Equipment

As I’m sure most home cooks do, I have multiple ways of preparing the food I love. This page details the equipment and techniques I use most often. I don’t claim that what I use is the best for the job, and I am constantly exploring new ways to prepare meals, but I find that these things are what I use most often and always go back to.

Standard Gas Oven

I absolutely despise cooking with electric ovens, and at this point refuse to live anywhere without natural gas. The control of cooking with gas as a heat source can’t be matched (maybe induction could come close, but I haven’t tried). My oven has a convection setting that I often take advantage of for roasting, and even a convection-bake setting to help even out temperatures with multiple trays inside. These features aren’t necessary, but they don’t hurt to have.

Sous Vide

I’m fairly new to sous vide as of 2017, but I’m definitely a convert. A sous vide circulator offers perfect temperature control and reproducibility whether you’re making yogurt, cooking steak, or inverting sugar. I use the Gourmia GSV 140 for my sous vide purposes, with an 18 qt Rubbermaid container (with a lid that I cut a hole in for the sous vide machine).

Smoker

I entered a contest last year in which the top prize was a large Big Green Egg, and amazingly enough I won. I had been wanting a new smoker to upgrade from my cheap and heavily modified Char-Broil side firebox unit, though funds weren’t looking good to make that happen. The Egg could not have come at a better time, and I absolutely love it. I don’t necessarily recommend the Big Green Egg brand specifically due to the cost, though it is a fantastic product, but I do recommend getting a kamado style grill. As long as it is ceramic I think you’ll be fine.

I have added a couple of accessories to the Egg, namely the Ceramic Grill Store’s Adjustable Rig and the Auber Instruments Temperature Controller.

Grilling

After moving from California to Michigan, I left behind my old ‘cheap’ grill and bought Weber Genesis E-330, which is no longer sold, and the current Weber 410 model is the closest. I consider this to be a ‘forever grill’, and expect it to last until my kids are off to college (my kids haven’t even started school yet). Moving to the Weber from cheaper grills was a slight adjustment as it burns much hotter than I was used to, but after testing out multi-zone cooking methods and taking grill-grate temperature measurements I quickly got the hang of it and can now cook anything on there with confidence.