Category Archives: Baking
The Great British Bake Off
Bright Bakers and Beautiful Bakeware…
If you’re not watching BBC2’s latest series of “The Great British Bake Off” and you’re someone who enjoys a bit of time in the kitchen, then you’re missing out.
Not only is it a feast for the taste buds, but also a feast for the eyes. When we’re not drooling over Rob’s Genoise sponge cake, we’re busy admiring the snazzy cookware all these amateur bakers get to play with.
From a rainbow of the iconic KitchenAid Artisan Mixers and some seriously professional looking knives (Henckels?) to a myriad of beautiful cup cake stands, cake holders and perfect pristine bakeware (Raymond Blanc); these amateur bakers must feel like kids in a candy store.
Next week we’re promised an episode devoted to the art of bread making. A scary challenge awaits the contestants as judge, Paul Hollywood, has held the post of Head Baker at various prestigious hotels, including The Dorchester Hotel, the Chester Grosvenor Hotel and the Cliveden Hotel in Berkshire. He is one television expert who knows his stuff and isn’t afraid to deliver bluntly accurate assessments to the contestants.
You can catch the show on BBC2 on Tuesdays at 8pm or on BBC iplayer.
Christmas Gifts and Offers
If your short of ideas for Christmas, or if you need a helping hand preparing the dinner, check out our Christmas Gifts and Offers page for suggestions. On the cooking side, we’ve got great deals on Le Cresuet, pan sets, roasting pans, kitchen knives and bakeware, including the Nordic Ware Holiday Tree Bundt Pan, made famous by Nigella Lawson last year. There are big discounts on Maxwell & Williams and Denby tableware sets, which make excellent gifts. Of course, we shouldn’t forget the drinks – you’ll find some novel products in the Bar Originale range.
Head over to our sister website Coffee, Tea and Toast for some offers on the latest Nespresso, Gaggia and Jura coffee machines, which will bring a new level of sophistication to your home! The Nespresso machines are currently backed by a TV ad campaign starring George Clooney, though we must point out that he is not included with the special offer available on all Nespresso machines bought this Christmas and New Year!
As an extra special Christmas treat for all customers, we’re including a box of Campbells Shortbread with every order! That’s a FREE 150g tin of Gold Collection Shortbread with every order. Campbells bake their delicious shortbread in our home town of Callander, and is Scotland’s oldest bakery, established in 1830.
The Student Kitchen – Do’s and Don’ts
1. DO – Learn to cook, even if it is just the basics like lasagne, casseroles, and soups. You will save masses of cash and be healthier for it.
DON’T – Attempt to survive on a diet of pizza, chips, Indian, Chinese and kebabs. It is not good for your wallet or your well being.
Recommendations – Get a recipe book, or have a look at our Pots and Pans Recipes page.
2. DO – Buy at least a couple of decent saucepans. They last longer and are easier to cook with than budget pans – try cooking and then cleaning rice off a cheap saucepan and you will understand this entirely. Stainless steel pans are great, as even if people use metal utensils on them (which they will), your pans will survive.
DON’T – allow a flatmate to use saucepans as a drum kit. It may not hurt your pans, but it never sounds as good as he thinks it does.
Recommendations – See our Stellar 1000 and Judge Vista pages for great value pan sets.
3. DO – Buy at least one decent quality sharp knife. A blunt knife will slip and you are far more likely to cut yourself. Unless your house is organised, it will then take you twenty minutes to find a bandage. When purchasing your knife, please don’t be offended if the staff request to see ID. You must be 18 to purchase a knife, and many stores operate a think 21 policy.
DON’T – Allow any of your flatmates to use your knives for the following; to have an impromptu swordfight, open a tin of any kind, open a coconut.
Recommendations – We have a good range of James Martin Knives, and some novel designs from Voodoo Knives.
4. DO – Buy a wok. It is an extremely versatile piece of cookware, and will allow you to not only cook stir fries (which are economic and healthy), but is also good for frying, steaming and making sauces.
DON’T – leave your wok in the garden to be cleaned by the rain, as this will cause it to rust.
Recommendations – See our Ken Hom Woks, designed with input from the master of oriental cooking.
5. DO – Buy more than one piece of cutlery and tableware. Within ten minutes of being in your flat, you will have ‘lost’ something. Do buy knives, as well as forks and spoons, as you will host more impromptu dinner parties than you realise.
DON’T – buy cheap, thin cutlery, you will bend all of your spoons on your first tub of Ben and Jerry’s.
Recommendations – We have great offers on Monogram Cutlery and Stellar Cutlery sets.
6. DO – Learn to bake. There is no better way to make friends with you neighbours than with muffins and bread. This will serve you well when your house parties run late.
