So, the other week, while browsing the food books at my local library, I found this book that seemed kind of cool: Sur La Table: Things Cooks Love. I immediately thought, Hey! I’m a cook! I love things! Maybe this will just be a love-in of all my favorite things in handy book form with glossy pictures comemerating their awesomeness. I was wrong. It was more or less a list of cookware and bakeware such as saute pans, crepe pans, fish poachers each accompanied by a couple of recipes that used that tool.
My main problem with this book was the title. Things Cooks Love maybe isn’t the best way to describe this collection. Maybe “Tools Cooks Have Been Known To Use: Some More Than Others.” Maybe that’s not so catchy, but at least it’s more accurate. A large number of the items in the book, I would probably never own and have never seen at use in a professional kitchen. A fish poacher! Really? A Bisteeya Pan. What is that even! Oh, it’s for making Bisteeya, thanks Wikipedia. This all got me thinking, why don’t I make a list of equipment that’s actually you know, useful. If your kitchen is a little sparse, or you’re looking for gift ideas, this is definitely a list to browse through.
If you have $100-200 (Your first apartment/college dorm)
Silicone spatula – I use mine for everything from making scrambled eggs to scraping the bowl of muffin batter. Buy a nice one. I’ve never used it less than once a day. Don’t spend an arm and a leg though, as with everything, silicone wears out. Heat stresses it and it becomes brittle, and bits will fall off. When you notice it start losing chunks, get a new one. Nobody wants to bite down on a piece of silicone in their risotto.
Wooden Spoon – Choose one that’s treated (the only place I’ve seen ones that aren’t are at the dollar store), and that’s got a handle longer than your deepest pot.
Medium Sauce pan with lid – The ones with thick metal bases are great, but can be pricey. We bought all of ours in a set on clearance at Sears, and despite being Rachel Ray brand, are pretty freaking cool. Chris manages to repeatedly burn the silicone handles by ignoring the warning that they are only oven safe to 325ºF, though.
Medium fry pan – Again, a nice thick base is good.
Baking sheet – Make sure it fits in your oven. Our tiny oven won’t even hold a lot of so called “small” pans you can find.
Mixing bowls – Stainless steel mixing bowls are best. Choose a decently thick one that you can’t bend with your hands. Make sure it’s big enough for a big salad or a cake mix. Plastic mixing bowls will tend to hold on to fats and oils even if you don’t notice them, so you may have trouble whipping up those egg whites. Plus plastics will absorb smells easily.
Flipper / Spatula – you can buy one at the dollar store, and it will probably eventually melt, but all plastic ones do. Only buy one that’s metal if you don’t have non-stick pans, or else your pans won’t be non-stick for very long. If you have the budget, you can buy an Exoglass spatula that is nonstick friendly and heat proof up to 220ºC.
Box grater – again you can get this at the dollar store. I prefer ones with some silicone on the base to stop it sliding everywhere, but it’s not essential. Most do, but try to get one that has more than one texture on it; small grater, large grater, slicer.
Can Opener – pretty self explanatory. I love my Starfrit can opener, but that’s me.
Colander – The new snazzy silicone colanders are nice and more space efficient, but unless you have two people they can be hazardous. If you’re just buying one, I’d stick with the tried and tested metal ones. Unenameled is best so you don’t get paint chips.
Cutting Board – again self explanatory. One large one is better than a bunch of small ones. Also thicker is better. Wood is nice, but it requires more maintenance than plastic and is more costly. If you don’t buy one that’s non-slip, just stick a rubber mat or a wet towel underneath. The plastic boards with silicone nonslip sides are nice if you can find them. Plastic boards are disposable. When they get cuts in them, get rid of them. The nicks and dents can harbor food particles and bacteria. If you paid a lot for your NSF certified plastic board, you may choose to get it resurfaced.
Peeler - I can’t say enough about my offset Victorinox peeler that cost me $5. Anyone who’s ever borrowed it from me, or seen me peel apples, can attest to its awesomeness, and generally goes out and buys one. It’s more ergonomic than either of the other standard kinds, and has a nice sharp edge on it, but they are harder to find. If you can’t get it, go with the triangular ones, rather than the straight ones.
For people that cook at home, but aren’t trying to be superstar chefs:
As above, plus -
Ladle – I know Henckles make them, and that’s still silly to me, no matter how nice they look. Mine is plastic and from the dollar store and works fine.
Whisk - Choose a medium sized fully metal whisk. If you can bend the loops with your hand, it won’t be too good for whisking anything much firmer than an egg white, so try to look for one that has thicker loops.
Small and Medium mixing bowls – it’s a good idea to have more than one mixing bowl especially if you’re going to be baking anything as lots of recipes call for the dry ingredients to be mixed in one and then the wet in another.
Stock Pot - It’s not just for stock! A stock pot is essential for making large batches of anything, or for making more than 2 portions of pasta. We have 2 they’re so useful. Besides, why aren’t you making stock?
Small sauce pan with lid – Great for warming up sauces or soups.
Baking dish/pyrex. – Vital for lasagnas, casseroles and most importantly, bread puddings! I like to have a couple of different sizes, so I got a Pyrex set that was cheap because it was the “Storage” set (which meant it had lids), and is still oven and freezer safe.
Spider - It’s a wide holed strainer on a long handle. Useful for blanching peas, or other veg and I even use it to pull non-strand pasta from the cooking water when I’m too lazy to drain the whole pot or need to save the water.
Tongs - Chris likes the ones that don’t lock, I like the ones that do, so there’s probably not much in it. They make them with silicone tips now, to prevent scratching your non-stick pans. Make sure you can’t twist them too much when you close them, and that they close tightly. The silicone tips make it harder to pick up slippery things, and the seams can trap food particles.
