What Cooking Tools Have Changed Your Life In The Kitchen?

[bakechef]

My kitchenaid mixer. Yeah I can make most things with a hand mixer, but this makes everything so easy.

 

[Silversage]

Many of the things mentioned are valuable in my kitchen. But the one thing that truly changed the way I cook is the Sous Vide Supreme. Whether you have the water oven or the circulator, it dramatically changes the entire process of cooking.

Other quality tools make the job easier, but cooking sous vide is an entirely different way to cook.

 

[Zhizara]

I'd have to say that getting my first microwave made the biggest change in how I cook. I know I wasted a lot of food by trying to reheat something using the stove. I burned a lot of leftovers!

The most recent change is a mandolin. I bought a slicer a few years ago, but kept forgetting to use it. More recently someone who was moving gave me one that has adjustable widths which uses a small sliding button. I finally started using it more and more. I especially like making extra thin onion slices that cook quickly plus getting nice even slices of carrots and summer squash.

 

[Mad Cook]

What has changed my life in the kitchen is my SousChef.

Since I was lucky enough to marry him seven years ago, he does everything in the kitchen I don't like to do, and never complains about any of it. If I want to be left alone, he does that too. It makes cooking a joy instead of a chore. Doesn't get better than that.

Where did you get him from and do they have any left?

 

[Kayelle]

Where did you get him from and do they have any left?

Sad to say I think they broke the mold with him MC. I never had any help at all in the kitchen before him, so I know he's a dream come true for countless reasons beyond the kitchen.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Electricity and running water...

 

[Addie]

I'd have to say that getting my first microwave made the biggest change in how I cook. I know I wasted a lot of food by trying to reheat something using the stove. I burned a lot of leftovers!

The most recent change is a mandolin. I bought a slicer a few years ago, but kept forgetting to use it. More recently someone who was moving gave me one that has adjustable widths which uses a small sliding button. I finally started using it more and more. I especially like making extra thin onion slices that cook quickly plus getting nice even slices of carrots and summer squash.

I know what you mean by 'thin onion slices." And if you insist on putting onion slices in a salad, the thin ones are better. You can get just as many thin slices from a half an onion as you can regular slices from a whole one. And the flavor of the onion hasn't taken over the whole salad.

 

[Addie]

Electricity and running water...

My girlfriend in Atlanta had a frozen water pipe break this winter. When I was talking to her, she made the remark, "Who said indoor plumbing was a blessing?"

 

[Whiskadoodle]

An 8 inch chef's knife. Other knives are too long for me to comfortably use, and as we know, like Goldilocks, paring knives are too small for major tasks. 8 inch knife is Perfect for me.

2ndly, getting a new (two years ago) weber charcoal grill. The gasser died, and the old wobbly legged weber was downright dangerous. The weber design seals tight like an oven, holds heat evenly, uses less charcoal, has inserts for coal mgmt. easy for direct/ indirect cooking, add a few gadgets like a wok pan, and one needn't heat up the kitchen in summer.

 

[Cooking Goddess]

Good quality knives. About half a dozen years ago, after decades of working with adequate knives, Himself got me a Zwilling paring knife. I. Fell. In. Love. That got me to pulling out the boning knife my Dad talked a butcher out of (I always thought it was too big/sharp/scary to use before that) and looking for a properly sized chef's knife. Although I have owned two previous chef's knives, they were too long in relationship to my height. Our son (6' 2") got my 10" one and our daughter (5' 9") got my 9" one when I bought a Dexter-Russell 8" chef's knife a couple years ago. Perfect for my 5' 5 1/2" frame.

After that, I suppose whatever handy kitchen device I'm most fond of at the moment. I'll go through bread-making spurts and love my bread machine for its "dough" setting. I love my (Mom's) old Oster Kitchen Center when I need a stand mixer or blender or meat grinder. But I use those appliances only occasionally. I use my knives ever day.

 

[Caslon]

Not a tool maybe. Paper plates. 9" coated microwave safe paper plates.

Changed my kitchen experience big time. I use them for everything from dicing tomatoes to coating meats and fish to... to... just about everything that I don't want to have to break out a glass plate for. Buying in bulk they cost me about 3 cents a plate. I try and use them frugally.

 

[Addie]

A good chopping knife, recipes tried along the way that have enabled improvement and a skewer! When Delia Smith mentioned how valuable a skewer is I was cynical, but it is! I use it to test if veg are cooked, to poke into a chicken thigh and press (to see if juices run clear), and - of course - to test centre of cake to see if it is cooked through.

I have what is called a Granny Fork. It has three very sharp longer than usual tines with points that can pierce the most tough of foods. I use it for everything. I have two of them and have given them for gifts. My kids have fought over who gets mine when I die. So each year I send one to the next kid. Just one more to go.

 

[Aunt Bea]

I have what is called a Granny Fork. It has three very sharp longer than usual tines with points that can pierce the most tough of foods. I use it for everything. I have two of them and have given them for gifts. My kids have fought over who gets mine when I die. So each year I send one to the next kid. Just one more to go.

Those are great!

I keep an eye peeled for the old ones when I'm out hitting the junk shops and garage sales!

 

[Addie]

I love this fork and the Vermont Country Store. They also have the paring knife to go with the fork. Well, it is time for me to get back to their catalog.


3 Tine Kitchen Fork for Cooking | Stainless Steel

 

[CWS4322]

Not a tool, but an appliance. Dishwasher. Although Ontari-owe's Time of Use electricity rates and delivery charges have put a damper on that. I'm guessing my mom would say that a chest freezer made a huge difference--except she never mastered the First In, First Out (FIFO) principle.
'

 

[CWS4322]

I love this fork and the Vermont Country Store. They also have the paring knife to go with the fork. Well, it is time for me to get back to their catalog.


3 Tine Kitchen Fork for Cooking | Stainless Steel

I have one of those that I got from my grandma...love it.

 

[RPCookin]

I love this fork and the Vermont Country Store. They also have the paring knife to go with the fork. Well, it is time for me to get back to their catalog.


3 Tine Kitchen Fork for Cooking | Stainless Steel

Believe it or not, I have one of those that came with the Cutco set that my wife mistakenly bought me about 15 years ago - it doesn't have a wooden handle, but it's still quite useful. That and the paring knife are the only items of that set still in regular use.

I also have this one that I use a lot in the kitchen, and not just for carving (it doubles as a home defense weapon ). It's a Due Bois Inox from Italy.

 

[roadfix]

Bet I can tune my guitar with that.

 

[taxlady]

What's the benefit of the the third tine? Does it make much difference from the two tined ones?

 

[Andy M.]

Bet I can tune my guitar with that.

You need a pitck fork. That's not a pitch fork, THIS is a pitch fork: