The Brooklyn Kitchen Labs opened in November, 2009 inside of a former rag warehouse in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.  A multi-faceted culinary haven, this nearly 7,000 square foot space is an offshoot of the original Brooklyn Kitchen in Williamsburg, a retail store offering cooking classes to the at-home chef.

The mission behind The Brooklyn Kitchen (and now the Labs) has always been to support the local home cooking community in Brooklyn, where there were no quality resources until owner Harry Rosenblum and wife Taylor Erkkinen first set up shop back in 2006. Rosenblum, who believes “anyone can be a good chef,” says that vision of the store is to provide customers “with all the tools, information and products necessary to make something yummy…whether it be dinner for two or twenty.” 

Harry Rosenblum and Taylor Erkkinen

The new Labs space on Frost Street can now properly house the large numbers of people interested in classes like Knife Skills, Chinese Take-Out From Scratch, or the upcoming Valentine’s Day special: “Date Night” Pig Butchering.  Rosenblum believes that the classes have taken off for two reasons: First, “people are interested in learning the skills that used to be passed down through the generations, and that somehow with industrialization were removed from the social vernacular. Second, we try to have classes that are innovative—Kombucha, Pig Butchering, Tempeh, Pickles, Sauerkraut, Pressure Cooking. . . These are all things that are rarely—if ever—taught at other cooking schools.”

No doubt a reflection of the current at-home butchering movement (itself a reflection of the sustainable foodie trend in farm-to-table eating), the Pig Butchering classes, in particular, have been so popular that 37 sessions have been offered in the past year. Recently, Rosenblum and Erkkinen partnered with Tom Mylan, formerly of famous butcher shop Marlow and Daughters,

In the creation of a full service butcher shop inside of the Labs dubbed The Meat Hook.  Rosenblum recalls that initially, the idea was to start small  “with fish or fowl and then we could move up to lamb, and maybe a half a pig. I said let's go for it and start with the half a pig and see if there's any interest. Well there sure was interest, we had to keep adding classes and had one a week for eight weeks straight.”

The remaining space inside of the Labs is includes classrooms (one spanning 1200 square feet and capable of housing a dinner for 80); the Bulk Room which offers selectively edited oils, vinegars, spices and other specialty items; a beer and wine making section; a cookbook/research library that ‘s devoted to hard-to-find and out-of-print cookbooks; and a kitchen tools museum that displays Rosenblum’s collection of “weird, esoteric vintage cooking tools, like an original Twinkie filler press, patented in 1915 for filling pastries.”

Eccentric collections aren’t the only vintage you’ll see at the Brooklyn Kitchen Labs. Rosenblum and Erkkinen have made every effort to use second-hand and repurposed materials for the physical space as well as the equipment.

Rosenblum on couple’s dedication to re-purposing and recycling: “It is sustainable to re-use vintage cookware because the raw materials have already been taken from the ground and made into the object. I find it wasteful to throw anything useful away, so in our store, we use old crates for display, and try to find new uses for things that might have gone to the junkyard. [For example,] our stair railings are made from the off-cuts of stainless steel from modern knife manufacturing. The other big factor is that there are a lot of great vintage pieces out there that perform just as well or better than the modern equivalent. Cast iron pans are a perfect example. The cast iron pans made by Griswold and others in the early part of the 20th century are just as usable today as when they were new. It's nearly impossible to ruin a cast iron pan, and I've got some as old as 150 years that perform as well or better than a modern Lodge pan. In some cases there is no modern equivalent for an item. Carbon steel knives made in France and Germany are no longer manufactured to the same quality specifications as the original (now antique) versions, so finding an old one to use is worth the time and money.”

 

 

In the spirit of Brooklyn Kitchen’s commitment to repurposing and recycling, we asked Rosenblum to identify antique kitchen essentials that were built to last.

From left to right:

Sunny yellow and in nearly mint condition.  This Dutch oven will slow cook delights for years to come. Enamel Dutch Oven (buy it now price, $22.50)

A collectible from Keen that’s sure to last.   Great for meat but makes hacking thru cabbage or kale a breeze too. Vintage Meat Cleaver (buy it now price, $24.95)

A juicer that’s not a cumbersome counter space stealer. Perfect for the upcoming spring and summer months. Vintage Juice-o-Mat (buy it now price, $8.99)

An adorable way to store extra items for larger dinners or keep bulk items tucked away.  Includes a foot pedal to help when your hands are full.  Antique Refrigerator (buy it now price, $50.00)

 

From left to right:

An incredible price for any blossoming chefs must-have item: the iron skillet. Skillet Set (buy it now price, $49.99)

Step away from the Tupperware and vow to keep food items in glass when possible. Pyrex allows you to cook first and store after. Set of Vintage Pyrex (buy it now price, $12.50)

Pretty pale yellow and in fantastic shape with working griddle and broiler. Vintage Stove (buy it now price, $406.00)

A gorgeous red exterior and an interior that seems to have never been used from trustworthy kitchenware company Dansk. Casserole Pot (buy it now price, $10.50)