"Remembrance of Kitchens Past"

[Gifted Gourmet]

article from the NYT

NOBODY needs a big kitchen," declared Arthur Schwartz, self-described food maven and food know-it-all, affirming his declaration with a gestural embrace of his tiny Brooklyn galley kitchen, with its white Formica cabinets, white fridge, white enamel Amana stove and two-foot-square Ikea table by the window - which seats two, but barely....  Mr. Schwartz knows from kitchens. He has renovated and cooked his way through every sort of kitchen you might imagine - from the tiniest hot-plate-style Murphy kitchen to a full-blown custom-crafted kitchen in Cornwall, Conn.....

Interesting article for anyone who has ever gone through the process of kitchen renovations or just enjoys kitchen design ...

[alacarte]

There was no kitchen at all, just a sink and a half refrigerator, that Manhattan classic.

My first apartment had the same set-up. Can't say that I remember it quite as fondly as Schwartz does his. Half of my closet was dedicated to clothes, and the other half was a pantry. It's a wonder my clothes didn't smell like garlic powder.

[Gifted Gourmet]

There was no kitchen at all, just a sink and a half refrigerator, that Manhattan classic.

My first apartment had the same set-up. Can't say that I remember it quite as fondly as Schwartz does his. Half of my closet was dedicated to clothes, and the other half was a pantry. It's a wonder my clothes didn't smell like garlic powder.

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Now for a question based upon both the article and alacarte's observation for our members:

What was your very first kitchen like?

Mine had a half-size refrigerator with a toaster oven type deal on top. When I used the oven, the freeezer defrosted!! so I rented a food locker in the town we lived in to keep our meat frozen ...

and I once tried baking a cake in the toaster oven but didn't have room to put the entire baking pan in so half of the cake stuck out ... little did I know, as a new bride, that the entire thing had to be baked at one time ... very tiny kitchen .. but so long ago!

How about your first kitchen?? Tales to tell?

[Carrot Top]

My very first kitchens were all in NYC and were very much like the ones described by Arthur in his article and by alacarte in her post (by the way, very nice new link to her website!). These very first kitchens were never cooked in too much. I was young. . .teenage years. . .and honestly I can not remember too much what I ate except that it was New York and my idea of a great meal was a hot dog and a drink from Papaya King!

The smallest and most demanding kitchen, however, was the one on the boat I lived on for two years shortly after that. . .I was about 19 years old at the time. The boat itself was a Sparkman and Stevens 1938 classic 36' wooden sloop. You would walk down the stairs which were like a small steep ladder into the cabin and there was the kitchen. It had an icebox (a real one, the kind that you'd buy iceblocks to put in) to the right that also served as workspace (it opened up from the top so whatever you needed you'd have to take out first), and I remember it being about 28" wide by 24" deep. . .this was the only countertop. . . and a tiny stove/oven to the left. Nestled in behind the stove under the deck, sort of almost behind the stairs, was the tiny sink.

The stove ran on propane. . .the tank was up on deck in front of the cabin. It was important to keep an eye on the gauge so that the propane would not run out in the middle of roasting a chicken ! The water had to be carried in, in five gallon containers then poured into the tank that distributed it to the sink(s) and bathroom.

Washing dishes with only five gallons of water (that would have to then be replaced by yourself with lugging the stuff all the way from the marina to the boat and pouring it into the holding tank) left me with a habit of caution with my water use for years afterwards! (And also with an appreciation for the idea of hot running water, because in order to wash the dishes in hot water, the water had to be heated in a pot on the stove. . .)

The cabin that this "kitchen" was in was probably about ten to twelve feet long, with a bunk on each side. The width of the space was somewhere between eight or nine feet. If it had been designed to be any wider, the boat would have been "beamy" and would not have had the beauty of design that it held. . .

There were small windows (portholes) lining the portion of the cabin that lay above deck all along the cabin. Funny. . .I remember making "shades" for these out of white cardboard cut from poster board, folding it accordion shape so they could be pushed together to open and tied flat or pulled out and tied to a (I think it was, anyway) a decorative thumbtack!? that I'd put on the other end.

Heh. We had very little money. I remember that we (myself and Husband #1. . do I sound like Charlie Chan. . . ) had $28. for food for the week and also remember that we ate very well. There was a "thrift store" down the street, in City Island where we docked the boat and where he worked building the America's Cup boats. . .that had old copies of Gourmet Magazine. . .which I scarfed up by the bundle.

So. . .I cooked from Gourmet and I cooked from ideas that his Italian mother gave me. We had "Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic" (that old standby) and we had Pigs Feet in Spicy Tomato Sauce with Penne and many other good things. At that time, it was rare that I cooked the same recipe twice. . .although I do remember making a pasta sauce with squid more than once due to great demand. . .and my god do I remember the time I dared to make it "differently". Major marital discord occured at that meal!

There was a small table that was built into the boat in that main cabin that unfolded somehow. . .strangely enough I can not remember where it unfolded FROM though! And one would sit on either side of it to enjoy the feast. . .

That is the first kitchen I took to cooking rather seriously in.

