The joys of cooking with gadgetry

How do New York Times journalists use technology in their jobs and in their personal lives? Emily Weinstein, The Times’ deputy food editor, discussed the tech she’s using.

As a food editor, you must come across many kitchen gadgets. What’s your favourite tool for cooking?

I’m not much of an equipment geek — the gadget I tend to use most is my humble, small, cheap digital scale. I love to bake, and using the scale is the fastest, most accurate and most convenient way to measure ingredients, not to mention the neatest: no puffs of flour settling all over the counter as you dig around in a container or level off a measuring cup.

We keep our scale accessible in the cabinet because we use it every morning, after one of the writers I work with persuaded me that the best way to consistently brew excellent coffee at home was to weigh the grounds, since you have to measure them one way or another. And he was right.


What could be better about the digital scale?

The reaction time could be a little better. One of the most satisfying aspects of using a scale is that you can see the numbers tick up as you add ingredients. Mine has the tiniest lag between the addition and the number as it registers on the scale.


You’ve edited a lot of recipes for The Times and adapted some, too. What is one of your favourite recipes you made recently and which tool was crucial for perfecting it?

There isn’t really one single tool that helps me think about or execute a recipe, at least not as an editor — and that’s what I’m usually doing, cooking a recipe that I’m editing. Generally speaking, anything that helps you be more accurate as you work through a recipe — like an instant-read digital thermometer — is worth having.


You also regularly work with testers who thoroughly assess a recipe before it goes to print. Do they use a special kitchen or special tools for testing?

We rely on our writers and a small but fierce team of freelance recipe testers, all working in their own kitchens. I would be thrilled to have a test kitchen, but the upside of the way we do things lies in the very fact that our writers and testers don’t have special equipment, and certainly not the kind of equipment you find in a restaurant kitchen. These are recipes for home cooks, made using the same tools home cooks have.


What tech product are you currently obsessed with?

My husband bought a Sonos speaker for our kitchen. I wouldn’t have thought to buy it; when it arrived I wondered aloud whether we needed it. Now I love it.


What do you and your family do with it?

I mostly listen to podcasts while I cook, which on the weekends could be for hours on end.


What could be better about it?

I wish the podcast experience were more seamless. Maybe I’m missing something, but I have yet to find a way to play podcasts from my iPhone using the Sonos that does not involve downloading the podcasts.