Other People's Kitchens. Q&A with Rachel

Rachel says of her kitchen, 'gadgets have to be useful or they don’t deserve to be there'.

Hello Rachel.  Can you briefly introduce yourself?

Hello! My name is

Rachel Ciordas

(Chore-Dash) and I create gluten free baking and cooking recipes and workshops and share them on Next Level Gluten Free Newsletter.

I’ve been a chef and cooking instructor for 15 years and have had many thousands of students.  I’ve taught cooking classes in cooking schools, hospitals, offices, grocery stores, small boutiques, health food co+ops and even in homes.   I’m based in Kansas City, basically in the middle of the middle of the U.S. 

I LOVE to travel and visit as many countries and exciting places as I possibly can.  As a family we travel in Europe quite a bit because my Husband is Romanian and we go to visit family and explore other countries on the way there or back.  I bring back so many ideas, techniques, and flavors and incorporate them in my recipes! 

How would you describe the layout of your kitchen, its history and how it was designed? And how much of a role does it play with your family and when writing and testing recipes for your ‘Next Level Gluten Free’ newsletter?  

We live in a 1960’s split level home, and the kitchen is the heart of it all.  

It’s towards the back of the house and overlooks my vegetable garden, herb gardens and fruit trees with two large windows.  The kitchen was originally designed to have a breakfast table in the large bay window, but I’ve put a prep table and large rolling rack that I use for recipe testing and classes there so I can enjoy the view while I work.  

I work there developing and testing recipes, photographing in the bay window, and live streaming classes.  We cook there for our family meals, and bake many gluten free breads and pies.   My husband works from home and my two school aged children are often popping in and out of the kitchen, cooking with me briefly, asking questions, and packing lunches or zooming through far too quickly to run down the stairs.  

We spend many hours at the dining room table just past the giant butcher block – one of my favorite features of the kitchen. The butcher block is just a huge section of tree trunk was here when we moved in, but originally came from a BBQ joint. It’s very obviously been industrially used, and the much-chopped portion is installed towards the wall.  I love to think of the stories that have occurred around that through the years.  

In the summertime, it is very humid and hot where we live, so to avoid heating up the house, we head outside to cook on the grill and the outdoor oven.  We eat at the long table that my father built outside quite a bit during all of the seasons! It’s wonderful and relaxing to be outdoors in the garden and there is a little roof covering the patio so if it rains, it makes a wonderful pattering sound.

What are your favourite and most used kitchen gadgets? 

My kitchen isn’t big, so I feel like any gadgets have to be useful or they don’t deserve to be there! My Kitchenaid mixer is a workhorse.  I love to use it to make gluten free bread, pasta, ice cream, and even sausage.  I LOVE my superfast Thermapen thermometer, I use it to make sure my gluten free breads, cakes, rolls, etc are really done! I absolutely adore my seasoned steel French pans, they are well seasoned so nothing sticks to them, light, and have lasted so long, they are the best! 

How did your passion and need for cooking Gluten Free come about?

Well, I was already a cooking teacher and owned a bakery business when my son was diagnosed with celiac disease 8 years ago.  I could not imagine a world where he would never know what a really good cinnamon roll, a flaky pastry or piece of bread was like.  So I started by trying to recreate my bakery products gluten free, and boy was there a learning curve! I tested and tested and pieced together information over time.  For my readers and students, I streamline that process and just give them the simple methods that WORK so they can skip everything else and get right to the good stuff! 

How have your travels to visit family and the years of teaching cooking classes, influenced the way you cook?

I learn so much everywhere that I travel.  There are flavors and techniques that I take away from every trip to bring fresh perspectives to my food.  In the world of gluten free, there are some countries like Italy and Spain with much more access to gluten free ingredients and embedded knowledge about gluten free techniques. I love to pull what I learn traveling into my recipes so that EVERYONE can have access to wonderful gluten free food! 

I think my years of teaching cooking classes have helped me to dive deep into the subject.  I’ve learned over time all of the variations and pitfalls that people encounter in their kitchens when following a recipe.  I try to be very clear in my explanations and communicate what can be a frustrating subject in an approachable way.  I like to be a friend who can help in the gluten free kitchen so that readers can be successful and find joy in their kitchens.

How would you describe the regional cuisine where you live in the USA? Are there fresh food markets or farmers’ markets available? Do you have a vegetable garden?

I live in a wonderful part of the USA for food.  We are well known for BBQ here. So if you love long smoked meats, this is the place to be. 

Our little secret is we have a lot of really great food beyond BBQ. Seasonal restaurants, beautiful ingredients. There are also incredible farmers markets nearby – that’s actually how I started teaching cooking classes, as a stand in a farmers market.  

Personally, we have many fruit and nut trees, herbs and a small vegetable garden.  Some years in the garden are better than others, as we also have many deer, rabbits, birds, and squirrels around our neighborhood!

What is the one thing your kitchen is missing that you would love to have?

I would love to have a kitchen island with lots of cupboard space, and a counter to gather around.  I use a table for this purpose and I love that I can move it around, but a kitchen island would be lovely! 

What tips can you give a Gluten Free cook that will help keep their kitchen neat and tidy. 

Gluten free bakers and cooks often have many specialty ingredients and flours.  Invest in some mason jars or similar canisters to be able to easily see what ingredients you have and access them easily.  

Also, in kitchens that are shared gluten and gluten free it is important to have separate storage of the gluten free dedicated equipment that you own, whether it is separate cupboards or bins inside the cupboard it is easy to get confused and nobody wants that! 

When I bring my dedicated gluten free cooking utensils (rolling pins, nonstick pans etc) to other kitchens for cooking classes I mark them with a certain color of painters tape, which helps me and others know which items are dedicated gluten free easily and really helps prevent mixing things up! 

How many cookbooks do you have? Do you have any favourites? Have you written any cookbooks?

I own hundreds of cookbooks.  I read them like novels and adore a printed cookbook.  I make the recipes, absorb the techniques and learn SO much.  As for favorites, how could I pick a favorite child? I like a book that stands on its own.   The Cooks Illustrated series of books has taught me more than you can imagine.  Julia Child’s The Art of French Cooking sparked my imagination as a 12 year old.  Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat gave me words to easily explain many cooking concepts.  Ottolenghi pushed me from my flavor comfort zone and made me experiment.  

I have not written a cookbook… yet! I’d love to write a cookbook.

Do you have a recipe suitable for someone on a Gluten Free diet?

All of my recipes are suitable for someone on a gluten free diet, and I have options from dinner to pie, cake to crusty bread. But here is a favorite simple recipe that your readers can use for their next grill or weeknight dinner or even keep in the freezer for when the need strikes! Gluten Free Sesame Seed Hamburger Buns

(There is also a little video of my very favorite tools for gluten free baking!) 

Thank you for sharing your kitchen with us, Rachel.

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Read more from the series Q&A: Other People’s Kitchens