A request!

I received my first blog entry request… I feel so honored! A friend and co-worker is moving into his first home and, knowing that I like to cook as well as blather about virtually any topic, he asked for a review of a few of my favorite kitchen tools. To honor his closing today, a review of “a few of my favorite things” – none of which are bright copper kettles or warm woolen mittens. I do, however, really love whiskers on kittens.

Knives

Above and beyond all else, I am a fanatic about knives. Growing up, my parents threw all of our hodge-podge kitchen knives into a drawer, allowing them to get outrageously banged up and dull and also subjecting their children to the risk of losing a digit, each time you reached in for one.

I have a collection of Wüsthof Classic kitchen knives and steak knives and I baby them like they are my children. They each have a safe, solitary home in the knife block; they get sharpened regularly; and they never – I mean never – have seen the inside of the dishwasher. I hand wash and dry them. It’s ridiculous.

Knives are super expensive, but you really don’t need a lot of them. At a minimum, you need a good chef’s knife (I recommend a mid-sized, 8” one since it’s pretty versatile) for any number of chopping and slicing tasks. I’d also get a serrated bread knife, which is also good for tomatoes. A small serrated pairing knife is also great for quick tasks and doubles as a cheese knife for entertaining. Personally, I also love my Santoku knife. I am not ashamed to say that I got it after watching Rachael Ray use one repeatedly on her show! The cullens (the little pockets along the blade) make for great slicing.

If you are ever going to make any kind of roast, I strongly recommend an electric knife. Mine is a Cuisinart and has two different sized blades. It makes the carving task very quick and easy.

Pots & Pans

Again, pots and pans can be really expensive. I have a set of All-Clad, which I love, but I also use them a ton and they are great for me because they get a lot of wear & tear. If you are not an avid cook, a few good pieces from a line like Anolon or Circulon will be perfect for your needs. I’d recommend having two 3-quart saucepans, a large non-stick skillet, and a wide 8 to 10-quart stockpot. Make sure that all of your pots have a good, tight lid. Also, make sure that whatever you get can go in the dishwasher; mine are not supposed to and, though I break that “rule” and put them in, they look terrible because of it.

For more specialty pieces, I also have a huge, non-stick roasting pan, with a non-stick rack that fits in it. If you do make a roast, it makes for easy sauce/gravy making and it’s a snap to clean up. I also love my grill pan. Unlike my husband, I am not a slave to our actual outdoor grill. This one is easy to clean, allows you to cook healthfully, and makes nice grill marks on your food. Just be sure to turn on your stove’s fan if you are cooking on high heat, which you usually do with the grill pan. If you have any fear of hot oil or grease hitting your skin when cooking, you might want to invest in a splatter guard. Paul loves ours. I see cooking as a full contact sport, so I don’t use it. One final thing I definitely recommend is a steamer insert for your saucepan – great for veggies.

Bakeware

When you are outfitting your first kitchen, you definitely do not need a lot of bakeware, but there are a few key pieces that you will use again and again. The first item that I’d recommend is a jelly roll pan. This, of course, is for making those essential jelly rolls that you will be turning out on a regular basis. Just kidding. These pans are great to make cookies, to put under a pie that might bubble over, to bake fish, or to roast veggies. Since most of them are not non-stick, unless you love slaving over clean up, I highly recommend getting a Silpat insert for it. These things are amazing – nothing sticks to them! Just don’t put yours under the broiler. Let’s put it this way, I used to have two.

In addition, I would get a 9x13” cake pan. This can be used for all of the above as well as brownies and sheet cakes. Lastly, I would recommend one casserole or lasagna baking dish that looks good. That way you can bring something to a friend’s BBQ or a potluck at work in the same dish you cooked in. I have a few pieces from Emile Henry and they are terrific – super durable, easy to clean, and beautiful.

