Cut your Kitchen Time in Half with the Chef Basket

There's a reason why the size of the average kitchen has doubled since 1974. Yes, there are more appliances and they are generally much bigger. The refrigerator of today could eat the old one for a light snack. But appliances only tell half the story of why the kitchen has grown. We must also consider the influence of home cooking shows.
Before the 1970s, the average home cook could best be described as unadventurous. More often than not, the woman of the house would prepare the same meals her mother made. Meat loaf, casseroles, pot roast, and Rice Krispies Treats were all the rage. Then, along came Julia Child.
As the first real celebrity chef, Julia Child introduced Americans to French cooking.  Her television program, The French Chef, first aired in 1972. It was a huge hit. Her collection of bestselling cookbooks also encouraged the amateur home cook to experiment with more complicated recipes. As you might imagine, more complicated recipes required more ingredients, more cookware and more kitchen appliances. It would not be an exaggeration to say that Julia Child was at least partially responsible for the growth of the American kitchen.
In spite of its expansion, the kitchen is often the hardest room in the home to keep in order. Most home improvement centers sell dozens of popular organizers for the kitchen.  There are organizers for the refrigerator, the shelves, the herbs and spices and the wine. But the number one problem when it comes to kitchen organization is cabinet space.
Finding room for the food can be a chore. When families buy too much, they often have to store dry and canned foods in the laundry room. One reason why space is so limited is the cookware. Pots and pans and other kitchen utensils take up an incredible amount of room. Most amateur cooks have cabinets full of them.
Because space is hard to come by in the kitchen, many new products do more than one job. They are a lot like the Swiss Army Knife, in that they can be used for different tasks.  Today we want to talk about the Chef Basket, which is one of the most popular new all-in-one kitchen utensils.
All-in-one is a funny phrase. It implies that something will solve all of your problems. Of course, that is never true. But what an all-in-one kitchen utensil will do is perform several different tasks and save you space. The Chef Basket can handle a dozen distinct duties.
It has been marketed mainly as a time-saving device. And while that is important, we were more impressed with how much space it can save the average homeowner. The Chef Basket is a flexible, reticular basket that folds down when not in use. Did we say folds down? We meant it folds flat! The Chef Basket takes up less cabinet space than a lid from a piece of Tupperware.
When used as a kitchen utensil, the Chef Basket resembles a colander. The only difference is that it can be used to actually cook the food. Pasta can be placed in the basket and cooked in the boiling water. This saves times on clean up and improves kitchen safety. Pouring hot water into wobbly colanders is responsible for thousand of accidental burns each year.  Chef Basket eliminates the need for a colander. The Pasta can simply be removed from the hot water and left to cool in the sink.
But pasta isn't the only thing the Chef Basket can be used to cook. Shellfish, veggies, eggs and even fried chicken can all be placed in the basket. The home cook can then add water or oil to the pot or pan and wait for it to come to a boil before they drop in the Chef Basket.  Best of all, the handles of the device are designed to stay cool to the touch. That means no more pot holders or oven mitts! It is even possible to go right from the pot to the plate if you so choose.
There is one food item in particular that the Chef Basket truly excels at cooking. Unless you are an experienced cook, hard-boiled eggs aren't easy to prepare. They must be moved from boiling water into ice water in short order to get them right. Most home chefs simply spoon them out one at a time, which obviously takes time. But with the help of the Chef Basket, you can simply lift them out of the boiling water and transfer the whole batch into a pot of ice water.  It's safer, it's faster and the eggs won't crack.
The Chef Basket can also be used as a free-standing colander. Simply flip down the handles and place it in the sink. This feature makes the device an exceptional steamer. Add any vegetable you like to the Chef Basket, steam it in a pot of boiling water, and drain its contents in the sink. It honestly couldn't be any easier.
The Chef Basket is the ultimate time, space, and stress-saving device.

Ryan Hartzell is a freelance writer who writes about a cooking and products like the Chef Basket.

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