Lakes Butter and Domino sugar work best for baking.
- White Lily All-Purpose Flour makes biscuits that are tender and fluffy.
- Gold Medal Bread Flour makes the best bread (just ask Pam!)
- Hellman's Mayonnaise is a good basic mayo with well balanced flavor.
- JIF Peanut Butter is great because it's just sweet enough and not too oily.
- Barilla Pasta is the best because even my my mom, who refuses to use a timer, won't overcook it; it stays firm.
- Cholula Hot Sauce has a well balanced flavor that's not too vinegary and it won the hot sauce blind taste test (ouch!) that we did in the test kitchen.
- Wickles Pickles have that sweet heat that we love.
- Bonne Maman Preserves are great because they aren't too thick or too sweet.
- McEwen & Sons Stone Ground Grits only take 20 minutes to cook (unusual for stone ground), and they have a great corn flavor.
- Oscar Meyer Center Cut Thick Bacon gets extra crispy and the pieces are uniform and cook evenly.
- Kraft Cracker Barrel Cheddar Cheese melts smoothly and taste soooo good; the best for mac and cheese (I should know, I had to make it about
20 times for photo)
- I have nothing against powdered cheese in a green can, but why not grate your own Parmesan cheese; you won't regret it.
- I like using Kosher salt because it has a pure salt flavor without the metallic taste of iodine.
- Spice Island Black Peppercorns in the grinder because you can adjust the grinder for either fine or coarse ground pepper and it always taste better when you grind it fresh (and you look impressive doing it)
These are just a few of the things that may get you one step closer to your own Michelin Star. I'm always adding things to the list, so if you have something that you just can't live (or cook) without, please send it to me. Be sure to tell me why you love it.
