Kitchen Set Up: Advanced Tools
Jun 25, 2015
Kitchen Set Up:
Advanced Tools
Pressure Cooker
Uses:
• Cook food up to three times faster than conventional cooking methods
and save energy while doing it
• Preserves essential vitamins and nutrients in food
What to look for:
• A highly-conductive base material such as aluminum
• Spring-loaded valves
• High and low settings to regulate cooking
Garlic Baker
Uses:
• bake garlic to temper its pungency and bring out its sweet, nutty flavor
Syrup and Honey Dispenser
Uses:
• Dispense syrup, honey, agave nectar, or barley malt without making a
mess
What to look for:
• Glass jar with a metal sliding lid
Salad Spinner
Uses:
• Spin your greens dry after washing
What to look for:
• A well-made model with a brake to stop the spinning action
Glazing Basting Brush
Uses:
• Lightly brush sauce, egg wash, butter, or oil onto food before cooking
or baking
What to look for:
• Heat-resistant silicone bristles and a handle made of wood, plastic, or
metal
Potato Masher
Uses:
• Mash potatoes, squash, and other root vegetables or beans
What to look for:
• Oval or round disc design with grid or holes for the potatoes to pass
through
Non-stick Cooking Utensils
Uses:
• Will not scratch the surface of non-stick cookware
Meat Thermometer
Uses:
• Measure the temperature of meat during cooking
Candy Thermometer
Uses:
• Measure the temperature and stage of cooking a sugar solution
Loaf Baking Pan
Uses:
• Bake bread, meat, vegetable loafs and terrines
Bundt Baking Pan
Uses:
• Bake creative desserts such as bundt cakes (cakes shaped like rings
such as Angel-food cake)
Citrus Reamer or Juicer
Uses:
• Separate the juice from the meat and rind of a fruit
Garlic Press
Uses:
• Crush garlic cloves with ease
What to look for:
• Comfortable grip, sturdy construction, and a non-stick surface
Pepper Mill
Uses:
• Grind fresh pepper onto your food
What to look for:
• A grinding head made of stainless steel, high-carbon steel, or ceramic
Sharpening Steel or Stone
Uses:
• Sharpen your knives (sharp knives are safer to use than dull knives)
What to look for in a honing steel:
• Ceramic, silicone carbide or standard steel covered with industrial diamond dust
• Length of at least 10” long
What to look for in a sharpening stone:
• Length of at least 6” long
Creative Kitchen
Storage
Hooks for Hanging Pots
Lid Rack
Uses:
• Store and organize pot and pan lids in your cabinet or mount to a shelf
or counter.
Knife Magnet
Uses:
• Store and display knives
Kitchen Cart
Uses:
• Add storage and counter space to your kitchen
Grapefruit Spoon
Uses:
• Pointed and serrated tip for scooping grapefruit sections
• Scoop seeds out of other fruits and vegetables such as butternut
squash, pumpkins, melons or papayas
Spice Measuring Spoons
Uses:
• Like standard measuring spoons but long and thin with elongated
handles to fit into narrow spice jars
French Mandolin
Uses:
• Shred cabbage, carrots, and other vegetables for salads and soups
Specialty Vegetable Slicer
Uses:
• Shred, chip, or slice veggies, fruits, and other foods into fun formations
like spaghetti or chips
• Popular tool for preparing raw dishes
Specialty Knives
Santoku Knife
Uses:
• For all-purpose kitchen chopping, slicing and mincing of vegetables and
meats
• Similar to a chef’s knife, but lighter and smaller with straighter edge
Usuba Knife
Uses:
• Thin blade for cutting firm vegetables and other foods with precision
• Also for specialized chopping such as katsuramuki, shaving a vegetable
cylinder into a thin sheet
Fillet Knife
Uses:
• Flexible; used to fillet and prepare fish
Cleaver Knife
Uses:
• Large, usually rectangular heavy blade for splitting or “cleaving” meat
and bone