CELIACTODAY

When you enter your GF kitchen, a little bell should go off in the back of your head. It's to remind you to take care with everything you do or touch.

How fastidious you get is a matter of choice. But we suggest there really are only two appropriate levels: obsessive, and more obsessive.

After all, the issue of health is too important, particularly if the patient is a child.

The Radical Approach

Some celiac families banish everything that contains gluten. That's a radical step, and it might not be fair to family members who don't have celiac disease.

In our family's kitchen, we permit foods that contain gluten. But we have banished wheat flour. Everything we bake-cookies, cakes, breads, pie crusts, pancakes, waffles, whatever-is made from GF flours.

Wheat flour is just too insidious. Because it is so finely milled, wheat flour can work its way into small openings in mixers, whisks, rolling pins and other utensils. Contamination can result.

Here are some steps for setting up a GF kitchen:

Color-Coding

A color-coded stick-on label is the key to making your organization work. We stick fluorescent red circles, about one-and-a-quarter inches in diameter, on everything that needs to be gluten-free.

That includes the food packages themselves, as well as the shelves and drawers where they are stored, and the utensils, bowls, pots and appliances we use to prepare and cook them.

If a stick-on label isn't appropriate for an item-for example, if it's a utensil that goes through the dishwasher-paint a prominent red dot on it with nail polish.

Organization

Keep GF products on separate shelves and in separate drawers. Sharing storage space only guarantees confusion.

That includes frozen and refrigerated GF foods: Give them their own dedicated shelves, to prevent confusion.

Likewise, store your GF cooking utensils separate from your other equipment. That will prevent mistakes that could lead to cross-contamination.

We have two toasters-one dedicated to GF products, the other to conventional foods. They sit on opposite sides of the room. (The GF toaster also is marked with a red sticker.) This ensures against mistakes during groggy, early-morning moments.

Utensils & Equipment

Keep a completely separate set of utensils for your GF cooking. That certainly includes a slotted spoon for pasta. It should also include a bread knife, strainer, spatula, ladle, soup stirrer, rolling pin and any other utensil that you might use for cooking or handling food that contains gluten.

Purchase a new pasta pot and colander to use exclusively for GF pasta. If you cook or rinse GF pasta in equipment also used for conventional pasta, contamination will result.

Keep a separate scrubber-sponge for washing the conventional pasta-making gear. That will reduce the chance that gluten from the pasta will contaminate your other cookware.

Separate but Equal

Maintain separate pans for baking GF products. At a minimum, line them with aluminum foil when baking GF items.

Keep a dedicated electric mixer for GF batters. (If you ban gluten-containing flours, this isn't necessary.)

Purchase a dedicated cutting board for GF breads and other food items, such as cheese, that you cut and serve to the celiac member(s) of your household.

If you bake conventional bread in a bread machine, purchase a separate bread pan and paddle for use in making GF bread.

The Human Factor

After you've organized your kitchen, explain it to every member of the family. Occasional "gentle reminders" will be necessary, especially for younger family members.

When cooking GF and non-GF foods at the same time, try to keep their pots (and their respective sets of utensils) on opposite sides of the stove, to avoid confusion. Use dedicated (GF/non-GF) spoon rests.

When cooking GF and conventional pasta at the same time, keep the pot with conventional pasta covered, or mostly covered. When removing the lid to stir, open it away from the GF pasta, to avoid drips that could cause contamination.

Whenever cooking GF foods, rest stirring spoons or other cooking utensils in a clean bowl. Resting the utensils directly on the counter risks accidental contamination.

And remember: Whenever you walk into or work in the kitchen, listen for that little bell at the back of your head. It's telling you to take care!