Think On It

Tools of the Trade

January 3rd, 2007

Christmas Day I met a man named Lewis who said he wanted to know what things he needed in his kitchen and how to use them. He said, “People would pay to get a list of what they needed and to be told how much it would cost.” I’ve been thinking about that ever since. I used to design custom kitchens and it was one of my favorite parts of my work. I didn’t select clients’ tools, though.
It’s clear to me that it is impossible to tell anyone what equipping his kitchen would cost, because what one needs depends on what one cooks and for how many and how often. Quality varies usually with price, but not always. Sometimes you pay for a name or for looks that don’t affect the usable quality at all. Looks do count, though. I find it very difficult to bother to take good care of ugly things. If you don’t take care of things, they don’t last. With cheap things, even if you do take care of them they don’t last.

The other thing is that it is much more pleasant to spend time in the kitchen with things that you think are beautiful. I, for example, would have a very hard time cooking with things around decorated with teddy bears or ducks. Others love them.

So this is what I decided to do. I have made up enormous lists that include things I know about. I’ve selected the closest possible match to what I own and that has held up, although the color of things I bought in 1970 may be passé, in many cases the new color is even nicer. I am finding the things I use on the internet and making links to them. That will grow as this project grows. There will eventually be as many sources as I can find. If you click on the links in this post, it will take you to what I have already found.

In the meantime, if you like having the reviews of something you would buy but can’t afford what the online source charges, go out and scour other venues until you find a quality substitute. My things come from kitchen shops, from French street markets, from resale shops, from discount houses and lots were winning gifts.

If you want what is in my source selections, please click through and buy it in your choice of color and size and help support the online costs of this project.

I will start with the basics: non-electric kitchenware, the sometimes-boring necessities that everyone needs even if they only make soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. Piece by piece we will move on to a kitchen in which you can make anything until we end up at the really esoteric. I will tell you why I chose the pieces I chose. Over the years I have cooked I have tossed out or given away enough things to furnish at least one other kitchen, and who know, maybe a couple.

I have some philosophies about this stuff. The aesthetics I have already explained. Another thing is that I don’t particularly like sets, even though I show some. The ones I show contain only items I have and use, but are not “complete” in the way that the manufacturers would have you believe.

Because I think high quality pans are the only ones worth a cent(esimo) I don’t like non-stick surfaces. They are better than they used to be, but not even the best last the lifetime of the pots they are applied to. I am disgusted that le Creuset, dependable for pots that last your lifetime, has put ephemeral coatings in so many of them. My le Creuset pieces are at least thirty-five years old. No one has ever seen a non-stick surface that lasted more than a couple of years before it started to gradually disappear – into your food.

Pots, gotta have them. I’ve got lots of pots. I am showing you a set of copper pots with steel linings, because the ones I have are the workhorses of my kitchen. The copper spreads heat really well so that even a small flame cooks all the food in the pot. Are they hard to clean? I don’t find them so. A half lemon and a liberal pile of salt scours the copper right back up to rosy and new, and I do not do it every washing, because I like the ruddy color they become a few days after polishing. I’m a pretty lazy person, so I believe that if I find it easy you will, too.

Many are dedicated to stainless steel, and I have those, too. It doesn’t rust, but it does stain, and unlike most materials, once discolored it is discolored forever. I have some restaurant quality aluminum, as well, but there is so much misplaced sentiment against them, they’re hard to find.

Which are the best pots? Depends on what you are doing with them. It is almost impossible to sauté something well in a thin, cheap pot. At least some of your pots ought to have heavy, thick bottoms and be large enough so that there’s room to do the job. You can cook a little in a big pan, but you can’t cook a lot in a little pan. If you can have only one sauté pan, make it a wide one with a substantial bottom, a sort of Anna Magnani of the pan world. I show a couple on the two kitchen shop sites, because the one called a steak pan (what is that?) in the copper set is lovely, but it just wouldn’t do for sautéing enough artichokes for a pasta dish. So I selected also this steel one, heavy enough and wider.

The many-sized taller pots with lids are often called saucepans, and they can be used for sauces, but you will use them more often for cooking vegetables or rice. The tiny one is called a butter warmer, but it is actually very useful. You can heat milk, make sauces, poach an egg, do anything that works better in little space and might scorch or fail if spread over a larger surface. I use mine many times a week and it is exactly like that one.

For me a stockpot isn’t just a big pot. It is a huge pot, so that you can start out with lots of ingredients and water that gets gradually cooked down to become rich stock. Because it is large, it doubles as a pasta pot even if you are cooking for a crowd. Most pots called stockpots in sets bring forth only a hollow laugh from me. A stockpot doesn’t need to be heavy or thick. It doesn’t, strictly speaking, even need a lid. If, however, it has one, it makes it useful for other things as well, like cooking lobsters or crabs or corn.

Now you need something to stir those pots with. I love silicone spatulas and wooden spoons. Something to grate cheese with? The gift of a Microplane for grating hard things into fine dust changed my life. For soft things, try this box grater with which you can grate larger pieces, which you would want for potatoes or soft cheese or onion. Another epiphanous gift was a vegetable peeler like this one. Out into the woods went all those lame ones from before! Who knew that that chore could be so pleasant and easy? The same great friend gave me a Benriner Japanese mandolin. I sliced and shredded continuously for a winter after getting that jewel.

I like to have a set of steel mixing bowls. That nest. They don’t weigh a lot, they don’t take up too much room and they have a thousand uses. Unlike plastic, they have no poor affect on egg whites, and unlike glass or Pyrex they don’t break. If you put something in a big one and upturn the next size down, you create a protected atmosphere for salad greens or raising dough.

I haven’t mentioned knives although you must have them. I am very unhappy with what’s available now and spend time poking around old-fashioned knife shops trying to find high carbon steel knives to take the place of the stainless steel knives that are everywhere. In addition, I can say categorically that you should try a knife you are thinking of buying. It should fit your hand and feel good and balanced. It should cut accurately, and that does not mean a piece of paper. Who does that? My current big-mistake handmade Japanese knife cuts paper beautifully. It doesn’t cut onions. Or rather, it cuts them, but in an uncontrollable fashion because it is ground on only one side. I will probably pay as much again to get someone to regrind it to have two bevels as I paid for the knife. Why did I buy it? It is high carbon steel. Next step will probably be to buy a custom knife from a gentleman in Finland whose work is sold in Florence. If you have never had anything different, you may like what’s on the market. I can’t get them to keep an edge! I could have chosen to make dinner or shave my guests with my now-disappeared carbon steel knives. Now I moan.

We’ll venture further and get you past the meat-and-two-veg stage next week. Have a look at what’s in the UK and the US shops in the link list. The lists are not the same, because what is available isn’t the same. I’ll do a post like this once a week unless that Japanese knife wins.

Please jump in and comment if you have another idea or disagree. This series covers ONLY what I know, have used or tested, or in some cases, eg has done so. Just don’t get ahead of us, because this is just the first step in a long journey.

Entry Filed under: Uncategorized, Food, Waste, Italy