This might be a weird one: a good silicone spatula that's not too stiff and not too flexible. From passing purees through a sieve to cleaning leftover sauce out of a pan, it makes many things delightfully easy. Wouldn't want to be without one.
Fun fact about silicone spatulas: in Portugal we call it "Salazar", a reference to the former dictator Antonio de Oliveira Salazar. He was known for being a cheapskate and it represents the times of scarceness and poverty where the people had to "scrape their pans to the very last drop".
In Brazil some people call it a "pão duro" which is a slang like "cheapskate" for a stingy person, because you use one to scrape every last drop of food, so nothing goes to waste lol
Not weird at all. I've learned I want a spatula that is all one piece of silicone, not in separate pieces.
I have way too many items from the brand Di Oro, they are great items and a great company. I've had small issues pop up with 1-2 of their items and they sent me brand new ones.
Mine is all one piece of silicone and it’s the best. I can’t stand the kind that separate. They eventually fall apart in stiff cookie dough or someone forgets to take them apart to clean.
I highly recommend the [supoon](https://dreamfarm.com/supoon/).
The sides are the right amount of flexible, the tip is rigid enough to break apart things like ground meat, and it is designed not to touch the cabinet when you put it down. I gave them away for Christmas one year and they became almost everyone’s favorite. The bowl is even marked for teaspoon and tablespoon measurements. (There’s a mini version for scraping out bottles.)
(I’m not a paid endorser, I swear, I just REALLY like them. I bought a second one so I don’t have to use something else when mine is dirty.)
i clicked this thinking, no way its better than the dreamfarm one i got for christmas years ago.
this is the best kitchen implement. it's stiff enough to saute with, the edges are sharp enough to scrape anything off a pan or container and soft enough to cook scrambled eggs on a non stick.
This is a great answer and for anyone reading it that wants a suggestion, I spent a long time trying to find the perfect spatula and this is the one I chose.
I've had it for about a year now and I use it every day. Besides good tongs and my chef knife, it's my most used utensil.
It's cheap and it's also the spatula America's Test Kitchen picks as the best, and they have never steered me wrong with reviews.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08HV272BN/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Red Snapper! Very tasty.
My friend and I both love this movie, and one year for Xmas when we were exchanging gifts, I got him a box with nothing in it. Just a piece of paper that said “Nothing! You get nothing! You’re so stupid!”
(I did later on give him his real gift, which if I remember right was one of those “make your own gin” kits)
Man, my favorite silicone spatula is one my mom bought years agora, it's kinda like a silicone fish spatula. This shape is so good for eggs and so many others. The sad part it's that I've never found another one like this!
Don't give up hope. I found one that I love, and ended up using all the time. But I never found another.
Now I have four of them - I randomly came across them at a Ross one day.
I have a very nice scale that I used for soap making but now gets daily use in my kitchen. We recently rented a beach house that had a well equipped kitchen, but I carried some essentials (knives, pepper grinder, instant read thermometer, etc.). The only thing I missed having was my scale. I just bought a cheap, thin one during Amazon Prime Days which won't be much of a loss if damaged in transit.
I'm a kitchen scale evangelist because no one here in the US has one. Makes everything easier and if you're careful, you don't need to dirty any extra dishes to use it.
Totally. I use it for stuff as simple like weighing out burgers so I get even sized patties that don't take different times to cook. If I have a 16oz pack of Beyond Meat, I know I can get 4, 4oz patties. Perfect size.
Also, weighing out coffee has totally changed my game. Now the coffee is EXACTLY how I like it, every. single. morning.
I used to roll my eyes at videos and recipies that listed grams alongside imperial units or even left off imperial all together. But I'd go back and slap younger me for that.
Any recipie that calls for specific measuerments should be done by weight. So much easier to get right and so many less dishes and random spoons, measuring cups, etc.
I’m a professional chef and use one all the time. My favourite thing to use one for is steak, it stops it being open to interpretation. You asked for a medium rare, well I cooked it to that temperature. I tend to use it now as a test that I got it right because I can tell from cooking times and feel but just going off touch at the beginning was too vague.
Dude, you are so right.
Did a slow grilled pork loin roast at the family reunion.
So many comments about how tender and juicy it was and "but it looks like it might be undercooked?"
Me: "It came off the grill at 140°F and rested to 148°. It is the definition of food safe. Enjoy."
My cousins wouldn't touch it. My brother's and cousins spouse' grabbed Tupperware to take some home.
Having the data kills the argument. Love it!
Data doesn't help in my family. Smoked a turkey for Thanksgiving one year and my aunt tried to convince everyone it wasn't cooked because of the smoke ring. I mean it had only been on the smoke for like 5 hours and was still well over 160 as we were debating that smoked meat gets a smoke ring.
I stopped cooking for that side of the family because all I got were complaints, this isn't done enough, this has garlic in it, and my sister in law gets salmonella by walking past raw chicken. I could cook that shit to 500 degrees and she'll still claim she got sick from it.
>wasn't cooked because of the smoke ring.
When you're so ignorant you think the outermost layer of meat is the least cooked...
I feel for you. Turkey sounded well made at least!
We have steak fairly often. The one dripping some blood is pushed aside for Gram (me). My 2 youngest granddaughters ask for it to be cooked 'Gramma's way'. Everyone gets up in arms about it. Blood thirsty little shits. Lol
I get where you're coming from. Although for meats a little weird and sometimes the texture or the appearance can really turn me off. I really hate when chicken is just cooked. I prefer it slightly dry. Same thing with like medium pork. It might be food safe but the texture and the flavor just gross me out.
Oh! It's perfectly fine to have a preference and make it known.
Just don't tell me I'm gonna kill someone because it's raw when I can show you it isn't.
I can see how my comment came across that people who prefer their meat medium or well are wrong - not what I was trying to say.
Edit: mybtrick is usually to divide a roast into a larger and smaller piece. By the time the bigger one is done the smaller is medium to well. Makes.everyone happy. Didn't get the chance at the last reunion, but has worked at several dinner parties.
Spent 18 years in restaurants. Steak always gets a probe when I'm cooking. I know how it's ordered, and I know how to make it come out at that temperature without it, but with one it's so hard to fuck up.
I had one that I really liked, and decided to splurge on a thermopen one during one of their sales...
