Okay, I know that there are more than ten, but I’ll concentrate here on the top ten things that a SERIOUS HOME COOK needs in the kitchen, according to my experience over the past two decades or so.
Some things I’ve bought and discarded over the years: anything to do with peeling/crushing garlic. Anything to do with dicing onions. Panini makers. Dedicated deep-fry fryers. Anything that says it’s “two-in-one.” Expensive baking aids, such as huge ceramic oven inserts. Gimmicky barbecue tools. Gimmicky cookware, such as those that “glow red” when you’re ready to cook. The list goes on, and on. My mind grows numb when I consider what I’ve bought and discarded over the years. Circulon pans, which were not cheap, but were pieces of shit. Henckels knives, ditto. Top-of-the line vintage immersion blenders. Gadget after gadget. Now, thankfully, all gone.
And now, in no particular order, my top ten (probably of dozens) of what I still use after all these years. Bear in mind that some of these items I only use maybe once a year, but I would be lost without. Others I use once a week. Some I use every day. But the rule of thumb here is that they’re things that have proven their worth time and again, and things I ireally couldn’t do without.
Again, in no particular order:
1. My chef’s knife, and its accompanying whetstone sharpeners. I have a Kasumi Damascus steel and I’ve had it for at least eight years. It still cuts like a razor blade, thanks to the Japanese whetstones I use to sharpen it.
2. My meat grinder. This is an absolute must-have for the serious cook. I maybe drag it out once every three months, but it’s worth every drag. When I eat what comes out of it I know for sure that I am not eating the meat of 1,000 cows.
3. My One-touch can opener. Stupid as it may sound, this thing really works. This is one of the only “As Seen on TV” items that have actually remained in my kitchen.
4. My potato ricer. This is an awesome beast that makes the most delectable mashed potatoes on the planet.
5. My Microplane graters. I have a couple of them. One is not by Microplane, but uses the same idea, except has an extensible end that spans any container. Cool.
6. My extensible colander. It stretches completely across the sink and is fine meshed so it’s completely hands free when dumping pasta or washing vegetables.
7. My pull-cord salad spinner. I’d have to go look at the make but Zyliss comes to mind. Indispensable for salad.
8. One of the most essential: my Matfer mandolin. I have made some of my most spectacular dishes (scalloped potatotoes, julienned French fries) using this beast.
9. My Zojirushi rice steamer. Do yourself a favor and get the best, which is Zojirushi.
10. My dollar-store white plastic colander. Nothing sticks to this baby. It costs a dollar and you can wash anything under the sun in it: rice, lettuce, herbs, shrimp. And you give it one bang on the edge of the sink and every single thing in it comes out.
Honorable mentions:
My halogen lights above every counter. I don’t know now how I lived without them.
My Gel-pro chef’s mat. If you’re going to stand all day, you’d better stand on this.
The TV in the corner of the counter, tuned pretty much perpetually to the Food Network.
My collection of wooden spatulas. My pot rack, upon which hangs about eight stainless steel and non-stick sauté pans of every size.
My sauce-pot collection, which includes several pasta-cook-sized pots and tiny soup pots and everything in between.
My little gadgets, that always see service eventually: a cucumber groover that leaves grooves up and down the cucumber so it looks cool when sliced.
A dough cutter that leaves a cool roller pattern on a piece of cut dough.
An immersion blender that has a beater attachment so I can purée my roasted cherry tomato sauce one minute and make cappuccinos the next.
My amazing pizza peel that makes loading and unloading pizzas effortless.
My pantry full of everything known to a chef, from Nam Pla to Tamarind sauce to durum wheat flour to Israeli chili sauce to palm sugar to sambal oelek to truffle oil to pink salt to Cuban rice to soy sauce direct from Japan to panko to all sorts of spiced from the best spice purveyor in North America, Penzeys.
Phew. Did I mention the permanent bottle of Boréale Cuivrée?
