The 10 Essential Tools for Beginning Cooks

By: Virginia Gerst
Posted In: Entertainment

Outfitting a kitchen can be a dizzying and costly experience.

The shelves of cookware stores brim with tools for every task, from roasting game hens to slicing radishes. Pots and pans come in shapes, sizes and materials designed to satisfy all culinary whims. And the sizable knife displays can be a real sticking point for anyone shopping for one.

If you are just starting out in a new apartment (or looking for a gift for someone who is – from newlyweds to recent graduates), what do you really need?

We asked experts to suggest 10 basic tools no cook should be without. Call them the meat and potatoes of kitchen equipment. Then we asked for their favorite frivolities – the icing on the cake.

THE BASICS
1. Cookware.

Dana Benigno, a cooking teacher and owner/creator of Chicagocooks.com, a culinary resource Web site, recommended an 8-quart stockpot, a 4-quart saucepan, a 12-inch skillet with lid and a 10-inch saute pan with slanted sides.

Benigno also put ovenproof handles on her list of requirements.

“It gives you double-duty if your stove-top cookware is oven-safe,” she explained.

Theo Gilbert, a professional chef and director of operations for Windy City Pasta Works in Chicago, suggested stainless-steel pots and pans: “They never wear out,” he said.

Gilbert said, if pressed, he can get along with just a 3-quart saute pan with lid. “I make everything in it from grilled cheese sandwiches to pancakes,” he explained. He has even used it for cooking pasta.

As with most kitchen equipment, higher-quality, heavy cookware costs more. But it will cook more evenly and will last longer, so experts suggest it is worth the extra cost.
2. Knives.

Benigno suggests a chef’s knife and a paring knife. “Those two can get you through everything,” she said.

The chef’s knife (“the one you see every TV chef using”) is the basic utility knife, used for chopping vegetables and smashing garlic. Most chefs use a 10- or 8-inch chef’s knife, though cooks with smaller hands and arms may prefer a 6-inch knife; try a few out in a kitchenware store to see which is most comfortable.

The paring knife, about 6 inches long, is for smaller jobs, like removing stems from tomatoes or coring pears.

If she could have three, Benigno would add a boning knife. “You can do anything to meat with it,” she said.
3. Sharpening steel.

Experts advise using a steel before every use. “Each time I use a knife, I pass it over the steel,” Benigno said. The grooved-steel instrument, often sold with knife sets but also available separately, hones the blade but doesn’t actually sharpen it. For that you need a sharpening stone, or professional help, which is often offered free at cookware stores.
4. Silicone spatula.

“I’ve melted a lot of spatulas over the years,” said Susanna Linse, media relations manager for Seattle-based Sur La Table cookware stores. “With these, you’ll never have that problem.” They are heat-resistant to 500 degrees.

A bonus: Heatproof spatulas don’t absorb stains or smells. Silicone, the material du jour, is now widely used on many other kitchen tools. The material is dishwasher-safe.

The widespread popularity of silicone has lowered prices dramatically; many spatulas cost less than $10.
5. Wooden spoons.

Linse has six or seven, and uses them for any dish that requires long or frequent stirring.

“They feel good in the hand, and they don’t get hot like metal,” she explained.

They also don’t scratch non-stick surfaces. Linse recommended high-quality spoons with heft that “will be smooth no matter where you rub your finger” and will last for generations, but she added that cheaper models, while not as durable, will do the job for those on a tight budget. Look for spoons made from cherry, olive or boxwood.
6. Instant-read thermometer.

“You just stick it in the food, and it quickly tells you the temperature from 0 to 222 degrees,” Linse explained.

The thermometers are inexpensive (about $15), simple to use and available in dial and digital readouts.
7. Measuring cups and spoons.

Buy different tools to measure solid and liquid ingredients, counseled Debbie Walt, sales associate at Chef’s Catalog in Highland Park.

“You need to be able to level off dry ingredients” for accurate measuring, she explained. Thus, measuring cups for solid ingredients such as flour and sugar typically come in sets of four “cups” with straight edges