Hello my Foodie Friends!
We believe cooking as a family is important. When it comes to food, we each have family traditions that may have either been passed down from generation to generation, or have been recently developed as your own family tradition. Preparing old family recipes is a great way to pass along stories, smells, and flavors of the past to your next generation of family chefs. Traditions may include having a family member prepare a meal once a week or try out an old signature dish that was part of your own growing up. Give each family member a sense of involvement while discovering a new favorite dish to add to your family cookbook.
Depending on how old your children are (young or adult), you can teach cooking skills, talk about the mathematics of measuring (yes, even fractions!), discuss where different foods come from and what makes some foods more nutritious than others, and share family
stories and traditions that center around the foods you’re making. The more chances that your family has to experience foods in different ways, the more familiar and inviting those foods will seem. And, when family members help make the food … by choosing the recipe, going along to the grocery store, or lending a hand with the cooking … they feel more personally invested, and they’re more likely to sample the food (and like it!). Making food can provide plenty of reasons to gather your family together with you in the kitchen, and get them cooking!
One of our favorite items to use when it comes to any recipe and is important in food prep is a wooden cutting board. This item is not only useful in your own home, but is a beautiful gift to give.
At Compliments to the Chef, we love wood cutting boards! Good hard woods have been used for centuries to cut food or butcher meat on. Early man just cut down any old tree to butcher and cut meat on but quickly realized that soft woods got people sick. A good cutting board properly maintained can last a lifetime, and they are safer than plastic which if it isn’t sanitized or left wet can actually harbor bacteria. Some of the reasons for this are:
1. Wood is water-absorbent, so it dries faster, which means shorter bacterial survival.
2. Wood contains natural antibiotic agents that retard bacterial growth.
We carry beautiful, handcrafted wooden cutting boards made by Catskill Craftsmen, and Saratoga Springs Artisan Adam Cielinski. Choosing an Adam Cielinski wood cutting board can make a great “Saratoga” gift to bring to family or friends or it can be one for your own home. Bring one as a house warming or thank you gift, or choose from one that may reflect a special love or hobby of a person you are buying for. They are simply beautiful and functional.
Adam’s boards are part of Saratoga Springs Art History. They are each different and no two exactly the same. He also makes large cutting blocks that are great for larger items. The good news is they are reasonably priced too! Wood cutting boards have been in my family for generations and we hand them down. I learned as a child to chop and prep on a wood cutting board. Stop in and pick up a piece of Saratoga History and have something that you can hand down in your family. A little advice on their care:
1. Dry the board immediately after (hand) washing, and
2. Once a month, rub the board with oil, to keep it water-repellent and warp-free. Apply a coat of warm food-safe mineral oil, let soak in, and then wipe off the excess. Scratches can be sanded out then re-oiled.
Stop by Compliments to the Chef, your Neighborhood Kitchen and Cutlery store located at 33 Railroad Place in Saratoga Springs. Keep your family together in the kitchen and involved with the prep and creation of your meals. Family recipes are a way of keeping our ancestry alive, as well as a part of ourselves. Traditions help bond us to those we love. Cooking together creates closer bonds and helps build lifelong memories. You can also use the time to listen, share and talk as a family. Remember my Foodie Friends, “Life Happens in the Kitchen.”
Take Care, John & Paula