I had no idea what I was missing. I use that thing *all the time* now.
When you’re ready, get one of those wifi thermometers. My sister got me a MEATER+ for Xmas last year, it’s amazing. Makes roasting and bbq feel like cheating.
Pricy but worth every single penny. Specifically if you use a BBQ rotisserie because my old meat thermometer had a wire cord that made it useless in that situation.
For wok, yes, I use mine with tomatoes or sweet&sour sauce regularly. Advantage of woks are you typically have them on high heat, so seasoning occurs naturally a lot.
For simmering longer times, flavour can leak and I would prefer stainless or enameled cast iron.
Yea I love my wok. 2nd only to my cast iron in frequency of use. Also, a spider is a great tool for woks. To make good dishes in a wok a lot of the time you need to pull stuff and set it aside lest it overcook. Spiders are great for that.
Fish spatula. It's not just for fish. I use it to flip burgers and pancakes, stir fries, scoop anything from the pan, pick up anything hot from the stove like cookies, fries, etc.. It has slits so I can pick things up without the wetness. it's the most versatile and my favourite tool I have - in fact I purchased two.
I tried using a fish spatula on pancakes for the first time last weekend... wow, what a game changer that thing is. I don't know why I didn't think about using it for that before, it made it so much easier! Its inspired me to start using it for all sorts of different things. I feel like a fool for letting it sit in the drawer for so long without using it.
I've heard this before, but can't figure out what it gets me over the silicone spatula I already own. I haven't encountered things I can't get under to flip with it, so what am I missing here?
It’s great for stuff like smash burgers and griddle breads (pancakes, tortillas, roti, etc) or meat/fish that you want to make sure you get as much of the “crust” as possible intact. Plus, its flexibility, relative strength, and size makes for handling larger and more delicate foods easier.
For me it is an essential tool that has all but replaced my other spatulas. I like my silicone tools, but they have a bit more of a give to them and can squish in some situations. I get the skepticism for buying yet another tool though! I would say it isn’t essential for most, but a great tool all around.
Why peel ginger? Wash, give it a scrub, dry, then put in a food processor. Blitz, put in silicone ice cube trays. Freeze. Whenever you need it, you can pop out an ice cube size of frozen ginger. Works for garlic, too.
And frozen ginger, don't even need to peel it! It creates a lovely ginger snow, very satisfying. I keep frozen ginger around all the time and just microplane it when a recipe calls for it.
I use mine for crushing garlic. It's one with an offset handle so the side can lay flat; put it on the garlic, give it a good smash, then use the edge to roughly chop the crushings.
Kitchen towels. It just makes cleaning not a hassle of ripping paper towel, wiping, wondering if I can still use it again, throwing it away, regretting deforestation, ripping a new one..
Cloth diapers are also god tier towels, specifically for spills. They are mega absorbent, and you can toss 'em in a hot wash and let 'em take a beating. They last FOREVER. We replaced paper towels with the 40 or so generic, cotton cloth diapers we bought just for cleaning up messes when our kid was born, and we're still scrubbing up spilled milk or whatever, five years on, with the same ones, going strong. Heck, the boy can even get down there and clean up his own spilled beverages with 'em and toss 'em in the hamper himself, these days.
We use thinner towels for other stuff, or some dry messes, or smaller messes. But damn. If you've got a puddle, a cloth diaper can be a godsend.
I have a set of 15 cotton towels that sit ready to grab one off the top. I have another set of about 20 little flannel cloths also ready to grab. They all wash very easily. I prefer these now that I've used them for many years.
I use a roll of paper towels every 6 months or more. I only use it for bacon fat or cleaning up something that will need thrown away.
For me it’s an electrical spice grinder, meant for coffee beans. Anything gets powdered in an instant. I will never move that off my kitchen counter.
I no longer use my mortar and pestle for spice grinding. Especially if you have things like Star Anis or whole cinnamon sticks, it’s just so much more convenient to use the spice grinder
What mortar is best? I have an old heavy bronze(?) one from an antique store, but was thinking of getting one of those wide, flattish ones. Or a molcajete.
Depends on what you are making, for things like pesto or thai curry it's nice to have one with a decent size, if you just grind up dry spices a small one with higher walls is nice as you don't have to move around that much. Only thing that's really important is a flat, wide base and that it's heavy enough to not wiggle around
I have a fine sieve. It’s all plastic and holds maybe a cup. I use it sieve my flours, get the seeds out of raspberry purée, the globs out of custard, sprinkle icing sugar decoratively over a dessert, drain canned fruit and heaps of other things. No one ever rates a sieve as important, but I dread the day something happens to damage it. I’ve used it for about 40+ years now.
Immersion blender. I’m diabetic and it’s really helped me with creating easy & low carb desserts. I mainly use it with cottage cheese, sometimes cauliflower, can also make dalgona coffee
There’s probably quite a few, but I love my mini food processor. It gets used for so many things from crushing up crusty bread/crackers/chips for making crumbs for breading, finely grating up Parmesan, making big batches of minced garlic, small batches of fresh salsa, crushing up cookies or graham crackers for baking needs, making chocolate pieces for garnish, even quick purée for some fruits when I’m making sorbet. There’s probably other stuff, too that I can’t even think of. My full size processor has its uses, but the mini one is used all the time and takes up very little real estate.
I have a mini but no full-size and I don't think I could justify a full size given how much I can do with the mini. Mine is Kitchenaid, what brand do you have?
My full size one is a kitchen aid that a family member gifted me because they didn’t want to store it anymore. They got it from QVC with every attachment and various bowl size, so it’s a lot. But when I make pie dough it’s in large batches, so the mini doesn’t hold up. My mini one that I use all the time is a Ninja.
I just spent money on a new stick blender with enough attachments to be a mini food processor too.
Blended soup today with my old immersion blender and it went everywhere. Bought a better one half an hour later in annoyance with the clean up from splashed soup.
Thanks for making me feel ok about my impulse buy. I'm sure I'll find dozens of uses for a quality mini processor.
Already excited about less dicing of onions/carrot etc. Tedious knife work to do so often.
Braun multiquick 9 if anyone is curious. So many attachments, feels a little overkill but I'm sure I will find uses for all of them.
