Essential items to hand when you cook?

[Wilfrid]

I was enjoying the mise-en-place thread, so wanted to try to broaden it, as I am genuinely nosy about what eGulleteers get up to in their kitchens.  Some of us mentioned other things we like to have within reach, along with all our little dishes of prepped stuff.

So, in addition to the coarse salt in the ramekin, what else do I always line up?  I do have a small peppermill, but unless I need the pepper finely ground, I find it easier to shake ground black pepper from a jar.  Olive oil, yes.  I have a general purpose chef knife and a vegetable-chopping knife at hand, but I still haven't grown out of cheap but strong, thin-bladed, serrated edge knives for lots of fiddly little chores.  I have a wooden spoon handed down by my mother, which is probably a hygienist's nightmare, but which is great for stirring, and you don't have to worry about scratching anything.  Tongs, of course, which changed my life and reduced my reliance on spatulas to a minimum.  

Straining: for all sorts of precision straining purposes, like straining sauces, I use a small, stainless steel tea-strainer.  Has a lot of advantages of the fancy conical strainers, but only cost a couple of bucks (no, I do not use it to strain spaghetti).  And lots of paper towels for mopping up as I go.

That's the stuff I tend to pull out every time I cook something (shad roe wrapped in either bacon or Italian ham tonight).  What else?  I bet some of you have some interesting equipment quirks.

[Rachel Perlow]

I find the tea strainers to small and too fine for most tasks. I do use a 3" and 6" metal mesh, plastic round part & handle strainers very frequently. I also have a set of three plastic cutting boards. They are supposed to be used (and are labled) for different tasks (raw meat, veggies, cooked food), but I just find having the extra boards with a neat holder very helpful. I have lots of gadgets, but those strainers are probably the most frequently used. Although today I made a stock and that requires a two step straining. First through a large colander to get rid of bones & other large debris. Then through a coffee filter lined strainer to get the smaller bits.

                                       

I also prefer a real lemon reamer like this one to using a fork or just squeezing, like you see so many chefs on TV doing. Don't they want to get all the juice out?

[Jim Dixon]

A couple of years ago I picked up a stainless steel dough-scraper (flat, square, with one side rolled for a handle) and I don't know how I ever got anything done without it.

I don't use it for dough-scraping, but to pick stuff up off the cutting board and transfer it to the pan. I typically push the chopped object onto the scraper with the back side of my chef's knife, then reverse the process over the pan.

Jim

[Liza]

I'll second the dough scraper and raise a zester. Plus those new high-heat resistant spatulas get a lot of play in our kitchen.

Our chinoise has revolutionized our stocks, and can liven up any boring moments by doubling as a funny hat. (edited to mention that it is only funny when there is no stock in it. Then it becomes a lawsuit.)

[Sandra Levine]

Ditto on the dough scraper.   I like my rasp handy, too, in addition to most of the other stuff every has mentioned.

[vengroff]

At least two kitchen towels are essential.  One for grabbing hot pots and pans, one for wiping hands.

I am also a big fan of the wooden reamer.

Other favorite task-specific items include a potato ricer and a mandoline.

[Adam_Balic]

Meat thermometer. Electric kitchen scales. Bottle opener. Cocktail shaker (I have been experimenting with Martini's as an aid to cooking. Works well for most items, but is disaster for deserts). A large wooden work surface. Pasta maker. Chinese cleaver. Mandolin.

[Fat Guy]

I find it easier to shake ground black pepper from a jar.

What do I need to do to convince you not to do this?

[Adam_Balic]

Oooh, I nearly forgot the best kitchen item of all. My Microplane. This is the grater that God uses.

[Rachel Perlow]

Ditto on the black pepper. What's the point of sprinkling sawdust on your food?

I do enjoy my heat proof spatula. I even have a red one that is reserved for tomato based things, so my white one doesn't get stained.

I forgot about the meat thermometer. Use it all the time. I just used it this morning to see if the water that was set in the microwave to boil (in a pyrex glass measuring cup) was actually hot enough to make tea (versus cool enough for the coffee in the french press). Oh! Don't actually microwave the thermometer!

I decided this counted towards food preparation, since it helps the fruit ripen: I just bought the best fruit basket. It has a bowl made of metal rods in a very wide weave and has a built in banana hook. I can't find a picture of it on the web, but I bought it at the Arthur Avenue Retail Market, from the guy at the housewares booth on the right, for less than $20. It is beautiful and functional.

[tommy]

Ditto on the black pepper. What's the point of sprinkling sawdust on your food?

i've recently realized that fresh ground black pepper and the typical "powered" stuff that i grew up with are two completely different animals, each with its own applications.  yes, i have a new found respect for the sawdust stuff.

[cabrales]

I don't cook, but I do add peppercorns to certain ready-made foods I buy for consumption at home (different versions of the peppercorns, and in different states of having been ground or not; I use Malaysian Sarawak quite a bit). I like adding peppercorns to a juicy purchased roast chicken, or preparing a simple sauce made from sherry vinegar and olive oil for it. Or perhaps using a store-bought sauce that I have always liked for some reason -- Maggi -- even though it lacks subtlety and is rather concentrated.  ;)

So, I would say, to adjust the flavoring of food -- fleur de sel, peppercorns, vinegar, Maggi sauce.

[Malawry]

I love, love, love my OXO Good Grips salad spinner. I keep it right behind the sink and use it almost every time I cook for salad greens and fresh herbs. I also adore the Microplane that edemuth got me for Hanukkah, and I like a little yellow lemon juicer that I've had for years...it's hard to describe but it's very effective. I keep a cookie sheet out at all times for general use. I like to slip it under things in the oven so they don't make a mess on the oven floor.

My housemate is the queen of funky serving utensils. Since she moved in, I've enjoyed using the pickle prong and olive fork she brought along, and she also owns the koolest wooden tongs. They fold one way to serve as tongs, and the other way to stay flat and easily packed away. I use the wooden tongs mostly for salads, where they look really pretty and are easy to grasp.

I'm really curious what you guys are doing with that preground black pepper.

[stellabella]

what could be more fun than an eGullet tour of members' kitchens?  anyone?

after my grandmother died a year ago i helped my mom clean out her house and i ended up bringing home about half the contents of her kitchen.  it really surprised me that no one wanted this stuff.  i have a metal grater that is perhaps fifty years old and still dangerous--we don't make things like we used to.  i got her colander, mixing bowls, paring knives, filleting knives, a plastic egg seperator from a Rehoboth Beach insurance company--you don't see those anymore--a knife sharpener.  loads of great gadgets.  i think i am like most of you in that i need more than one of most things, like colanders/strainers [and towels!].  i also got a small hand-held nutmeg grater which i use at least once a week--also for lemon zesting.  these things are useful and sentimental--my grandmother was a reknowned farm cook and i like to think she lives on this way, tho i could never make her pie crust.

i got a kitchen aid and a 14-cup cuisineart this year for xmas-birthday and i leave them on the counter --they have transformed my life.

[Wilfrid]

I thought this might be interesting.  I forgot towels.  I tuck the corner of a towel in my belt, so it's always ready just for wiping hands and stuff.

Sandra:  What's a rasp?

Stellabella:  Yeah, the little nutmeg grater, that's crucial too.

Now, what's all this fuss about a little pepper.  Just to be clear, I think Steven is complaining about me using crushed pepper from a jar rather than grinding it as needed.  I didn't think he was condemning black pepper in general as sawdust.  So, Steven, convince me.  I obviously don't use it if I am making something where I don't want a visible trace of pepper; nor am I using it in everything.  Is your contention that there will be a significant taste advantage if the corns are freshly ground?

[Jon Tseng]

fire extinguisher?

;-)

[jaybee]

Coursely cracked pepper is a great ingredient in many dishes, but a pain to do, until I bought a seventy year old hand cranked coffee grinder from a neighbor who was clearing out his mother's kitchen.  It has a "mason jar" up top that threads into the mouth of the grinder, and a large set of burs turned by a cast iron handle.  The residue falls into a large open mouth pestle I keep below the device.  I bolted the whole to a piece of 6x6 mounted on a plywood base about 8" square. I keep the jar filled with a five peppercorn mix plus some course sea salt.  Two or three turns and I have coursely cracked pepper.  It is the best appliance in my kitchen.

[mamster]

I keep a couple dozen bar mop towels in a drawer.  Those get a lot of play.  I keep the Microplane on my knife rack;  it gets used for cheese and zest.

Good peanut oil is important in my kitchen.  I buy the cold-filtered Lion & Globe brand in big plastic bottles, but I keep it in glass at home.  I've had trouble with rancid peanut oil in the past, so now I keep a big glass bottle in the fridge and decant some into a smaller glass bottle for the cupboard.

Another important part of cooking is beer, so I keep a bottle opener handy.

I've already mentioned my Unicorn Magnum peppermill on the peppermill thread.  Wilfrid, do a comparison of freshly ground with preground, and you'll never go back, unless you're tommy.  Laurie likes to tell people that if they want to improve their cooking with hardly any effort, they can follow four easy rules:  freshly ground pepper, kosher salt, butter not margarine, and hot plates for hot food.  Maybe I should have let her jump in with that.

[Sandra Levine]

Sandra:  What's a rasp?

Generic term for Microplane

[Robert Schonfeld]

Shower caps taken from hotel rooms for covering rising bread.

Re cracked pepper: try rolling the bottom of a large heavy pan over the peppercorns. Does a great job.

[tommy]

i'm confused.  doesn't a decent peppermill do a fine job of cracking pepper into various forms?

[jaybee]

i'm confused.  doesn't a decent peppermill do a fine job of cracking pepper into various forms?

Not really.  A pepper mill grinds pepper too finely, even at the coursest setting if what you want is "cracked" pepper.  These are much larger pieces, usually used to coat a piece of meat or fish to make a pepper crust.  More finely ground pepper gets too strongly imbedded and spread over the surface of the meat and makes it too hot.  When putting pepper in a recipe, you want to use a mill.

[tommy]

i have several pepper mills, one of which does a nice job of cracking coursely.  if i need more control over the size, i generally use a mortar and pestle.  a couple of whacks in a spice grinder does the trick too, but with less consistent results.

[jaybee]

i have several pepper mills, one of which does a nice job of cracking coursely.  if i need more control over the size, i generally use a mortar and pestle.  a couple of whacks in a spice grinder does the trick too, but with less consistent results.

I used your approach until I got grandma's coffee grinder.  Now I crank out enough cracked pepper for a couple of tenderloins or giant rib-eyes in no time.  I guess I'm just a cracked head.

[tommy]

oh man, before i got the mortar and pestle, i was doing all kinds of crazy things to grind spices.  after i got it, i got way into grinding spices and soon realized that it totally sucked having to do it all by hand.  and then the electric spice grinder came into play.  ahhhh.  there's nothing more satisfying than blazing through a cup of coriander, cumin, and fennel seeds in about 40 seconds.  :)