What one tool in your kitchen do you treasure the most?

[Timothy]

My Food Processor. I use it for almost every meal I prepare. It saves me countless hours of prep work.

 

[Timothy]

I have a very old butcher's knife that is all but destroyed. The blade is jagged and gnarled, and it is the BEST knife for cutting tomatoes ever.

My great-grandfather was a butcher and was visiting my grandmother when she was a new bride. My grandfather had bought a pig that had been culled from the farmer down the road. My great-grandfather did not have his tools but butchered the pig using a knife that came with the set my grandparents bought. When he came to the kitchen with the knife, he apologized for ruining the knife. My grandmother kept it for tomatoes and I felt really blessed to get it when she passed.

Kathleen

Butchering an entire pig with nothing more than one knife is a task I would run from. That's hard work! And then some!

Wow! (Unless it was a very small pig)

 

[msmofet]

My daughter who helps me with meal prepping. I chop etc and put it together, start it cooking and she watches over it till it needs to move to the next step so I can move on to the next thing that needs doing.

 

[Steve Kroll]

Three things I treasure most...

1. My ceramic serving bowls. They are all handmade and interesting, and there is a story behind each. Most came from France. Others are just one-of-a-kind pieces that we have picked up over the years. None of them match.
2. The few Le Creuset pieces I own. I have two dutch ovens and a couple of smaller pots. Durable and well made, I know they will all outlive me.
3. My Shun knives. For a very long time I used cheap knives. I didn't know what I was missing until I purchased my first Shun chef's knife. These Japanese knives slice through onions like butter, and even the hardest of vegetables readily submit to their awesomeness. I know there are other brands that are considered even more top of the line, but these work great. I've since purchased other pieces from the set (as I can afford to add them).

 

[JoshuaNY]

Both of mine happen to be cast iron pieces.

I love my 10" cast iron skillet. It belonged to my Grandmother.

And I just got a Staub 4 qt enameled dutch oven which I love. Ive used it pretty much every day since I got it.

Old and the new.

Oh and I have an old Mrs Wagners Pie Pan. Its technically a tool but I use it for a decoration. Its pretty kool.

 

[Timothy]

I already said my Food Processor is my tool in the kitchen do I treasure the most, but I hadn't thought of my "American Harvest" Dehydrator.

My dehydrator gets used more hours than any other food machine I've ever owned. Each year, I use it almost continuously during harvest months. Veggie rollups, fruit rollups and almost every veggie you can think of.

When veggie prices start climbing again, I have all I need at sale prices. All I have to do is rehydrate them briefly.

 

[taxlady]

It's really hard to choose just one. I am old enough that I have had time to collect most of the tools I really want. I tried thinking of which one would I hate to give up and I still get a long list.

I think I would most hate to give up having a refrigerator.

 

[Timothy]

It's really hard to choose just one. I am old enough that I have had time to collect most of the tools I really want. I tried thinking of which one would I hate to give up and I still get a long list.

I think I would most hate to give up having a refrigerator.

I agree totally. I've lived "In the field" while in the Army, for extended periods of time. Having no electricity and no refrigeration makes for an entirely different type of living. My Grandparents grew up during the mid-1800's, and I remember the stories my Grammy used to tell me about their life. Everything was much, much harder to do then.

A simple trip to the nearest town might take three days, so things at home had to be set for being away for that much time, you had to pack a horse drawn wagon for the trip, and plan for eating on the road for three days each way. She told me of raids by bandits, and even what she referred to as "Wild Indians". What a life that must have been.

 

[taxlady]

I agree totally. I've lived "In the field" while in the Army, for extended periods of time. Having no electricity and no refrigeration makes for an entirely different type of living. My Grandparents grew up during the mid-1800's, and I remember the stories my Grammy used to tell me about their life. Everything was much, much harder to do then.

A simple trip to the nearest town might take three days, so things at home had to be set for being away for that much time, you had to pack a horse drawn wagon for the trip, and plan for eating on the road for three days each way. She told me of raids by bandits, and even what she referred to as "Wild Indians". What a life that must have been.

I lived in a log cabin for a few years. We had electricity and a fridge, but there was an old, log spring house. We never got a chance to use it because it collapsed.

 

[Aunt Bea]

I lived in a log cabin for a few years. We had electricity and a fridge, but there was an old, log spring house. We never got a chance to use it because it collapsed.

