Celiac disease is not a fad. More commonly known as a gluten allergy, Celiac disease is activated when an ingested protein called gluten, found in all wheats, ryes, and barleys, attaches to the digestive tract and triggers a platoon of white blood cells to assault the intestinal lining. Celiac disease is a very real, objectively unsexy autoimmune disorder in which a person’s intestines inflame, causing symptoms such as fatigue, constipation, and frequent, unscheduled diarrhea. I cannot stress this enough—Celiac disease is not a fad. The only way to treat this unfortunate disorder is to avoid gluten in your diet altogether. No pasta or pizza or fried chicken. No cookies. No monosaccharides or polysaccharides. None of those delicious wheat carbohydrates that fuel and energize your body. None.

Cooking can be a real pain when you have rheumatoid arthritis, no pun intended. And it makes eating healthy even harder than it already is. You know you should bypass that take-out you’re thinking of picking up but the very thought of going home and chopping all those fruits and vegetables for a nutritious meal makes you cringe. It’s time to stop fighting and start considering some adaptive kitchen aids. Maintain your independence with these helpful tips and specialty cutlery items.

Earth Day is fast approaching. This coming Monday, April 22nd, volunteer groups and organizations around the world will come together to help do their part in keeping our environment clean and spreading the word about environmental awareness. But you don’t have to be a charity organization to take part in the day’s observances. There are plenty of ways for restaurants and other small businesses to get involved in reducing their carbon footprint. Here are a few suggestions.

Most chefs who cook a lot of meat (especially fish) will likely already be familiar with fillet and boning knives, but those who do not spend their days carefully preparing fine cuts of meat may not have much exposure to this type of blade. These smaller kitchen knives are used to debone and break down fish, poultry, and other cuts of meat, and they feature a variety of distinctive qualities that make them perfect for the job. Although boning and filet knives are often used interchangeably, there are some important differences between the two.

The busiest holiday in the restaurant industry is fast approaching. Usually Mother’s Day consists of pandemonium behind the kitchen with cooks and servers scrambling to get food out to an enormous crowd of hungry people in a reasonable amount of time while still maintaining great service, proper etiquette…..and their composure. One that works in a foodservice establishment might even go as far as to say that this day of the year is torture.

Summer is fast approaching and those of you in the food service business know what that means; ice, ice, baby! It’s time for cold drinks, chilled food and snow cones. So it’s safe to say that many of you will be looking to invest in an ice machine relatively soon. But different uses of ice calls for different types of ice, and the ice manufacturing industry has come a long way from the original cube that was the standard shape so many years ago. When buying an ice machine one of the most important things is determining what kind of ice is best suited for your business or establishment’s demands. Here’s the low down on the different types of ice available today:

Any professional or home chef can attest to the importance of a sturdy, dependable chef’s knife. Also known as a French knife or a cook’s knife, the chef’s knife is one of the most common cutting tools used in food preparation, particularly in Western kitchens. A good chef’s knife can be used to cut meat, slice vegetables, and chop herbs, among a variety of other uses. But with this versatility comes the inevitable confusion of choosing which knife to buy when shopping through all of the options and variations that the industry has to offer, especially if this is your first big knife investment. But don’t let that scare you away to a land of low-quality “budget” knives. Arming yourself with a bit of knowledge about exactly what a chef’s knife is and how it is used is a quick and easy way to narrow the search.

If you’re shopping for a new ice maker, you’ll be glad you came here first. We have about seven different deals running right now, all on Ice-O-Matic Machines, all intended to save you money. And every deal is stackable and usable simultaneously, so you’ll be saving a lot of money.

Frieling USA, Inc . is a leading manufacturer for a variety of condiment products to gourmet store and retail products. They are located out of Charlotte, NC and because they pride themselves with being a company that does things “differently” they have coined the expression “The Frieling Feeling” to signify their unique presence within the restaurant equipment industry.

