The Best Cooktop for Messy Cooks !!!

Via Thermador

I promised I would share my favorite Thermador Appliance!

Did you guess which one it would be?

When I visited the Thermador Test Kitchen in Irvine, California as guest of Thermador and Traditional Home Magazine in honor of their Great Kitchens Getaway Online issue, I had the privilege of cooking on Thermador's 36" Masterpiece Freedom Induction Cooktop.  This might look like ceran cooktops that were popular in the 80's, but let me tell you, it's no where near the same appliance for many reasons.  To equate the two would be like trying to compare a Rolls Royce to a Volkswagen. 

Here are the features that set this appliance apart from the competition:

Functionality:

1. Can place up to four pots or pans anywhere on the cooktop surface

and it creates a burner for it.  Note I said anywhere, it will find the pot!

2. It has 48 induction elements that deliver more than 63% usable cooking

surface in any configuration!

3. If you pick a pot up to move it over to make room for another pot, it will transfer the programmed settings to the new position without you lifting a finger.

4. Love and adore the touchscreen!  So easy to use!  To set the temp you simply touch the screen and scroll to the setting you want.  No more messy knobs to clean!  Just wipe off the panel if your hands are greasy from cooking.

5.  It's so fast!!!! Induction cooktops heat 50% faster than traditional gas cooktops. 

6. With 4,6000 W PowerBoost, this cooktop allows you to boil water faster than any other cooking technology.

Safety:

Anti-overflow system - If any liquid over flows there is a feature that shuts off the element and sounds an alarm to let you know your pot is boiling over!

. Child Safety Lock- so little hands cannot turn the cooktop on!

 Pan Recognition - Cooktop will only turn on if a pan is placed on the cooktop. Small objects will not allow the cook top to turn on.

In the test kitchen, Nadia and I seared tuna on this cooktop and let me just tell you, it got the job done perfectly!  Just a few minutes after turning the appliance off, the heat dissipated.  That is an especially nice feature if you don't like your kitchen to get hot.  Also, nice if you are limited with countertop space because it can become countertop when you aren't cooking.

Nadia Subaran and Moi proudly displaying our tuna cooked on the 36" Thermador Masterpiece Freedom Induction Cooktop!

 Why I say the Thermador Freedom Induction Cooktop is best for messy cooks or people who don't like their kitchens to get dirty from cooking?  No more splatter to clean with this cooktop!  Why you say?  You can actually cover the cooktop with paper towels,then put your pans on the paper towel covered top to cook.  The paper towels won't catch on fire because the pan is the heat inducer.  After cooking, simply remove the paper towels and voila you have a clean cooktop!  

Now do you see why I love this cooktop?

Not to mention ....it's sleek and sexy!

__________________

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If you are a designer, don't forget to enter the Kitchen Design Challenge.

 You can read all about it here.

Also, as a designer you can become a star partner.  Read about that here!!!!

All photos are courtesy of Thermador.  

STAY IN TOUCH WITH THERMADOR AT:

www.thermador.com

Day In the Thermador Test Kitchen, Winner announced & Recipes!!!

Chef Kyle

Our day in the Thermador test kitchen started out with the professional chefs giving us instruction on plating food and how to proceed with our preparing our items for our lunch menu.  

Speaking of menu, here is what we prepared:

Organic Baby Beets & Heirloom Tomato, Humboldt Fog Goat Cheese Crèma, 

Toasted Marcona Almonds, Micro Basil

Serves 18

5 bunches Organic Baby Beets, cleaned

3# Hierloom Tomato

2 ea Humboldt Fog Goat Cheese

1 C Heavy Cream

1 C Marcona Almonds

1 C Micro Basil

1 C White Wine

2 ea Thyme sprigs

Olive oil

Salt & Pepper

Procedure

1. Turn the combi-steam oven to combi-mode 375 degrees, fill the solid insert with the beets, 

wine, thyme, 1 oz olive oil, and salt and pepper. Roast for 30 minutes and cool down. 