Edited August 16, 2005 by Carrot Top (log)

[artisan02]

article from the NYT

NOBODY needs a big kitchen," declared Arthur Schwartz, self-described food maven and food know-it-all, affirming his declaration with a gestural embrace of his tiny Brooklyn galley kitchen, with its white Formica cabinets, white fridge, white enamel Amana stove and two-foot-square Ikea table by the window - which seats two, but barely....  Mr. Schwartz knows from kitchens. He has renovated and cooked his way through every sort of kitchen you might imagine - from the tiniest hot-plate-style Murphy kitchen to a full-blown custom-crafted kitchen in Cornwall, Conn.....

Interesting article for anyone who has ever gone through the process of kitchen renovations or just enjoys kitchen design ...

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I have his old cookbook, Cooking From a Small Kitchen, which is from his experiences of small kitchens. At the time I got this cookbook, I had a slightly bigger kitchen than he describes, but even so, what he advised has stood me in good stead ever since. I have had bigger kitchens since then, and loved them, but I remember him saying his favorite kitchen was a galley type kitchen, if I remember correctly. And the best kitchen I ever had was an extended galley type kitchen.

Good recipes in that book too.

Now, I am traveling around the country as a traveling nurse, and I have to deal with the run of the mill apartment kitchen, which is not made for people who like to cook a lot. The one I have now, has almost no counter space, and I improvise all the time. I always ask the companies with whom I work, to get me an apartment that has a decent kitchen, but it seems that most folks these days don't cook much, and don't have a clue as to what constitutes a good kitchen. I have almost given up trying, and just make do with what I am furnished.

[SuzySushi]

Love it! As an ex-New Yorker, I know exactly the kitchens Arthur Schwartz was talking about, from the "Murphy kitchens" in Tudor City to designer showcases in Connecticut that were spotlessly clean because the appliances had never been used!

My first kitchen was the galley type: tiny gas stove, sink with about 1 foot of counter space, and small apartment-sized refrigerator, on top of which was my toaster-oven (later replaced by a microwave). I couldn't keep any foods in the cupboards because the heat from the steam pipe in the corner behind the stove made everything spoil (cans actually would burst!). My pots & pans and kitchen utensils hung on a pegboard on the opposite wall, and I had a shallow bookcase built-to-order for my pantry. To give you an example of how narrow the kitchen was, one time when I made Thanksgiving dinner I had trouble transferring the turkey from the oven to its serving platter. My mother and sister came in to help me, and the three of us had to back our way out of the kitchen because there wasn't room to turn around!

Yet, I threw fabulous parties from that kitchen, for as many as 35 people (if you can imagine us sitting crowded on the living room floor!). My glass dining table doubled as a workspace, and a side table in the living room became a buffet. Lack of space was no obstacle.

[Carrot Top]

Rememberance of Kitchens Past, indeed.

The second kitchen that I cooked in came to mind last night but after thinking about that boat, I got so tired that it was neccesary to escape to a mystery novel and a good sleep!

The second kitchen I cooked seriously in was in an Airstream trailer. (Yeah, always the "Moveable Kitchen". )

It was slightly larger than the galley on the boat. We had decided to go to the Florida Keys for the winter. . .so found the Airstream to tow along and live in. It was, like the boat, rather "antique", rather "classic". Um hm. . .rather strange, I know.

This kitchen had a small half-refrigerator, a stove/oven, and about 36" of counter space. And it had a table that was "built in" that did not have to be flipped up and down if one wanted to move more than two feet in any direction which was very helpful for food prep!

The stove was still propane, but the water supply could actually be hooked up to a hose from outside so that we didn't have to lug heavy containers of water on board. Progress.

It was in this kitchen that I decided (without knowing that I had decided it) that cooking was something that would be my profession. There was not a whole lot to do in the Keys besides swim and fish and. . .well. . .swim and fish. And I didn't swim a lot because the place was filled with old people and every time I walked to the beach (which naturally required wearing a bathing suit ) the old guys would do that lust-filled stare thing and their wives would do the I-want-to-kill-that-young-girl stare thing.

So I cooked. Cooked the fish and the octopuses I caught. . .and the tropical fruits and veggies which were imported from the "mainland" to the Keys grocery stores. Not much grows there except for mangroves and grass that is so stiff you could break your toe on it.

I particularly remember making puff pastry for the first time in that kitchen.

Lovely.

When we came back from that trip (which I was extremely grateful to do!) I went out and got a job as an assistant pastry chef at a catering place/fine dining restaurant by an extensive interview and by being asked to show my skills.

So, yeah. I would agree that nobody "needs" a large kitchen (at home, anyway. . .the professional arena is a different thing) but. . .don't try to take away my larger, "open" kitchen where I live now. . .I'll fight tooth nails and colander for it!

[rich]

My very first kitchen was my brand new 1973 Camaro - used it to cook hot dogs by starting the engine, opening the hood and placing the franks on a piece of foil as close to V-8 as possible - then closed the hood. It took about ten minutes - but they were good - sans the grill marks.

Also fried eggs the same way and served on lightly toasted bread. This was great if you were riding around the country and wanted to picnic, but didn't have a grill. Tried hamburgers once but it took almost 45 minutes to get medium - used way too much gas.

[Gifted Gourmet]

With the gasoline prices skyrocketing today, rich, this seems less and less like "cuisine economique" ... cool ideas though! Is your new book title "Camaro Cuisine"??