We all have our favourite kitchen utensils and gadgets – those that are just a joy to use and makes us wonder how we ever managed without them. They may not necessarily be expensive or fancy items – they could be something as simple as a balloon whisk or a vegetable peeler.
I have a fondness for many of my kitchen tools, but if confined to three, my favourites are (in no particular order):
1. Microplane grater
How I ever survived with just a cheap box grater I’ll never know. A razor-sharp Microplane grater will make easy and fast work of grating anything from nutmeg to chocolate and cheese. They retail in Australia for around $40 AUS, and come in a number of different models, including coarse, ribbon and zester.
2. Salad Spinner
I love my Zyliss salad spinner at this time of the year. It dries salad leaves and herbs with an absolute minimum of fuss. The dried leaves can be refrigerated in the spinner until you’re ready to use them, and the bowl can double up as a salad bowl. So much easier and tidier than using a tea towel.
3. Silicon Spatula (known as a scraper in the US)
This versatile and indispensable utensil has a myriad of uses, from mixing to scraping: ideal for transferring cake batter from a bowl to a baking tin, removing the contents of a food processor and getting the last bit of pasta sauce from the saucepan. I also use mine over the stove as a stirrer – it’s perfect to use with non-stick cookware as it doesn’t scratch.
What are your favourite kitchen utensils / gadgets? Please leave your comments as I would love to know!
My favourite “kitchen tool” is my thermapen (a digital thermometer) allows me to accurately measure the temps of the various BBQ meats I cook…Love it!
I love your gadgets, they are 3 of my favorites as well. I would add my Chef’N rubber-tipped whisk and my meat thermometer to the mix and I am good to go!! 🙂 I don’t know how I survived without my microplane before ~ love it!!!
Hmm I do love the Microplanes, especially the super fine grater and the silicon spatula. The salad spinner is good too but maybe not in my top 3. Perhaps my really strong OXO GG tongs and OXO GG vegetable peeler are in my top 5?
Zester. All the way. You can get fun, curly, citrus swirls!
Paul – agree, digital thermometer is the only true way to determine when the roast is ready.
Chefbliss – yes, I’d forgotten how much I love my silicon whisk – I used it tonight to make coconut custard!
Lorraine – True, you can’t beat a GOOD paid of tongs and how did we ever survive without vegie peelers?
Duo Dishes – You’re right, zesters are a really fun kitchen tool!
in my humble opinion, most so-called “celebrity chefs” could be classified as kitchen tools, but that’s another story…
to pick three is tough. my 30cm santoku is easily the most used knife in my collection. a pair of heavy-duty stainless steel tongs and a mortar & pestle would probably be the most indispensible.
michael ruhlman had an interesting post on his excellent blog about essential kitchen gadgets:
http://blog.ruhlman.com/ruhlmancom/2008/04/my-favorite-kit.html
Thanks for the blog link CC – a good read.
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