2. Rub the beets between a kitchen towel to remove the outer skin and then trim the ends.

3. Heat the oven to 400 degrees; coat the almonds in olive oil and season. Spread on a sheet 

tray and roast for about 6 minutes until golden.

4. To make the goat cheese crema, cut the rind from the Humboldt Fog and crumble into a 

blender. Add half the cream and begin to buzz together. Add extra cream as needed and 

season.

Pan seared tuna with sweet corn coulis & cucumber-jalapeno relish

Serves 18

Sweet corn coulis

5ea yellow corn ears (shucked and kerneled)

½ ea White Onion, large dice

1ea Garlic Clove, minced

½ C chicken stock

½ C dry white wine

¼ C heavy cream

1T Avocado oil

Salt & White Pepper

1. Shuck and kernel (remove the corn kernels off the stock using a large knife), dice the onion 

and mince the garlic.

2. Heat a large sized sauté pan to level 8 on the freedom induction.

3. When the pan is hot add the avocado oil, onions, garlic and corn, sauté for 2-3 minutes 

(onions should be soft and semi caramelized).

4. Add the white wine and reduce until almost all liquid is gone.

5. Reduce heat to level 5 and add the chicken stock and heavy cream, let simmer for 3-5 

minutes. Turn off heat.

6. Transfer remaining mixture with liquid to vita mix blender and puree until smooth. Season 

with salt and white pepper.

7. Place coulis into shallow half pan and chill in refrigerator.

Tuna

3 # Grade A Tuna, cut into loins (1.5” x 1.5”)

2 Tbl Vegetable oil

Salt and Pepper

1. Heat oil on teppanyaki (high heat) until whispy

2. Sear tune on all sides, set aside and keep cool.

Cucumber-jalapeno relish

1ea cucumber (seeded, peeled and cut into brunoisette)

1ea jalapeno (seeded and minced)

1ea shallot (minced)

1T cilantro (finely chopped)

1T rice vinegar

1tsp fish sauce

Salt to taste

1. Complete all knife work on the vegetables and herbs

2. Place ingredients into medium sized mixing bowl and mix together.

3. Set aside wrapped in plastic and allow relish to marinate for at least 5 minutes.

Petite grilled filet mignon with baby carrots & foraged mushroom glaze
Serves 18
Petite grilled filets 
18ea 3.5oz filet mignons
½ C clarified butter
Salt & Pepper
1. Heat grill insert to 500 F.
2. Brush both sides of filets with clarified butter and generously sprinkle with salt and pepper.
3. Grill filets no more than 9 at a time, for about 3-4 minutes on each side.
4. Set aside on sheet pan lined with a baking racking
Sautéed baby carrots
5 bunches baby carrots
2 Tbl European style sweet butter
¼ C white wine
2tsp sugar
Salt and Pepper
1. Set steam oven on Pro Grand range to full steam setting, place carrots on perforated steam 
pan. 
2. When steam oven has reached full steam setting place carrots into oven and let cook for 5 
minutes.
3. Heat a large sauté pan to medium heat.
4. When carrots are done in steam oven, add butter and sugar to sauté pan and place carrots 
into pan and sauté for 3 minutes, add white wine and turn off heat. 
5. Season with salt and pepper
Foraged Mushroom Glace
3# assorted foraged mushrooms
2T garlic (minced)
2C veal glace
2T avocado oil
1. Heat a large sauté pan to extra high heat. When hot add avocado oil and mushrooms. Sauté
for 2 minutes.
2. Add garlic and sauté for additional 2 minute.
3. Reduce heat to medium and add veal glace and cook for an additional 3 minutes.