We had a similar contraption in the corner of our barn when I was a kid. It was a tank made of concrete where cans of milk were placed to cool until they were taken to the creamery. The cold spring water flowed in the top of the tank through a pipe and another pipe carried the surplus water outside to a large watering trough. It really did keep things cold. My father always hid his stash of beer in it!

 

[justplainbill]

Our 6 litre Demeyere hot water kettle and 3.5 quart Atlantis conic saute pan are among our more recently acquired treasures.

 

[Timothy]

We had a similar contraption in the corner of our barn when I was a kid. It was a tank made of concrete where cans of milk were placed to cool until they were taken to the creamery. The cold spring water flowed in the top of the tank through a pipe and another pipe carried the surplus water outside to a large watering trough. It really did keep things cold. My father always hid his stash of beer in it!

We had a spring house when I was a child. On very hot summer days, us kids would go in there and put our feet in the water. It was ice cold and felt just fabulous. Mom would yell at us and tell up to get our nasty feet out of our drinking water!

 

[Addie]

We had a spring house when I was a child. On very hot summer days, us kids would go in there and put our feet in the water. It was ice cold and felt just fabulous. Mom would yell at us and tell up to get our nasty feet out of our drinking water!

One of the camping survival tips I used to teach my Girl Scouts was that 'if lost in the woods and you came across a riverlet of water, always go for the water after it had gone over rocks. They have a cleansing effect on the water.' That is why you find fish hanging out around the rocks. The water is purer there. You can bet that the water in the spring house had traveled over lots of rocks and diverted to the spring house.

 

[chayati]

my skimmers are the most important thing in my bag of tricks. I bought them in San Francisco and use them to skim the scum off my stocks and sauces.

 

[taxlady]

my skimmers are the most important thing in my bag of tricks. I bought them in San Francisco and use them to skim the scum off my stocks and sauces.

I have never even heard of skimmers. What are they like? Do you have a photo?

And welcome to DC

 

[Whiskadoodle]

Right now the tool I most desire is to have my oven Repaired. I have referred to this on DC obliquely and often enough now that the subject is getting tiresome. However, there are only so many discretionary $$ / month and other things keep bumping to the top of the list, like needing an unexpected new furnace, that it keeps getting pushed back. I think it's not on the Feb list, so I'm hoping for March !! I can bake bread in a bread machine, but it's texture is not the same as Homebaked. O r home baked Anything.

The tool I most appreciate, besides a sharp knife. is my microplanes. I have several sizes and use them. I keep them Sheathed in my gadget drawer between two pieces of cardboard, the kind you get when you buy a new Shirt, duct taped the edges together and with a majic marker wrote the sizes on both sides of each. Looks doofy but keeps them protected.

Oh, and I like my spice grinder/ coffee grinder just for this purpose. Easier than a mortar and pestle. Oh, Oh, Did I mention an instant probe thermometer. How did I ever get along without this !!

 

[chayati]

I'll attach a photo tonight, but for now I find that the small to med. size ones work the best.

 

[Claire]

Being only 4'8" tall, and living alone. I have everything down where I can reach it. I do have two stools. But there are cabinets that are empty and will stay that way. One is over the fridge and the other is over the stove and hood. Whoever designed these apartments didn't take into account that the elderly shrink when they get older.

Maybe some would sympathize with me; I feel all kitchens are too short for me. I'm not extraordinarily tall (I'm 5'9", I think about the height of the average American man), but wish my counters were about 6" higher. I can really feel for Julia Child (over 6') and see how she got so hunched. If I'm having any back pain, I sit at my kitchen table so I'm not quite so hunched over.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Maybe some would sympathize with me; I feel all kitchens are too short for me. I'm not extraordinarily tall (I'm 5'9", I think about the height of the average American man), but wish my counters were about 6" higher. I can really feel for Julia Child (over 6') and see how she got so hunched. If I'm having any back pain, I sit at my kitchen table so I'm not quite so hunched over.

So...you need a sunken kitchen

 

[Dawgluver]

Maybe some would sympathize with me; I feel all kitchens are too short for me. I'm not extraordinarily tall (I'm 5'9", I think about the height of the average American man), but wish my counters were about 6" higher. I can really feel for Julia Child (over 6') and see how she got so hunched. If I'm having any back pain, I sit at my kitchen table so I'm not quite so hunched over.

I, too, am 5’9", and yes, I sympathize, Claire! Thank goodness I don't wear heels much anymore.

I feel really sorry for the big guys who cook.

Sunken kitchen, what a good idea, PF!