It’s well known by now that we at r’n’k.com are Big Fans of the list of recommendations found in the back of Cook’s Illustrated The Science of Good Cooking.
(The other “Illustrators” books on the right are part of Rick’s art book collection. Didn’t plan it that way: the Cook’s volumes just fit better on that shelf than on our other THREE full shelves of cookbooks.)
What can we say?
We love learning to cook new dishes, and we love high-quality tools to do it with.
The thing is, not every gadget one comes across in kitchen stores is essential. In fact, you can easily–and quickly–fill a kitchen to overflowing with culinary chotchkies. If you want to separate an egg, you don’t need a gadget. You just need to learn how to separate an egg.
However, some tools ARE necessary, and Cook’s does a great job of sifting the real wheat from the chapstick. Thus we pick up here from where we left off, “Kitchen Gadgets and Handy Tools, Part One.”
I will admit to being a little confused by Cook’s “best colander” recommendation. Know what I think when I read that? I chuckle at the ludicrousness of marketing a simple–albeit best-of-breed–kitchen colander as being both “precise” and “pierced.”
First of all, what’s so precise about it? I’ve never seen a colander that has industrial-grade measurement markings, nor have I ever thought I needed one. And if it actually held up to 5.5 quarts, or only 4.5 for that matter, who cares? We run a laissez-faire kinda kitchen around here.
Secondly, isn’t a colander supposed to be pierced?! How is that a marketable feature, worthy of being included in the nomenclature?! Without the piercings, you’d just have a really expensive metal bowl.
If the marketeers of said undoubtably fabulous colander had paid attention in school, they would have known and embraced the “when needed for clarity, hyphenate a compound adjective before the noun” rule.
This would have allowed me to focus instead on the stability provided by the metal ring on the bottom and the many small, precise piercings (aka “holes”) that allow for quick draining without losing your linguini down the sink.
Firm hugs and kisses from your salad spinner? Okay, I’m outta here.
And I’m happy to say that we got to the end of this “handy kitchen gadgets” list without mentioning “best” egg separators, popcorn machines, or panini makers.
Me: What’s the most useless kitchen gadget you know that people actually buy?
Rick: Panini maker.
Me: Haha. Yes. Egg separator, panini maker… I need one more. What else?
Rick: I dunno. Just a minute… Where’s that Chef’s catalogue that came in the mail today? It’ll be full of them… Oh wait… I just found something we actually do need.
The Christmas Mathias was 13 (now 28), when asked what he would like with his name on it under the tree, he said he wanted either a cat, a gadget, or a laptop.
That Christmas he became the proud Chief of Staff of a laptop cat named “Gadget.”
However, other than her daily habit of rubbing those glossy saucy haunches up against every surface at kitty level in a blatant ownership move (“See this bakeware cabinet? Mine. That fridge? Mine.”), this particular Gadget hasn’t proved to be notably handy in the kitchen.
So, in addition to sharing her sweet mug with you, we thought another Cook’s Illustrated “best of” list from their fabulous book, The Science of Good Cooking might be more helpful for those starting to think of their own Christmas lists, or for anyone who may have recently punctuated a vigorous opinion by accidentally shattering their favorite wooden spoon on the tiled counter for emphasis.
Whoops! (Not me, obviously. At least, not recently.)
Tongs: the go-to gadget for bacon lovers everywhere. The key factors? Scalloped-edged slightly concave pincers, be able to open and close easily, be long enough to keep delicate fingies out of hot oily spots, and lock closed for convenient storage.
After reading the Cook’s write up—who knew there was so much to say about a wooden spoon?—and the glowing reviews on Amazon about how stain resistant, comfortable (apparently a squared-off handle is WAY more comfie in your hand than Grandma’s traditional round one) sturdy, smooth, and well-designed this puppy is, I realized how shockingly ill equipped our kitchen is in the wooden spoon department.
Okay, so here’s a new spin on a time-honored kitchen must-have for those hearty souls still left in the pie game. Gone are the days of the pedestrian pin, says Cook’s Illustrated. Any dough boy worth his weight in his Emile Henry pie dish now uses a rolling “dowel.”