Grilled Organic Peaches with Marscapone Ice Cream, Amoretti Crumble, 
Musto
Serves 18
5 # Organic Peaches
5 ea Amoretti Cookies, grated
6 ea Egg Yolks
¾ C Sugar
1 qt Heavy Cream
1 ea Vanilla bean
1 C Mascapone cheese, softened
1 ea Lemon, juiced
½ C Musto
Olive oil
Salt
Procedure
1. Make the ice cream the day before, heat the cream over medium heat until steaming. Add 
the scraped out vanilla bean, cover the cream and let steep for 15 minutes.
2. In a large bowl, cream the eggs and sugar together until pale and thick. Temper in the warm 
cream, i.e. pour in a little bit and whisk quickly, as to not cook the eggs. Strain through a 
chinois.
3. Whisk in the marscapone and lemon juice in the ice cream base, transfer into the ice cream 
machine and mix for up 35 minutes. Scrape out into a container and freeze for at least 6 
hours.
4. Turn the grill onto 500 degrees and the oven onto 275 degrees. Cut the peaches in half and 
pull out the pit. Coat the peaches in olive oil, and a little salt. 
5. Grill the peaches cut side down until seared. Transfer to a rack and keep warm in the oven

The recipes were fairly easy and very delicious!  Did you note any unfamiliar terms in the recipes? Nadia and I were asked to "brunoistte" our cucumbers.  We found out that means to chopped really fine! 

The chefs had prepared our food and had it ready and waiting for us

 on the island in the middle of the kitchen.

And we are cooking...Beautiful baby carrots cooking on the range top.

Grilled peaches with just the right amount of grill marks!!!

Ashlina from The Decorista showing off her perfectly plated

 tenderloin and carrots.

Nadia Subaran was my partner in the kitchen and boy can this girl cook!  We prepared the seared tuna recipe together.  I finally learned how to perfectly sear tuna.  It goes a little like this: buy a Thermador induction cooktop(just kidding), next place a flat pan on the cooktop, sprinkle with avocado oil, then turn the heat up really high, sear by rotating the tuna a quarter turn til each side until all four sides are seared!  The key is for the pan to be really hot which is hard to do with just any range but the induction cook top gets it just right!

Here is our perfectly plated tuna with a dollop of sweet corn coulis. Did you notice we formed our tuna in the shape of Thermador's star burner? Nadia was the clever cookie who thought of doing that!

Thermador had a cute little buffet table decorated with glittery letters which formed "Thermador" for us to place our bounty upon. Don't you love those cheese and fruit boards Traci Zeller and Tamara Matthews-Stephenson made?  Just beautiful!  

After we went into the conference room, the chefs took our dishes and prepared them for serving. This is how our meal was presented at lunch. I thought ours looked good, but after they redesigned the plates the food really looked fabulous and was perfectly portioned to feed our group.  It was simply beautiful! A true feast for the eyes.  

Look what a beautiful plate our individual dishes created for our lunch

when plated together for a meal!

After lunch, we gathered in the conference room to discuss what we liked about using the appliances and also talked about our favorite one.  Here are Molly Hirsch and Tamara Matthews-Stephenson listening intently to the discussion.  It was really interesting to hear what all the designers had to say about their own practices,appliance preferences and kitchen design in general.

You can tell by these engaging faces and smiles that everyone was enjoying the discussions.  Many of the topics we talked about are topics I plan to discuss here on the blog like "how to design a perfectly functional kitchen in a small space".

The perfect ending to a perfect day!

I know you think Nadia and I should be the winners, of the plating challenge, especially since we cleverly shaped our tuna into the Thermador star! DUH!  But to be perfectly honest," the grilled peach group" also presented the peach with glaze shaped in a star, so we weren't the only clever ones.  Of course the judges, Ann Maine, Editor in Chef of Traditional Home and Marsha decided to be politically correct and gave everyone an award so we all won!  I think we were winners before the contest because we had such a fun time.

I was going to share my favorite appliance, but there is so much to share about it,I have decided it deserves a post of its own so you will hear about it later.  I think you will love it as much as I do!

photo courtesy of Thermador

Here is our group photo at the end of our Thermador Experience Day!