Cleavers are rugged, rectangular-bladed knives that are most commonly used for quickly chopping through bone in large cuts of meat. Although the term “meat cleaver” has come to be used almost universally in reference to the knife, they are also used for quickly chopping up large fruits and vegetables (such as squash or various melons) that would otherwise be unwieldy with regular kitchen knives. The broad side of the knife also makes it ideal for crushing ingredients like garlic or ginger during food preparation, and the blunt, flat edge on the back of the blade can sometimes be used to tenderize meats in the absence of a traditional meat tenderizer. But despite some of its more versatile uses, the cleaver is designed to do one thing better than any other hand tool: break large, difficult pieces of food into smaller, more manageable pieces of food.

Variety is the spice of life and this statement’s meaning is no truer than in the place of it’s origin, the kitchen. If you don’t know much about seasoning it can be easy to get bored with the food that your cooking at home, but you don’t have to go out to restaurants to get those flavorful aromatic dishes that you crave so much. The best way to spice up your relationship with your food is to add a few extra ingredients to your pantry.

American Range has a wonderful “how we got started” story!   During World War II Mourad Demirjian , a plumber in his early 20’s, living on a frozen part of the planet with his wife and children in a time when resources were scarce, decided to keep his family warm.  He used diesel fuel and his knowledge of plumbing to work out a constant-drip system of fueling a small heater.   As he saw this was working, he developed flues to release the fumes, and finally learned how to direct air circulation to warm his entire house.  When neighbors visited, they were impressed and wanted this same luxury, so a new career, building space heaters, was born.  He added windows so his customers could watch the flame and a flattop for warming food.   In the 1960’s, his family immigrated to the US, and used his technology to branch into making cooking equipment.   By the early 1970’s, American Range existed, and his son is running the company today.  Those basic concepts of steady heat, even air circulation, proper ventilation and cooking space are still blatantly in practice in American Range’s line of convection ovens.

Adding a restaurant range to your home kitchen seems appealing at first. They’re more durable and powerful than residential-style stoves, and they’re stripped of all those nonessential, expensive add-ons. But before you rush headlong into buying a commercial-grade appliance for your house, it’s important that you consider their drawbacks and limitations.

Oyster Roasts have become one of the biggest low country traditions along the southern coast line. Where as in many other areas oysters are consumed raw or on the half shell, indoors, people in Charelston and the surrounding region gather outside to shuck these little roasted mollusks, drink beer and have a good time until they are spent. If you’ve been invited to one of these festive gatherings your in for a treat, but to someone who’s never attended an event like this the do’s and dont’s of such an eccentric tradition can seem a bit overwhelming. Here’s a little bit of info and a few tips to help any newcomer be prepared for their first shucking experience.

We know why we use Pan Liners in our homes, but we’ve only recently started to extrapolate that, if pan liners are a good idea for small applications, they’re an even better idea for larger applications, such as restaurants.  All the conveniences we love about them at home carry over, in a large and money-saving way, to our restaurant.

When opening and stocking a restaurant, one of your initial investments will have to be in flatware.  High quality flatware is well-worth the cost upfront, because it’s going to be used constantly and you aren’t going to want to be replacing it frequently.  With that idea in mind, we’ve put together a list of practical tips to extend the life of your commercial flatware.

Since the advent of social media, everyone has been tweeting, facebooking, linking in, etc. The restaurant industry is no exception. Foodies across the nation have been flocking to different social media outlets in order to get a taste of what their favorite restaurants are doing now. It takes a certain amount of creativity to market your restaurant for a higher customer following.

It’s snowing here today, but before we know what hit us, (Ok, it was a snow ball…) summer will be here, and we’ll want to be outside for different reasons.  This brings me to the greatest development since campfires, the outdoor kitchen, which combines two  popular gathering spots, the kitchen and the back yard, in a way that enhances both.

If you are looking to fry a lot of food for a big crowd, chances are you might want to try a Cajun fryer. If you’re not sure what a Cajun fryer is or if it’s even worth your time to buy, then allow me to explain in further detail.

Most of you probably only know this day as February 3rd—the day after Groundhog’s Day— but for all the foodies in the restaurant realm, this day is known as National Carrot Cake Day. This unofficial food holiday comes around annually and is a time when chef’s experiment with a variety of ways to use carrot cake in their recipes. The question is where did this holiday get started?

