Essential Kitchen Equipment

[bump]

@zoid

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).

Yeah, a green scrub pad (the fairly aggressive ones), some barkeepers friend, and my all-clad’s as good as new.

That’s assuming it won’t fit in the dishwasher, or I don’t think it’ll clean up in there.

As for sauces in cast iron… that’s the one thing that they don’t do as well as a regular pan. I’ve got little black flecks in sauces made in a cast-iron skillet from where I got too carried away with the scraping.

I want to try the Olvida nickel-plated cast iron sometime when I can afford it… supposedly there’s no seasoning needed, and you can wash in the dishwasher, or with steel wool if you’re so motivated. Kind of the best of both worlds, I think.

[Rhythmdvl]

@bump

I want to try the Olvida nickel-plated cast iron sometime when I can afford it… supposedly there’s no seasoning needed, and you can wash in the dishwasher, or with steel wool if you’re so motivated. Kind of the best of both worlds, I think.

Oh my. Oh my oh my. Anyone know if they live up to their marketing? To have a pan I don’t need to hide from the in-laws! To get a good sear and throw it in the dishwasher?
Want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want want …!

[Chronos]

I think it would be really interesting to know if cooking came before knives.

A knife would be the next thing I’d add after those three essentials, but I could still do without. I’m pretty sure that knives did predate cooking, though.

[Superfluous_Parentheses]

@Patty_O_Furniture

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?

I’m still looking for a heavy-duty processor, but for the majority of recipes, a cheap immersion blender works just as well, and deals better with very small and very large batches.

I use my blender for hummus, curry pastes (small batches!), some soups (large pans!), falafel (this is something my blender can only barely handle - too tough), tomato sauce / salsa, and other stuff that I want pureed.

[Broomstick]

Holy crap! All that is essential?. You mean I’ve only imagined I’ve been cooking for 40 years without most of that stuff?

I mean, there’s “great for a basic, well-equipped kitchen” and “minimum required”, the latter of which I’d say is essential.

I have four knives (paring, chef, carving, bread) and 90% of the work is done with the chef’s knife.

Four pots of various sizes. OK, I have two “frying pans”, a wok and a saute pan, but really you only need one.

Three nested mixing bowls

Dry measure sets - 1 of cups and 1 of spoons.

Liquid measuring cup.

At least one cooking sheet for the oven.

That’s what you NEED. There’s a lot of other stuff to WANT, but for basic cooking that’s the essential stuff. Yes, vegetable peelers, whisks, mixers, graters, etc. are all really, really nice to have but they aren’t essential. I have never, actually owned a mixer of any sort of my very own (when young I used mom’s) but I’ve been baking bread and cakes and cookies for decades. Food processors are great, and if you’re “processing” lots of food sure, get one, but for me either chopping with a knife or grinding with my mortar and pestle works fine. Yes, we have a microwave, but I learned to cook before they were common household appliances.

Heck, my great-aunt Pearl used to deride hand cranked meat grinders - she made her chopped liver and pate with a hand chopper, that is, a set of blades strapped to her hand, and a lot of elbow grease. Me, OK, I have a hand crank meat grinder, great-aunt Pearl isn’t around to criticize anymore. And my slow-cooker is fantastic, I love it, but I don’t have the illusion I’d be unable to make stew or corned beef without it.

Or maybe I just misunderstood the question - are you talking about essential for gourmet cooking? Essential for opening a small restaurant? Or essential for basic daily cooking?

[TheTerribleTako]

@Broomstick

Holy crap! All that is essential?. You mean I’ve only imagined I’ve been cooking for 40 years without most of that stuff?

I mean, there’s “great for a basic, well-equipped kitchen” and “minimum required”, the latter of which I’d say is essential.

(snip)

Or maybe I just misunderstood the question - are you talking about essential for gourmet cooking? Essential for opening a small restaurant? Or essential for basic daily cooking?

If you’re just talking about the bare necessities for cooking, I’d agree with you, but then the list would look more like Chronos’ list of water, fire, and storage. We don’t need much to cook a basic meal, but opinions vary on what’s essential for a quick and efficient meal.

The OP mentioned “essential tools for a kitchen to efficiently and effectively get work done” (bolding mine) and I think many of the tools mentioned do help to make cooking more efficient and effective. My knife skills aren’t great yet, so having a vegetable peeler really cuts down on prep time. Similarly, you don’t need a microwave, but for some, it’s a very utilitarian tool that allows dinner to be served in a decent time frame. Not everyone will agree, since everyone has a different cooking style, but I think that’s most of the fun of these threads.

[gazpacho]

@Chronos

A knife would be the next thing I’d add after those three essentials, but I could still do without. I’m pretty sure that knives did predate cooking, though.

I thought about your short list last night. What do you do with the water without a pot of some type?

[Flander]

@gazpacho

I thought about your short list last night. What do you do with the water without a pot of some type?

Steam? Lol

[Suburban_Plankton]

@gotpasswords

Near the top of my list of kitchen essentials is a fire extinguisher.

I don’t know about that…I’ve owned my house for 15 years, and I’ve only used mine once!

Thankfully I did have it, so I still have a kitchen (and a house to go around it).

I don’t know that I’d call it essential, but we use our KitchenAid stand mixer for a lot of stuff that isn’t strictly ‘baking’. It certainly makes mashed potatoes a breeze.

And add me to the list of cast iron advocates. We still own one nonstick crepe pan, but everything else is cooked in cast iron. Pan sauces included. I’d never go back.

[Broomstick]

I like having a fire extinguisher, but honestly, the only time I’ve used my kitchen fire extinguisher was to put the roof out after accidentally igniting it while repairing it.

Still want to have one in the kitchen, just in case, though.

But in meanwhile, I keep a box of baking soda on hand - you can use it to smother a grease fire. That and a big pot lid. Just have something on hand for just in case.