Chris says: I need 12 inch or longer tongs for when I’m working the grill, so I bought a pair with a yellow silicone grip for $4.30 at My Local Restaurant Supply Store.
Microplane - I’ve extolled the virtues of microplanes in other posts, so I won’t go into their stupendousness again. Suffice it to say they rock.
Multiple baking sheets – You’ll often find yourself needing more than one. If you’re freezing something and decide you need to bake, you’ll need at least two.
Roasting Pan – A roasting pan is basically a baking sheet with much higher sides. Like baking sheets they don’t last forever, so no need to spend big. Choose one with good handles. Silicone is great but isn’t oven safe over 350F so old fashioned solid metal handles are better. Some even have fold down handles to save space.
Brush – It’s a small item, so buy a proper one, but I’ve heard you can get one from the hardware store and not have too much trouble. Silicone works well for thicker sauces like basting BBQ sauce, but I prefer the regular nylon ones for most applications. To be totally foodsafe, you can get one with blue hairs/strands so you can tell if you lose one into your food.
Citrus Reamer – a useful tool with a funny name. You can juice citrus without one, but I don’t know why you’d want to.
Measuring cups/spoons – Probably something you might want to spend a little more on. If you get flimsy ones they are likely to bend and eventually break when you scoop something heavy or dense with them. Plus, when it comes to accuracy, not all measuring spoons and cups are created equally. There may be as much as a 20% margin of error in your measurements. There’s a reason that professionals prefer to do things by weight.
Masher - It’s either a masher or a ricer for mashed potatoes etc and a masher is cheaper by far. Your mash won’t be as smooth, but for 1% of the cost of a ricer, you’ll be happy anyway.
Steamer Basket – I like the standard collapsible metal ones that you can pick up easily and at a good price. The only thing I can think of to watch out for is that it won’t rust.
Things to get if you entertain a lot, are trying to be a pro cook, or have money to burn:
All of the above plus -
Grill Pan – We even use a version of this at work. One of the best ways I know to get sear marks on something. Substitute: a George Forman Grill.
Ricer - As I mentioned with the masher above, a ricer will give you the smoothest mash you’ve ever tasted that didn’t come out of a box. It’s also great for making gnocchi, baby food and tomato sauces. Martha Stewart Everyday makes a great one with 3 different sized blades.
Mandolin - A staple in many cook’s knife wraps is a mandolin slicer, Japanese slicer, or Benriner. A slicer is handy for making scalloped potatoes, rostis, lemon slices, and when you need to bruinoise or julienne something. No matter how good your knife skills are, you’ll never be as perfectly even or fast as you can be with a slicer. You don’t have to spend $100, but don’t buy the cheapest one you can find. Everyone I know uses the Benriner , but that might just be what we can get. Choose one with at least 3 different blades, and that doesn’t feel flimsy. If you’re buying it used, make sure the blade is sharp, as with all knives the duller the blade, the more likely you are to seriously hurt yourself, and that it has the hand-guard. Otherwise you’re likely to lose a fingertip or four.
Funnel – A cheap funnel is fine. Ones with narrower tips are better unless you’re canning with it.
Ice Cream Scoop – see other post
Thermometer - Depending on what you’re going to be doing, you might want to get more than one thermometer. If you’re going to be deep-frying or boiling sugar an old-school candy thermometer works well and isn’t going to break the bank. For testing the doneness of a roast, you can pick up a thermometer that only measures common meat temperatures for reasonably cheap. Cheaper digital tend to be slower to read, and still many times more expensive than ‘analog’ thermometers, so if timing is an issue, go with the analog variety, or buy a nice digital thermometer.
Wok – A wok is a great item if you have a gas stove, but they tend not to work too well on electric or flat surfaces. Chose one that feels nice in your hand, isn’t too heavy to flip, and comes with a ring stand (for those with gas).
Ramekins - Ideal for holding your measured mise en place, or if you have a lot of sides at the table (make your own taco night!), or making individual baked desserts, pot de creme, creme brulee…
Pasta Roller – Ours just broke, so I won’t say too much good about it. If you’re buying it to use as opposed to using once, get a good one. It will be a pretty penny, but there’s not a lot of cheap ones out there that work well, it’s just too complicated a device.
Melon Baller - For melons or soft fruits, you can cheap out, but if you’re going to be balling carrots all the time (don’t ask), you’ll need one that has the cup and the handle made of one piece of metal not welded together or onto a plastic handle.
Cheesecloth - sort of not really equipment, but it’s going on the list anyway. Great for making yogurt cheese or for pulling the liquid out of something (olive puree, carrot juice…). If you’re rich, buy a Superbag.
Mortar and Pestle – Which one’s the mortar and which one’s the pestle? The mortar is the bowl bit. The pestle is the bit that looks like a pen…cil. If you’re going to be making a lot of rubs for meat, or crushing your own spices for curries, or if you’re cooking from a Jamie Oliver book, you’ll need this. They’re never cheap, but you can find them every now and then at yard sales as unwanted wedding gifts I guess. They’re always heavy and that’s basically the only thing that can go wrong. I’ve heard the stainless steel ones aren’t so good because they are too smooth to get much friction going, but I’ve never actually seen one myself, so I wouldn’t know.
Salad Spinner – Pretty self explanatory too, I like the ones with the push down handle, but they are pricey. Chris thinks salad spinners are stupid.
Scale - for everyday use, go with a “nutritional scale” from your department store without too many bells and whistles. For more precision, buy a ‘jewelers scale’ on eBay.
Pizza Stone - Alton Brown says you can use a roofing tile, but that remains untested by me. Chris broke our last one by baking it at over 500F, and I’ve heard of it happening other times if it isn’t put in the oven before it’s turned on, so don’t spend too much.
