I discovered something in Momofuku Milk Bar that I thought was pretty surprising. Pastry chef Christina Tosi does not scour New York shops for obscure artisan-made ingredients, nor does she order from a secret top chef catalog. Nope, she shops on Amazon and recommends that we do the same.
Obscure ingredients are, understandably, hard to find. Grocery stores don't typically have buckets of glucose or packages of crunchy feuilletine on their shelves. You could spend all day running around town looking for these things.
That's why Christina Tosi says to skip the fuss and head straight to the internet. Amazon is a one-stop-shop for all these ingredients.
The only downside is the shipping cost. Many of these items are sold through Amazon but shipped by a third-party, which means paying for shipping on each individual item. My recommendation is to gather a few friends, make a big order, and split the cost.
Here are just a few of the ingredients I've found through Amazon:
• Cacao Barry Pailletes Feuilletine, $54 for a 5.5 lb bag
• Caullet Glucose Syrup, $11 for a 2.2 lb bucket
• Valrhona Cocoa Powder, $13 for 1 lb
• Just Tomato's Just Corn (Freeze-Dried Corn), $24 for three 8-ounce packages
• Get the Book! Momofuku Milk Bar by Christina Tosi, $18 on Amazon
Related: ChefShop: An Online Source for Specialty Foods
(Images: Amazon)
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I hope it's not all 2-years expired like that cacao!
Amazon is also a good resource for those with dietary restrictions. They list the ingredients of most food items, so it is easy to tell if you can eat it. And the tagging system makes it even easier as a lot of people have already done a good portion of the looking for you.
I always use amazon for buying things. Especially if I see it on another, more marked up site, I'll search amazon and usually find it for half the price. Not just baking or cooking supplies either- pretty much anything you can think of, guarantee you can find it cheaper through amazon.
Wait wait but what about the health of local businesses?
If you don't want to run around town for an obscure ingredient, CALL first! They may actually have it in stock. If they don't, many groceries will special order ingredients (my grocery co-op does). This way you're A) putting money into the local economy and B) interacting with HUMAN BEINGS, not computers.
(aahhh the irony of promoting human interaction in a comment thread)
yeah, it's cheaper, but when I can, I try a local business first
You can get Valrhona at Whole Foods and I think Wegmans as well. I know Scharffen Berger is sold at both too.
Being in Western NJ, a friend of ours that goes to Brooklyn hooks us up when they hit Sahadi's. Great spices, nuts and goodies.
http://sahadis.com/
I am down w/using Amazon for stuff, but there are lots of specialty food stores that have an online presence. Also, it pays to explore the local supermarkets because you would be surprised what you come across. I have to admit my local Shop Rite has surprised me now and then. Sure it may not be Amazon priced, but it is down the street.
You'd think a famed chef would have connections. Can you imagine another celeb chef doing this? It's a strange thought.
This actually reinforces my recent decision on one of my New Year's resolutions: to cut back on amazon.com dependency, if not cut it out entirely. They're anti-union and known to mistreat employees, they're the most wasteful shippers in existence, and they're attempting to monopolize book and other sales, rather than promote healthy competition. It's time.
Yeah, Amazon is sort of putting my dads business out of business since certain people on there can do the same thing he does for much cheaper- sort of sucks. Support local business and spend a bit more people.
I agree that Amazon is wasteful.I ordered 2 cookie sheets,from 1 seller,and they came seperately,when 1 box was plenty big enough for both.What a waste.But I don't know if Amazon has any control over how the sellers ship.(Was that what you were talking about,packing materials?)And I'm all for buying local when possible.
Sometimes you can find things locally for even cheaper! I priced out glucose for some of the cookies in the Momofuku Milk Bar Cookbook, and it was close to 50% cheaper to buy the smaller tubs at our local Michael's store (check the cake decorating section.) I'm all for Amazon for purchasing things you can't find locally, but when you can find it down the street, please buy local!