How to Cook: Very Basic Kitchen Tools

Years ago I took a 12 part cooking class called “Introduction to Fine Cooking”. It should have been called “Introduction to How to Spend a Lot of Money in Our Store”. Each class used a wide range of expensive cooking tools and gadgets that were always conveniently displayed for purchase on a table by the door. By the end of the class every participant was positive they would be come a world renowned chef or at least a hit at their next party if they just shelled out enough $$$.

The truth is, while tools are necessary for cooking, fancy tools do not make a fancy cook. (Note to self… scratch off plan to make a fortune selling mandolin pans to unsuspecting readers. ) The most important aspect of cooking is knowledge of how to handle your ingredients. With the right know how you can eat gourmet over a campfire. Without it you can produce, well, garbage in even the fanciest, fully stocked kitchen.

That said, since we’ve stepped past caveman days, a few tools are necessary. I’m going to assume you have the basic large appliances like refrigerator, stove and counter space. (If you are in college then mini fridge, hot plate and ironing board.) Beyond that you need a surprisingly small selection of tools to create a large selection of good meals. This doesn’t mean there aren’t other tools that are great to have. Just ask my husband about my extensive collection. However when starting out the basics will get you a long way.

When buying tools there are a few important things to keep in mind:

• If it touches a burner it needs a heavy duty bottom. Think of it this way. You cook in a layer. There is a ring of fire, a pan and then your food all stacked on top. If your middle layer, the pan, is too thin you basically have a ring of fire and your food. The food on the fire is going to cook very fast. The food off the fire, in the middle or on the edges is going to cook very slowly. Half your dinner will be burning while the other half will be raw. Save yourself a lot of hassle and start off with a pan with a heavy duty bottom. The thick layer of metal will absorb and spread the heat more evenly. As a general rule of thumb imagine dropping the pan on your toe. If the mere thought doesn’t make you cringe in serious pain get a new pan

• If it cuts things it needs to be very sharp. There is nothing more dangerous in a kitchen then a dull knife. Here’s what happens. You slide a sharp blade across a tomato. It smoothly slides through the tomato like it is butter and you get a tomato slice. You slide a dull blade across a tomato. The blade can’t penetrate the skin and instead slides across the tomato skin towards your fingers. I assume I don’t need to continue the story. Please if you are going to cook keep your knives sharp. Even expensive ones get dull with use. Unless you are trained how take them to a professional. A novice with a knife sharpener can do more harm then good.

• If it comes in multiple sizes bigger is usually better. I have these cute little cutting boards that take up no space in the dishwasher and are completely useless! When cooking you don’t want to feel crowded. You need space to chop, space to mix and space to spread out the food in the pan. (There are exceptions but this is the general rule.) It takes almost the same amount of time to wash a big versus small bowl. However you will mix a lot slower if you are worrying about splashing outside of the small one.

• If it says nonstick run the other way. Why, you ask? Well, first, some people have health concerns about using Teflon. But even if you think there is nothing wrong Teflon doesn’t play nice with a lot of fine cooking. You can’t heat Teflon pans on high heat. You can’t get food to stick to Teflon pans and yes, sometimes you will want the food to stick to get good results. On the other hand it is possible to have nonstick without a nonstick pan. (Which will be covered next week.)

• If it costs a lot you may not need it. In some cases like a knife you will get what you pay for. In other cases like a cutting board cheap is perfectly good. I’ve listed below suggestions for items you don’t already have. These are just suggestions. If you already have something serviceable stick with it. If you don’t want to spend a fortune at amazon consider visiting your local charity thrift store. You can save money and help a good cause.

So what are the basics?

• A large heavy duty frying or everyday pan with lid: The pan that gets the single most use in my kitchen is my Calphalon Commercial Hard-Anodized 12-Inch Everyday Pan with Lid. Ever since I bought it because it was incredibly cheap on amazon I use it nonstop. I’ve actually considered getting a second I like it so much. If you are going to use another pan just make sure it is heavy duty and oven and broiler safe. (No plastic or plastic seals. Double check your handle. And, yes, I learned that the hard way.) I like hard anodized aluminum because it can take a lot of abuse and doesn’t require seasoning.
• One or two heavy saucepans: I use the Calphalon Professional Sauce Pans in 2.5qts and 4.5qts. I wish I could say they were selected with much research but the truth is I won them in a raffle at a work Christmas party about 8 years ago. However I have been more then happy with that win. They are worth every penny I could have paid for them. Sadly I believe they were discontinued so I can’t give a link. I was going to recommend individual pans from the Calphalon Commercial line but amazon currently has such a good sale on Calphalon Commercial Hard-Anodized 9-Piece Cookware Set
  I would go with that. (That will also get you a heavy duty frying pan.)
• A Large Metal Cookie Sheet: I have two Chicago Metallic Commercial Cookie/Jelly Roll Pans
  and I love them. They have held up for years and are still my favorite for baking.
• A Very Sharp Chefs Knife: I love the Global 8-Inch 20cm Cook’s Knife that my husband bought for my birthday last year. This is not a cheap knife and I may like it because I have small hands. If you are going to spend money on a good knife I recommend finding a kitchen store and feeling it in your hand before buying it. While you are there check if they sharpen knives or can recommend someone who can.
• Two Large Plastic Cutting Boards: Ok, in general I hate plastic in the kitchen but this is one case I make an exception. Unless you are a vegan you will be chopping animal products on your cutting board. Plastic is the only substance I know that doesn’t dull knife blades but can also be cleaned in lots of hot soapy water with lots of scrubbing. I use some cheap plastic ones you can pick about basically anywhere.
• A Couple Large Mixing Bowls: My favorite mixing bowls are glass or metal. The glass ones are nice because the extra weight keeps them in place. They aren’t so nice when a 2 year old pulls it out of a drawer and tosses it across the kitchen.
• A Spoon, spatula and tongs: These don’t need to be fancy. I have a cheap, cheap metal spatula and use a wooden spoon I treated myself to from a local wood artist. For tongs I love my Oxo Good Grips 12-Inch Stainless-Steel Locking Tongs. If you are looking to buy the others I’ve never been disappointed with OXO so I would suggest Oxo Good Grips Brushed Stainless Steel Turner and Oxo Good Grips Brushed Stainless Steel Spoon.
• Two Oven mitts and two pot holders. I’m not giving any recommendations here since I’m in the process of replacing mine. I’m trying to find ones that are heavy duty but still look nice. My current ones are old, threadbare and scream “I want to get my hand burned because I haven’t bothered to find a replacement.”

So this weeks homework is take stock of your basic kitchen tools. Are you missing something that you need? Do you have something that desperately needs to be replaced? Make sure you have the basics on hand. If you would like to make happy the part of me that’s running a business follow the links to amazon. If you would like to make happy the part of me that wants to help the environment then head out to a local thrift store and buy some recycled goods.

Are you new to this series? Check out How to Cook: Cooking Lessons from the Ground Up for a complete list of lessons.

Next week’s lesson is “How to Cook: The Five Senses in the Kitchen“.

Image: sweet potato by rosewx12 on Flickr

Tagged as: Cooking, How to Cook