I don’t think I need to tell you that Valentine’s Day is a busy time for restaurant owners. It’s a hectic day and if you aren’t prepared, your restaurant could end up embarrassing itself — no one wants that. So before the big day rolls around, there are a few questions you need to ask yourself.

The Prodigy ice machines from Scotsman are the smartest ice machines on the planet, and here’s why:

1 Cost Saving Efficiency:  Prodigy cubers use significantly less energy and water than traditional ice machines, making them among the first cubers to exceed both the 2008 California Energy Commission and 2010 Federal energy efficiency regulations by up to 22%.  That’s up to 28% more than their nearest competitor.

Wooden utensils are standard kitchen fare, so caring for them properly is a topic that’s going to naturally arise.   I never expected it to be controversial, but in some ways, it is.  Here are some pointers about caring for them.

Panini Sandwiches are all the rage & it seems like everyone has them on the menu now… shouldn’t you?

A Bundt® cake is great for almost any occasion whether it be a holiday, wedding, or just a complementary dessert to go with your favorite meal. For years Nordic Ware, a leader in residential kitchen equipment, has been making great Bundt® pans in all shapes and sizes.

Brian has always had a sense of taste when it comes to the quality of slow cooked barbecue. A traditional family recipe that has been passed down from generation to generation turned a lucrative profit for him and his family four years ago. It was at that time Brian decided to take his family recipe and start what is now known as BareBonz BBQ. Since this time, his establishment has garnered more than 80 BBQ awards around the state of South Carolina including the Laurens Squealin’ on the Square grand champion award and the Gerald Ledbetter Award for Barbecue at the South Carolina Festival of Discovery.

Selling popcorn in your store or concession stand is a great way to bring in profits with very low investment spent on materials and operating costs. The familiarity and convenience of popcorn makes it a universally appealing, easy to eat snack that almost anyone can enjoy. But sometimes even the most tried and true routines can stand for a bit of innovation.

It’s an ugly topic, but if we want beautiful dining experiences, we have to address it.  A common cause of food borne illness is cross-contamination, which requires effort to combat.   Cross-contamination is the spreading of pathogens from one surface to another, whether from foods, containers, hands, or the very air breathed by a sick employee.  We’re at war with cross-contamination, and confront it on every side.  Unfortunately, our enemy is everything within and about your restaurant environment.

We’ve just updated our learning center with a guide on choosing glassware for your bar or restaurant. If you’ve ever wondered what assortment of glassware you might need for the sorts of drinks that you want to serve at your new bar, or if you need to reconsider your glassware stock to better match the changing preferences of your existing customer base, this detailed guide will help you make the decision without over purchasing.

Of all of the advancements in modern cooking over the years, the ever-increasing accessibility of various herbs and spices has been one of the most influential changes. Although importing spices was a very expensive endeavor in the past, modern transportation, shipping, and preservation methods have removed the barriers that once limited cultures to the indigenous flavors of the surrounding geography. Most modern chefs use a wide variety of spices in their everyday cooking, and many keep their spice cabinets well-stocked with various ingredients from all across the globe. Most of these spice cabinets, however, are filled primarily with dried and ground spices rather than the “real thing,” which causes some curious culinarians to wonder: what are the benefits of fresh spices versus dried spices.

This is my first blog of the new year, so for that reason alone I felt the need to post a blog that might help everyone with their New Year’s Resolution. Since so many of us have losing weight at the top of our list of New Year’s Resolutions, I felt the need to share with you all a recipe on turkey spinach burgers. The initial thought of biting into a turkey and spinach burger may sound unappealing but mixed into patties and seasoned with garlic salt makes these burgers a delectable meal.

When shopping for a blender for your home kitchen, it is often tempting to simply run out and choose from the selection at your local department store. While most inexpensive home blenders will likely get the job done under most circumstances, those who use their blender on a regular basis – or for more intensive jobs like chopping hard vegetables or making smoothies – may want to consider upgrading to a more heavy-duty model.

We don't mean to worry you or anything, but your kitchen is trying to kill you. That's right. Every year millions of people are sent to the emergency room due to kitchen accidents. Here's an infographic to better explain.