Kitchen Equipment - What Do You NEED?

When I decided to do this blog, a list of what you NEED in a kitchen was one of the earliest ideas that came to me.  So when I started to think about how to write this, I thought "who wants to read a list of items, and who am I to tell you all what you need to have in the kitchen?".  Then I looked around the kitchen and I have all this stuff, but how much of it do I really need to make good food?  So I decided that I would list what I would need in a kitchen and let you make the decisions about what works best for you.  I will not discuss electrical equipment, that is for another day.

Let's begin at the basics: 

1. A chef knife.  This is you main tool, slices, dices, chops, minces, crushes etc.  The chef knife is like a Swiss army knife except it has one blade.  Thousands of uses including opening bottles.
2. A cutting board.  I like wooden ones as opposed to the plastic ones that are all over the place these days.  As it turns out, the plastic ones harbor micro-organisms quite nicely, wooden ones kill them.
3. A small sauté pan 8 inch diameter.  I like non-stick.  There are two ways to get there, buy a pan with a non-stick surface, or get a pan and make its non-stick.  That's a whole other post, maybe I'll do it tomorrow.
4. A paring knife.  Buy an inexpensive one, not a cheap one.  I rarely spend more than $10-$12 for a paring knife and have been very happy with the ones that I have owned.  My reasoning for the inexpensive paring knives is that in a commercial kitchen, your paring knife will end up in the trash can about 5 times.  At least that is how many times mine did.
5. A vegetable peeler.  I have my favorite type.  You really should check the different types out and decide for yourself.
6. Bowls.  It is important to have varying sizes of bowls for mixing, holding prepped ingredients etc.  It is best to go with non-reactive materials such as glass, porcelain or stainless steel.
7. A wire whip.  Useful for eggs, whipped cream, mixing dry ingredients etc.
8. A 2 quart sauce pan.  Make mashers, noodles, sauce (although I prefer the sauté pan for small amounts), veggies, anything that will fit in it.  Pretty much.
9. Measuring spoons and cups.  I rarely use these except when writing a recipe or baking, but when you do need them, it's good to have a set around.
10. Tongs.  Not those flimsy ones, heavy duty.  Buy them once.  I also detest the ones with a locking mechanism, they always seem to lock at the worst times.
11. Three spatulas.  A small metal spat, one for the non-stick pan and a heat resistant rubber spat as well.  I have yet to find a spatula that is friendly to non-stick surfaces that I like, so I will just use the metal one and be careful.

Okay, that list will get you going.  Let's move on to the next step.

1. A 10" sauté pan.  The mainstay of the. Commercial kitchen.  Why would you NOT                   want one.  This pan will do everything!  The best pan you will ever own.
2. A flexible boning knife.  There are three kinds of boning knives with all kinds of variations between brands.  Flexible, semi flexible and stiff.  They have various uses, but over the years, I have used my flexible boning knife more than the other two by tenfold.
3. A bread knife.  Your bread knife has many uses other than bread.  It is the best knife to slice tomatoes, bread, and if you are not yet confident in your knife skills you can use it to slice meat.  It is also my knife of choice for cutting chocolate for pastry work.
4. An 8 quart stock pot.  I make stock in a 20 quart sock pot, but for most people, 8 quarts is more than adequate.
5. A turning knife or "birds beak".  A great knife for peeling and cutting vegetables and fruit.  Probably the knife that gets the second most use in my kitchen.
6. A roasting pan. This is for beef bones and any other bones that you will use for your stocks as well as vegetables and your thanksgiving turkey.  I also use mine to brine my bacon.

Let's go one step further.  Now you have a very well equipped kitchen. What else might you want to have in it?

Using my kitchen as a basis, here is what I would choose at this point, again, you make the call.

1. Silpat pan liners.  A type of silcone pan liner, mine are from France.  If you have ever used parchment to line a sheet pan and are tired of one use liners, I have used the same two silpat pan liners for 15 years.  They are fantastic!
2. A mandoline.  I am not speaking for musical instruments here.  The are two types that hold the most interest for me.  I own a traditional metal mandoline, it can assist me in preparing scalloped potatoes in almost any thickness I desire as well as vegetables cut in the batonette or julienne.  Also will cut gaufrette potatoes, now that is a thing of beauty.  The other is a Japanese mandoline.  It cannot do as many types of preparations and has a significantly sharper blade.  One of these bit me years ago and took a chunk out of my right thumb.  I have not felt comfortable with them since. 
3. Bread pans.  Varying sizes.  Great for bread, meatloaf etc.
4. Terrine moulds, varying sizes and shapes.  I love to eat pâté, and I'm getting better at making it.
5. And a whole bunch of other stuff.  This could literally be a book.  

What else?  There is no end to what is available.

As you continue to cook, you will end up with more and more equipment.  After a while, you start to realize what is needed for your style of cooking, and then you can have a garage sale to get rid of all the useless junk that you have acquired, but will never use again.  I can't tell you how many hours that my wife and I have spent in kitchen supply stores laughing and making jokes about some of the ridiculous gadgets that are available.  

It's really up to you what will work best in your kitchen and it really really depends on what types of food you will be preparing for yourself, your friends and your family.  These are the most important pieces of equipment in my kitchen.  There is much more, but after this, we get very specialized.

We'll save that for another day.

Next up: Curried Chicken Skewers.