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What's in your toolkit?


Fat Guy

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Item 26 looks to me like a circular mold, as for making stacked foods or cutting rounds of pasta, that type of thing.

I mostly agree, now that I've looked at it again. EXCEPT: it has a rolled edge, so stacks yes, cuts no. Oh dear, stacks are so passé (unless you're still Alfred Portale).

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Current kit:

11" Global chef knife

10" serrated knife

8" filet knife

5" stiff straight blade boning knife

6" curved flexible and 7" straight flexible boning knife

cake spatula

braising fork

bird's beak paring knife

parisienne scoop

zester

channel knife

needlenose pliers

knife steel

peeler

temperature probe

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Although I by no means approximate "professional," when I go out of town to resorts, I take bits and pieces like two chef's knives, paring knife, stone, my great-grandmother's wooden spoon (luck), my favorite whisk, veggie peeler, my All-Clad chef's pan, bowl scraper, etc. I also take an oven thermometer and a screwdriver (a wonderful snap-on screwdriver with magnetis bits that go into the hollow handle that has a screw-on top so I have big and small flat blades and phillips heads).

Susan Fahning aka "snowangel"
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By the way, what do those of you who have proper toolkits use as conveyances for your tools? Tackle boxes? Tool Boxes? Cloth bags? Unusual and creative solutions?

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

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I started out with the old apron wrap, but it seemed every time I went somewhere to cook, I found myself more deeply attached to my tools, and less willing to rely on whatever version of it I might find where I was going.

Then we started renting houses on the Florida panhandle with some regularity, and I could never predict what might be in the drawers. Finally, this summer, we 'volunteered' to handle concessions for the neighborhood swim meets, and I found myself carting a load of stuff twice a week for six weeks. I started looking for a tackle box/tool box. I was about to pick one up at Sears when, while at a craft store, I saw this:

p_BLD504-d_z.jpg

It's plastic (a bit of a drawback in my book), but that does make it lighter than metal. But what's really great about it is its expandabilty and configurability. Each of those bottom sections can be removed-housing and all- or you can add more sections (I have four). Each is a divided slide-out plastic box that can be subdivided with hard plastic tabs. I got some foam rubber and cut some rudimentary blocks for holding knives, and divided the rest off to hold other stuff. The bulky things go in the top, where they can be cushioned, if necessary, by an apron, or towels, or welding gloves (the oven mitt of choice in my kitchen).

If I'm going to my mother's, where I know the lay of the land, I can take the top and the section with my knives. If I'm headed for Destin and lots of fresh seafood and huge family breakfasts, I can add two or three sections, with whisks and measuring cups and hemostats, so that I'm sure I'll have what I need.

This works for me, but I'm really interested to see other solutions.

Dave Scantland
Executive director
dscantland@eGstaff.org
eG Ethics signatory

Eat more chicken skin.

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About FG's mysterious item 26:

Nobody's submitted a guess about this one lately, and FG hasn't said that anyone was correct (ring mold - naah, not even close, AFAIK).

My guess is that it's a foil cutter (ie. for wine bottles). Now, why anyone would NEED a foil cutter in their toolkit, unless they were going for the wine-speed-opening championship is beyond me. Seems rather pointless, but it's proximity to the waiter's friend (bottle opener, number 25) is my only reason for picking this.

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Hey, I never said I knew what it was.

Keep guessing, everyone, and eventually I'll find out the answer and share it here.

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

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