The Last Kitchen, Part 3 of 26. Gerzsi and friends are made up; the gear is real and independently tested. This post contains affiliate links (disclosure).
Previously: Chef Tamás explained why a simple thermometer can’t be switched off and tested it in ice water. Then Gerzsi found big clawed footprints in spilled flour, leading into the dark kitchen, where someone was baking. Missed it? Read Part 2 · All parts
Chef Tamás went in first, lantern high. Gerzsi went in second, thermometer out like a sword, which didn’t help but made him feel better.
The smart ovens along the wall were still locked and glowing red. But at the back, the old gas range Tamás had never thrown away was lit, and in front of it stood the biggest bear Gerzsi had ever seen, wearing an oven mitt on one paw like a very small glove.
On the bear’s shoulder sat Hazel, the red squirrel from the bakery at the bend, covered in flour and furious.
“My oven locked me out at five in the morning,” she said. “With two hundred cookies inside. Rufus carried me down from the hills with the flour. We needed an oven that doesn’t listen to anybody.”
Rufus the bear said nothing. He just nodded slowly, the way a mountain nods.
“Then why,” said Tamás, sniffing, “do I smell burnt sugar?”
Hazel pulled out a tray. Every cookie was black at the edges. “The dial says 350. I baked them exactly as long as I always do.”
Tamás opened a drawer, dug under a pile of old tickets and came out with a small round dial thermometer, the cheap kind that hangs on an oven rack. He hung it inside, closed the door and waited. Nobody spoke. Rufus breathed like a slow engine.
When he opened the door, the needle pointed at 400.
“The dial on the front is only a suggestion,” Tamás said. “This old range runs fifty degrees hot. It always has. I just never baked cookies in it.”
Hazel stared at the thermometer like it had told her a family secret. Then she turned the knob down by fifty, slid in a new tray, and for the first time that day, she smiled.
That was when Rufus finally spoke. His voice was very low.
“Last night,” he said, “I saw the ring drop something. Into the river. By the Old Mill.”
Next: Part 4, tomorrow. Hazel explains why real bakers weigh everything, and the crew plans a trip to the Old Mill.
🛒 Gear from this part
A cheap oven thermometer. Most ovens run hotter or cooler than the dial says. A small dial thermometer hanging on the rack tells you what’s really going on in there. Hazel’s pick is the one America’s Test Kitchen tested.
Can’t wait for tomorrow’s part?
Gerzsi can’t either. While Chef Tamás’s stock bubbles for four hours, he puts on a sci-fi audiobook and listens with both ears flat against the pot lid (he says it helps). If you’re new to Audible, the free trial is an easy way to start one for the slow-cooking hours.
Free trial for eligible new members; Amazon sets the terms on the sign-up page. Affiliate link: Gerzsi may earn a commission.
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