Most Prized Kitchen Possession

[CaliPoutine]

I'm going with my copper pot set. 13 pieces from Ruffoni in Italy which I bought secondhand and unused. In fact, those pots are how I found eGullet 6 years ago. They are as functional as they are beautiful.

I'm surprised its not your big Butcher Block that you found on the street.

[Special K]

Ooh, it's hard to decide! I've been in this small kitchen for 13 years now, and I've had to think long and hard about what could stay and what had to go. Then over the last couple of years all of the original appliances (ALL of them) died out and were replaced by what I really wanted, so now I'm very happy with the whole kitchen. I love the new dishwasher, range, refrigerator, and microwave; I love the new coffee/tea maker and the new water fizzer; I am deeply attached to both my stand mixer and my food processor and all of my good knives, cookware, etc., but I have to say that the most beloved item in the room has got to be the small but extremely useful wall-mounted pot rack that takes up very little room but which is LOADED with stuff and which frees up so much cabinet space. It's practical and I just like the looks of it. It's hung over a matching baker's rack which I use to house a (small) part of my cookbook collection. I'll try to remember to photograph it tonight.

Edited February 1, 2011 by Special K (log)

[Peter the eater]

I'm going with my copper pot set. 13 pieces from Ruffoni in Italy which I bought secondhand and unused. In fact, those pots are how I found eGullet 6 years ago. They are as functional as they are beautiful.

I'm surprised its not your big Butcher Block that you found on the street.

Good memory Randi! I can still put that one in the other topic Great kitchen gear you've found in the trash.

[Robbie]

As much as I love my food processor, my cast iron, and my grandmas old mortar and pestle I am going to pick one that I had very little expectations in. The wife bought a cheap-ass plastic mandoline that has done an amazing job, it is so incredibly fast to use there is no way I could keep up with a knife. Super thin and all uniformly sized makes for great home-made potato chips, scalloped potatoes, and lots of other veggies.

That Berkel meat slicer looks badass though, I am a little bit jealous.

Trudeau silicone spatulas sound great too, I have been on the lookout for a good spatula for months now..

[Lindacakes]

My mama's wooden spoons. She used to spank me with those things, and then go back to cooking. I'd have food-colored splats on my rear end.

:laugh: :laugh:

[catdaddy]

I'm going with my copper pot set. 13 pieces from Ruffoni in Italy which I bought secondhand and unused. In fact, those pots are how I found eGullet 6 years ago. They are as functional as they are beautiful.

Pictures?

[TongoRad]

I have, and still use my grandmother's old foley food mill. It shows no signs of slowing down or wearing out, either. Recently I got a newfangled one, but to tell the truth I think the antique works a lot better (it definitely has a better 'grip') and I'm still going to continue to use it. I'm going to be a sad dude when it no longer works.

[therippa]

I have two Griswold skillets (12" and 10") made sometime around 1919-1930. They are in perfect condition and have 80-90 years of seasoning on them. They also happen to be made in my hometown, Erie PA, which is stated in huge letters on the bottom, so that adds a coolness factor for me. I've gotten into the habit of buying them on ebay, reconditioning them, and giving them to friends and family members back home as a gift.

My grandma worked at the Griswold factory when she was young. She had a full set of them, sizes 1-14 (or whatever). When she passed away they were donated to the Salvation Army. No one thought of asking me if I wanted them!

edit: typo

Edited February 2, 2011 by therippa (log)

[weinoo]

I've decided that my most prized kitchen possession, existentially, is the view out my window. Just having a window in an NYC apartment is prized, actually.

As to my my most prized kitchen possession materially, I still haven't figured it out. I have some old pieces that were my favorite grandmother's; but I don't use them that often and they're not that important.

I have a Kitchen Aid. I have a Cuisinart. I have one of almost everything necessary and they're all replaceable. I'm going to continue to work on it.

[David A. Goldfarb]

I have a lot of nice copperware, but I also think of that as replaceable, and I think it's wonderful that these things have been produced the same way for over a century. I saw a nineteenth-century stockpot that was indistinguishable from the one in my avatar in a culinary antique shop once for around $1000. Mine was a closeout at Zabar's for around $300.

[Peter the eater]

Most prized kitchen possessions are often revealed as avatars.

I apologize if that sounded like a fortune cookie.

[GregW]

My grandmother's cast iron skillet. It's probably 80 years old. A lot of food and a lot of love from that skillet.

[janeer]

I've decided that my most prized kitchen possession, existentially, is the view out my window. Just having a window in an NYC apartment is prized, actually.

I think you have figured it out.

[heidih]

I have reconsidered. I initially said the wooden spoons but then I spied my old treasure in the cupboard. It is a tin box and the raised dots are perforations so it lets some air in. When my great grandmother was living with us she made noodles once a week and after drying them on a linen towel she stored them in this box. Later we used it for storing cookies. There is no maker mark. My step mom put it in storage in the garage and I lost it for years until I went on an archeological dig for it. Quite special.

