Food news antipasto

We’ll begin this week’s survey of what’s happening in food and cookbooks with a free baking class. Art of the Pie’s Kate McDermott is offering a free dough making demonstration as a thank you to everyone who has supported her over the years. The Zoom session will be held on Thursday December 31st, 2020 at 8AM Pacific Time (US). The class is limited to 100 participants, and you can register at The Gift of Pie.

You say potato, I say mee-cro-wahv-ay: Nigella Lawson’s humorous pronunciation of microwave in a short cooking video recently caused a stir. What was delivered as a tongue-in-cheek comment took on a life of its own as people obsessed over it. While most people got the joke, it seems that a few folks were stymied by the pronunciation. For her part, Nigella said she wasn’t fazed by the “fauxtrage” over the comment.

It seems a shame that after you juice a lemon the shells just get tossed into the garbage or compost. I always have a lofty goal of zesting every piece of citrus fruit that I use, but I do not always live up to it. However, there is a way to preserve the lemony goodness without zesting a la minute: save the juiced halves and simmer them into a delicious puree. You can store the spent lemons in the freezer until you have amassed enough to fill a large saucepan or stockpot.

Kitchen appliances can be works of art, ranging from boldly colored KitchenAid stand mixers to pricey La Cornue ranges. To join this crowd, appliance maker Smeg has partnered with design firm Dolce & Gabbana to produce some seriously stunning tools, including toasters, stand mixers, espresso machines, blenders, and more. While not as expensive as La Cornue ranges, they will set you back a pretty penny – the toaster is $650 USD and the prices go up from there.

Speaking of toasters, have you seen the latest toaster-cleaning hack? The Kitchn reports on the viral video that claims you can clean your toaster using a hairdryer. But does it actually work? Ashley Abramson puts this hack to the test.