  Make sure to follow these this group of fabulous designers

 and read their blogs 

Ashlina Koposta, The Decorista

@thedecorista

Cheryl Kees Clendenon, In Detail Interiors/Details and Design 

@InDetailSays

    

  Molly Hirsch, Molly Hirsch Interiors

@MollyHirschint

  Sara Ingrassia, Sara Ingrassia Interiors / Style Stream

      @SaraIngrassia

Tamara Matthews-Stephenson, Nest by Tamara

@nestnest

      Traci Zeller, Traci Zeller Designs

 @tracizeller

   Vicki Edwards, Kitchen & Bath Images

   Nadia Subaran, Aidan Design

  @AidanDesign

If you haven't read Traditional Homes Great Kitchens Online Issue make sure you read it today!  Click Here!  It's chocked full of beautiful kitchens and lots of interesting information on how to design the kitchen of your dreams. 

     A special thank you to the Thermador Marketing Team, BSH Group and Finn Partners for a Fabulous Day!:

A very special thank you to :

Lore McKenna!

I think I'm In Love....With Thermador!

Forgive me if I can't stop talking about Thermador but wow, there is so much to share and I don't want to leave anything out!  Why do I love Thermador so much?    Get a nice cup of tea and get comfy because there is so much to share!  If you do this post justice, you'll click over to the Thermador website to read more. 

Visiting in the beautiful Thermador Experience Show Room in Irvine, California was a fabulous a highlight of my trip.  From the elegant chandeliers hanging in the foyer to the warm greeting we received by the Thermador team, it was a day to be remembered.  As you may recall, I was a guest of Traditional Home and Thermador to celebrate their Great Kitchens Online Issue.  We were there to celebrate the designers, whose work was featured in the online issue, as well as learn about Thermador's new technology and give feedback on Thermador products from a designer's perspective.  Our initial indoctrination of the Thermador Experience was introduction to the history of the products in a classroom setting.  

In each chair was a Thermador notebook, pen and a chic black apron with Thermador across the chest in tiny little brads, that looked almost stainless! We were thrilled with our goodies. The Thermador team didn't overlook a detail, our visit was very well planned.  The day was fun from beginning to end. 

Here's  the lovely Ashlina Koposta designer and editor of  The Decorista, being the perfect student!  Don't you love the fab chairs with pop up trays?  We all wanted one to take home! The arms were nice and wide, so you could actually sit a can on it or rest your arm, if you were writing and didn't need the tray. To top it all off they swivel too!  My kids would die to have these in our playroom!

The fabulous Lore McKenna, PR for Thermador, Tom Tino, "Mr Thermador" and darling Beatriz Sandoval, Senior Manager in the Marketing Division, who gave us information about the Thermador's history, branding and what sets Thermador apart from it's competition.  Clearly Thermador is built for real cooks, not just for "kitchen eye candy" like so many of the other brands.  I have always known that Thermador was a great product, but I didn't not realize they were the first appliance company to use stainless steel in making their products, as well as being the first to invent almost all the appliances we use in the kitchen.  Thermador is a leader in the industry and so many of the other companies are followers.  I don't know about you, but I would rather invest my dollars with a proven leader's products any day, especially when specifying products for my clients.  It is important to me to chose quality products for my clients that I would buy for my own home.   

After our classroom experience, we went on a walking tour of the 17,000 square foot showroom.  Here is one of the test kitchens with Thermador appliances.  Each test kitchens was designed to show case how the Thermador products look in traditional, transitional or contemporary design. I'm not quite sure how many different kitchens setting there were, but several!  I wish I had taken pictures of each of them!  Each kitchen was dynamic in it's own way. I may do a post on just those if you are interested in seeing them. Email me if you are!

This particular kitchen was a favorite because of the

 beautiful glass tile backsplash and clean esthetic.  

