What Is Needed For A Perfect Kitchen

The ideal kitchen is not one that is lucky enough to have the right amount of square footage or a set of silverware. This is a place where everything inspires you to cook and eat healthy. And the list of things needed for this is far from as long as advertising convinces us. It should be based on a fresh, informed view of nutrition as a fundamental tool for health and well-being.

Cast iron dishes

It is not for nothing that frying is considered a useless activity: at the molecular level, an appetizing crust does not bring anything good. First, high temperature kills most vitamins in foods - especially vegetables. Secondly, frying at a temperature of 180 degrees or more threatens the appearance of carcinogenic compounds. 

Pickling helps to partially protect the body from them. About 4 hours surrounded by strong spices (garlic, rosemary, ginger, chili pepper, thyme) - and toxic compounds in fried meat will be 90% less. A much more reliable way to avoid the formation of harmful compounds in food is to stew or fry food at gentle temperatures. Here it is difficult to do without dishes made of cast iron.

The uniqueness of this material lies in its heat capacity: the metal heats up for a long time and gives off heat even longer. So, you can cook meat or vegetables at a low temperature by simply letting them sweat for an hour or two. At the same time, which is no less important, the appearance, texture and taste of the food will remain at a high level.

Another significant advantage of cast iron cookware in the kitchen is that it is officially recognized as a way to enrich food with iron. For example, tomato sauce prepared in a cast-iron saucepan contains 4 times more useful elements than the same one from a Teflon pan. Such a peculiar supplement to food can help to avoid anemia.

Supporters of responsible consumption will like the durability of cast iron. If the dishes are regularly lubricated and protected from falls, you can pass them on to your grandchildren. For comparison, aluminum pans with a non-stick coating are recommended to be changed after a year of use. With proper care, cast iron only gets better over the years. Fatty acids, oxidizing during cooking , fill the porous structure of the metal, and the pan acquires non-stick properties and the super ability to fry without oil.

Kitchen thermometer

It would seem that everyone can distinguish a ready baked chicken from a raw one by eye, but reality is always more difficult than theories. Pieces of meat have different sizes, the cook can sometimes forget, and sometimes something can change in the oven settings. A thermometer will help ensure that meat and fish are perfectly cooked and, most importantly, safe for health. By the way, you should buy such a kitchen assistant not only for experiments with steaks with or without blood.

The super-fashionable sous vide technology, in which the product is prepared for many hours in a vacuum at a temperature of only 50-60 degrees, is available at home only if you have a kitchen thermometer. And mastering the dish is very tempting: gentle cooking preserves the structure and vitamin-mineral composition of vegetables, meat or seafood better than any other method.

Vacuum packing device

In order to practice in the home kitchen , you will need another gadget - a vacuum packaging device for products . By the way, this thing will not stand still even if you prefer other methods of cooking . A vacuum packaging device will come in handy when you need to compactly place the gifts of summer in the freezer: berries, vegetables, greens.

Yes, now it is not only grandmothers who stock up for the winter. Scientists from the University of California compared the vitamin composition of berries and vegetables before and after freezing and were convinced that storing crops at a low temperature is a good idea.

A vacuum packaging device will benefit not only the kitchen , but also the planet. Somehow it is necessary to stop this madness, when ⅓ of food products bought in developed countries are sent to the trash only because they did not have time to eat before the expiration date. An environment without air allows you to store products for an average of 3-4 times longer. There is time to think about how to use them rationally.

Plates with a diameter of 20 centimeters

Researchers from Cornell University conducted an interesting analysis of art canvases over the thousand-year history of painting and found that portions of food and the size of plates gradually increased. Based on computer calculations, scientists have established that during the time of Leonardo da Vinci, people ate 3 times less than today, and obviously moved more.

However, based on such conclusions, it was possible not to go to the museum. According to statistics, the size of the main meal plate has increased by almost ¼ since 1900 and is now 30 cm, and portions of restaurant and ready-made packaged food have become at least 30% larger in the last half century. It is not surprising that the inhabitants of the planet suffer from diseases directly related to excess food : obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular pathologies.

One of the easiest ways to reduce the caloric content of the daily diet and return to physiological norms is to use plates with a smaller diameter. The optimal option for an adult is a dessert plate with a diameter of no more than 20 cm. And so that switching to a reduced diet was not so sad, remember the good news from laboratories: in experiments on animals, reducing the caloric content of the diet by at least 10% gives a noticeable increase in duration life.

Coffee machine

The analysis of hundreds of studies that studied the properties of coffee came close to the final point in the debate about the benefits and harms of this drink. Officially, positive effects win, and their list is inspiring. Several cups of coffee per day (no more than 400 mg of caffeine) contribute to prolonging life, reducing the risk of age-related changes in the brain, improving insulin sensitivity, that is, reducing the risk of diabetes.

Also, coffee does not dehydrate, does not increase blood pressure (at least in those who drink the drink regularly) and is not responsible for chronic diseases. And in women who drink fresh natural coffee every day, the terminal sections of chromosomes, a peculiar indicator of the body's youth, are longer. After all, a good coffee machine will definitely not be superfluous in the kitchen : it is very nice to be able to get an invigorating elixir at the push of a button.

A dark cabinet for spices

A lot has already been said about the benefits of turmeric, ginger and other spices. It's a pity that all the scientific data on the content of antioxidants, antimicrobial activity and the potential of aromatic compounds in the treatment of cancer are broken by the realities of life. The biological activity of spices depends critically on the conditions in which they were grown and stored.

We cannot influence the habits of manufacturers and transport companies, as we have to rely on their responsibility, and also do not forget the principle proven over the years: quality cannot be very cheap. But it is entirely within our power to create comfortable storage conditions for valuable powders and seeds in our own kitchen .

The first and most important thing - if possible, do not buy ground spices, but grind them immediately before use. The second - store spices only in glass containers made of dark material with tightly closed lids. Unfortunately, there are no beautiful shelves above the stove: only a closed, dark and cool cabinet, in which sunlight, foreign smells and heating devices cannot destroy the healing properties of spices.