Essentially, a dowel is a pin without the handles. In truth, I’m not sure exactly what advantage this buys you in the pie-making department, but as the owner of one of said maple dowels, I can tell you that it works beautifully on delicate dough, especially when combined with a lightly-floured Roul’pat Countertop Roll Mat.
Bonus usage of a rolling dowel? it’s a comfort to have on hand in my “What happens if a burglar breaks in when Rick’s not home?” fantasy. I’ll just keep it under the bed, and at the first inkling of a midnight intruder, I’ll hand it to Winston, who will relentlessly pester the poor bastard to play fetch until he runs screaming down the driveway into the night, never to be seen again.
You just have to love a “best of” kitchen gadget described as “machine washable,” “form-fitting and not overly bulky for easy maneuvering,” “flexible,” and “heat-resistant.”
Oh, my! I’d give my best wooden spoon for lingerie that lived up to such claims.
And at a list price of roughly $45 PER MITT, (actual price around $30), it seems that the “black box” pricing rationale between the two markets is remarkably similar.
However, Cook’s Illustrated may have recognized that for most of us, this price point spikes the needle, so they have graciously offered a “best buy” option at under $15:
You must believe me that I didn’t see the lingerie/silicone connection coming before it was too late, and now it’s time to move along, people, to ladles.
We here at rickandkathy.com are HUGE fans of good industrial design, especially those involving spouts and hot or sticky liquids.
And we don’t yet own a Rosle Ladle with Pouring Rim. As it currently scores an Amazoning full 5-star rating with 29 raving reviews, some would say this is an error in judgement.
Instead, we’re dribbling along with a robust ancient thing, with appropriately long handle and broad and deep enough spoon but whose pouring spot was designed by Picasso: it’s more art than science.
It’s too solid and familiar to throw out now, I’m afraid, and we’ve reached a detente of sorts over the years where I agree to not expect a clean pour and it quietly concurs.
Some utensils just become fixtures in that sweet entity known as “my kitchen,” and it wouldn’t be the same without them.
We used to have a thing against non-stick cooking pans. Something in the mental archives about Teflon + metal spatulas + time = flaking Teflon + cancer…
Didn’t own one, didn’t want one, and besides, the plastic spatulas of my acquaintance over the years have all been frustratingly flimsy and melted on contact with anything hotter than, say, 98.6°.
Eating a melted plastic spatula was also reputed to be not fabulous for your health. So, being seriously in love with each other and wanting a decade or six to enjoy that state, we resolved to not eat plastic or Teflon, even if it meant living a deliriously happy life with food stuffs stuck like chuck to our frying pans.
Then last month, I cooked the world’s most pristine, perfect omelet in my mom’s new Teflon pan, and I changed our minds. (About Teflon, that is, not about my dear Rick and I living happily ever after until one of us tips off the perch.)
I had some research to do though, before I could in clean conscience introduce Teflon to our kitchen.
First was to check on the current health science around Teflon and how likely it was to mess with our mutual plans to stay alive for a goodly while.
“Teflon® is a brand name for a man-made chemical known as polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). It has been in commercial use since the 1940s. It has a wide variety of applications because it is extremely stable (it doesn’t react with other chemicals) and can provide an almost frictionless surface. Most people are familiar with it as a non-stick coating surface for pans and other cookware.”
Apparently, it never really was the Teflon, per se, that caused the cancer scare:
“Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), also known as C8, is another man-made chemical. It is used in the process of making Teflon and similar chemicals (known as fluorotelomers), although it is burned off during the process and is not present in significant amounts in the final products.”
The website goes on to say (and here I paraphrase): fuggedaboudit.
Plus, T-Fal, the leading supplier of Teflon-based cookware, has taken this a step further.
According to the informative packaging, T-Fal don’t have no truck with PFOAs anymore. So, we’re good there.
One flick of the wrist, click of the mouse, swish of a credit card… and two days later, we’re the proud owners of a new T-fal Nonstick 12.5-Inch Fry Pan.
(Note: farm-fresh eggs and home-made spelt sourdough toast not included.)
Don’t let the Escheresque pattern or elegant red logo-looking thingy in the center of the pan fool you into thinking this T-Fal is just a another pretty place to scramble a couple of eggs.
This is one high-tech frying pan, my friends. That red dot, for instance?
