Over the years we’ve accumulated a large batterie de cuisine, armaments to wage battle against ingredients to make meals. I’ve come a long way from the time a former roommate and I beat egg whites for a soufflé – with a fork. It worked, but our arms were mighty sore afterward. Since we all have limited space in our kitchens for every gadget in creation, let me give you some suggestions on arming your kitchen. This post deals with the non-electric stuff. I’ll cover electric gadgets in a subsequent post.
The bare bones. A chef’s knife, a paring knife, and a serrated (bread) knife will handle most of your cutting needs. Don’t skimp on the quality of your knives. Add a vegetable peeler for carrots and potatoes. Buy some wooden and metal spoons for mixing and serving. A good set of measuring cups: Metal for dry ingredients, glass for liquids. A set of metal measuring spoons. A balloon whisk. A slotted spoon and a ladle. A four-sided metal cheese grater. A set of mixing bowls, either metal or glass.
You can never have too many sets of tongs. They’re handy to flip steaks and chops, and to fish things out of boiling water. Buy some extra-long tongs if you grill.
A thermometer. This is good to test meat for doneness. You can get a pen-type thermometer or get one with a remote sensor in case you’re roasting something and you’re in another room.
Can and bottle openers. The can opener can be electric or manual. Add a sturdy corkscrew if you drink wine. (The first time Julian made dinner for me, his corkscrew fell apart when he attempted to open a bottle of wine. I bought him three corkscrews the following Christmas so he’d always have a backup.)
Not only does ease of cleaning matter, so does usability. If you’re in a mixed household as we are, consider whether these items can be used by both left- and right-handed people. Julian bought a peeler that can be switched for southpaw use, but that’s too much of a hassle. I just grab an ambidextrous y-shaped peeler.
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