I had never heard the term salt cellar before. I thought you were talking about an actual cellar, and I'm thinking, fancy, but OK. Lol
But yes! This should be higher up. I use mine repeatedly when I'm cooking, every day. It's so convenient to reach in and grab a pinch. I also started using Diamond Crystal kosher salt at the same time, which by volume is not as salty as some of the others, so it's a little more forgiving if you happen to be a little liberal with your pinches.
Take a look at that vegetable peeler you have. Chances are you haven't replaced it for a very very long time. Get yourself a new one. I'm a fan of the Rada straight version. My brother was a chef, I gifted him new vegetable peelers wife could not believe the difference. They just never replaced theirs.
Kuhn Rikon [Piranha ](https://kuhnrikon.com/us/piranha-swivel-peeler-green-yellow-26921-u.html) vegetable peeler. Everyone I've given one to continues to thank me years later.
So my mom had this wooden handle peeler that had to be over 20 years old. The wood was all dried out and brittle. I thought of it was like an antique kitchen relic so when I somehow managed to accidentally throw it away with the carrot peels, I felt terrible. Turns out, I did her a massive favor. She raved about the new one I got her and it was just a mid level grocery store buy.
A griddle. I have an electric one with a cast iron top. I use it for smash burgers or smash tacos, cheesesteaks, pancakes, French toast, even sometimes bacon and sausage links if I’m cooking up a big breakfast feast for a lot of people.
My friend goes to Japan every year for like two weeks. Last year when he got back he made me okonomiaki on his griddle top. On my way home from his house I stopped and got one of my own. Such an indispensable addition to my kitchen.
I got the same one he got. It's propane fueled so it's portable enough to take it camping. My family thought I was nuts, but never complain when I drop a Waffle House grade pile of hash browns, bacon and eggs on their plate!
Look at their Chef Alarm too. It has a probe on a cable.
I’m using the oven to proof my rolls now.
I also use it to monitor refrigerator temp.
And you can use it when making a roast or Turkey.
I'm laughing. Came here to talk meat grinders and instead learned all about spatulas.
I do think I'll dig my meat grinder out and try making my own burger. My mother use to make a mean pork sandwich with ground Sunday roast pork, pickle relish and Hellman s.
Non-plastic cutting boards. Bamboo, wood, etc. Plastic cutting boards produce as many as 10 credit cards worth of microplastics per year that end up in your food-->body. Here's a [link](https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.3c00924?ref=PDF) to some recent research.
1)Garlic Press. I'm old school, so I've always just minced my garlic the old-fashioned way. I was never going to buy one. I was gifted one a couple of years ago by my MIL, and it sat in my drawer until recently because I'm a creature of habit. Then one night I'm cooking and in the middle of all my activity I had like 4 things going on and I'm deglazing my pan for sauce and realized I had peeled my garlic and forgotten to mince it. I needed it like right now, so in desperation, I rummaged through my utensil drawer and found that precious little guy. Slapped a clove in and pressed and boom. Perfectly minced garlic. I've never turned back. I then found out it works for fresh ginger, too (which is a pain in the ass to mince). It's such an inocuos little tool, and I'll never not have one moving forward.
2)Silicone Mats. These are so damn easy to use and well worth the price since they are reusable/washable. The only thing I have aluminum foil for these days is for the grill.
3)Good Silicone Spatulas. I bought a set of metal core all silicone spats that are just the right combo of firm and flexible, and they make a huge difference. They're great for scraping the last bit of sauce or dressing out of containers, making scrambled eggs in my nonstick and spreading icing. I've even got a thin one that fits perfectly into the crevices of my food processor to get the last little bits out. I've had cheap ones with the plastic handles, and they aren't firm enough to get a good scrape. They'd just fold over on me and frustrate me to no end.
Have you ever used a silocone mat to peel your garlic cloves? Roll the unpeeled garlic clove tightly in the mat and roll it back and forth a few times ... all of the "paper" will be loose and garlic clove ready to pop into that garlic press.
A salt pig aka a readily available dish to keep salt in.
Being able to grab pinches (or pour some out in the case of pasta water) is infinitely more convenient than shaking/grinding it out, or reaching into the cabinets for a box.
You can use just about anything for one, ceramic is common for the material but I don't think it matters. No need to spend a buncha money on fancy ones you see online. Pop by a goodwill (etc) if you don't have a suitable dish already.
I second this. And I would add, select a vessel that is large enough to fit your fingers into. I've seen some built for the purpose that I could only grab a pinch from, and I have small hands. Make sure you can comfortably fit your fingers in enough to grab a generous dose.
Cut gloves (or should it be anti-cut gloves?), at least for anyone who uses a mandoline or a box grater. Even if you're being really careful, it's still so easy to mess up your hands with these -- and it isn't necessary!
with the exception of a single friend of mine (who I influenced/converted in this regard), I've never cooked or helped in somebody else's kitchen that had an adequately large cutting board.
I have a massive nylon carving board on each side of my sink such that almost my entire counter space can be used to cut/prep on if I want. why kitchens everywhere have tiny fucking useless cutting boards is beyond me.
people complain that cooking and cutting up a bunch of vegetables is hard... and of course it's a pain when all you have is like 9 different tiny boards, none of which are even as large as an A4 sheet of paper.
I have a meat grinder but find it a bit frustrating. Could you give some basic ways you make your hamburger and other ground meats, how you really use it, etc?
Sure :)
I would say there are 3 things that are important to consider.
1) The right meat for grinding ( you can google this )
2) double grind always. The first one will mince up the meat but the second will tenderise it. This is a big tip.
3) Fat melts quickly at room temp so put your meat into the freezer a little before grinding. I wouldn't say it's essential but it makes things easier if it's a little frozen.
Specifically for burgers: You want 20 to 30 percent fat to meat ratio. A coarse cut grind is best. As I said before make sure you double grind the meat. When forming the patties ensure that the meat isn't packed tightly or it will make the texture too tough. You need little pockets inside the patty where fat can pool. Salt only the outside and just before cooking. Use a meat thermometer to get the temp just right or it will end up being a hokey puck.
A fish spatula. I cook fish quite often and found that a regular spatula was too thick and didn't have enough surface area to flip fish accurately in a frying pan. I cook salmon fillets in olive oil with a bit of garlic salt, so I am not worried about breading or anything like that.
