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Working in the kitchen is like any other job. There are tools that greatly enhance the work and make life way easier. I realized this when I was a twenty-something living with roommates who were foodies. Among other tools and tricks, they introduced me to kitchen tongs, kitchen scissors, and a meat thermometer. Kitchen tongs revolutionized my cooking. You’d think I would have learned tools from my mom, but she actually wound up learning it from me.
Maybe it is because Mom Renée was technically a WWII baby (not a boomer), and because she lost her dad when she was young, that she learned how to cook fantastic dishes with minimal tools. I remember my mom chopping veggies with a dull steak knives, which didn’t strike me as odd until later in life. One day when I have more time (maybe never) I will interview Mãe and delve into this some more. In the meantime it’s good to know that I was trained tool-light. If there ever were a zombie apocalypse, I would be able to keep cooking fantastic food with flints and sticks. Haha…
The nice thing about becoming an adult and maintaining a relationship with your parents is that you can give them valuable feedback, and make their lives better for a change. I know that Mãe has adopted all sorts of tools from watching me attempt to cook. It has been rewarding to watch her settle into her golden years feeling a bit more comfortable as the master of her own kitchen.
Without further ado, the list of what I consider the Top 10 Cooking Tools for the Amateur Cook. You don’t need to go into a specialty kitchen store (does this even exist anymore?) to know that there is an unfathomable variety of kitchen gadgets and tools available on the market. I can’t say that I am an expert in kitchen gadgets, and there may be tools I have never heard of. But since I recently underwent some radical tool swaps in my life, I am in a good position to recommend to other amateurs tools that will make a huge impact.
Top 10 Cooking Tools for the Amateur Cook
Tongs are basically an extension of your own hand, except safe from burns. Not a day goes by that I don’t use my kitchen tongs. Just last night, I steamed some french green beans and when they were done, I transferred them to a plate with my trusty tongs.
With kitchen tongs, you can pick up and flip meat or seafood. You can sauté, move baked goods off of or onto a rack… The other day I made bacon, and I held all of the bacon strips together like a bouquet of flowers, while I poured the bacon grease out of my skillet. There’s just so many uses.
If you’re thinking of getting cast iron, I say absolutely do it. BUT instead of the iconic iron skillet with the long handle, get what Lodge calls their “pizza” pan. I sometimes use it as a pizza stone, but much more often (almost everyday) I use it to roast meat and veggies. Long handle skillets don’t fit properly in a residential oven, which limits their usefulness. They’re not too nimble for the stove top either! The “pizza” pan is easy to handle, goes in the oven, and has a small lip, which traps juices. It is perfect.
I can’t say enough good things about my cast iron baking pan. I gave one of these to my mom for her birthday, because she saw me using it, and wanted to have one immediately. Just like me, Mom Renée uses hers almost everyday.
The only way that I learned how to check if meat was done was to cut into the center of the meat. Whether it was barbecue, meatloaf, roasted chicken… You name it, and I would cut into it. By the time my meat was done, it was (sometimes) hacked up and dried out. Sure, it’s true you don’t need to cut into every piece and some pieces were fine, but some were not fine. Not to mention how difficult it was to fumble with searing hot meat and dull steak knives.
This one has been life-changing, really. I bought a good old fashioned oven-safe dial thermometer, which I spied my foodie friends using, and I haven’t looked back since. You may have grown up in a meat thermometer household, and if you did, then god bless you! I’m sure you think I’m a fool for my technique. The most rewarding thing for me about the meat thermometer is that my mom bought one recently. She saw me use mine, and light-bulbs went on in her head.
Scissors! Another one that seems like a no-brainer, once you get yourself a pair. I use my kitchen scissors almost daily, whether I’m cutting open packages, or removing kale stems. Before kitchen shears, I would stab at various packaging with various knives, and I never even tried to remove stems from kale or Swiss chard. It just seemed too difficult.
I realize in hindsight that I never made kale or Swiss chard because the stems always ruined the dish somehow. Kitchen shears changed a lot for me. Check out my recipe for Swiss Chard or Kale Meatloaf <INSERT LINK HERE>. Both of these are great examples for how to use kitchen shears to make your life better
Mom Renée actually did own a steamer basket, but I did not until I was 26. My friend Vivian and her then fiancé came up from the city for a weekend to stay at my house in the country, and Vivian mentioned how great my steamer basket was, and she got one for herself. I never really thought about it, but it is truly great.
