6 February 2010
The 10 Best Tools In My Kitchen
We have a lot of kitchen stuff. Some of it gets used more than other bits. But there are a few things I could not do without. All of the things on this list fall into that category - sure, there’s stuff like the waffle iron, without which making waffles would be impossible, but that’s only one item in the repertoire. For the rest of the things here, if I didn’t have them, it would cut a chunk out of the things I can cook. Peculiarly, there’s no food processor on the list. We have a good one, but I haven’t used it in nearly three years now - I find that whisking, very fine chopping, or just the use of a wooden spoon lets me do anything I could do with the processor, and avoids washing up all the weird bits.
10. Balloon Whisk
The balloon whisk is a really nice tool. The one we have is not huge, and fits my hand very well. The major use it sees is mixing pancake batter, although it gets used for whipping cream and eggs for scrambling as well, and some kinds of soup and the like benefit from a bit of whisking. I’ve always hand-whipped cream; it’s a very satisfying process, and it allows a much finer control over the job - you can stop at exactly the right point, which I’ve never managed to master with blenders or the like.
9. Vegetable Peeler
I wouldn’t really have rated this as an essential tool until last Christmas, when we had a few people prepping vegetables at the same time. Since someone else had the peeler, I went to use a small knife. Man, the effort the peeler saves is unbelievable. Ours is “vertical”, rather than “horizontal”, although I’ve used both.
8. Small Bowls
I use these to hold prepped vegetables, spices, and so on. You see this on cookery shows on TV, and it looks a bit contrived, but I’ve found that having everything ready to go makes the actual process of cooking far easier and more pleasurable. It’s pretty nearly essential for stir-fries. It also, admittedly, looks great.
7. 1 dl measure
A decilitre is one tenth of a litre - 100ml. It’s an amazingly useful measure. 1dl of pancake batter, for instance, makes a very nicely sized pancake. 1 dl of stock is exactly the right amount to add to a risotto. And so on. This measure is a little metal cup, which I think we got or were given in Finland.
6. Weighing Scales
I used to guess weights, or work by volume. I was pretty good at guessing, and it’s fine for most cooking. For baking, though, you need those numbers to be a lot closer to exact, and the little electronic scales we have is perfect for this - particularly because, if you put a bowl on it before you turn it on, it sets a zero value that accounts for the bowl. This is immensely useful, particularly since my mental arithmetic is not all that.
5. Fish Slice
I can’t remember who I was arguing with over the difference between a fish slice and a spatula. The fish slice, anyway, is the one with the long slots in it. It’s far better than a spatula for most uses with a frying pan; it lifts things from the pan much more easily, and allows oil to drain through the slots. It’s one of those tools that you don’t really notice until you have to put up with something else instead for a bit.
4. Big Chopping Board
I have small chopping boards as well. But this thing is a lump of timber about 40cm by 60cm, at least two cm thick, and with a round hole through it at one corner. This allows you to lift and move it easily, kind of like an over-sized artists palette, and because it’s so big, you don’t get the annoying circumstance where segments of chopped onion scoot away from the knife and off the edge. I can also chop something, pile it at one end, chop something else, shove it down the board, and add two or three more items before whooshing the whole lot into a pan. The only issue with it is the amount of counter space it occupies - something at a bit of a premium in our kitchen, although I suspect the recent acquisition of a dishwasher is going to ease this.
3. Le Creuset Casserole
The Le Creuset enamelled cast iron dishes are things of wonder. The one we have is an oval casserole/pot with a lid, and it is without a doubt the best saucepan I have. It gets used for risottos, curries, jambalayas, stews, and just about anything else that needs to cook gently for a long time. I don’t use it all that often, but when I do, I reckon it improves the dish being cooked beyond measure.
2. Cretan Knife
Peculiarly, the best knife I own (so far) is one I picked up in a street market in Crete about 10 years ago for, at the time, pennies. There’s no brand, no maker’s mark; it’s just a bit of sharpened steel with a wooden handle riveted on, and yet it cuts like no other knife I own. When I picked it up, I was invited by the stall-holder to try it on a lemon, and I couldn’t believe the way it sank through it. Obviously, the recommendation is no use unless you happen to be in the same Cretan market with the same knife-seller, but it’s taught me to take the claims on more commercialised knives with some salt.
1. Cast Iron Frying Pan
You can, however, take everything else in my kitchen from me, but my two cast iron frying pans will be used to batter thieves unless they’re pried from my hands. Both of them have been seasoned over some years now, and both are capable of frying beautifully with very little oil. The bigger one gets used for medium-sized dishes like curries and bolognese and so on, while the smaller one fries eggs, pancakes, and other discrete items. This is mostly habit by now, except for the fact that the smaller one seems a little more even in its heating, which helps with pancakes.
What are your essential tools?