Kitchen Dial; One of My Favorite iPhone Apps

I spend a lot of time reading recipes online, and often, when I am visiting European websites, recipes are in metric units, in need of US conversion. Let's face it, two facts make metric recipes difficult for me; school was a long time ago, and metric units never took hold in the US.

While browsing the iTunes App Store, I found this handy, and free conversion app called Kitchen Dial.  It has simple dial controls, and works wonderfully. I use this app all the time, and thought it may be useful to my readers.

With a little practice, I figured out how this app can even be used to scale recipes, if you with to make larger (or smaller) quantities of a dish.

Get the Kitchen Dial app here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/kitchen-dial/id448558628?mt=8

The Kitchen Dial app on my iPhone.

Easy to use interface.

Explanation of the easy to use "dial controls."

15 Ingredients Every Kitchen Should Have At All Times

Browsing the internet this morning, I stumbled upon this list from Rick Bakas' website, "Back to Bakas; A Sommelier Guide to Wine & Food."  I stock these items in my kitchen, and think he has distilled essential ingredients (for cooking well) into a tidy list.

15 Ingredients Every Kitchen Should Have At All Times

Source: http://rickbakas.com/

The following list represents some of the most common ingredients found in American, French and Italian recipes. I recommend having these on hand at all times. Cheeses and proteins are best when they’re fresh, so you can usually pick up meet, chicken, lamb or fish the day you plan on eating them. When going shopping, here’s a list of things to make sure to be stocked up on:

• fresh herbs – rosemary, thyme, basil, etc..
• fresh garlic cloves
• shallots
• onion
• dijon mustard
• butter
• extra virgin olive oil
• balsamic vinegar
• vinegar (white wine or red wine)
• stock or broth (beef, chicken, vegetable, etc..)
• cornstarch
• tomatoes
• lemon
• sea salt and pepper corn