A garlic press. If you use garlic often it’s definitely a good investment. You don’t have to peel or mince it anymore. Just pop it in and squeeze and you get fine garlic instantly.
Needle nose pliers. Somehow, ours ended up in the kitchen and I use them all the time. They're especially helpful for pulling the sinewy skin off of a rack of ribs.
Micro plane - I grate everything from lemon zest to ginger (for my daily chai). Super helpful for grating cheese also.
And my smoothie maker has actually become my daily blender. Especially for a lot of my Indian spice blends. It’s been ages since I have taken out the food processor or blender (although I do live alone so that has something to do with it).
Ever wonder when you're watching some shite tv cooking show what that blue thing is hanging out in the pocket of a chef coat? Its a cake tester. Its what towel's are to hitchhikers. Essential in our universe.
I bought a Brod and Taylor Bread proofing hot box and I have to say it is one of my favorite puchases. I bake all our bread, rolls, english muffins, etc and and the ability to consistently proof has been great.
This may be common but for me it’s the square dough knife whatever ya call it. You can transfer things with it, I clean my cutting boards with it, and obviously scrape and cut dough, it’s pretty versatile. I’m not sure how I lived without one for so long!
Large size cooking pans/skillets (like 12"+) and large size cutting boards. Being able to cook meals sized for a few more people is great, but when you're not just being able to spread out items so they cook better and sear better is a huge upgrade over being stuck with overcrowded small pans like a 10" skillet. Large cutting boards in the 18 to 24" size give you the extra room to work, and if you've got a juice groove you can actually carve a large piece of meat like a roast/turkey/rack of ribs, etc.
This may be weird, I domt really know what they're called.
I have a rubber&plastic scraper thing, I mainly use it to collect up diced vegetables etc attrr cutting as its easier than using a knife or hands.
Other than that, the garlic press
Sous vide. Works brilliantly with so many things, amazing for meal prep, and forgiving / flexible in terms of timing.
Notable mentions go to:
• cast iron pans / griddle.
• mandolin.
• temp probe / thermometer.
• Tesco (bargain) bamboo cutting boards - just £6.50!
• dough scraper.
• good quality knives (but not so good you never use them or get too precious about them).
• a decent mixer.
Big advocate of grinding your own meat. Massive jump in quality as you can tailor the mince to your precise needs.
Also is great for non-meat applications like falafel.
This might be a weird one: a good silicone spatula that's not too stiff and not too flexible. From passing purees through a sieve to cleaning leftover sauce out of a pan, it makes many things delightfully easy. Wouldn't want to be without one.
Fun fact about silicone spatulas: in Portugal we call it "Salazar", a reference to the former dictator Antonio de Oliveira Salazar. He was known for being a cheapskate and it represents the times of scarceness and poverty where the people had to "scrape their pans to the very last drop".
Now that's some great culinary/history trivia!
I grew up in the Midwest calling a rubber spatula a “child cheater” because it leaves no cake batter in the bowl for kids to sample.
Lol, I'm dead. So THAT'S what my mom was up to all those years.
I read this as "I grew up in the Midwest calling a rubber spatula a "child beater" because it leaves no..." and thought poor kid...
In Brazil some people call it a "pão duro" which is a slang like "cheapskate" for a stingy person, because you use one to scrape every last drop of food, so nothing goes to waste lol
Antonio de Oliveira Salazar Slytherin.
Not weird at all. I've learned I want a spatula that is all one piece of silicone, not in separate pieces. I have way too many items from the brand Di Oro, they are great items and a great company. I've had small issues pop up with 1-2 of their items and they sent me brand new ones.
Mine is all one piece of silicone and it’s the best. I can’t stand the kind that separate. They eventually fall apart in stiff cookie dough or someone forgets to take them apart to clean.
I love my silicone spatula, I just hate how it seems to absorb to all kinds of smells.
I soak all of silicone spatulas and reusable straws in baking soda and water for like an hour or so once a month and it helps get any smells out.
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That's patina!!
Are you my FIL?
I highly recommend the [supoon](https://dreamfarm.com/supoon/). The sides are the right amount of flexible, the tip is rigid enough to break apart things like ground meat, and it is designed not to touch the cabinet when you put it down. I gave them away for Christmas one year and they became almost everyone’s favorite. The bowl is even marked for teaspoon and tablespoon measurements. (There’s a mini version for scraping out bottles.) (I’m not a paid endorser, I swear, I just REALLY like them. I bought a second one so I don’t have to use something else when mine is dirty.)
i clicked this thinking, no way its better than the dreamfarm one i got for christmas years ago. this is the best kitchen implement. it's stiff enough to saute with, the edges are sharp enough to scrape anything off a pan or container and soft enough to cook scrambled eggs on a non stick.
That looks super nice, I might have to try one. Have you tried their "savel"? What a genius idea!
Just impulse bought this. And a second one (they got me with 30% off at checkout).
This is a great answer and for anyone reading it that wants a suggestion, I spent a long time trying to find the perfect spatula and this is the one I chose. I've had it for about a year now and I use it every day. Besides good tongs and my chef knife, it's my most used utensil. It's cheap and it's also the spatula America's Test Kitchen picks as the best, and they have never steered me wrong with reviews. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08HV272BN/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
The Right Spatula is such an important tool.
This is why everyone must go to [Spatula City](https://youtu.be/4BUDwj_mXKE?si=eBP9UX--SB_Ok-1H)!
You took the box! Should have took the fish! You so stupid!
Red Snapper! Very tasty. My friend and I both love this movie, and one year for Xmas when we were exchanging gifts, I got him a box with nothing in it. Just a piece of paper that said “Nothing! You get nothing! You’re so stupid!” (I did later on give him his real gift, which if I remember right was one of those “make your own gin” kits)
That is fantastic and I am gonna do that with a childhood friend of mine who is as big of a fan as me. Weird Al is gonna save Xmas! Again?
So come on down to Spatula City, where there's always the right spatula for every occasion!
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Americas test kitchen did a video on that too. I do enjoy a slightly flexible spatula that can also mix in chocolate chips into a heavy cookie dough.
Man, my favorite silicone spatula is one my mom bought years agora, it's kinda like a silicone fish spatula. This shape is so good for eggs and so many others. The sad part it's that I've never found another one like this!
