You really do get what you pay for.

As, I sit here while my mustard slowly cooks down to it's final consistency on the double boiler I have decided that a post on equipment selection and purchasing is far more important than just explaining how I made the mustard. (I'll get back to the mustard later)
One of my coworkers always says Cheap, Good, and Quick, you only get to pick 2 of them. This is a good rule of thumb for many things in life. I love my kitchen tools and the point of a tool is that it actually works. Any purchase I make usually entails copious amounts of research on functionality, user reviews, features, brand reputation (if applicable), and price comparison. (Let's face it, who doesn't want to get a good deal)

My double boiler pot is one of the few kitchen items that I did not research at all and I hate it. I bought it in December to make mustard to go with my homemade bratwursts. The water boils out of the bottom pot so fast it is ridiculous. When reducing the liquid volume of my mustard it usually requires 2 or 3 refills to the bottom pot with microwaved cups of water to keep it from boiling dry. Suffice it to say that it'll likely be replaced in the next year.

As part of this blog, I will try to include some product reviews and opinions and links to products I like. The first link I have added is Weber Grills. They are the BEST, a man's . . um . . I mean, woman's grill. Their products are quality, innovative and their customer service is hands down first class. I love my Weber gas grill so much that if you read this blog over the summer, you will think that Weber sponsors it.

OK, I better stop about the grill, b/c I could seriously go on forever about it. Some great places to find reviews are the customer review pages on Amazon.com and the equipment reviews section of Cook's Illustrated. Unfortunately the latter is a pay for access site, but at $30 a year, it's a great deal. They have recipes and cooking videos on the site as well. Sometimes epinions.com has useful consumer reviews as well.

For price comparison sites, I recommend mysimon.com, although they don't have as much kitchen stuff as they do electronics.

So today's lesson I impart to you is do your homework and decide which 2 of the Quick, Cheap, and Good rule suit your needs. Now, I need to go clean out my sock drawer while my cheap, but not good OR quick double boiler plods away at that mustard.