Everything in the kitchen is going silicone these days, and the trend shows no signs of stopping. Heat-proof rubber spatulas…what’s not to like? Gone are the days when our kitchen drawers were full of burned and melted spatulas. Or maybe that was just me? Anyway, the silicone baking mats are great also. Cookies and other goods just slip right off. You can even melt parmesan cheese into crisps to use as a salad garnish. Trying that with even a teflon pan would be a recipe for disaster. A pair of silicone baking mats are a very useful addition to the kitchen.
Personally, I’m tough on kitchen equipment. I like to cook at high temperatures to brown, blacken, sear, crisp and otherwise mistreat my food. I can ruin a non-stick skillet in an afternoon. So silicone is like a godsend. There are now inexpensive muffin and cake pans, versatile steamers, and tools of all kinds made of nearly indestructible silicone.
Baking paper or parchment paper is useful also. I love it for baking, especially because it simplifies clean up. If you’ve never used baking sheets, you can find them in stores next to waxed paper and foil. Place a baking sheet on your sheet pans or cookie sheets when you make baked goods or roast vegetables. The foods will come right off (unless you burn them), and then you can just throw the paper away. No more scrubbing with steel wool to sand off baked-on cheese or sauce.
You can also use baking sheets to cook things in parchment, what the French call cooking en papillote. This is a technique where you seal foods in a paper parcel, and then bake them inside the parcel. The foods steam as they bake. It makes for a very impressive presentation! We’ll discuss this more next time…
- Derrick Snyder