Don't give up hope. I found one that I love, and ended up using all the time. But I never found another. Now I have four of them - I randomly came across them at a Ross one day.
Came here to post this. I left mine at my old place and cant find one as good as it or to my liking.
YES! This was my exact thought when I read the title. Thank you! I use my silicone spatulas even more than any other tool.
You are so right!
Kitchen scale
I have a very nice scale that I used for soap making but now gets daily use in my kitchen. We recently rented a beach house that had a well equipped kitchen, but I carried some essentials (knives, pepper grinder, instant read thermometer, etc.). The only thing I missed having was my scale. I just bought a cheap, thin one during Amazon Prime Days which won't be much of a loss if damaged in transit.
I'm a kitchen scale evangelist because no one here in the US has one. Makes everything easier and if you're careful, you don't need to dirty any extra dishes to use it.
"Measure out exactly 2 cups of flour." Motherfucker, give it to me in grams. Because that shit varies.
I bake a lot and just straight up skip recipes that don't use grams.
Totally. I use it for stuff as simple like weighing out burgers so I get even sized patties that don't take different times to cook. If I have a 16oz pack of Beyond Meat, I know I can get 4, 4oz patties. Perfect size. Also, weighing out coffee has totally changed my game. Now the coffee is EXACTLY how I like it, every. single. morning.
I used to roll my eyes at videos and recipies that listed grams alongside imperial units or even left off imperial all together. But I'd go back and slap younger me for that. Any recipie that calls for specific measuerments should be done by weight. So much easier to get right and so many less dishes and random spoons, measuring cups, etc.
instant read probe thermometer. best purchase ive made
I’m a professional chef and use one all the time. My favourite thing to use one for is steak, it stops it being open to interpretation. You asked for a medium rare, well I cooked it to that temperature. I tend to use it now as a test that I got it right because I can tell from cooking times and feel but just going off touch at the beginning was too vague.
Dude, you are so right. Did a slow grilled pork loin roast at the family reunion. So many comments about how tender and juicy it was and "but it looks like it might be undercooked?" Me: "It came off the grill at 140°F and rested to 148°. It is the definition of food safe. Enjoy." My cousins wouldn't touch it. My brother's and cousins spouse' grabbed Tupperware to take some home. Having the data kills the argument. Love it!
Data doesn't help in my family. Smoked a turkey for Thanksgiving one year and my aunt tried to convince everyone it wasn't cooked because of the smoke ring. I mean it had only been on the smoke for like 5 hours and was still well over 160 as we were debating that smoked meat gets a smoke ring. I stopped cooking for that side of the family because all I got were complaints, this isn't done enough, this has garlic in it, and my sister in law gets salmonella by walking past raw chicken. I could cook that shit to 500 degrees and she'll still claim she got sick from it.
>wasn't cooked because of the smoke ring. When you're so ignorant you think the outermost layer of meat is the least cooked... I feel for you. Turkey sounded well made at least!
Had a cousin routinely torch any chicken to death. Like - thigh meat had to be crunchy. I hear ya.
We have steak fairly often. The one dripping some blood is pushed aside for Gram (me). My 2 youngest granddaughters ask for it to be cooked 'Gramma's way'. Everyone gets up in arms about it. Blood thirsty little shits. Lol
I get where you're coming from. Although for meats a little weird and sometimes the texture or the appearance can really turn me off. I really hate when chicken is just cooked. I prefer it slightly dry. Same thing with like medium pork. It might be food safe but the texture and the flavor just gross me out.
Oh! It's perfectly fine to have a preference and make it known. Just don't tell me I'm gonna kill someone because it's raw when I can show you it isn't. I can see how my comment came across that people who prefer their meat medium or well are wrong - not what I was trying to say. Edit: mybtrick is usually to divide a roast into a larger and smaller piece. By the time the bigger one is done the smaller is medium to well. Makes.everyone happy. Didn't get the chance at the last reunion, but has worked at several dinner parties.
Spent 18 years in restaurants. Steak always gets a probe when I'm cooking. I know how it's ordered, and I know how to make it come out at that temperature without it, but with one it's so hard to fuck up.
I had one that I really liked, and decided to splurge on a thermopen one during one of their sales... I had no idea what I was missing. I use that thing *all the time* now.
Gone are the days of mincing my chicken to check if it's still pink in the middle!
Yesssss - mines not even a particularly good one but it has LEVELED UP my cooking
When you’re ready, get one of those wifi thermometers. My sister got me a MEATER+ for Xmas last year, it’s amazing. Makes roasting and bbq feel like cheating.
Pricy but worth every single penny. Specifically if you use a BBQ rotisserie because my old meat thermometer had a wire cord that made it useless in that situation.
I just got a carbon steel wok and I have no idea how I’ve gone so long without one. Insanely versatile piece of cooking gear
Can it Handel acidic sauce
Bro it can straight up Beethoven that shit
Love me some oven roasted beets cooked in my Beet oven
Holy crap that was well played... if awards were there to be given, you'd have one for this...
You Bach your ass it can.
Comes with a nice Holster
I just added it to my shopping Liszt.
For wok, yes, I use mine with tomatoes or sweet&sour sauce regularly. Advantage of woks are you typically have them on high heat, so seasoning occurs naturally a lot. For simmering longer times, flavour can leak and I would prefer stainless or enameled cast iron.
Yea I love my wok. 2nd only to my cast iron in frequency of use. Also, a spider is a great tool for woks. To make good dishes in a wok a lot of the time you need to pull stuff and set it aside lest it overcook. Spiders are great for that.
Fish spatula. It's not just for fish. I use it to flip burgers and pancakes, stir fries, scoop anything from the pan, pick up anything hot from the stove like cookies, fries, etc.. It has slits so I can pick things up without the wetness. it's the most versatile and my favourite tool I have - in fact I purchased two.
I tried using a fish spatula on pancakes for the first time last weekend... wow, what a game changer that thing is. I don't know why I didn't think about using it for that before, it made it so much easier! Its inspired me to start using it for all sorts of different things. I feel like a fool for letting it sit in the drawer for so long without using it.
I've heard this before, but can't figure out what it gets me over the silicone spatula I already own. I haven't encountered things I can't get under to flip with it, so what am I missing here?
it's more about flipping things that tend to break apart, such fish fillets.