It’s nothing less than an officially trademarked “Thermo-Spot,” evidently engineered at great expense to indicate when your pan is hot.
Personally, I usually just wait for the smoke to start, but apparently, that’s not a good idea with Teflon products.“The Science of Good Cooking” (Cook’s Illustrated Cookbooks) recommends adding a little oil to the pan while heating. The oil will start to smoke at around 400°, well before the 600° necessary for non-stick cookware to start fuming the nasty stuff.)
At minimum, the dot’s existence demonstrates a commitment to the crafting of new millenium cookware that inspires a robust confidence in the rest of the unit.
For instance, the packaging also states that the entire pan, including “ergonomic, stay-cool silicone handle,” is oven-proof to a temperature of 350°, and that the pan is “safe for use with metal utensils.”
Really? That just seems cruel, somehow. If we were going for the Teflon pan, it only seemed right that we spring for whatever Cook’s Illustrated recommends in the non-metal spatula department. (I had great intentions last year to do a “Cook’s Illustrated List of Handy Tools” but got distracted by why I’m crazy about Rick, fabulous buckwheat pancakes, and a great horned owl who showed up next door, and I never quite got around to sharing the list. Stand by… said list to show up in the next post or two so I can find it when I need it down the road.)
I had never heard of “exoglass” before, but, per wiki answers: “It is a special hi-tech plastic developed by Matfer of France. It is used in the handles of their pastry utensils. It is extremely durable, hygienic, and heat resistant (both hot and cold extremes).”
Flick, click, swish… and thanks to the good folk at Amazon Prime, we own one highly rated, light-weight yet sturdy, well-engineered, and guaranteed Teflon-friendly spatula that’s heat resistant up to 430 degree and cleans like a snap. It doesn’t scratch our new pan, feels nice in the hand, is wide enough to support and flip a pancake, has a perfect thin edge to skootch under delicate fish or eggs, and as far as we know, doesn’t cause cancer.
See how easily our scrambled eggs are liberated from the perfectly preheated surface?!
It’s a keeper.
And see how nice our new spatula looks in Rick’s fine hand as he cooks me breakfast?
He’s a keeper, too.
Links:
“Matfer” rang a bell as a brand, but we couldn’t think why until we remembered they’re the folks who make the non-stick baking mat we use all the time in a sheet pan when baking cookies. No need to grease the pan with butter, food really doesn’t stick, and clean-up is super easy:
We have a fabulous new sous chef in residence at Chez Wee Teton Farmhouse this week.
Officially, her name is “Vitamix 5200,” but she’s so easy going and such a trustworthy soul, we’re already operating on a first-name basis.
We love our Mixie.
Not only is she stunning to behold in her glossy red coat as she whips together an amazing soup or perfectly dices a cup of eye-stinging onion in a blink with no tears, she’s also a ninja nutrition powerhouse.
There’s almost nothing you can image coming out of her capable container that isn’t chocker-block full of screamin’ good for you vitamins, minerals, fiber, macronutrients, and all the stuff Dr. Joel Fuhrman and others insist will should might could maybe possibly* cause you to lose weight, reduce high blood pressure, and help your body recover from inflammation-related immune-system disease.
Have I mentioned here yet that between the two of us, Rick and I lost over 70 pounds in the past year? And that I’m off blood pressure medication (114/80 as of last Monday!), and that ALL my dermatitis has cleared up, my hair is thicker, and my joint pain has backed off?
Of course, this isn’t all simply the result of having stuffed Mixie’s predecessor full of fresh goodies ‘til he conked. (At an impressive 15-years old, VitaMix 5000 had lived a good long life, bless his dearly departed heart .)
We also substantially reduced our intake of meat, wheat, dairy, and sugar, and amped our calorie burn starting in May by buying and using our new fitness trackers, the FitBit.
But I can tell you for sure: the VitaMix was a HUGE factor in being able to eat WAY MORE of what was beneficial, and once you start piling all the stuff on to your plate or into your glass that helps a body heal, there’s WAY LESS room for the nasty stuff.
This was our breakfast on Tuesday.
See that green stuff? It’s kale.
There. I said it.
We eat raw kale for breakfast, along with home-frozen peaches, strawberries and bananas, as well as fresh apples and oranges and carrots. I think there was a quarter cup of hemp seeds in there as well.
