What’s in My Kitchen: Cookbook Author Paula Disbrowe
The Austin-based Cowgirl chef and cookbook author shares the seven things in her kitchen she can't live without
Johnny Autry
Paula Disbrowe is a one-woman walking, cooking, and writing encyclopedia of shoot-from-the-hip deliciousness. In addition to having worked as magazine editor, travel writer, and “cowgirl chef” at a ranch in Texas Hill Country, she’s the author of five cookbooks, the most recent of which is the barbecue and smoke-centric Thank You For Smoking: Fun and Fearless Recipes Cooked With a Whiff of Wood on Your Grill or Smoker.
I must have been a peasant in another life—I’m a rustic cook at heart, and rarely rely on fancy ingredients or gadgets. Most meals begin with garlic, lemons, chiles, and fresh bay leaves from the backyard tree, and finish on my PK Grill or in a cast iron skillet. But, I do have a few favorite tools and ingredients that up my grill game and elevate everything from breakfast to backyard barbecues.
Two Kinds of Mustard
I always have a big jar of Dijon (usually Edmond Fallot) and a bottle of Zatarain’s Creole Mustard in the fridge for brightening vinaigrettes, tuna and chicken salad, turkey sandwiches, and more.
Even More Hot Sauce
Confession: A small bottle is usually in my purse as well. We always have a bottle (or three) of a Louisiana-style, vinegar-based hot sauce on hand to shake onto breakfast tacos, smoked ribs, potato salad…just about anything. These sauces also serve as a “secret ingredient” that perks up mayonnaise-based salads and creamy dressings. My favorites are smoky Cholula (made from red and piquin peppers) and Crystal.
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Wild Madagascar Pepper
I don’t typically call for exotic ingredients in my recipes, but these wild Madagascar peppercorns (I usually buy Akesson’s) are wildly aromatic with woodsy and citrus flavors. Even grinding them over a hard-cooked egg is transformative.
A Pink Thermapen
I tend to wing it and use the touch test when I’m grilling steaks and chicken breasts, but an instant read thermometer is essential for grill-roasting whole chickens, ducks, and turkeys, smoking pork butts, and other larger cuts like leg of lamb. Bonus: It matches my lipstick.
Two Kinds of Juicer
Guacamole and margaritas are on high rotation in our house. I have a smaller juicer for key limes and a larger one for regular varieties.
Norwegian Cheese Slicer
I can’t imagine how I sliced cheeses like Comte, Gruyere, and aged Gouda before getting my hands on a Norwegian cheese plane. It slices hard cheeses into delicate shavings that allow you to appreciate distinct flavors and textures, and which meld perfectly with bread and butter.
Victorinox Bread Knife
I’m married to a bread baker who takes slicing loaves very seriously. This Swiss, wood-handled knife is light and balanced in your hand, with a blade that easily slices through crackly crusts of miche, levain, and rye.