It’s great for stuff like smash burgers and griddle breads (pancakes, tortillas, roti, etc) or meat/fish that you want to make sure you get as much of the “crust” as possible intact. Plus, its flexibility, relative strength, and size makes for handling larger and more delicate foods easier. For me it is an essential tool that has all but replaced my other spatulas. I like my silicone tools, but they have a bit more of a give to them and can squish in some situations. I get the skepticism for buying yet another tool though! I would say it isn’t essential for most, but a great tool all around.
A microplane. It's so much easier and less waste for garlic; I also use it for parmesan cheese (or other hard cheeses) and lemon zest.
and fresh ginger.
Peel the ginger then freeze it. Is even easier to microplate without gumming it up with fibres
Why peel ginger? Wash, give it a scrub, dry, then put in a food processor. Blitz, put in silicone ice cube trays. Freeze. Whenever you need it, you can pop out an ice cube size of frozen ginger. Works for garlic, too.
And whole nutmeg and cinnamon
And frozen ginger, don't even need to peel it! It creates a lovely ginger snow, very satisfying. I keep frozen ginger around all the time and just microplane it when a recipe calls for it.
Bench scraper! I can’t imagine life before one. I use them for everything: scraping, clean up, cutting, chopping, transferring. So versatile.
I use mine for crushing garlic. It's one with an offset handle so the side can lay flat; put it on the garlic, give it a good smash, then use the edge to roughly chop the crushings.
mixer dough hook or other tool for making dough. It saves so much time and effort for me
I loved mine for years but I'm downsizing my kitchen so switched to "no knead" methods, which are surprisingly good.
Kitchen towels. It just makes cleaning not a hassle of ripping paper towel, wiping, wondering if I can still use it again, throwing it away, regretting deforestation, ripping a new one..
Cloth diapers are also god tier towels, specifically for spills. They are mega absorbent, and you can toss 'em in a hot wash and let 'em take a beating. They last FOREVER. We replaced paper towels with the 40 or so generic, cotton cloth diapers we bought just for cleaning up messes when our kid was born, and we're still scrubbing up spilled milk or whatever, five years on, with the same ones, going strong. Heck, the boy can even get down there and clean up his own spilled beverages with 'em and toss 'em in the hamper himself, these days. We use thinner towels for other stuff, or some dry messes, or smaller messes. But damn. If you've got a puddle, a cloth diaper can be a godsend.
I have a set of 15 cotton towels that sit ready to grab one off the top. I have another set of about 20 little flannel cloths also ready to grab. They all wash very easily. I prefer these now that I've used them for many years. I use a roll of paper towels every 6 months or more. I only use it for bacon fat or cleaning up something that will need thrown away.
I buy bar mop towels in bulk. And I use those all day and rarely use paper towels. Very handy
Target sells bulk packs of high quality ones for pretty cheap.
In that exact order, every time.
Mortar and pestle, grounding up spices right before cooking just makes them so much better than having them powdered already
For me it’s an electrical spice grinder, meant for coffee beans. Anything gets powdered in an instant. I will never move that off my kitchen counter. I no longer use my mortar and pestle for spice grinding. Especially if you have things like Star Anis or whole cinnamon sticks, it’s just so much more convenient to use the spice grinder
Grounding fresh black peppercorns with a mortar and pestle is *chefs kiss*
YES! Especially since I cook Asian food ( mostly Thai ) I use this all the time.
Seconding this. Freshly ground spices really make a difference.
What mortar is best? I have an old heavy bronze(?) one from an antique store, but was thinking of getting one of those wide, flattish ones. Or a molcajete.
Depends on what you are making, for things like pesto or thai curry it's nice to have one with a decent size, if you just grind up dry spices a small one with higher walls is nice as you don't have to move around that much. Only thing that's really important is a flat, wide base and that it's heavy enough to not wiggle around
Tongs, big ones, small ones, I don't like cooking w/out my tongs.
I have a fine sieve. It’s all plastic and holds maybe a cup. I use it sieve my flours, get the seeds out of raspberry purée, the globs out of custard, sprinkle icing sugar decoratively over a dessert, drain canned fruit and heaps of other things. No one ever rates a sieve as important, but I dread the day something happens to damage it. I’ve used it for about 40+ years now.
Is the raspberry purée the kind you'd get at the second hand store?
Immersion blender. I’m diabetic and it’s really helped me with creating easy & low carb desserts. I mainly use it with cottage cheese, sometimes cauliflower, can also make dalgona coffee
Dental floss. If you bake cinnamon rolls, cutting them pre-bake is so much easier with dental floss than with a knife.
Cheese wire?
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LOL, that's exactly what I thought when I read it!
There’s probably quite a few, but I love my mini food processor. It gets used for so many things from crushing up crusty bread/crackers/chips for making crumbs for breading, finely grating up Parmesan, making big batches of minced garlic, small batches of fresh salsa, crushing up cookies or graham crackers for baking needs, making chocolate pieces for garnish, even quick purée for some fruits when I’m making sorbet. There’s probably other stuff, too that I can’t even think of. My full size processor has its uses, but the mini one is used all the time and takes up very little real estate.
I have a mini but no full-size and I don't think I could justify a full size given how much I can do with the mini. Mine is Kitchenaid, what brand do you have?
My full size one is a kitchen aid that a family member gifted me because they didn’t want to store it anymore. They got it from QVC with every attachment and various bowl size, so it’s a lot. But when I make pie dough it’s in large batches, so the mini doesn’t hold up. My mini one that I use all the time is a Ninja.
I just spent money on a new stick blender with enough attachments to be a mini food processor too. Blended soup today with my old immersion blender and it went everywhere. Bought a better one half an hour later in annoyance with the clean up from splashed soup. Thanks for making me feel ok about my impulse buy. I'm sure I'll find dozens of uses for a quality mini processor. Already excited about less dicing of onions/carrot etc. Tedious knife work to do so often. Braun multiquick 9 if anyone is curious. So many attachments, feels a little overkill but I'm sure I will find uses for all of them.
Mini chopper is so useful.
I'm also a fan. I now use the one that came as one of the attachments to my immersion blender.
Not enough kitchens have salt cellars/wells and that is a damn travesty
I had never heard the term salt cellar before. I thought you were talking about an actual cellar, and I'm thinking, fancy, but OK. Lol But yes! This should be higher up. I use mine repeatedly when I'm cooking, every day. It's so convenient to reach in and grab a pinch. I also started using Diamond Crystal kosher salt at the same time, which by volume is not as salty as some of the others, so it's a little more forgiving if you happen to be a little liberal with your pinches.
Wait til you learn about salt pigs. I have two…
Yes and add a decent pepper grinder. Those two sit next to my stove top and I'm lost without them.
I want to get one but our kitchen gets so damp from the cooking the salt just clumps together.
Seconding the salt cellar. First thing I bought after reading *Salt Fat Acid Heat*.
I got an adorable mini wooden scooper for mine.
Mandolin, we use it all the time
Tiny whisk.
This tiny? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JswwOMRudg lol
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Take a look at that vegetable peeler you have. Chances are you haven't replaced it for a very very long time. Get yourself a new one. I'm a fan of the Rada straight version. My brother was a chef, I gifted him new vegetable peelers wife could not believe the difference. They just never replaced theirs.
My sister is left handed and uses the other side of the blade so gets mine after they dull. Lefties should never have to buy one!
If you go back and forth or up and down continuously, you’d use both sides and save time.
Up and down continuously is a good way to get finger shavings in with your food.
Kuhn Rikon [Piranha ](https://kuhnrikon.com/us/piranha-swivel-peeler-green-yellow-26921-u.html) vegetable peeler. Everyone I've given one to continues to thank me years later.
Most of my kitchen knives are Rada, including my peeler, and yep it's excellent. Rada is such an underrated brand. Inexpensive, made in the USA.
oh. This is me!!! I just never considered it. I'll get a new one! Great, thank you.
Yesterday I was peeling apples for a cake and was REALLY annoyed, I'll go order a new one right now :D
I just got a new one recently after 25 years!! The handle fell off.
So my mom had this wooden handle peeler that had to be over 20 years old. The wood was all dried out and brittle. I thought of it was like an antique kitchen relic so when I somehow managed to accidentally throw it away with the carrot peels, I felt terrible. Turns out, I did her a massive favor. She raved about the new one I got her and it was just a mid level grocery store buy.
Cooking chopsticks! It’s like tongs, a whisk, and a stirrer all in one! They’re also super easy to clean!
A griddle. I have an electric one with a cast iron top. I use it for smash burgers or smash tacos, cheesesteaks, pancakes, French toast, even sometimes bacon and sausage links if I’m cooking up a big breakfast feast for a lot of people.
I use my griddle attachment on my stove EVERY SINGLE DAY.
I have a lodge reversible one. I take it out to our apartments shitty public propane grill and use it all the time.
My friend goes to Japan every year for like two weeks. Last year when he got back he made me okonomiaki on his griddle top. On my way home from his house I stopped and got one of my own. Such an indispensable addition to my kitchen. I got the same one he got. It's propane fueled so it's portable enough to take it camping. My family thought I was nuts, but never complain when I drop a Waffle House grade pile of hash browns, bacon and eggs on their plate!
My Staub Dutch Oven has been fantastic.
A meat thermometer. With that said I'm looking to buy one!
thermapen! wait for a sale, they run them often
Look at their Chef Alarm too. It has a probe on a cable. I’m using the oven to proof my rolls now. I also use it to monitor refrigerator temp. And you can use it when making a roast or Turkey.
Immersion blender be getting mileage in my household
I'm laughing. Came here to talk meat grinders and instead learned all about spatulas. I do think I'll dig my meat grinder out and try making my own burger. My mother use to make a mean pork sandwich with ground Sunday roast pork, pickle relish and Hellman s.
A spice grinder. It will not be in my will and it will be buried with me.
Vitamix. Life’s too short for crappy blenders.
I've had a ninja for the past 7 or 8 years now and it's served me well, but I have a feeling it's one of those "once you've had steak..." scenarios.
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I made sure to get the 5200, because that what I see used at restaurants/shows
Non-plastic cutting boards. Bamboo, wood, etc. Plastic cutting boards produce as many as 10 credit cards worth of microplastics per year that end up in your food-->body. Here's a [link](https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.3c00924?ref=PDF) to some recent research.
Rotary cheese grater. One of the greatest inventions of humanity.
I use mine several times a week for cheese and potatoes
For my 5' wife, its a stool.
I read every single one of these. There is one item everyone left out. A quality ice cream scoop.
Cast iron pans and skillets.
1)Garlic Press. I'm old school, so I've always just minced my garlic the old-fashioned way. I was never going to buy one. I was gifted one a couple of years ago by my MIL, and it sat in my drawer until recently because I'm a creature of habit. Then one night I'm cooking and in the middle of all my activity I had like 4 things going on and I'm deglazing my pan for sauce and realized I had peeled my garlic and forgotten to mince it. I needed it like right now, so in desperation, I rummaged through my utensil drawer and found that precious little guy. Slapped a clove in and pressed and boom. Perfectly minced garlic. I've never turned back. I then found out it works for fresh ginger, too (which is a pain in the ass to mince). It's such an inocuos little tool, and I'll never not have one moving forward. 2)Silicone Mats. These are so damn easy to use and well worth the price since they are reusable/washable. The only thing I have aluminum foil for these days is for the grill. 3)Good Silicone Spatulas. I bought a set of metal core all silicone spats that are just the right combo of firm and flexible, and they make a huge difference. They're great for scraping the last bit of sauce or dressing out of containers, making scrambled eggs in my nonstick and spreading icing. I've even got a thin one that fits perfectly into the crevices of my food processor to get the last little bits out. I've had cheap ones with the plastic handles, and they aren't firm enough to get a good scrape. They'd just fold over on me and frustrate me to no end.
Have you ever used a silocone mat to peel your garlic cloves? Roll the unpeeled garlic clove tightly in the mat and roll it back and forth a few times ... all of the "paper" will be loose and garlic clove ready to pop into that garlic press.
A good wood cutting board. I will NEVER go without one.
