Kitchen Essentials

A good friend, David, asked us to talk about two things he wanted to know more about….essential tools for the kitchen and how to work within a small kitchen space.  I have some experience with both, but today will focus on the essential kitchen tools and leave the subject of working in a small kitchen for another day.

Untitled from Two Chums on Vimeo.

As we stated here in the video, of all the things that you have in your kitchen, love and joy are by far the two most important. But some good tools will help you do the cooking that you need/want to do.  There is a gadget, some cheap and others quite expensive, to do just about any task you can think of in the kitchen.   And if there isn’t one for a particular task you know of, wait 5 minutes and there will be an infomercial about where you can buy it for 4 easy payments.

What I want to do here, is to give you what I think are the most important items, essential tools if you will, that everyone needs if they plan to cook more than TV dinners or frozen pizzas.   I have broken this down into 4 photos with various items and descriptions and suggestions that I hope are helpful.

These are what you might refer to as “Basic Kitchen Tools”.  The potato masher always gets a work out in my home.  I particularly like this one  because it is round and fits around all the edges of any pot I’ve cooked my potatoes in.  But this masher gets as much use on avocados as it does on potatoes.  It is great when you are making guacamole.

The slotted spatula/pancake turner works for turning everything from fish to burgers to …well pancakes.  And don’t forget removing cookies from the cookie sheet.

You need both a solid as well as a slotted spoon.  The solid spoon is used for a myriad of uses, I won’t need to list them as you know the uses for a basic spoon. There are times when you will want a slotted spoon.  When you are stirring sauces, you may want the slots so that the liquid can move more consistently as you stir, and then there are times when you need to remove something from a pan allowing the liquid it is cooking in to be left behind.

The ladle uses are no surprise.  It works for soups, sauces and gravies as well as hot cereal.

I think you should have 2 wire whisks, a large one and smaller one.  The large one is great for use in a mixing bowls or large pots but a small one is very useful for whisking eggs or for mixing things in a glass liquid measuring cup or anywhere  that you need to combine liquid ingredients where a large whisk is just too big to use.

The ice cream scoop, can opener, tongs, vegetable peeler and rubber spatula don’t need any explanation.   The orange and green dome shaped utensils are actually citrus juicers.  They often are color coded with orange being for oranges, yellow for lemons and the green for limes.  If you only buy one get the larger orange one which will still work with smaller fruit like limes.  This is the very best juicer I have ever used.  It is very easy to use and efficient at getting the most juice from your fruit.

I prefer hand held graters to the square box type.  They are easier to handle and allow more flexibility as to where you can grate cheese, eggs, carrots, etc., but you will want one with small holes as well as the one with larger holes.

The “basket” with the long handle is perfect for removing fried foods from hot oil or anything that needs to be taken out of boiling water without taking the water or oil with the food.

The candy thermometer is very helpful to determine the temp of oil when frying or the temp or “stage” of liquid when making candy.

The green “pot” is called a butter bell.  When you remove the “top” it is actually a small bowl that is inverted into the bottom “pot” which has cool water in it.  The water creates an air tight  seal which keeps the butter fresh while still allowing it to remain soft at room temperature.  Very clever!  I love this item :).

If you like to bake, there are some basic items you will need to invest in.  A scraper is one of them.  It allows you to lift dough without handling it repeatedly.  Things like pie dough and certain kinds of cookie dough or biscuit dough get tough if they are handled too much.

Measuring cups and spoons are a must when baking, as well as for other cooking.  It is important to have both wet and dry measuring cups and to use them accordingly.  Liquids are best measured in a glass measuring cup.  This one is especially good as the measurements are marked on the inside of the cup, so as you pour in the liquid you can easily see how much you have, without trying to hold it up at eye level and keep it steady, or kneeling down to see the marks with the measuring cup resting on the counter.

The long utensil with many small holes is a rasp which is wonderful for grating citrus peel, whole nutmeg, or anything which needs to be grated very, very finely.

The two long spatulas are great for applying icing to cakes or cupcakes, spreading filling between layers of cake or between cookies, or making whipped cream look decorative when added to cakes or pies.