Prior to getting a steamer basket, I would steam things in a saucepan with a tiny bit of water in it, and while there was nothing truly wrong with this approach, it was definitely not an elegant approach. Sometime
6) Pressure Cooker
7) Propur Water Filter
8) Sift and Collander
9) Pink Himalayan Salt
10) Chopping Knife, Pearing Knife, Bread Knife
Don’t get a cast iron skillet first. If you want
cast iron
tongs
meat thermometer
kitchen scissors, steamer basket
Propur filter. Brita filters are great but don’t remove chlorine or fluoride, which can really affect the taste and consistency of your food.
pink himalayan salt
sift
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A while back, I asked Google a question, as I sometimes do for fun: “Is Sugar Poison?” I googled. Among the top results was a YouTube video called “The Bitter Truth” given by UCSF pediatric endocrinologist Robert Lustig. At that point, the video had been viewed I think six million times, which could only mean one of two things: Either it’s very interesting, or it’s totally crazy.
Call me intrigued. So I clicked on the video and began to watch. To my surprise, it was a highly detailed molecular biochemistry lecture, the type of thing that would put insomniacs right to sleep. How does this thing have millions of views?? I’m sure there are lots of people who couldn’t make it through the whole thing, but I did. In fact, I watched it several times.
The gist of the video is that sugar is literally toxic, depending on the dose. It turns out that sugar is toxic to your liver in much the same way as alcohol is. Sugar found in nature, mostly in fruit, is packaged together with its antidote: fiber. Fiber makes sugar a slow-release drug. But processed food is all about stripping any fiber out. Without the fiber, the sugar hits your system in massive doses, which overwhelms and damages your liver.
Hormones are a trending topic, what with all of the hormone disrupting chemicals in plastics, flame retardants and household products. Well, sugar is a hormone disruptor too. Another Lustig lecture for MIT alumni is about how sugar consumption also throws your whole metabolism out of whack, leading to constant hunger, fatigue, weight gain and mood swings. Sound familiar?
I found Dr. Lustig to be really persuasive. So I decided to try quitting added sugar. Boy, did I. And no, I didn’t replace it with fake sugar (that’s a whole other post). I just quit, cold turkey. No sweetened yogurt, not raisins, most bread was out, no ketchup, no orange juice. I wasn’t prepared for what would happen. And anyone who tries this, I caution you to heed my words.
Living in the city at the time, I passed multiple pastry carts on the way to work. Normally I’m not even remotely tempted by these gross street pastries (no offense if you are). But suddenly they were sirens screaming my name: EAT ME, LILIAN! Standing online to pay for food was super stressful. Going to the super market, I suddenly realized there was almost nothing I could buy.
Besides the constant cravings, my moods were out of control. For two weeks I was angry. Really freaking angry. Then for two weeks I was weepy. I cried about everything. And suddenly I was fine, and the cravings stopped. On Easter I ate a piece of Saint Honoré, which is a delicious French pastry dessert. I was tachycardic. I felt high. And most importantly, I didn’t want a second piece. The first piece was delicious but way too much.
If you know anything about me, you know that I am a dessert fan. I was not a person who ate one slice of Saint Honoré, okay? I was a person who would eat dessert until it was gone. If we had company over for dinner, and bought a cake, my husband and I would eat nothing but cake the next day. We are not overweight because of our genetics, but it wasn’t good for us, that’s for sure.
My favorite thing about Dr. Lustig is that he doesn’t actually recommend dieting. Because everybody knows, dieting doesn’t work. The idea is just to “Eat Real Food,” like it says on that billboard off of the BQE in Greenpoint. Real food is high fiber, low sugar. Fake food is low fiber, high sugar. And most importantly, celebrate sweetness.
Do I forbid myself from eating dessert? Hell no! But I certainly don’t waste it on orange juice or candy bars (I get acid reflux just thinking about these things). My criteria is simple: Once a week, I can have a dessert that is either a work of art (like a pastry from a local baker), or a dessert that I’ve made myself. Sugar is a reward, and a pleasure, and I wouldn’t forgo these things.
For daily cravings, I eat a piece of dark chocolate, fruit, or nuts. I have more energy, less moodiness, my acid reflux has disappeared, ten pounds melted off of me and stayed off, and I couldn’t be happier. And I love that I have a weekly dessert indulgence to look forward to. My husband and the babies love it when I bake. It’s really a great way to live. I recommend to anyone to try this, if you haven’t tried it already.