A great gift for the season. Photo by Donna Turner Ruhlman.
This is a revised post from last year with one key difference being that my mandoline, above, is in need of replacing and so I am hoping that the photographer of the image can take a hint.
Continuing holiday shopping week, here are my recommendations for modestly priced kitchen tools that are essentials in my kitchen. (All but one of the following links is to Amazon; I’m a part of its affiliate program—when you shop at Amazon via this site, it helps to support this site.) I own and love everything mentioned below.
The above Benriner mandoline ($25) is one of my most valued kitchen tools for uniform slicing, julienning, and making brunoise (a julienne turned into a dice). By far my most valuable electric device in my kitchen is the hand blender—I use Braun that seems no longer unavailable, but I bought this Cuisinart version for my mom ($60) and it works well—these devices all do the job of pureeing soups and sauces, easy whisking, quick mayonnaise, and I make vinaigrettes in the cup attachment, which will even emulsify a great Caesar dressing will pureeing the garlic. The hand blender is one of my most-used electrically powered tools.
Every kitchen needs a scale: this My Weigh KD8000 ($36) has been my go-to scale for years. Using a scale is the most reliable way of measuring, especially if you’re baking (which is why more cookbooks are including, if not leading with, metric weights, as does the ground-breaking Bouchon Bakery cookbook ($33)—another lovely gift, come to think of it!). I use two, the KD8000 for pounds of flour, say, and this pocket scale ($9) for small amounts, such as 3 grams of yeast.
An instant-read digital thermometer is a must. The professionals go for the Thermapen ($96), but there are less expensive one, such as this from my friends at Le Creeuset ($24).
For measuring temps of roasts in the oven or on the grill, a cable thermometer is a great asset. I’ve been using this RediCheck cable thermometer ($24) for years and love it. When I cook the roast beast this Christmas, the meat will have a cable thermometer in it and an alarm will go off when it reaches 120˚F to tell me I need to pay attention.
People often ask for knife sharpening recommendations. I get my knives sharpened professionally a couple times a year, and I maintain their edges with DMT sharpening “stone,” actually a diamond coated perforated metal sheet. At more than $100 depending on your needs, it’s more in the higher price range but I wanted to mention it.
Every kitchen needs a good pepper grinder for freshly ground pepper that, importantly, doesn’t grind too coarsely; you need a mill for fine grinding, and Peugeot’s are excellent ($55), the usual choice in the professional kitchen.
Can’t forget the Microplane, a real game changer when the company (which originally created them for woodworking) introduced models for the kitchen, for all manner of zesting and grating.
I love my fluted pastry wheel for making decorative edges to pastries, and lattice pies. Disposable pastry bags are a great inexpensive gift.
And last but not least, while I’m wary of what Alton Brown calls the unitasker, the kitchen tool that does only one thing, I would be very sad to lose this lemon juicer. Fresh lemon and lime juice are always in play in my kitchen and this baby makes juicing the work of a moment. Worth the $10? Yeah.
For stocking stuffers, a plastic bench scraper ($4). Seriously. It’s one of my most reached for tools in the kitchen, mainly for transferring chopped food into hot pans. It’s one Michael Symon’s favorite tools. When I did The Chew last week, there it was on his cutting board. Another stocking stuffer, for those literary cooks and aspiring food writers, my Kindle Single, about how I accidentally wound up writing about food and cooking, a short memoir called The Main Dish ($2).
Cooking is a craft, and good tools are a must with any craft.
© 2013 Michael Ruhlman. Photo © 2013 Donna Turner Ruhlman. All rights reserved.
Paul Kobulnicky
Allow me to add HIC Silicon Scrapers … they are long handled, one piece and the handles are stiff. They handle hot temps well, clean up like a charm and the head never comes off of the handle. Here is one listing on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/HIC-Brands-That-Cook-Essentials/dp/B003NBIMWQ but there are lots of listings.
Robert
Don’t forget this!!!
http://www.amazon.com/Berard-22573-French-Olive-Wood-Handcrafted/dp/B002CWNTKM/ref=sr_1_12?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1386123680&sr=1-12&keywords=round+wooden+spoon
Michael Ruhlman
ha. don’t even want to encourage this.
Robert
🙂 kidding of course. I own your spoons!!!!
Saratoga Curmudgeon
Most places that supply tools for autobody shops have plastic scrapers that are used in putting filler into dents. They usually give them away if you buy a can of the filler. Wouldn’t surprise me if they would sell them individually dirt cheap. Worth a try.
Chappy
+2 on the thermometer and scale recommendations. I have different versions than those listed but they are indeed essential and the best tools I use all the time. I have the wireless version of the RediCheck. I’m sure the one Michael recommends is excellent, but the wireless one is a game changer if you use a smoker or use it for something in the oven that takes a long time. I used to check my smoker every 30-60 minutes, but now I read or watch TV and only check if the oven/smoker starts heating/cooling-off too much.
John Robinson
Zip-Lock gallon bags work just as good as disposable pastry bags.
DJK
Where do you get your knives sharpened?
Elsewhere
What about Digital Timers? Mine (at least, one of mine) just passed over from timer to paperweight after an accidental drop into a sink full of water and I need to get a new one!
Michael Ruhlman
I use my phone as a timer so haven’t bought a timer in years.
Plays With Food
A resounding thumbs up for the citrus squeezer! Though I normally also eschew unitaskers, I haven’t found a better way to get juice from lemons or limes than the device you recommend. It’s a hand-saver when I’m cooking for 150 and need lots of lemon juice!
Frank Reiter
Great list! Funny… Serious Eats has a list almost identical; I seriously hope they didn’t just copycat you, MR! But in all fairness, I think these items would show up on just damn near everyone’s list of small ticket “must haves”!