Just start up Mixie on Variable Speed 1, wind ‘er up to 10, switch to high, and stand back.
In under a minute, a VitaMix can take an entire days worth of recommended daily intake of fruit and vegetables and turn it into this:
Absolutely delicious, full of stick-to-your-ribs life-giving vittles, at a fraction of both the time and the six bucks it would cost you at your local juice joint. Each.
Plus, I now get to share my kitchen with Rick, Winston**, AND our new best mixin’ vixen, Mixie.
*Out of fear of respect for a vigilant Federal Trade Commission always on the lookout for potentially misleading information, no one now claims that anything “will” do anything, or that results are typical or even to be expected at all, or that an apple a day is good for much. Of course, Grandma knew better….
To be clear, though: we at rickandkathy.com aren’t claiming that owning and actually using a VitaMix will make you healthier, leaner, more attractive, or have a longer, happier life. We just are 100% certain it has had that impact on us. Just sayin’….
** Winston would like his fans to know he doesn’t care for smoothies. He feels they are “just empty calories” and interfere with the proper digestion of the Chardonnay.
In addition to Cook’s Illustrated lists of essential knives and pots ‘n pans found in their fabulous tome The Science of Good Cooking, they also include recommendations for the bakeware without which a kitchen mechanic can barely function.
Like, what if you experience a fresh pumpkin spice loaf emergency but don’t own a decent loaf pan or cooling rack?
While the wide-ranging benefits of a large, heavy guage rimmed sheet pan may seem obvious if you’re thinking “cookies,” by simply adding a cooling rack that fits nicely inside the rim and an oven that can maintain a low, steady heat, you have bought yourself a food dehydrator in the bargain. And maybe some tasty kale chips, too.
I’m delighted to have just saved you a couple hundred dollars and a ton of counter space. You’re welcome.
(And pay no attention to the teeny skiff of carmelized goodness around the edge of our own well-loved cookie sheet. I’m confident yours will stay much cleaner.)
While a baking mat doesn’t appear on the Cook’s Illustrated list, it is such an essential in our kitchen that I’m sliding it in here anyways. You just slap one into the bottom of the cookie sheet and start dropping your dough with confidence, knowing they absolutely, positively will not stick to the pan. Baking mats save you calories–no additional oil to be absorbed into your baked goods–and they save you the time it takes to grease the pan and then scrub the cold leftover baked-on oil out of the corners. (See above: not a fan of this step.)
As much as I love my beautiful azure blue Emile Henry pie plate for serving at the table, there are practical reasons why the transparent Pyrex version is a better choice. The glass provides an even browning surface, and the transparency makes it easier to keep an eye on the progress of your pastry bottom and sides. Plus, the Pyrex version sells for about a quarter of the price, so there’s that.
Here’s another word I particularly enjoy: butter tart squares. (Okay, that’s three words, but let’s not quibble.)
HER: They say our love won’t pay the rent
Before it’s earned, our money’s all been spent
HIM: I guess that’s so, we don’t have a pot
But at least I’m sure of all the things we got*
Lovely. But I’ve got news for you, Sonny… You need to get that girl a pot! And maybe a Dutch oven and a decent skillet, too.
And lucky for you that Cook’s Illustrated has published a great list of essential kitchen equipment in their fabulous kitchen bible, The Science of Good Cooking. (See here for the previous installment on sharp stuff: knives, boards, and sharpeners.)
Here’s another mystery: why are these commonly referred to as “Dutch ovens“? In our home, we use this all the time on the stovetop to cook soups and stews or whenever there is a need for a big heavy pot that can be trusted to keep a consistent heat, like when you’re working with hot oil.
A single great skillet is like a good friend who becomes more precious as the years roll by, with even the wrinkles and weathering embraced as the authentication that there is only one like this.
Here’s one thing on their list that we don’t have in our kitchen. I’m not sure why, except that maybe it’s tied to my disdain for crappy plastic spatulas that don’t stay stiff enough to get underneath stuff you want to lift from a pan, and when you do, they’re so dang slippery that food (usually a fragile egg) often slides off and lands in an unhappy mess back in the skillet.
