Specialized Kitchen Equipment; some good investments

As is hopefully obvious from this blog, I love cooking. Since I have been a lover of all things food for quite a fair amount of years, I have accrued a good deal of kitchen equipment, both from purchasing items myself and from fabulous friends and family who support my career. There are some items that I couldn’t bear to part with, but also a great many that I find somewhat unnecessary and perhaps not the smartest investment. I thought I would share what my personal opinions are on specialized kitchen equipment and some suggestions on what may benefit you personally for your individual needs. Some larger standard items that I consider basic and absolutely necessary are a food processor, a kitchen aid standing mixer, and a good cast iron skillet. A blender is also great, but the food processor can stand in many times for recipes that call for a blender. My recommendation if you don’t have a blender (and even if you do) is to invest in an immersion blender. This is my second most used piece of equipment in the kitchen and works on everything from making smoothies to pureeing soups and vegetables. My immersion blender is a Braun Multiquick and it cost me $29 when I purchased it approximately 6 years ago. I have never had a problem with it, you can run the main part through the dishwasher, and it packs nicely into small storage spaces. Here are a few more suggestions for products that I have found to be imperative to my cooking life.

A Micro Plane/Rasp- Used almost daily in my house, this $12 purchase should last you years before it dulls and is a piece of equipment that eases some difficult tasks. Best for zesting citrus fruits, grating hard cheeses like parmesan, and finely grating ginger, I have used mine for grating zucchini, onions and other vegetables. I call this The Finisher, as the uses I engage it in usually are for finishing a dish, as with a final grate of parmesan over a bowl of pasta, or a final sprinkle of lemon zest to vinaigrette.




A Food Mill- A bit more specialized than other pieces of equipment, I still have to recommend this, if only for making mashed potatoes. Since mashed potatoes will become starchy and gluey if put in a food processor, and sometimes hand mashing (no matter what your muscle strength) can leave lumps, running them through a food mill produces perfectly mashed potatoes that are light and fluffy. Also wonderful for pureeing soups and vegetables and reasonable priced as well. The model I have is from Sur La Table and is $29.99.



A Mandolin- This was a hard sell for me originally since I enjoy finely chopping and slicing my produce and never found the need to have a piece of equipment that would do it for me. I was recently given a mandolin as a gift and realized just what I was missing. The ease of having uniform cuts and the mandolin’s ability to produce paper thin results instantly made me a believer. The first thing I did was make apple and sweet potato chips, which took a total of around 2 minutes to cut using the mandolin. Sprinkle with sugar or salt, pop them in a 200 degree oven for an hour or two, let them cool on a baking rack and you have fresh chips that are even more delicious than you can purchase. Just be careful, the blade in incredibly sharp, as my thumb can attest after I gave it a nice deep cut 30 seconds in!

A good quality, extremely sharp, Chef’s Knife- As ironic as it sounds, most cuts come from dull knives. The harder you have to press down on a knife, the more likely it is that there will be a slip and a finger will be a victim. The sharper the knife, the truer the cut, and you won’t need to put pressure to get the job done, ensuring that losing control is highly unlikely and no boo boos will occur. I recommend using honing steel before each use and having your knife professionally sharpened twice a year or so, depending on the level of use. This will be the investment part, as a good knife will likely set you back triple digits. However, a good knife should last at least 25 years if properly maintained and most likely you will have it for life. My recommendations are a Shun 8-10 inch chef’s knife and a Wusthof Classic 8 inch chef’s knife.