Appliances

I have an absurd number of counter top kitchen appliances and I don’t use half of them. The ones that get a fair bit of action include my food processor and my toaster oven. The food processor not only grinds thing down more finely that your blender ever could, it’s great for any job that requires chopping a lot of herbs, garlic, or nuts, plus it shreds cheese or slices veggies in a millisecond. The toaster oven does the obvious, but is also great for heating a slice of leftover pizza (without heating up the whole house, or turning it gummy in the microwave) or toasting nuts, or even baking a half dozen cookies.

If you are a baker, the KitchenAid mixer lives up to the legend. They are so powerful, I really think that they could launch a spacecraft, if given the opportunity. Also, if you are organized, but don’t have much time for cooking, I recommend a slow-cooker. We use ours a lot in the winter for stews and chilis. You just need to have your act together enough to have the ingredients and the time to let it to its thing (I always use mine on a Sunday afternoon), but once you do your 15-30 minutes of prep, the slow-cooker does the rest for you. And then you have meals for a week.

Essentials

You can never have enough wooden spoons, rubber spatulas, or cutting boards. With all three of these, you have two choices – buy more expensive good ones and hand-wash them or buy cheap-os and stick them in the dishwasher. Either is fine, just don’t buy the nice stuff and think it’ll survive the dishwasher – it won’t.

You also need at least three mixing bowls, a large solid metal cooking spoon, a large slotted metal cooking spoon, a large pasta spoon , a wide non-stick spatula, a narrow non-stick spatula, a set of metal measuring spoons and cups (plastic ones will melt in the dishwasher), a pair of tongs with a locking mechanism (you’ll love this feature, trust me), and a whisk – I have a whole collection of whisks, but my favorite has a silicon head (somehow that sounds dirty?) that won’t scratch your pots.

A few final things that you’ll need that are a little more unusual are a pepper grinder (please don’t even think of just using a shaker – the quality of the pepper flavor just does not live up) and some type of airtight container for salt (when cooking, shakers are just too slow – you’ll want to be able to just reach in for pinch). Also, you might think that all oven mitts are the same, but I can’t say enough about the silicon ones – they can take massively high heat, double as a decent looking trivet, and – best of all – can be thrown in the dishwasher when covered in some nasty goo. Lastly, you might think that a spoon rest is only something nanas should have, but it really save your stovetop from a sticky smear of spaghetti sauce. They don’t have to be dowdy. You can get a simple stainless one or funky pottery one – mine comes from an art fair in New York.

Gadgets

Remember when I said that I had an absurd number of kitchen appliances? It’s about a third of the number of gadgets that I have. I can’t help myself. If there was a Kitchen Gadgets Anonymous, I’d join tomorrow (just after I bought that mandoline – I totally need one). Like the appliances, some never see the light of day, but a few I truly could not live without. First is a kitchen scale. Kitchen scales can be super high-tech, but I have a retro-looking one that does the job perfectly. A lot of recipes give you measurements in weight and this can help you be reasonably accurate. I promise that you don’t know what four ounces of pasta is unless you measure it. While I am not a total devotee of measurement when cooking, one other device that I’d really recommend is a digital cooking thermometer. It’s perfect for making sure that you get meat to a safe temperature.

I tend to use a ton of citrus when I cook, so I need a way to squeeze the fresh juice easily. I have this double-handled thing that works only ok. I’m considering replacing it for an old-fashioned reamer, which I think is really the best tool for this. Lastly, if I was banished to a deserted island and allowed to take only one kitchen tool (yes, I know – why would I take a kitchen tool to a deserted island… just go with me on this), I would bring my Microplane. There are no words that sum up how much I love this thing. Zest an orange? Microplane. Shred parmesan? Microplane. Mince garlic? Microplane. Chocolate shavings? Microplane. Pulp a tomato? Microplane. Grate ginger? Microplane. It can do anything. And, a good six years after buying it, it’s still razor sharp. Cleaning? Toss it in the dishwasher. It’s perfect.