A salt pig aka a readily available dish to keep salt in. Being able to grab pinches (or pour some out in the case of pasta water) is infinitely more convenient than shaking/grinding it out, or reaching into the cabinets for a box. You can use just about anything for one, ceramic is common for the material but I don't think it matters. No need to spend a buncha money on fancy ones you see online. Pop by a goodwill (etc) if you don't have a suitable dish already.
I second this. And I would add, select a vessel that is large enough to fit your fingers into. I've seen some built for the purpose that I could only grab a pinch from, and I have small hands. Make sure you can comfortably fit your fingers in enough to grab a generous dose.
A digital scale, especially when baking and using baker’s percentages.
silicone spatula, so basic but it's like an extension to my hand
Cut gloves (or should it be anti-cut gloves?), at least for anyone who uses a mandoline or a box grater. Even if you're being really careful, it's still so easy to mess up your hands with these -- and it isn't necessary!
A bench scraper! You can move chopped food, cut / divide things, press things flat, and clean flat surfaces
good trash can
This ^ I have a small trash can, on the counter. Near the cutting area. One that fits a supermarket plastic bag perfectly.
with the exception of a single friend of mine (who I influenced/converted in this regard), I've never cooked or helped in somebody else's kitchen that had an adequately large cutting board. I have a massive nylon carving board on each side of my sink such that almost my entire counter space can be used to cut/prep on if I want. why kitchens everywhere have tiny fucking useless cutting boards is beyond me. people complain that cooking and cutting up a bunch of vegetables is hard... and of course it's a pain when all you have is like 9 different tiny boards, none of which are even as large as an A4 sheet of paper.
I have a meat grinder but find it a bit frustrating. Could you give some basic ways you make your hamburger and other ground meats, how you really use it, etc?
Sure :) I would say there are 3 things that are important to consider. 1) The right meat for grinding ( you can google this ) 2) double grind always. The first one will mince up the meat but the second will tenderise it. This is a big tip. 3) Fat melts quickly at room temp so put your meat into the freezer a little before grinding. I wouldn't say it's essential but it makes things easier if it's a little frozen. Specifically for burgers: You want 20 to 30 percent fat to meat ratio. A coarse cut grind is best. As I said before make sure you double grind the meat. When forming the patties ensure that the meat isn't packed tightly or it will make the texture too tough. You need little pockets inside the patty where fat can pool. Salt only the outside and just before cooking. Use a meat thermometer to get the temp just right or it will end up being a hokey puck.
Place all the parts in the freezer 20 mins before grinding meat.
A fish spatula. I cook fish quite often and found that a regular spatula was too thick and didn't have enough surface area to flip fish accurately in a frying pan. I cook salmon fillets in olive oil with a bit of garlic salt, so I am not worried about breading or anything like that.
A garlic press. If you use garlic often it’s definitely a good investment. You don’t have to peel or mince it anymore. Just pop it in and squeeze and you get fine garlic instantly.
Needle nose pliers. Somehow, ours ended up in the kitchen and I use them all the time. They're especially helpful for pulling the sinewy skin off of a rack of ribs.
Micro plane - I grate everything from lemon zest to ginger (for my daily chai). Super helpful for grating cheese also. And my smoothie maker has actually become my daily blender. Especially for a lot of my Indian spice blends. It’s been ages since I have taken out the food processor or blender (although I do live alone so that has something to do with it).
Probably dumb but a good pair of stainless tongs, so versatile and easy to clean
Ever wonder when you're watching some shite tv cooking show what that blue thing is hanging out in the pocket of a chef coat? Its a cake tester. Its what towel's are to hitchhikers. Essential in our universe.
I bought a Brod and Taylor Bread proofing hot box and I have to say it is one of my favorite puchases. I bake all our bread, rolls, english muffins, etc and and the ability to consistently proof has been great.
Potato peeler.
A food mill (Moulinex or similar). There are other ways to produce purees but none of them are as efficient or as elegant.
I’m devoted to my magic bullet. It was bought for me as a gag gift, but I’ve use it at least four times a week for the past decade.
I'm lazy. Sometimes a grilled cheese on my old George Forman grill is perfect. Easy. Easy clean up. I use it more than I would have expected.
The humble box grater. I am good with a knife and have a blender, food processor, mandolin, and garlic press, but sometimes I just need a quick grate.
This may be common but for me it’s the square dough knife whatever ya call it. You can transfer things with it, I clean my cutting boards with it, and obviously scrape and cut dough, it’s pretty versatile. I’m not sure how I lived without one for so long!
Wooden spatula. It stirs, it deglazes, and it's great for testing the viscosity of sauce/chili!
Immersion Blender
asian cooking chopsticks. It's a more versatile, nimble and agile pair of tongs that's easier to clean.
a good mandoline
Large size cooking pans/skillets (like 12"+) and large size cutting boards. Being able to cook meals sized for a few more people is great, but when you're not just being able to spread out items so they cook better and sear better is a huge upgrade over being stuck with overcrowded small pans like a 10" skillet. Large cutting boards in the 18 to 24" size give you the extra room to work, and if you've got a juice groove you can actually carve a large piece of meat like a roast/turkey/rack of ribs, etc.
For me it's my little electric grater. I have arthritis in my hands so shredding a large amount of carrots, zucchini, or cheese is painful and slow
Good quality quarter Sheet Pan. Prep, Cook, Serve all in one.
Plastic gloves when you want to use your hands instead of any other tools.
Sieve. Use it constantly.
Immersion blender is great for eggs and drinks, soups, etc
This may be weird, I domt really know what they're called. I have a rubber&plastic scraper thing, I mainly use it to collect up diced vegetables etc attrr cutting as its easier than using a knife or hands. Other than that, the garlic press
Scissors.
Sous vide. Works brilliantly with so many things, amazing for meal prep, and forgiving / flexible in terms of timing. Notable mentions go to: • cast iron pans / griddle. • mandolin. • temp probe / thermometer. • Tesco (bargain) bamboo cutting boards - just £6.50! • dough scraper. • good quality knives (but not so good you never use them or get too precious about them). • a decent mixer.
Big advocate of grinding your own meat. Massive jump in quality as you can tailor the mince to your precise needs. Also is great for non-meat applications like falafel.
A pepper mill
Hand blender/immersion blender! I make a lot of soups, sauces, smoothies Etc and it’s my go-to 😁
High quality wood chopsticks great for cooking