I couldn’t cook without my cast iron. Cornbread alone makes it essential.
Color me confused - I simply wash out my SS pots and pans nothing meticulous, plus SS can go in the dishwasher unlike cast iron (well you could I suppose but it’d ruin the seasoning).
Ah, c’mon. You sear a steak or bake some cornbread and that shit is going to stick on a steel-clad pan. I make some ultra-sticky cornbread and bake it dry, without even any grease, in a cast iron pan, and it’s ready to go for the next use. Ain’t going to happen, in my experience, when I’ve used my All-Clad fish-shaped pans to get multiple loaves going. YMMV? Yes, it do! That’s why I like talking cooking – everyone’s a wiseacre! And potentially wrong – or right.
I agree. I find it is more of a hassle to clean the cast iron than the SS. Not that either is that big a deal.
On the SS vs cast iron front. Do people make pan sauces in cast iron pans? I have never tried because I have always done it in my all clad pan. I worry that putting the liquid in and scraping the fond from the cast iron pan will mess up the seasoning and make a bad tasting sauce.
I’ll admit I’ve never done cornbread in SS but steak? Never had a steak stick as long as you sear it properly and cleanup is just a little soap and one of those green scrubber/sponge thingys - what do you call those? Plus as I said, you can always just chuck it in the dishwasher if you’re feeling lazy.
But I do agree I’d never try anything like cornbread or eggs.
That part’s true, IME. Nothing terrible will come of it, and certainly nothing inedible, but it’s always been clear to me that CI is not the best for getting clear, perfectly defatted reductions. They always seem kind of grungy to me.
I say, my dishes are full of crack. And I thought my spoons would be safe with square plates.
I’d bump that to 4: paring, bread, and two sizes of chef’s knife. One with the big 8 inch blade, and one between the paring and bigger knife, size wise. That’s the one I use for a lot of routine tasks. The big one is best for chopping up lots of veggies since it’s got the nice curve and you can really get rocking and get a rhythm to the job. The smaller is better for a lot of other tasks.
I have never found a food processor to be useful - at least not so useful that all the clean-up of the little blades and gadgets is justified. I use two lightweight chopping cleavers side-by-side for mincing. I can turn shrimp into paste in just a few minutes with this technique.
Maybe if I was making my own peanut butter I might find a food processor useful. But it really seems like something I’d only use for one out of 200 recipes. What are you all doing with food processors?
OK smartass - how do YOU cut 5 keys of blow, by hand? I don’t think so.
Counter space. No wonder so many people don’t cook. That said, I know many people with islands of counter space that don’t cook at all.
To get and keep those knives sharp: a knife sharpener. The Spyderco Sharpmaker will do just what its name suggests. You’ll probably have to put a fair bit of work into it the first time around, but after a while, it will come to the point of just needing a few light strokes on the “fine” sticks once in a while for a touch-up.
Near the top of my list of kitchen essentials is a fire extinguisher. Get a real one - at least a 10BC model. (The “A” rating doesn’t matter much here - most kitchen fires involve grease and oil, both of which are handled by the “B” rating.) You can get one for about $20. Mount it near the door and hope you never need to touch it. Don’t stash it in the cabinet over the stove - you won’t be able to get at it if a pot of oil ignites.
This is a really good one - well said.
I can’t believe I’m the first person to say colanders. Seriously, I love my colander (an unfortunate proletariat Ikea number). I also find that I use my fruit and vegetable peeler every other day. Having recently cooked in a friend’s rather sparse kitchen, I have a greater appreciation for sharp knives, ample cutting boards, cookware, and a variety of bowls and dishes for mise en scene and serving. After that experience, I came home and hugged my dutch oven.
Storage containers are absolutely essential for me, but I prefer pyrex or glass as opposed to plastic myself. For some reason, when I used plastic Tupperware, they seem to stain and retain smells quite often.
Agree with the fire extinguisher. My SO, being the slightly neurotic paranoid that he is, has supplied the kitchen with two of those things. One by the garage door and one under the kitchen sink away from the stove.
I have to admit I’ve never heard this applied to cooking and frankly it doesn’t make much sense to me.
Wikipedia:
"an expression used to describe the design aspects of a theatre or film production, which essentially means “visual theme”
Did you mean mise en place?
"French phrase defined by the Culinary Institute of America as “everything in place”
Ack. Yes. :o
I don’t think you need a dedicated mallet if you have some regular hammers. I use both my Estwing 22 oz. framing hammer (smooth head, not waffle) and my 4 lb. baby sledge for cooking. Whacking crosscut pork tenderloin between two flexible plastic cutting boards with the baby sledge makes thin medallions wicked fast.
A splurge that has become essential for me is the superfast and accurate Thermapen. I tried the probe-with-a-wire thermometers but the wire always broke quickly. The Thermapen has a fine stabby tip and reads in a couple of seconds. It’s become indispensable to me for making yogurt, bread, and candy, and is wonderful for grilling.
I use it 95% of the time for hummus. Other than that…you’re basically right.
I’ll shout out my favorite knife of all time - Oxo’s Professional Mini Santoku. My parents have a full set of Wustof’s and I think the handles are slippery and frankly, too heavy. The Mini Santoku can do just about everything.
I’m surprised nobody’s mentioned Pyrex by name.
And I certainly echo the salad spinner (I like Oxo). I wish I had a smaller one for quick jobs, though.
I’m going to add good kitchen towels. Ever cooked at a friend’s house and they had granite and Brazilian cherry cabinets but not a decent towel? I like microfiber, because I spill water a lot.
I’m also going to add “decent countertops”. They should be able to withstand water and heat and should resist staining. There is a biiiiig blister on my future MIL’s plastic topped counters because of me :(.
ETA: As far as utilitarian wood cutting boards go (not butcher blocks, etc), I haven’t found a better one than this bamboo one with gripper feet built in.
A source of water
A source of heat
A place to store food
All else is optional.
I think it would be really interesting to know if cooking came before knives.