My solution in the past has been to habitually reach for my favorite metal spatula (to be listed in an upcoming installment on “handy things in the kitchen”) which scratches the schmidt out of bottom of the non-stick skillet, releasing toxins or the bubonic plague or something nasty like that.
So, we don’t have one of these.
[Update: And… now we do! Click here to find out why.]
Rick makes the worlds finest oven-roasted rosemary potatoes on the planet in this. Somehow food sticks less readily to it’s heavy bottom than other oven-related containers we own, so it’s the go-container for most stuff.
* In a rare 1965 clip of Cher wearing her original nose and what appears to be a super-sized pair of prison pajamas in broad horizontal stripes, maybe just a little strung out, crooning “I Got You, Babe” with the fine Mr. Bono, click here. Just be warned: your curiosity has the potential to be rewarded with a particularly vile earworm.
Having the right tools is no guarantee you’ll be a great cook, but it’s really hard to produce even a passable meal without a basic set of decent quality equipment.
This is probably why Cook’s Illustrated included their list of essentials everyone needs to equip a working kitchen—including specific brand names and models—in their fabulous work, The Science of Good Cooking.
While they don’t list absolutely everything you might need (for example, I NEED my Romertopf clay baker), the book gives a brief description of what qualities to look for in each item they do list. In the interest of keeping this post to a somewhat manageable length, I’ll cut to the chase and just list the goods.
If you’re a foodie who’s into the “whys” of things, you will definitely want to check out the book itself. In addition to the great kitchen equipment list and 400 tried-and-true recipes vetted in in the rock-solid tradition of America’s Test Kitchen, the information they offer will unlock the secrets of the universe known as “your kitchen.”
And that is as close to a guarantee you’re likely to see around here.
Feel free to share the list and share the love… of cooking!
This is the eight-inch version of the 10-incher Rick uses. He prefers the heavier heft and deeper breadth of the blade for maneuvers like using it turned flat to smash garlic cloves. This is also the current #1 Best Seller on Amazon with a 5-star rating over 3300 reviews. Everybody loves their Victorinox!
01/02/2014 UPDATED: In September of 2013, Cook’s Illustrated published their fifth update to their best chef knife review, this time with a specific focus on the most versatile knife in any kitchen, the chef’s 8-inch all purpose knife, and capped their budget for the test at $50. Once again, the Victorinox beat the competition hands down. The online article accompanying the results (you’ll need a Cook’s Illustrated online subscription to read it) goes into great and gnarly detail about why–tempering temperature and process, ergonomics, handle material, etc.–but suffice it to say, if you only get one, this is still the knife you want. I also added the Cook’s Illustrated recommendation for best kitchen shears. Happy chopping!
Are you noticing the pattern here? And did we not expound last week, previous to finding this list, on the great value to be found in Victorinox knives?
It’s a good thing we aren’t “I told you so!” type people, because that’s just rude. But we did mention this… earlier.
Great for everything from snipping herbs to trimming pie dough to heavy-duty chicken breakdowns, a good pair of kitchen shears are right up there with the 8-inch chef’s knife and wooden spoon on the list of “starter kitchen essentials.” The Shun, good for both right and left-handed cooks and guaranteed for life, wins Cook’s top place.
For those on a more modest budget (or maybe for those 100 year-old/smoking/seatbelt eschewing/parachuting chefs among us with a shorter-life expectancy), their recommended “best buy” is the J.A. HENCKELS Take Apart Kitchen Shears.
If you’ve been puddling along with one of those midgy little plastic jobbers, switching to a full-size wooden cutting board will rock your world, not to mention bring a new level of safety and ease to a process that’s part of virtually every meal prep.
Note: this is situation where I opted to list Cook’s Illustrated’s Number 1 pick in a category rather than their “best buy” option, which is the OXO Good Grips Bamboo Cutting Board. In our opinion, the OXO version is just too small to serve as the one-size-fits-all-jobs classic board, although it would make a dandy second “for garlic use only” option if your budget (and counter space) permits two.
The Proteak board stays put during use, there’s no more corralling errant diced veggie bits back onto your working surface, and the edge-grain wood surface seems to anchor both the food and the knife blades more solidly in place as you slice and chop.
Plus, it will keep your knives sharper for longer, so you won’t need to use the sharpeners listed below as often.
