A Question

[miss_s_b]

I've got plans for the rhubarb challenge, but it's waiting for my rhubarb to arrive from Ocado (I know, I know) tomorrow. In the meantime, I wanted to ask:

What's your one most essential piece of kitchen equipment?

I mean, once you get past the sink and the oven and the hob and the worktops which every kitchen has (and I'm totally willing to have the gas v electric v induction fight on the hob - gas FTW!!!) what is the one item you could not cope without?

For me, it's a really good cast iron frying pan. I used to have one that was my grandma's, and was given to my dad when he went to uni, and was given to me when I went to uni, and finally died a couple of years ago having done 60+ years of solid service to three generations of pretty arduous cooks. I was initially surprised at how hard it was to find a replacement, but then worked out that a thing that lasts 60 years is going to not be easy to replace. Eventually, after several years of looking (I knew my nan's pan would die eventually) and finding lots that were too small, or didn't have a pouring lip, or were not capable of being ovenned, or were thin and flimsy, or had other problems, I finally got one from Ocado and I've not looked back. I use it several times a week. It's great for caremelising onions or making pancakes or frying eggs or bolognese sauce or even tarte tatin.

So go on then, what's your favourite bit of kitchen equipment?

Comments

[missdiane]

With the kitties, it's the microwave. If JuneBug can't smell the wet food, she eats less so I put hot water in it (and electric kettles work SO slowly here in the US)

Without the kitties, my Caphalon hard-anodized nonstick skillet. It's the most used item and it's versatile to cook about anything in. I do need a new one, though, as it's getting a bit scratched

[miss_s_b]

The being scratched thing is why I don't like non stick. It's non stick right up until it gets scratched when it morphs into ULTRASTICK. But, you know, I realise that cast iron takes a lot of effort to make it non stick, and really it's all just personal preference.

[meepettemu]

Electric whisk for aquafaba :)

[miss_s_b]

Ahhhhh a very versatile ingredient too :)

[swingandswirl]

It's a little silly, but the set of non-stick pans I got from Costco.

I'd been struggling with a really old frying pan whose coating had nearly completely gone (although I didn't know enough about kitchen implements to realise) which was an absolute bear to clean, and one day I just got so frustrated with scrubbing bits of scrambled egg off it that I threw it in the trash and dropped $30 (not a lot, I know, but a splurge on my grad student budget!) on a set of new pans from Costco.

REVELATION. Cooking could actually be fun! Who knew?

[miss_s_b]

Oh yes, once you've got a good bit of kit it's a fabulous feeling. Good knives are another thing that make a massive difference, and keeping them actually sharp. I'll never forget Alisdair ringing me up after the first time I'd been in his kitchen, & sharpened all his knives, saying "OMG I WAS CHOPPING AN ONION AND IT WAS EASY!!!!"

[swingandswirl]

Good knives really are a treat, aren't they? Right now I live with my mother and none of our knives are particularly sharp because I swear that woman would slice her hand open with a butter knife - but the few occasions I was able to borrow my roommate's good knives back in grad school, it was amazing.

This probably depends on what kind of food you make, but one thing I will never go without again is a decent mortar and pestle. Readymade spices are all well and good, but sometimes you just have to roll your own. Plus, fresh-ground spices - especially cardamom - always smell like home to me.

[miss_s_b]

Ohhhh fresh ground spices are such a glorious thing ♡♡♡

[norfolkian]

I don't use it massively often, but I have a small pyrex casserole dish which my mum gave me. It was a wedding present, so it's been going since the 70s. And it's really handy for doing crumbles and shepherd pies. :)

But actually I'd say a decent chef's knife is my one piece of essential equipment. When you're somewhere without any decent knives, you realise how great a good knife is. :)

[miss_s_b]

When you're somewhere without any decent knives, you realise how great a good knife is.

Yeah, hence the little anecdote above about me sharpening all Alisdair's knives for him...

[st_aurafina]

My big cast-iron enameled pot - it's not a really good brand but it does the slow cooking thing I want it to do, and I use it every week to make something for work night dinners. Also it looks pretty and when the apocalypse comes, I'm fairly sure it could take out a zombie if used as a weapon.

[miss_s_b]

All of those are good attributes :)

[weaverbird]

Me too! My enameled cast-iron Dutch oven is in use *constantly* - so much so that it actually never gets put away.

Second on my essentials list is good knives - paring, chef, and cleaver. And third is my cast iron skillet.

[matgb]

Cheese grater.

Followed by a decent knife, but the grater is most important.

[shopfront]

Pyrex bakeware. I cook gluten free, and it helps so much to avoid scorching the various flours to not bake in metal.

Or my big stainless steel heavy bottomed stockpot, but that's in storage and I've learned to live without it. Though I really can't wait to get it back.