Starter Kitchen Equipment

I’ve heard this line more than once: “What do I need in my kitchen?” Well a stove is a good start. Most people have no idea what they should have on hand to make dinner or even a grilled cheese sandwich. Then you have the problem of having too much crap in your cupboards. This discussion thread should clear most of that up.

Serving Utensils: Hands DO NOT COUNT as serving utensils. I don’t care what your Man Book tells you. Unless you are the only one that will ever eat in your apartment (or mother’s basement), you’re gonna need serving utensils. These consist of:

• two wooden salad spoons
• 2-3 large serving spoons
• a large serving fork
• a serving ladle

You might be thinking, “Pshhht! My hands are clean! Why do I need to have any of this junk?”

One word Einstein – Soup.

Wooden Spoons: You should have a selection of wooden spoons on hand at all times. Why? Because frying onions by hand is painful. The handles should be long enough that your hands are not over the cooking area. Steam burns are not fun. Make sure you have a mix of slotted and solid spoons. About three wooden spoons is enough. This way if one is in the wash you’ll have a spare. When you’re making custard or pudding the recipe will call for using a wooden spoon. As the substance thickens it will coat the back of the spoon and that will let you know when you can stop cooking it. Soups, stews and stir fry dishes also benefit from the spoons. Do they need to be fancy? No. Do they need to be expensive? No. Should you have more than 5? No. Sensing a trend yet?

A large sharp knife: I can’t tell you how much use I get out of a big knife with a sharp blade. It makes all the difference in slicing, dicing, mincing and chopping. This is an essential tool. You won’t get very far trying to make do with a steak knife or a flatware knife.

Wusthof is one of the best brands. You’ll also get good results with a Henckels, but basically any of the top brands will do. (Cuisinart, All-Clad, Kitchen Aid). I would stay away from celebrity chef tools. I worked with a Martha Stewart stock pot/pasta pot and got so-so results.

Also, spend the money on a small knife sharpener. I realize that the mechanical expensive ones are really good but if you’re on a budget like everyone else these days, you’ll want something between now and the next Wall Street boom to keep your equipment sharp. Besides, no one looks cool torturing a tomato for thirty minutes with a dull ass knife.

A small sharp knife – a.k.a paring knife: A paring knife is like the chef knife’s little brother. This is used mainly for delicate work that the big boy can’t handle. It cores apples and pears, takes the top and hulls from strawberries, and can be used to make decorative foliage shapes out of vegetables.

A vegetable peeler: This is a NEED tool. I tried getting by with using q knife to peel my potatoes and the peeler is so much better. If you need anything peeled this is your guy.

• Potatoes
• Squash
• Apples
• Pears
• Carrots

See where I’m going with this?

Measuring cups: dry and liquid: Look, there’s a reason why the culinary gods made two types of measuring cups. The liquid measure will measure volume. (Cups, pints, liters that kind of thing.) The dry measure will measure weight. (Pounds, ounces.) If you use them interchangeably your measurements will be off and that could ruin a recipe, especially if you’re baking something.

Pyrex is best for liquid measuring cups because you can use them in the microwave and pour in hot liquids as well as cold. Graduated dry measuring cups and measuring spoons are the best kind to get, but run-of-the-mill dry measuring cups and spoons are ok if you’re on a budget.

Measuring Spoons: More necessary in baking but handy with cooking when measuring spices. I recommend getting good quality spoons, also called graduated. These will last longer and give you more accurate measurements. If you invest in good tools, as far as finances allow, you’ll be saving yourself money and headaches in the long run.

The Container Store has a set that are magnetic which makes them harder to lose. They’re also double ended. One end is for dry measures and the other is for liquid. You really can’t get more accurate than that.

Ladle: Looks like this. YOU ONLY NEED ONE! And if you’re not a big soup maker or you get it out of a can, you might not need it. However, if you get into making your own stock, gravies, stews or anything with a liquid element, it’s always good to have this on hand.

Spatula: Rubber or stiff, you should have one of each. They help you scrap the last of the whatever out of any container. It’s good to have a stiff spatula when you’re flipping eggs and a rubber one for baking recipes to form peaks with whipped cream, marshmallow or meringue toppings on pies and cakes.

Colander & Sieve (and sometimes a salad spinner): These are MUST HAVE items if you intend to ever eat a vegetable or make pasta. Not everyone washes out the sink before they start dinner. Sometimes Fido and Fluffy need to be fed at the same time as Bobby, Marsha and Jan. Having a colander on hand makes it easier to make sure your eggplant parmigiana doesn’t have kibbles and bits in it. The salad spinner is one of the few kitchen gadgets I have, and I gotta say this thing rocks. Not only does it get water off the lettuce, but you can use it to store the greens that weren’t used at that meal time.

A Sieve is a wire (sometimes plastic) mesh with a handle and is primarily used for sifting flour, straining sauces or giving fruit a quick wash. It’s smaller than a colander and dose not do a very good job straining pasta. A lot of people use the terms colander and sieve interchangeably, but I think that just encourages confusion.

Baking Sheet/Cookie Sheet: If your mom ever made fish sticks and tater tots, you will remember the baking sheet that always seemed to be on hand. Whats the difference between a cookie sheet and a baking sheet? Not much. Some types of baking sheets will have a lip on them so you can make brownies or use as a base for a pie, like cherry or apple, and keep the juices from spilling over and messing up the oven. I like the sheets with the lip on it better. It gives you more options for whatever it is that gets tossed in the oven. One of the best things about them is that you can have more than one and when they start to get kinda old and gross, you can leave them in the oven as a protector in case you have a spill. Obviously if it starts to get holes in it, recycle it.