Essential Kitchen Items

griddled

griddled

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Either some old-time favorites or even some new gadgets are welcomed.

For me, off the top of my head, in no particular order:

Immersion Blender - for soups (and sauces) I find it essential to have some of the veggies pureed, while some are still chunky.
I also use it to make single-serving smoothies in a tall-ish glass (large beer mug).

Heavy-bottomed Stainless Steel Pans - Most of mine are All-Clad or similar.

Carbon-Steel Woks - I've got a half-dozen or so ranging from 14"-20".
Although I use them for Asian stir-frys and such, I also use them in place of a skillet.
Since I have them perfectly seasoned (I'm working on getting my cast irons up to par), when cooking vegetables only, I don't need to use oil, just a couple of tablespoons of water at a time, so in essence, they become steam-fried.
Because of the seasoning and intense heat, if I go longer, they can taste like they were grilled over the BBQ if I choose.
The only downside to the woks is, I have a propane burner (somewhere around 200,000 BTUs) that not only must be used for proper stir-frying (no indoor stove-top), it also must be used outdoors.

Microplane - Obviously, for finely grating numerous items.
When I use it for grating fresh ginger, I first put the ginger in the freezer for about twenty-thirty minutes.
When it gets grated, its light and fluffy.
One of these days I'll remember to try that with fresh garlic!

What's yours?
 
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One thing that I don't know how I lived without until I got one is a digital scale.

I think if I could have only one cooking vessel, it'd be my Dutch oven. I can do nearly anything in that.

Then, of course, a chef's knife and a paring knife.

I'll stop there or I'll end up listing my whole kitchen.

PS - I do like my hand citrus squeezer. And my rechargeable wine bottle opener.
 
That would be my outdoor cooking equipment, the Weber (and attachments), BGE, Horizon off-set and propane burners.
 
For me (and Yorky I believe) the halogen oven has become indispensable. It heats up in seconds and does everything a conventional oven does - plus it uses less energy and doesn't throw out heat like an oven can do. Its really good for meals for one or two - but can handle much larger loads.

37820

I also value a stick blender, microplane, kitchen blowtorch, mandolin and julienne grater.
 
Two or three very good knives: a chef's knife, a paring knife for sure. I also really love my kitchen scissors.

I have a love-hate relationship with the mandolin. But it is useful if not forgiving … :D

The cheese grater is quite wonderful. PS, this cheese grater used to be my mother's, and so is likely 40 years old, more or less. As is the immersion blender. The All-Clad skillets are wonderful, best skillets I ever had.

The stew pot, which amazingly turned out to be induction ready, is a multipurpose life-saver. I use it for stews, bone broth (when I don't use the crock pot), chili, water bath canning, cooking lobster, steaming up crawfish, sous vide cooking, and as the hot water dunking vessel for removing the feathers from home-processed meat chickens.

The various sizes of kitchen sieves I have here (three sizes).

Also, my manual scales - I have two, one that goes to 18 ounces / 500 grams; the other goes to 6.5 pounds / 3.kg. Never have to replace batteries, and the metric and US measurements are side by side. Which makes it handy when writing up recipes based on ingredient weight.

Cooking/cooling racks. When used for cooking, fats and grease drop below. When used for cooling, they work efficiently.

Oh. The coffee maker. Currently a Cuisinart - the old one lasted a good 8 years if not more, and the two other brands I had in the interim before I got the current one were terrible, and lasted two years or less. So back to Cuisinart. Since this one is only about 6 months old, I am keeping high hopes for it.

My coffee grinder takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'.
 
I did like Jacques Pepin's response to this question. In a Q &A session with culinary school students, someone asked what his most important kitchen tool is, and without missing a beat, he immediately replied, "My hands."
 
griddled said:
BGE?
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The BGE is my favorite cooker/smoker. It can maintain temperature for hours, uses very little fuel and can be cranked up to 900F. It is perfect for small batch smoking. I only use the Horizon when I have large batches to smoke.
 
I think that I got everything - several stand mixer, a blender that makes hot soups without a stove, a food processor, a stick blender , mandolin slicer, lots of cooking & serving utensils & an ice cream machine. :wink:
 
morning glory said:
Big Green Egg - its an object of jealousy for me. I can't afford one... this is one but there are several models.

View attachment 37846
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I've never attempted to smoke meats and such.
The closest I got was back in the sixties when our fresh-out-of-college High School 'Home Ec.' teacher tossed a couple of banana peels in the oven, which of course set off the fire alarms before they were even medium-well!

Seriously though...I Googled 'BGE Mini' and it does look tempting....
 
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