Food Dehydrator's New Must-Have Kitchen Gadget

We won't be obsessing over a new set of knives this fall, nor an updated blender.

The gadget to have is a food dehydrator. It is the key to making some of the fascinating and delicious powders and rubs that we've seen in restaurants across the country (Sriracha powder, anyone?).

And this mechanism is just one example of the brave new (old) world of food preservation, championed by some of our favorite chefs in the United States.

Walk into the kitchens of top restaurants and you're almost guaranteed to find ingredients in various stages of pickling, fermenting, drying or curing. Time is the cook's new best friend.

We've taken a microscope to this movement, and, for the month of September, will be reporting on our delicious findings, from the return of overproof booze to our favorite twist on classic confit.

Leading the charge in this movement is the pioneering team at Bar Tartine in San Francisco. See our feature on the restaurant's just-launched sandwich shop, including a recipe for smoked onion powder that will change your baked potato's life.

This month, time is of the essence.