Buying kitchen appliances, countertop tools and utensils can be tricky, because it is difficult to try before you buy.
Having such insider knowledge is essential, especially for those who love to cook, and is probably one of the reasons for the proliferation of cookery schools and classes where you can, in the company of experts, actually use expensive ovens, hobs, utensils and tools to see if they suit you and your preferred cooking methods.
By attending Howth Castle Cookery School in Dublin, you can experience how Gaggenau’s ovens and induction hobs perform in real-life settings before you invest.
“Pro-kitchen inspired, it’s as close as you can get to a professional set-up at home,” says Simon Plumbridge, director of Gaggenau UK and Ireland.
It is run by John Carty, one-time chef at La Stampa, Dawson Street, and at No 10 Ormond Quay, where he teamed up with Sarah Hughes. The dynamic duo operate out of the property’s original kitchen, which was built in the mid-18th century and still has its large central chimney breast designed to vent the room.
The room has terracotta tiles underfoot and is lined with Coran-covered counters of two-hob induction panels, part of the Gaggenau 400 series, set into them. The version installed features hob controls that give you the same kind of fast temperature change flick action you get with gas knobs. Helpfully, they also light up to let you know they’re still on.
The German brand has worked with serious chefs for years, first partnering with three-star Michelin chef Marc Haeberlin of the Alsatian-based L’Auberge de l’Ill, on the launch of its combi-steam oven in 1999, then the first of its kind and size to be used in a domestic kitchen.
It introduced sous-vide cooking as an option into its higher-end models in 2018, and some of this range is occasionally used by Raymond Blanc in his pastry kitchen and at his cookery school.
To ensure the best marriage of design and function, the appliance maker insists its R&D team work on the kitchen line at Haeberlin’s sister eaterie, a brasserie called Les Haras in Strasbourg, to better understand the professional chef’s processes. The latest results are apparent in its new series of Expressive ovens, which launched earlier this month. Its rotisserie chicken function will have what Plumbridge describes as 4D air circulation, and will offer temperature accuracy of plus or minus three degrees. Angled LED lights will illuminate the food to better see how it is cooking.
Cast-iron convenience
At home, Ross Lewis, co-owner of Michelin starred Chapter One, on Parnell Square, and proprietor of Osteria Lucio, in Dublin’s Grand Canal Dock, likes to use Hexclad cookware, a range of pans and pots endorsed by Gordon Ramsay.
The collection combines the durability of cast-iron with the convenience of nonstick. Ramsay describes the sear he can get with this range of pans as “incredible”. (Prices for a seven-piece set, three pans with lids and a wok costs €499, reduced from €799, excluding delivery.)
Having trained with the aforementioned Ramsay, and with Marcus Wareing at Petrus in London, Philip Mahon was sous chef under Dylan McGrath at Mint in Ranelagh, before setting up Alumni Kitchen Table, in Rathangan, Co Kildare, as an experiential overnight dining experience several years ago. A maximum of eight guests can stay in the three-storey, nine-bedroom home he operates with his wife, Kathy, on the outskirts of the town.
The diningroom has an open kitchen where the lead actor is the Lacanche range. Designed for domestic use, hand-built in Burgundy, and enamelled in Portuguese blue, it is available to order from Showtime Essential Kitchen Products, where prices are about €6,500-€20,000, offering a slew of ways to cook within one good-looking stove.
The island is all-purpose, he says. “I stand behind it all day long. It’s a galley kitchen, so everything is reachable.” This means he can move from oven to hob to plating up on the counter with ease.
He uses an Electrolux induction hob from its Libero professional range, because he says it gives him “perfect control from stocks to pan-frying a scallop to order”.
He first came across sous-vide cooking and the brand PolyScience while cooking in three-star Michelin restaurant Alinea in Chicago and in Per Se in New York. He loves it for its precise cooking of vegetables to meat or fish and has several of its hot-water vats set adjacent to the range cooker.
He uses a chef’s knife handcrafted by Co Galway-based Lew Griffin for chopping, skinning and various other tasks. “It is my design and a unique piece,” he says, and sharpens it using a wet stone he bought on Amazon. Prices start at €600. A Gyuto-style blade with burl handle costs €800.
To serve his fine-dining food, he uses Cara Janelle crockery. The Barcelona-based ceramic sculptor and artist offers a wide range of dishwasher-safe tableware that looks as custom-made as the meals he cooks. This is stacked adjacent to the other side of the range cooker. An eight-piece set comprising four medium plates and matching handless cups, in Set 21 pattern, costs €344 to order, excluding delivery from Spain-based carajanelle.com/collections.
The power of small appliances
Ballymaloe-trained Ciara Fennessy of Ciara’s Kitchen does cooking demonstrations in her home kitchen in Delgany, Co Wicklow, four nights a week. Her island, 8sq m in size, has been designed to accommodate up to 14 people, who she shows how to do up to eight different dishes in a 2½-hour period.
She wanted a commercial feel to the kitchen that is white and clean, so she tested the durability of the countertop by pouring red wine on to a sample tile and leaving it to soak in for several days to see if it stained. It didn’t. She says there’s nothing that a little Cif cream cleaner and a microfibre cloth hasn’t been able to remove.
On the island is a six-burner Smeg gas hob and a sink with Quooker hot water tap, that she uses to wash knives and other utensils, cleaning them with a Sponge Daddy. She also installed a pop-up socket to plug in small appliances with ease. She’s a fan of Kenwood mini chopper (€34.99 from Arnotts) that acts like a mini food processor, explaining: “I find it a hassle to take out the big processor that is stored up high. Instead this is small, convenient and fits in the dishwasher. It’s great for pesto, chimichurri and for blending garlic and ginger.” Many of her clients love Lidl’s Silvercrest version.
She uses a Gefu whacker (€16), to break up mince for everyday favourites such as spaghetti Bolognese. She sells these on her website where she also sells knives by Italian brand Trebonn (€25 each or €85 for a set of four), both found on a shopping and scouting trip to Paris trade fair Maison et Objet.
She also likes to use Ikea’s colour-coded plastic boards, Ikea frying pans, and buys a new set of Stellar pots and saucepans in every year at the Arnotts sale. A five-piece set, including a wok, costs €357. A citrus reamer (from about €16), and a measuring spoon (€10), from Joseph Joseph, are both available on her website, ciaraskitchen.ie.
Howth Castle Cookery School classes for adults range from €105 upwards to a catch and cook your own supper, €195 per person. howthcastlecookeryschool.ie/classes
Dinner, bed and breakfast for two at Alumni Kitchen Table costs €520, excluding drinks. alumnikitchentable.com
In-person demonstration classes at Ciara’s Kitchen cost from €60pp
