A well-equipped kitchen is essential to making meals at home. If you’re just starting out or are looking to update your current kitchen there are many things you can buy, but you don’t need to have every gadget. Besides a cutting board and a few mixing bowls, here are the top 5 tools that every kitchen needs.
Knife A good knife is probably the most important tool you can have. Slicing, dicing, chopping are impossible to do without a sharp, high quality knife. Sharp knives are actually safer to use than dull ones, they not only cut food better but there’s a lower chance of cutting yourself, too. High quality doesn’t have to be expensive, either. Find a knife that feels good in your hand; the handle feels comfortable when you hold it and the knife feels balanced with a little bit of weight to it. Chef’s knives are sold in 6-, 8-, and 10-inch lengths.
Wooden Spoons These are your go-to utensils for stirring batters (like pumpkin chocolate muffins) and soups, scraping items out of pans, and even for serving food at the table. They don’t scratch or scuff your cookware, stay cool even when immersed in boiling liquid and won’t melt like some plastics will. They come in many shapes and sizes, and many are now made of lighter and less expensive bamboo
Tongs Tong use goes beyond turning meat over on the grill. Use them to toss salads or coat pasta with sauce, remove hot foods from a pan or the oven, shift roasting vegetables on the tray for even cooking (like roasted butternut squash) or flip large cuts of meat without puncturing them and letting juices flow out.The tongs above are the type used in professional kitchens (and they’re great) but there are many other lengths and kinds to choose from.
Whisk This low-tech tool is a must-have in every kitchen. Want light, fluffy scrambled eggs or baked frittata? Whisk them. Does your recipe ask you to combine dry ingredients first? Whisk them. Making a salad dressing? You guessed it, use that whisk. When whisked together, ingredients are blended consistently, which is ideal in baking and gravy-making, and they incorporate air which makes the end product lighter. There are many types out there, but the sauce whisk (pictured above) is the most common.
Measuring Cups and Spoons If you’re new to cooking or making something for the first time, it’s important to measure out ingredients according to the recipe. You don’t want an over- or under-flavored dish! Baking is a more precise science and it’s important to measure everything out for a successful end product, especially for items like pizza dough and date-oat bread. These tools are also ideal for portioning out servings of grains, nut butters, salad dressings, and more.
Written by Adriene Worthington, RDN, LDN
kitchen, tools, top5