Tools of the Bachelor

There are 4 things that are essential to a bachelor's culinary survival:

1. Bulk Store Membership
2. Vacuum Sealer
3. Crock Pot
4. Grill

The bulk stores not only have good deals on many things, but they usually have a great meat selection.  Their average, every day, price is usually as good or better than any sale a grocery store will have and with good quality.  Of course this means you will have to buy a 10lb pork tenderloin, which leads us to..

The vacuum sealer.  There are a few varations of this device.  You can buy the hand held vacuum device with the specialty bags or the small appliance version with rolls of bag material that you seal yourself.  The hand held version is usually a much lower cost of entry.  The Ziploc version is only $5.  The downside of this is that the bags are of a certain size, usually 1 quart or 1 gallon.  You will rarely need more than 1 gallon, but you will frequently be happy with much less than 1 quart.  The other downside of these is that they do not suck out as much air as the appliance version, meaning that the food will not last as long in the freezer.  I've also had seals give out on these.  The small appliance version will be much more expensive, $70-150.  Of course the quality of these appliances is much higher.  My first FoodSaver lasted me 10 years before the seals on the device started to fail.  The bags also come in 1 quart or 1 gallon size for roughly the same price as the appliance bags, but they also come in rolls, where you can cute the size you need.  The seal and the vacuum in these bags is also much better.  I've compared fish that was sealed and frozen 1 year ago, with fresh caught fish and people could not tell the difference.

The crock pot is a great way to prepare weekend meals during the week.  You can make everything from chicken and dumplings to osso bucco and have it ready and waiting for you when you get home from work.  Not only that, but your place will smell amazing when you arrive.

The last and certainly not least tool is the grill.  Every man should know how to cook on the grill, whether it's burgers, roasts, or pulled pork.  There are two types of grill, charcoal and gas.  The gas grill will be faster, cleaner, and easier to use.  The charcoal grill will require some experimentation, but will create better tasting food.  In this case, price is an unrelated characteristic.  A decent charcoal grill will cost about $100 or less.  A gas grill will start around $150 and go up from there.  They both require fuel, charcoal, LP, propane, or natural gas, so that is not really a factor.  It comes down to the type of cook you are.  Charcoal is more difficult, between temperature regulation and adding more fuel to cook longer, but adds more flavor.  Gas is easier, the temperature can be easily regulated and so long as the tank isn't empty, the grill will keep the same temperature forever.  The downside is that cooking on a gas grill tastes no different than cooking in a gas oven.  To overcome this, you can add woodchips to the grill to add a smokey flavor while cooking.  Personally, I have a small gas camping grill for when I want to cook a single burger or steak and a charcoal grill for anything bigger or longer than that.

Introduction to Bachelor Cooking

When I looked around at books and blogs marketed toward the bachelor, I noticed two common things.  First, they assumed the bachelor had no idea how to cook.  Second, all of the recipes were designed for 2-4 servings. As a single guy, I don't need a recipe for 4 servings of fish.  I won't eat it all and it makes horrible leftovers.  I found a video blog with a porn star describing how to boil an egg.  This is not that kind of blog, partly because I don't know any porn stars, and partly because I'd like to talk about more advanced things.  Honestly, it's because I don't know any porn stars though, the second reason just sounds better.

I'm going to divide this up into various categories:

• Weeknight quickies
• Leftover friendly dishes
• Date night
• The Grill

Weeknight quickies are going to be recipes and strategies for making a 1, 1.5, or 2 serving meal.  Of course you're wondering what a 1.5 serving meal is?  Those recipes are designed to be dinner one night and lunch the next day.  It won't be enough food for a second dinner, but it will make your office-mates jealous.  

Leftover friendly dishes are exactly that, recipes that can be reheated over the course of the week.  These will include stews, caseroles, pasta dishes, and the quintessential guy food, Chili.

Date night recipes are for you and your special lady friend.  Not only will you learn how to make great meals, but you'll learn how to show off with certain techniques and terminology.  Start talking about how you have to saute your mirepoix, or how dinner will be ready as soon as your bordelaise sauce is done, and see how impressed she is.

The Grill.  Man cooking meat over fire is older than civilization.  There are many ways of cooking on a grill.  There is direct and indirect heat and then there is BBQ.  BBQ is the apotheosis of grilling.  You take a tough, fatty, and chewy piece of meat and turn it into a fork tender, aromatic masterpiece.  Good BBQ involves things like, "We can figure out breakfast right after I get dinner started."