It was really cool to see the how the appliances were designed together in each test kitchen.  For example, look at the stack above and note how efficient this arrangement is.  On top is a microwave, next is a wall oven with the warming drawer below.  That's a lot of cooking ability in a small space.

Do you love the way the refrigerator looks next to the wine column
as much as I do?  It's so chic.

The oenophiles in the group were excited about the wine column. It looks so sleek and makes wine storage so convenient.  It integrates seamlessly in your kitchen design with option of  stainless or with custom door options.  The wine column comes in 18" or 24" widths with the availability of custom panels in sizes 18", 24",30" and 36" widths to most any design.

The Thermador Star Sapphire dishwasher is the only dishwasher that  holds 18 wine glasses!  You can also use the hand wash mode for your fine china. Tell me that doesn't that comes in handy late at night after your guest leave?  Who wants to hand wash wine glasses and china when you are tired?  I certainly don't!  This dishwasher also has a chef's tool drawer on the top rack for knives and utensils.  Please don't overlook  the "sexy blue light" or SBL!  This dishwasher means business!  

Of course, Thermador ranges are as beautiful, as they are functional.  They are seriously built for people who enjoy cooking.  Visit a test kitchen and cook on one of these babies and you will be sold for life!  Hands down, Thermador  trumps the competition in quality and ease of use.  Shown above is the 36" Professional Grand Series Range. To learn more about this range's features click here!  

How beautiful is this range?  This is the 48" Professional Series Pro Harmony Standard depth Dual Fuel Range.  If you want to know more about this range's extensive features click here. I love the chopping block which can be replaced with a griddle.  This range also features six Thermador "star burners".  Do you know what a star burner is or why it is the absolute bomb diggity to have on a range? Ok, so I'm going to tell you so you will know what you are missing, if you don't buy Thermador!  I can promise the only way you can resist Thermador is to not try it.  If you ever cook on it, you will be sold!

photo courtesy of Thermador

Besides being a handsome little guy, the star shaped burner is only available through Thermador products and offers the most even flame and heat distribution of any cooktop or range on the market.  This allows the cooking enthusiast easily master the most challenging techniques and recipes.  It also allows for quick and easy clean-up which is important to most cooks!  Ali Cafferty, Product Marketing, Cooking and Refrigeration for Thermador, did a little test demo to prove that the star shaped burner puts out more heat and covers more of the bottom of the pans. 

Here's Ali sharing the many features of the Profressional

 Series Range with us.

Ali gave Vicki Edwards two ribbons, one strip of ribbon went around the star shaped burner and the other around a regular round burner, then she had Vicki hold up the two ribbons to show how much more heat is given off from the star shaped burned.  Can you see the difference in the length of the two pieces of ribbon above?  The one on the left went around the star shaped burner.  Of course if seeing isn't believing, just cook on a star burner and see for yourself. 

If you don't want a large range you can always opt for a drop in range top

like this 36" Professional Series.  What I really liked about this arrangement was....

How they had arranged the warming drawer below the cooktop.

In a kitchen with this arrangement, you could also have the double

 ovens with a microwave stacked above on another wall. 

Or you could opt for an arrangement like the above which is a wall oven with a rotisserie oven below. There are so many ways you can arrange a kitchen with these great Thermador appliances.  That's why it is so important to have professional help in planning your dream kitchen.  A professional designer will inventory your chosen methods of cooking and tell you what you need most.  You can also visit the Thermador website and take a survey to direct you.  There is also a kitchen planner you can utilize on the website here for starting your kitchen project as well as a photo gallery of kitchen photos for ideas. You might enjoy watching the Candice Olson videos.  I watched several and I found them informative and quite helpful.  The videos are especially useful for the consumer who is trying to learn as much as possible.  

Here is what the rotisserie oven looks like above.  

I know it may be overkill, but I just had to share my closeup of the oven racks.  The quality is impeccable.  Look at how the wire is wrapped around the edges to create strength.  One tug on these racks and I was convinced of the quality and resilience to wear and tear. 

