FoodFixe

Cherry Sorbet

If berries are the harbinger of spring, then cherries are summer’s calling card. I love cherries—both for the wonderful memories they evoke of childhood summers and for the luscious fruit themselves. (It’s no surprise that my favorite game as a child was Hi-Ho Cherry-O.) Even better, cherries are really good for you, approaching the “super fruit” status of blueberries.

So I was thrilled when cherries started appearing at my local farmers market a couple weeks ago. I’m happy to snack on the delicious ruby red orbs out of hand. In fact, they usually don’t last long enough for me to cook or bake with. However, I wanted to try making cherry sorbet now that the weather had finally turned summer-like.

Measuring up

It’s such a small thing, but it makes such a difference. I’m talking about one of my favorite kitchen tools – the mini liquid measure. I had never seen one of these graduated shot glasses until I started working in the kitchen at Colusa Casino Resort as the pastry chef for the dinner house. My baking counterpart for the buffet, Lisa, had a mini measure sitting on her shelf, and I knew immediately that I had to have one.

What I love about the mini measure is that it makes measuring small quantities of liquids, such as vanilla, oil, and corn syrup, fast and easy. No longer did I have to make sure I had measured all of my dry ingredients with my measuring spoons before proceeding to the liquid ingredients. (Heaven forbid I have to stop what I’m doing to wash and dry the measuring spoons before I could move on with my cooking or baking project.)

Hot, hotter, hottest

I love to smoke.  Not the kind of smoke that involves purchasing $5 packs of tobacco rolled in a cheap paper.  Smoking meats and fish has always been my passion; so much so that I have progressed over the years from the basic Brinkman Smoker to the 50-gallon barrel smoker and now to the industrial-strength 350-gallon, homemade smoker on a trailer.

The single most important thing in smoking is getting the heat right.  Therefore, the most important gadget to have mounted to your smoker is a great thermometer.  For many years, I tried store-bought screw-in and rack-mount thermometers.  They worked, but they were never perfect.  The thermometers typically suffered everything from weak mounting brackets to poorly constructed frames and glass.

Cooking to scale

I am a big fan of kitchen scales. I used to be like you, using measuring cups to portion ingredients. But then, when my niece Katherine and I started the cheesecake business, my oldest sister Mikie (the namesake of Mikie’s Cheesecake) schooled us in the benefits of measuring ingredients using a scale. (A lesson that was reinforced in my pastry classes.) Weighing is much more accurate and provides greater consistency in the finished product. This is particularly important in baking where you’d dealing with chemical reactions. And, honestly, I find it faster and easier to measure using a scale than using a measuring cup, whether I’m cooking or baking.

I have a couple scales at home. My favorite, though, is the Salter Electronic Kitchen Scale, which I purchased through King Arthur Flour (http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/detail.jsp?id=4204) . The scale has an 11-pound capacity and can measure in 1/8-ounce increments. This Salter scale also has an easy-to-use tare feature, letting you zero out the scale weight between adding ingredients. Best of all, the scale has a 3-minute shut-off period, giving you time to run a grab something you may have forgotten.

There are a slew of scales out there, ranging in price and performance. Whichever scale you choose, make sure its features will meet your needs. Also, make sure the scale you choose is digital, which is more accurate and easier to read.