[Pierogi]

Waiting for ice! She keeps the floor clean and takes care of all offered meat and veggie scraps.

Right on. That's it absolutely. My two fuzzy little floor cleaners. And maybe my Mom's "Treasured Recipes for Polish-Americans" cookbook, published by the Polonie Club of Minneapolis in 1949. But the fuzzballs would get rescued first, hands down.

[ScoopKW]

1) My 300mm Tadatsuna Wa-Gyuto.

2) My almost-complete collection of Cop-R-Chef pots and pans.

3) My Watanabe Nakiri.

4) My 300K BTU outdoor kitchen.

5) My LaPavoni Europiccola espresso machine.

(And, professionally, my access to a Bohemian Breweries 20 barrel monoblock brewhouse. Although I wish I had a bigger system, because I cannot make beer fast enough these days.)

I also wish I had one of those neat-o Berkel meat slicers. And as soon as I'm a few bucks ahead, I plan on getting a Grizzly sausage stuffer.

[AmbrosiaFood]

Oh, geeeze! You would have to ask this question and I don't know how I can decide. It it like trying to decide which child one likes best.

I'll have to spend some time thinking about it.

I can't decide either. Each of my kitchen possessions has a place in my heart and choosing between them is nearly impossible.

I love my Crown American 6 burner two oven gas range, antique lever scale, chrome kitchenaid model g mixers, robot coupe food processors, vita mix blenders, store display case of sabatier vintage carbon steel knives, wardrobe of enameled cast iron cookware, vintage butcher block table, collection of vollrath stainless steel clad commercial cookware, vollrath & dexter russell utensils, antique commercial deli slicer, aqua glass canning and storage jars and bottles, and the old country store stacking 3 level wrap dispenser I use for foil and other wraps.

[Special K]

I have to say that the most beloved item in the room has got to be the small but extremely useful wall-mounted pot rack that takes up very little room but which is LOADED with stuff and which frees up so much cabinet space.

Let's see if I can do this:

[Special K]

... a cheap-ass plastic mandoline that has done an amazing job

So Robbie, what brand is it?

[Katie Meadow]

Trying to think of things that are not easily replaced rather than appliances that could be purchased again (if money was not an object, of course) if lost or broken. I no longer own a Sunbeam Radiant toaster, but that's more like a phantom limb; somehow its ghost still occupies space. I couldn't easily replace my 30" Viking range (small size is hard to find and price is an issue!) and although I appreciate it every day, a replacement could be found.

It occurs to me that the irreplaceable items are mostly found objects that were given new life by me. They include: a perfectly square Griswold cast iron skillet that can cook 11 slices of bacon with room to spare. An old large copper skillet found at the Goodwill that turns out a terrific Tarte Tatin. A very unusual size glass loaf pan that is the exactly perfect size to mold the large meatloaf that I make. A 1930s dark brown glazed casserole dish that is just right for a deep-dish pot pie. A traditional 6-popover pan used by my husband's grandmother. A genius of engineering and design.

Most valuable and irreplaceable is probably my stainless flatware by Wm Fraser, made in Germany. The pattern, Finesse, was discontinued sometime in the late 1970's or early 80's, I believe. Some of it was purchased by me while it was still in production, and some was inherited from a friend of my mother's who had the same pattern, which seems like a stroke of amazing luck. Nothing gets used more often and holds up so well.

[JeanneCake]

If I were to think in terms of what I couldn't replace, it would be an early edition of Mrs Beeton's book of household management that I spent big bucks on 15 years ago (I should say pounds, I bought it across the pond).

The thing I miss the most is what I can't replace - I have no idea where it went to (someone must have appropriated it!) and have missed it for 20 years. I called it the pizza pan; it was an old, very heavy and well used sheet pan but it wasn't the usual dimensions of a sheet pan (at least, not the dimensions found today). It fit in a home oven. It was bigger than a half-sheet pan, not as wide (but longer) than a three-quarter sheet pan and definitely smaller than the usual full size sheet pan...

I made the best pizza in that pan. And the best California Fruit bars from Maida Heatter's book. Well, I still make great fruit bars, but I miss that pan. A lot.

[qrn]

My 21,600 BTU Char Glo, Gas grill that is on the island,in the kitchen,under a 1000cfm hood,(they are like thethingsin restaurants I have not seen anything like it for many ,many years,

I put it in when I built the new kitchen the first time in 1977. makes a great steak,/burger etc.

Bud

[CaliPoutine]

Here is mine. A salt box( made in Japan) that my gram gave me about 12years ago. She is gone now, so its even more special. http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/hs286.snc6/181442_500454467615_517192615_6291616_1759573_n.jpg