Did I hear someone ask about Thermador refrigerators? Well, yes they make refrigerators, but not just any ole frig! Be prepared to be wowed!  Take a look inside with Thomas Staebler, Senior Product Manager for Thermador!

This is just one of the many possibilities with the Thermador refrigeration systems. Freedom to choose is what sets Thermador refrigerations systems apart.  Freedom to chose the arrangement that works best for your lifestyle and they way you like to cook, serve and store your food.   Click here to see what is available from the refrigeration line and read more about each product.  The options are many!  You have the freedom to create a side by side like the ones shown above, or to do modular columns and spread them through out the kitchen. This is especially nice if you have a small kitchen and don't want a huge wall of stainless glaring at you.   One of the designers joked that she was sure she heard angels sing when the doors of this refrigerator were opened.  It's pretty impressive in person.  

Once the bottom drawer is pulled out, the ventilation under the  refrigerator is revealed.   This is great for many reasons, but one in particular is that it prevents the entire refrigerator from having to be pulled out for service.  Another nice feature of the design is the ability to change the doors from left or right, without any special tools, the doors simply unlock at the hinges and can then be reversed.  

You don't even need a handy man.

You may notice that Thomas is also demonstrating the wine column, which

has a custom panel to fully integrate with the wood in the kitchen.

Next we made it back to our test kitchen.  It is hard to tell the size of this kitchen by my photograph, but it is big enough for 15 people to cook in side by side and have plenty of room!  In the middle of the island is our bounty of groceries gathered from WholeFoods!!!  Can't wait to share what we made with them!  I'll give you the recipes, so you can cook them at home if you want? (Next post)

The first demonstration in our test kitchen was a plating demonstration by Chef Chris.  He taught us the art of plating so we would have some idea of what to do  for our own plates for the contest.  Remember we were in a contest?

Here are a couple of the professional Chef's suggestions for decorating a plate.  If you want a step by step demo check out this youtube video from Dove Chocolate that shows more detail. Wish I had videoed Chris. He make it look so easy.  The first method involved loading the bowl of a spoon with puree, then making a swirl design or dragging it across the plate to make a dash.  The second method was   artfully drawn by drizzling the glaze on the plate in a pattern.  Can't wait to share the creative plating methods we produced. Definitely designers in the bunch!

 We all had so much fun!  Just ask Traci Zeller of Traci Zeller Designs. Traci joked before we got to the test kitchen and said "she would rather design a kitchen than cook in one" but, you can see here she was all smiles in the Thermador kitchen.  What does that tell you?  Thermador is fun to cook on!   It was a great day!

Additionally, I would let to ask my designer friends(you know who you are!!!)  to please design a Thermador kitchen to enter the Kitchen Design Challenge for a chance to win cash prizes, as well as to sign up for Star Partner(click to learn more designers!!!)  You could win prizes and most importantly you could be a star with your clients because they will give you all the credit when they love their

new Thermador Kitchen!

 In my next post I will share who won the plating

 contest and my favorite Thermador product!

You can connect with Thermador here:

    

About Thermador

Thermador has been providing real innovations for real cooks for more than 75 years. The iconic line of cooking, cleaning, refrigeration and ventilation products remains committed to empowering culinary enthusiasts to be their best through continuous innovation breakthroughs – from the world’s first wall ovens and gas cooktops with the patented Star^® Burner to a speedcooking oven that reduced cooking time by 50 percent.

Thermador is part of BSH Home Appliances Corporation, a fully-owned subsidiary of Bosch and Siemens Home Appliance Group, the third largest appliance manufacturer in the world. For more information, visit www.thermador.com or follow us on Facebook and Twitter at www.facebook.com/thermador and @Thermador, respectively. For Thermador customer service, call 1-800-735-4328.

All photos property of Lisa Mende Design unless otherwise noted.  

Please do not use without giving credit.

Thermador and Traditional Home sponsored my trip but my opinions are my own.