Dress for Success - A+ Aprons
Wednesday, February 27th, 2008
Lisa Achatz from Atlanta tells Penelope, “My pies always seem to come out better when I wear an apron when I bake. Is this weird?”
Not at all. The right outfit is supposed to help you get the job done. You wouldn’t get on a horse wearing a tutu any more than you would attempt dancing the ballet Giselle in riding boots. Wearing an apron lets you easily dust your hands of flour without rendering your leggings unusable for work. Aprons help avoid constant reaches for a kitchen cloth, and can even improve your concentration by helping you to feel all pulled together at the waist by being tied with a bow (assuming you have any sense of style).Penelope’s favorite aprons are the Jesse Steele French Hostess apron, the Jesse Steele Mom And Me Heart Aprons, and the Rosebud Patterned apron. Find them at Sur La Table when you search ‘aprons,’ and look no further for a more stylish way to bake a better pie.
It’s a far, far better thing you do when you pull off the basics really well, than attempting some complicated fiasco that you will never, ever do again. For those who, like Penelope, tend to over-think things, here are a few pieces of equipment that will help you keep it simple. 
Great break-up lines in Valentine’s Day history:
You can save a lot of time, trouble and extra trips to the store by reading a recipe all the way through before you start making it. Actually, before you even shop for it. There’s a name for doing this. It’s called “Mise en Place,” literally “putting in place.” It means not only having all the ingredients measured out before you start, but having a real sense of the flow of the entire recipe. Had Penelope’s pal Ellen read the whole recipe for the Chicken Pot Pie before blithely engaging her once feathered friend in mortal combat (and for a good while the chicken was winning), she would have bought packaged chicken parts that were boned, skinned and ready to go. Instead, she spent a precious hour (when she could have been practicing archery) dismantling the chicken, which added nothing to the success of the pie. Although it did improve her surgical skills, in case one of her producer friends needed her to fill in on Grey’s Anatomy. Still.
Jason Freundlich of Cincinnatti told Penelope, “My girlfriend is a little, um, finicky about, well everything, but especially what kind of measuring stuff she uses when she bakes. I don’t want to bring this into session, because it’s costing enough already, but does it really matter whether you use a glass or a metal measuring cup?”
We never think that milk or butter or eggs will last forever, but for some reason we look at a tin of allspice like it’s the portrait of Dorian Gray, and will never age. So here’s how to gauge the life of your dried spices. Give the old ones a whiff. If they don’t mesmerize your senses, out with them! Also, keep them away from the heat because it destroys the volatile oils that give each spice its distinctive flavor. Don’t store them in a sunlit place either. Find a dark, low-humidity cabinet or drawer. Because spices are getting really expensive (let’s not even talk about saffron threads), don’t buy any more of one than you can use in six to nine months, even if you’re shopping at Costco. And finally, if you really want your pies to sing, get a spice grinder and use whole spices. Like the facsimile Mister Gray, they can keep going for years.
Same as with your boss when you ask for a raise, a lemon will release its juice a lot more easily if it’s been warmed up a little first. Pop it into the microwave for a couple of seconds before squeezing it. If your supervisor is too tall to fit in the microwave in the break room, try heating up the atmosphere with some good old fashioned flattery. 
