Must-Have Essential Kitchen Tools
Having a few basic tools available in your kitchen can make cooking easy, safe, and enjoyable. Good quality kitchen tools can last a lifetime. Marion recommends the essential equipment you will need to be prepared to fix just about any recipe.
Choosing the Right Tools
If you have ever wandered into a cooking supply shop, you may have been left with the impression that choosing the right tools can be overwhelming. With each item, there may be at least a dozen options ranging in price from “bargain basement” to “you’ve got to be kidding.” Should you just pick something in the middle and hope for the best?
Keeping in mind that most of these tools are meant to last a lifetime, purchasing the best quality to fit your budget is the route to take, especially when choosing cookware and knives. With measuring cups, spoons, and other utensils, good quality is important too, but even bargain brands can perform as well as the ones fetching top dollar.
Pots & Pans
Aside from electric equipment, pots and pans will be your biggest investment in the kitchen. For best results, you will want pots and pans that are able to conduct heat efficiently. Copper and aluminum (anodized or nonanodized) conduct heat the best. You will find the higher-end brands, such as All Clad, feature these materials. If these seem a little too pricey, good stainless steel pans with aluminum and copper sandwiched at the bottom can serve your needs just fine.
When shopping for pans, you’ll also find non-stick variations of each. This is really a matter of preference, but if you want to improve certain cooking techniques, uncoated surfaces are superior. Also, non-stick coatings are sensitive to metal utensils, and the coating often comes off just through general wear–this is especially true with the low-end variety.
Bakeware
The same holds true for bakeware; however, a non-stick surface is certainly handy when baking. So, if you’re going this route, pick something on the higher end. Since stainless steel is less conductive with heat, and therefore better for slow-cooking, good baking pans should be made of this material. Pie and other baking dishes are often ceramic or glass, and whichever fits your budget will serve you well.
Cutlery
When it comes to choosing cutlery, you want knives that feel good in hand–they should have a comfortable grip with good weight and balance. You really only need three knives in the kitchen for cooking: a chef’s knife, a paring knife, and a serrated knife (i.e., a bread knife). The chef’s knife handles all your general chopping and slicing. The paring knife is used for peeling small vegetables and fruit as well as other delicate tasks. A serrated knife is necessary for slicing soft items such as tomatoes or bread. The best knives are made of high-carbon stainless steel, as it holds a very sharp edge and resists stains, rust, and breakage.
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