DON’T – allow your flatmates to combine every unwanted foodstuff in your kitchen, to make a ‘cake mix’. The results are not pretty and definitely not edible.
Recommendations – Raymond Blanc Bakeware and Master Class Bakeware are our best selling ranges of baking equipment.
AND FINALLY – do wash all your kitchen ware thoroughly after each use, it will last you far longer, and you won’t have to buy it all again the next year. Remember, it’s food you’re trying to create, not new life forms!
Based loosely on the life of a St Andrews graduate
New Nordic Ware Cake Pans now in stock.
We have added several new items to the range of Nordic Ware cake pans that we sell on our online cookware shop. We have added several new cake pans, or to call them by their proper name Bundt pans, to the range of Nordic Ware products that we stock. The new designs include a Mini Butterfly Cake Pan, a Caterpillar Cakelette Pan, a Giant Cupcake Pan, the Backyard Bug Pan and the Gift Cakelette Pan.
Bundt pans are used to in order to give cakes or muffins a distinctive shape when you bake them. The new designs from Nordic Ware will certainly help you give your cakes or muffins a unique shape. Perhaps the most unusual of the new designs is the Backyard Bug Pan which can be used to make bug shaped muffins. The pan includes various bug shapes including bees, butterflies, ladybirds and dragon flies.
The Caterpillar Cakelette Pan is another cake pan that features a highly distinctive design. This cake pan allows you to make eight cakelettes which when placed together are in the shape of a large caterpillar. This fun design is ideal for children’s parties.
Another of the new designs, the Gift Cakelette Pan allows you to bake 6 mini cakes which are each in the shape of a gift or a present. The intricate detail which the cake pan enables you to achieve has to be seen to be believed. Each Gift Cake features a ribbon on the top of the gift to complete the design.
Nordic Ware started to manufacture Bundt Pans in 1946. The founder of Nordic Ware H. David Dalquist trademarked the term Bundt Pan in 1950, the trademark is still owned by Nordic Ware. Even though they have produced over 50 million cake pans it is still a family owned business.
The term Bundt originates from the German word bund which means ‘a gathering’. Bundt cakes were originally made for eating at gatherings or parties.
Nordic Ware produces several cake pans that are ideal for people who are looking to bake Christmas themed cakes. They produce one cake pan that bakes a cake in the shape of a Christmas tree, this makes the perfect centrepiece on a table set for a Christmas meal.
Special Offers and Gift Ideas
‘Christmas is getting earlier every year!’ At times it certainly does feel that Christmas is actually getting earlier every year. Although there are still just over four weeks to go until Christmas at Pots and Pans we have been busy preparing for it for a considerable period of time. The weeks leading up to Christmas are usually among our busiest.
Looking at people’s shopping habits it would appear that most people prefer to avoid doing their Christmas shopping at the last moment. The busiest weeks in the run up to Christmas are traditionally the last week of November and the first week of December. This would suggest that the majority of people don’t leave their Christmas shopping until the last moment. There will always be some people who sadly do leave their Christmas gift buying right up to the very last moment possible. We expect to receive some phone calls on Christmas Eve wondering if they buy something on the website will able to deliver it gift wrapped before Christmas.
We have worked hard to make sure that we offer the right special offers over this period. We have also decided to make it easier for you to find the ideal present by adding a page full of Great Gift Ideas to our website.
The Cole & Mason King Pepper Baseball Bat is currently one of our best selling items. It would appear from the feedback that we have been receiving from our customers that a lot of people are going to be getting one of these as a Christmas present this year. Alessi and Dunoon mugs are a present that we are expecting to see a lot of people receive on Christmas Day. Although popular throughout the year we have seen a significant increase in the number of orders received recently for anything by Alessi and Dunoon mugs. If the increase in sales of Miniamo is anything to go by we are expecting to see a lot a lot of children receive this for their Christmas. Miniamo has been designed to encourage children to learn cooking and baking.
Another trend that we expect to see this year is a rise in home baking over the festive period. Sales of Nordic Ware cake pans are going through the roof. Their Snowman Bundt Cake Pan and the Holiday Tree Bundt Cake Pan in particular are proving to be very popular.
There are some trends that we see every year and this year has not been any different. The Le Creuset Cast Iron range is still very popular as a Christmas gift. Knife Sets and in particular those from Global Knives and Henckels are proving to be very popular again.
We have done our best to make it as easy as possible you to find the right present at the right price. On the website we are currently selling Global Knife Sets for 50% off their recommended retail price, we have even discounted some Henckels Knife Sets by up to 58% of their recommended retail price. We hope that our efforts will help make it easier for you to find the right Christmas present for your loved ones.
If you have any ideas about what makes a great gift or want to tell us what you would like for Christmas this year feel free to email us and let us know.
