Lisa McManus Answers Your Questions About Baking Equipment | Gear Heads
Watch the original episode:
Follow Lisa on Instagram:
ABOUT US: Located in Boston’s Seaport District in the historic Innovation and Design Building, America’s Test Kitchen features 15,000 square feet of kitchen space including multiple photography and video studios. It is the home of Cook’s Illustrated magazine and Cook’s Country magazine and is the workday destination for more than 60 test cooks, editors, and cookware specialists. Our mission is to test recipes over and over again until we understand how and why they work and until we arrive at the best version.
If you like us, follow us:
How do you organize your Kitchen with so many specialty pans/utensils/etc.
😊💫
Thank you for all the great info. I really enjoy your videos. Even an old cook like me can learn new things and you have such an easy-going style. It's like having a friend in the kitchen. Thanks!
"We don't want to make you buy equipment you might not already have." I can't believe ATK thinks people will spend $$$ on Dutch ovens, roasting pans and electronic thermometers but won't spend a few dollars on some scales. Have you seen how much some of your equipment costs?! How many recipes require a Dutch oven? Nearly everything requires a thermometer. Come on! Use scales!
Lisa makes such a nice presentation. I really enjoy her videos.
For anyone debating about buying a scale, do it. I initially bought one for baking, but I now use it everyday. It’s useful to measure liquid so I only have to dirty one cup. I weigh out my grains instead of measuring them. I portion out salmon and meat. You can get a good one for $10-15. But if you can afford it, get the OXO scale for around $40 (use a coupon at Bed Bath and Beyond).
To clean the cooling rack, I tried Dawn power wash yesterday and it worked great to loosen the baked on crud. I scrubbed it with a brush to further loosen anything up, and then put it in the dishwasher.
Is there a secret to cleaning the cooling rack? Yes, take to the car wash, soap it up and scrub it and then use the high-pressure spray on it. 🙂
Hi can recommend a toasted oven
I understand the argument that providing volumetric measurements as well increases accessibility, but I think only having volumetric measurements has a detrimental effect on encouraging people to cook by making recipes less likely to turn out correctly.
It also makes many of us less likely to try a recipe or return to a source that only has volumetric measurements. Many recipes involve a significant time commitment and expensive ingredients, and many of us don't want to risk wasting time and money because a recipe contained inexact measurements.
I would agree with the multiple other commenters who have said that having a scale is a very basic kitchen requirement. Good kitchen scales are inexpensive- I think I paid $13 for mine and it's lasted 5+ years. I really like ATK and I have learned a lot from these videos; I'm hoping they include more weight based measurements going forward.
ATK, I love you guys but your reason for using cups over grams for dry ingredients lacks merit. A kitchen scale is a good investment in the long run and is not that expensive when compared to some of the items you recommend. Different recipe developers have different methods of measuring in cups which confuses the end users. For an organisation that seems to value precision and science, the preference for cups is mind boggling to me.
Gee at first glance I thought the title was “Beware of Lisa”. While I think the Juno is a little silly for the price, it always seemed wrong to see a Black and Decker microwave behind you.
Spraying rack on both sides with Pam makes clean up easy.
Helps to show a picture of what you are talking about and to list the link to the merchants where they can be bought.
🌸🇺🇲
Love love love that y’all addressed the nonstick vs not nonstick chiffon cake pan issue…but I still want to know does the chiffon cake fall out when inverting a it in a nonstick pan…???
I use a scale (Oxo good grips as recommended by ATK) sometimes for some things but to be honest I’m team cup-and-level all day long…😉
Thank you !
A good kitchen scale is dirt cheap. No excuse not to have one and no excuse to publish in volume. You should publish in weight and, if you insist, put the volume in parentheses.
I use grams exclusively now. I have two scales and the most expensive one was $10.00 on Amazon. I love measuring by grams.
I understand do the recipes in volume, but ATC thinks nothing of recommending $12 spatulas. You can buy a very accurate kitchen scale now for about $15.00. It is the best thing I have bought for the kitchen. The ability to zero the scale and add the next ingredient means I am faster and have less cleanup to do.
Why are baking pans not more standardized? I have baking books, Pinterest Pins, bookmarks on YT and IG stories faved for cakes of so many sizes. I have little space for so many pans and cakes often do not turn out just so when resized. For instance, the baker from Serious Eats loves 8*3 rounds, a cake in Odette Williams’ Simple Cake uses a 10*3, and Emma’s Goodies cakes often bake off in 7” squares—occasionally she uses 5” squares. I am begging recipe creators, cookbook publishers and content makers: Please agree on pan sizes, shapes, and heights, don’t assume we all have multiple sized loaf pans (bread uses this one, loaf cakes use another), or at least do what some recipes do by testing if that 9” layer cake really can be halved for 6” pans so I will know whether to just go for it or not. Thank you for allowing me to vent.
Room ranking here, you lose mucho points for having an iPod on the shelf.
I have my grandmother's cup that she used to measure everything. Don't have a clue how old it is but my next to youngest uncle only remembers her ever use anything else. She used it to teach me how to bake.
Thank you, Lisa 🙂
I love Danish dough whisks. They work great at hydrating all kinds of doughs.
There is no excuse for anyone NOT to have a kitchen scale today, considering that you can get one for less than the cost of some measuring cups out there. Weights IN GRAMS should be provided for all baking recipes, and other recipes as well when applicable, especially when it comes to salt. Not doing so is simply being lazy.
When it comes to cleaning baking racks, I have found that letting them soak in a combination of HOT soapy water with a scoop of Oxi Clean added to it, will get just about everything off very easily. It's surprising how useful that product is.
Is silicone bakeware better than conventional?
Excellent info…thank you!
OOo I spy a convector toaster oven. Nice!