With an eye to the additional demands of ultrathin Japanese knives sharpened to 15 degrees on both sides of the blades, Cook’s Illustrated revisited both the electric and manual sharpener options. Their new “highly recommended” top pick for electric knife sharpeners (both Japanese and traditional blades will benefit) is the Chef’s Choice Trizor XV Knife Sharpener. According to their review, with 10 minutes of effort in the “heavy damage slot,” the sharpener was able revive a seriously gronked blade to “like new” condition. That same slot, by the way, can convert a 20-degree blade to a 15-degree version which slices with discernibly greater ease through anything standing between it and a chopping block.
And anything that “purrs” (their word) but doesn’t shed in a kitchen could definitely find a place in my kitchen. However, since we are rabidly fanatical fairly meticulous about how we care for and store our knives, we don’t need the horsepower of an electric unit and stick with manual sharpeners to maintain our edges.
Top “recommended” marks for a 15-degree manual sharpener to the Chef’s Choice Pronto Manual Diamond Hone Asian Knife Sharpener.
The Cook’s tests were carried out on nine of Cook’s favorite Victorinox Swiss Army Fibrox 8-Inch Chef’s Knife (above). Initially, this seemed a little odd to us as the review is about sharpeners for Asian knives, but since these Victorinox blades are already honed to a 15-degree angle, it makes sense. While none of the manual sharpeners could remove notches (or change the angle of the blade), the Chef’s Choice Pronto worked a charm.
BTW, if your favorite blade isn’t (yet) a Victorinox, is five years or older, and is from a non-Asian maker, chances are it’s honed to 20 degrees. Per their Aug. 2015 review, Cook’s Illustrated recommended sharpeners for 20-degree blades is once again the Chef’s Choice 130 Professional Knife-Sharpening Station for the electric fans, and the AccuSharp 001 Knife Sharpener for the manual fans.
For my money, when Cook’s describes an appliance designed to produce super sharp knife edges with the words “quiet,” “Rolls Royce,” and “foolproof,” I’m instantly in “sign me up!” mode.
Lightweight, drawer-friendly, and inexpensive, this is Cook’s top pick for owners of a beloved 20-degree blade who aren’t nervous in the face of increasingly sharp steel daringly exposed to their precious digits.
Pardon me… my bias is showing. You may have noted my gently facetious use of the royal “we” earlier.
I can only say that if this kitchen duty were up to me, I’d be jumping briskly into the “I’m more likely to keep all my precious digits with the electric version” camp. I’ve seen Rick do the blade versus stone magic wand sharpening dance in our kitchen, and it frightens me terribly. I’m always standing by with paper towels for the blood and a sterilized baggie for the body parts in need of surgical reattachment that seem inevitable but miraculously never appear.
Bottom line: whichever version you choose, the best advice is to use it frequently. A sharp knife is easier to control and more likely to command the respect and attention of the user.
Finally, once you’ve got the blades you need, the board to use them on, and the tool to keep them sharp, where will you keep them? Cook’s has two recommendations in the best knife storage category. Top pick for a universal knife block is the Bodum Bistro. Not only does the compact footprint accommodate up to nine knives stored diagonally, but it comes in a variety of fun colors to brighten things up.
Get your knives up and out of the way with Cook’s Illustrated recommended, the Messermeister knife magnet with room for five knives plus a pair of kitchen shears. Their testing revealed it was easy to install and clean, and the bamboo surface was gentle on blades. Not a fan of bamboo? It also comes in acacia wood. Besides, who doesn’t think it’s fun to say “Messermeister”? You can never have too much fun in the kitchen.
07/02/2015 UPDATED: Cook’s Illustrated just released a steak knife review, and guess what?! Yup… Victorinox topped the list in this category as well with their beautiful Victorinox Swiss Army Rosewood 6-piece set with spear points and straight edges. Their recommended “best buy” this time around: The Chicago Cutlery Walnut Tradition 4-piece set. At almost 25% the price per knife of the Victorinox, these puppies might be worth a second look, although as you will read below, our house leans Victorinox…
Stay tuned for the rest of our Cook’s Illustrated product reviews:
See it cozied up there next to its buddies, Perfect Vegetables, Baking Illustrated, and The Best International Recipe?
What can we say?
