Posted by johngl
Let’s face it, there is a lot of crap for sale out there that promises to make your life in the kitchen easier. Whether you fall for the pitch or not, there are certain tools that are one trick wonders, others that make things easier, and still others that are essential. In this post, I will attempt to focus on the latter.
Take for instance:
These don’t really need explanation. The site is called the Alcoholian for a reason. A lot of meal prep sessions start out with the use of these tools, therefore, they fall into the essential category.
While we are looking at certain measuring devices, here are a couple of panes of those I use:
The stainless steel cups on the left are excellent for dry measure. The handles are short and sturdy so that you can get into a bag or canister with ease. The rims are flat so that it is easy to get an accurate measure by scraping off the excess with the back of a knife. Stay away from scoop shaped cup measures. Scoops are scoops, not measuring devices.
The spoon measures shown in the center are really great. I have had these for as long as I can remember. Granted, sometimes that isn’t very long these days (what’s my name again?), but I think I played with these as a kid (Kid is a relative age once you turn 50…people in their early thirties become kids).
The liquid measures on the right are relative newcomers to my hand tool collection. The little Oxo (right front) is much handier than you’d think. I use it to measure tablespoons of some liquids (if I am actually following a recipe). It also doubles as a nice shot glass when the other one has been stuck in the dishwasher by most glorious spousal unit.
The conical shaped device is a magnificent invention. It measures a couple of tablespoons to a couple of cups of liquid accurately and with ease. I still have my collection of Pyrex liquid measuring cups, but I use the conical one quite frequently.
And now, the Pyrex collection:
Starting at the top left and moving clockwise: two quart, one quart, one pint, and one cup. Most of these are ancient and I use the larger ones more frequently than the smaller ones now that I have the cone shaped guy. The one and two quart sizes are really handy when straining stocks. I use them more as pitchers than measures, but it does give me a pretty good idea of how many 8 oz containers I will need to fish out of my collection of plastic (and heavily re-used) yogurt cups. These yogurt cups are ideal for freezing stock in one cup increments and probably should be pictured here as essential equipment.
Speaking of stock, you will need to strain it to get remove the small goobers that make it look like you don’t know what the heck you are doing. Above, starting in the upper left and moving clockwise: 8″ chinois, 8″ fine mesh, 6″ conical fine mesh, 5″ fine mesh, and a 4″ medium mesh. I frequently stack the 8″ fine mesh inside the chinois. The chinois is ultra-fine mesh and will clog easily if you don’t do this.
Of any tools I own, I use these literally all the time. I strain all of my sauces unless I am going for a rustic presentation. Running sauces through these things makes for a very silky or velvety look. They also help remove those ugly lumps from gravy (if your gravy has lumps, you screwed up and you would never want to put that on display).
I use these for sifting flour, cornstarch, arrow root, etc to prevent lumps. I use them to strain the seeds from fresh raspberries (I hate those seeds!). I use the ultra-fine chinois to strain the mother out of home-made vinegars. If you need to sift or strain, you need a collection of these.
While we are on the subject of straining, a colander is an essential. This is my favorite of the several I own. It is, ummm, Tupperware. My most glorious spouse had this when we got married (over 16 years ago). Yes, I know, it is horribly ugly and I think it hails from the era of harvest gold kitchen appliances. I keep it hidden from view most of the time just to avoid embarrassment. Still, it is the go-to colander when I am straining pasta. I love this thing.
This salad spinner has been around the house for over a decade. New ones look nearly identical to this one. It is tough and durable. I have never had any issues with this piece of equipment at all. Hats off to Oxo for making stuff that works and lasts!
Initially, I resisted buying one of these. However, rinsing dirt off of garden veggies became a pain using a normal colander. With this guy, you can drop your veggies into the basket, run a nice shower of water over them to get the bulk of the dirt off, put the strainer back in the bowl, put on the top and give it a spin. A few pumps is all it takes. Nice and relatively dry leafy veggies for salad. I also use this to clean mushrooms, strawberries, and cherries. Awesome machine.
This machine is a potato ricer. It makes the smoothest mashed potatoes known to man. If you have roasted garlic you want to add to your mashers, just throw them in here, too. It takes a bit of muscle to squish the potatoes through it, but it is well worth the effort. It also does wonders on cooked carrots, parsnips, or sweet potatoes.
This particular model (I went through three of them prior to finding this one at Williams-Sonoma) has a removable pin at the hinge joint to facilitate cleaning. I have been using this one for 5 years and haven’t bent the handles yet.
I use the above tools so frequently, they hang just to the left of the cook top. Ladles of several sizes, Oxo tongs of several sizes (note the heat proof plastic tips on the tongs), a stainless fish turner, heat proof plastic fish turners, a slotted spoon, a siliconized gravy whisk, a fine mesh spider, steel and heat proof plastic spatulas, and a slotted spaghetti spoon rounds out the collection of accessories. These all get used so often, I can’t imagine not having them right at hand.
Also, in the same area, is a collection of wooden utensils:
These are all made of olive wood or cherry. Most have been around for a decade (at least) and are used for scraping fond, stirring stocks, tasting, and scooping.
No collection of kitchen tools would be complete without these:
You may remember seeing these in previous posts. The one on the left is dropped into the vent holes of the Weber Kettle grill, the next two are used to keep track of the temperature of hot oil used for frying. The last two have been stuck in the side of steaks to make sure they have come up to room temperature. If you are into cooking at all, you will want a few of these. Notice that all of mine are analog. I have yet to find a digital one that reads a temperature as fast or survives a drop to the floor as well as these. They aren’t expensive at all.
Everyone knows what this is. However, this guy beats out all those fancy-assed cork screws that can cost 10 times as much. This is a two stage type of corkscrew. It improves leverage quite a bit. Starting with the shorter ledge, you get the cork started on it’s trip out of the bottle. Then, with a quick tilt, the longer arm falls into place, and you can lift the cork right out. This one also has a standard bottle opener on it as well. The curved, rubberized handle fits my hand perfectly.
There is nothing quite like popping a nice bottle at the end of a cooking session. It is a great reward.
Note: There will be a follow-up installment of hand tools as this was getting a bit long. At some point, I will also delve into power tools. I can’t wait.