The “u” shaped tool with the wooden handle is a pastry blender and used to incorporate butter or other fat into flour when making pie crust, crumb toppings or biscuit dough.

The cloth and rolling pin are perfect for rolling out any kind of dough from pie crust, to cookie dough to yeast doughs for cinnamon rolls and such.  The pastry cloth is floured which keeps dough from sticking to a mat or cutting board or wherever you roll out dough.  It doesn’t need to be washed after each use.  Simply shake off the excess flour when you are done and store loosely folded.  I wash mine about once a month.  Not shown in the photo is a “sock” type sleeve for the rolling pin.  These are made of cotton knit fabric and are usually sold with the pastry cloth as a set when you buy them.  I frequently neglect to use mine and so forgot to include it in the photo.  While I would recommend that you always use the pastry cloth, if you flour your rolling pin well, the rolling pin cover isn’t really necessary.
Anyone who cooks will tell you how important it is to have sharp knives.  You don’t have to have every shape and kind of knife ever made but whichever knives you do have need to be sharp or they are not only useless, they are dangerous.  More kitchen injuries happen from using dull knives than from all the sharp ones combined.  Here are what I think are the most basic knives that everyone should have if they plan to do more than just boil water in the kitchen.

The longest knife shown is a French chef knife.   I use this everyday for everything from cutting up whole chickens into pieces to slicing and trimming meat, to cutting up vegetables.  What is really important as you are choosing a knife is how it feels in your hand….not how it is supposed to feel according to the sales person, but how it actually feels in YOUR hand.  You are after all the one who will be using it and if it doesn’t fit your hand well you either will find that you won’t use it properly or  that you avoid using it at all.

A serrated knife is great for many things.  It is perfect for slicing bread or anything that needs to be sliced from ham to pineapple.

The rounded looking knife is a sandwich spreader.  This may sound like just some kind of gadget but if you make many sandwiches (and if you have children who  make sandwiches) it is wonderful.  The rounded end makes gathering and spreading mayonnaise and mustard or butter or whatever dressings you prefer quick and easy and spreads them uniformly on the bread.  One side has a serrated edge which means you can easily and cleanly cut your sandwich with the same knife you used to spread things on it.  This one is great for making garlic bread too.

The smallest knife here is a paring knife.  The paring knife will allow you to peel a piece of fruit, slice the fruit and easily cut out the pit of the fruit.  It is also great for peeling a potato  or slicing cucumbers, mushrooms and trimming Brussels sprouts, green beans, or broccoli.

Kitchen shears are a must.  You will use them again and again from cutting bacon into pieces before cooking when all you need are small pieces of bacon for an entree or salad, to snipping sprigs of mint or parsley as garnish, or cutting stems from a pot of herbs, or cutting stems of flowers to arrange for a centerpiece or cutting a piece of kitchen twine to tie up the legs of  a turkey or chicken to be roasted.

Lastly, but ever so important, is a good knife sharpener. As was mentioned before sharp knives are SOOOO important and will make your work easier and far more enjoyable.  No one wants to crush a tomato when they were only meaning to slice it.   Having a knife that cuts cleanly through a tomato, as though it was butter, is a thrill.   This particular sharpener is the best one I have ever owned,  and I have had many over the years.   It is called a V-Shapener.  It isn’t too expensive but is well worth every penny.

The other three things that are essential to me but not pictured, are my Kitchen Aide mixer, my Cuisinart food processor and my Vitamix blender.

There are many, many other tools which you may decide you want to have.   I certainly have many others that I have acquired over the years.  I am a sucker for anything you use in the kitchen but having bought a lot of those “gadgets” over the years I’ve learned that I keep coming back, again and again, to those I’ve listed here.

Always remember though, no matter how much cooking you do or how many new recipes you try, it is only the things you cook with love that will truly bring joy to you and your family or guests.   If you cook with the ingredient of love, no matter what you make or how much you have or don’t have  to spend on ingredients or fancy tools, you will always experience abundant living!