Tag Archives: chef’s knife

Kitchen Hacks, Food

Kitchen Tool Upgrades to Take You to The Next Level

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My list of handy ‘next level’ kitchen tools so you’re not caught without “the right tool for the right job.”

There’s an old saying about using “the right tool for the right job.” It isn’t just about odd jobs around the house – it’s about EVERY job – the right tool makes whatever the job is so much easier and that includes the tools in your kitchen.  When it comes to making sure you have the right tools, there’s no difference between fixing a leaky faucet and cooking up a lovely dinner for guests.

This is my list of handy ‘next level’ kitchen tools. None of these ideas are expensive – almost all are under $35. But having these tools around the kitchen could make all the difference between a fun cooking adventure or enduring what could become an unnecessarily difficult kitchen experience.

Read: The 10 Essential Tools for Beginner Cooks

My goal is to help you avoid the situation where you’ve already started a recipe and suddenly you realize that the simple task of grating Parmesan cheese is not going as planned. Or, you need the wine opened for your pot roast and that old handy wine opener (the one you’ve had since college) suddenly jams. Some of these items you know you’ve talked about replacing the last time you reached for them. A few of them you don’t think about until the day you need them.

This is why I urge all cooks, whether you’re a new or inexperienced cook or are very comfortable in the kitchen, to be proactive about all your tools. You don’t know the pain until the simple tool you need is either missing or broken!

Here’s the easy part about all of this—it doesn’t take much to upgrade the standard tools in your kitchen—you just have to remember to do it. And, I’m here to help:

A good citrus squeezer. Seriously, this is the one everyone forgets. Remember, you just can’t get as much juice out of the lemon or lime using only your hands.

A two-step Waiter’s Corkscrew. This is a pro tool, used by waiters everywhere and will make getting the bottle of wine open that much easier.

A good quality microplane. You’ll never have to mince garlic or ginger with a knife ever again.  And, this tool is perfect for Parmesan cheese!

A sturdy dough or bench scraper. Bakers use it to scrape the dough off the counter, but here’s the thing—it’s actually perfect for transferring chopped anything (meat or veggie) into pots and pans without picking up the cutting board.

An insert rack for your pan. If you ever plan to fry anything and want to keep it crispy, get a cooling rack that fits your sheet pan.  Air can flow underneath your fried items and keep them crispy – they don’t sit in the oil from the fryer.

A set of nesting mixing bowls. Stainless or glass, because everyone needs mixing bowls, right?

A cast iron skillet – 10-12”.  This will become your favorite skillet in the kitchen.  Nothing sears meats better and it can go from stovetop into the oven with no worries.

REAL kitchen shears. Not scissors you also use for cutting paper. You want shears that can cut through chicken bones AND that sheet pan pizza you just made. Important feature—make sure you get the ones you can easily take apart for thorough cleaning.

A serrated bread knife. The thing is, this is not just for bread but also any hard-skinned vegetables like Squash – AND tomatoes (perfect for any thin-skinned soft fruit because it won’t tear the skin!)

A paring knife. Small and sharp, for the little cutting jobs that require precision.

Read: The Essential 5 Must Have Knives for your Kitchen

A fish spatula. Characterized by the extra-long part that does the scraping or picking up. Usually made of thin stainless steel.  This one is not only for fish but for just about anything that needs a little extra flexibility to pick up the food in one piece.

A stainless ladle. This is for that pot of chili you’re going to make on Sunday or the favorite soup for dinner.

Watch my video to see these tools and get the feel of the way they work. And remember—maybe you already have some of these tools. But, check them out and make sure they’re ready for your next cooking adventure.

Home Entertaining, Kitchen Hacks

Defining the 10 Essential Tools for Beginner Cooks

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What you need to know about the top 10 essential tools for your kitchen.

A client of mine just bought a second home near a lake. She faced the same problem all cooks face when stocking a new kitchen – what are the basics necessary to prepare meals for her and her family?  What are the absolute essential kitchen tools?

One of my favorite websites, Bon Appetit, posted an article titled 10 Essential Tools for Beginner Cooks. Here are my notes on the ‘Essential 10’.

The first item is a 10” stainless steel skillet. “Stainless steel” because you don’t want anything that will chip, stain, or break. Personally speaking, ‘non-stick’ surfaces are a ‘non-starter’ for the “essential” list because this will be your workhorse tool. Nothing against ‘non-stick’ (I have a small one for my morning eggs) but they do need a bit of extra care to protect them from scratches. Cast iron is another favorite, but these also require some careful cleaning and regular seasoning. As with many of these “essentials,” it’s all about personal preference.

Next is a good chef’s knife. You can do most of your kitchen chores with this one knife–so make it the first one you buy before you add other knives. Your biggest consideration is the length of the blade. For me, the 8-inch blade is a nice size but, you may prefer the 10-inch. There’s really no formula for which one is better. It’s personal preference—how it feels in your hand, balance and how long of a blade you’re comfortable working with. You should also consider getting a honing steel to sharpen your knife each time you use it—a dull knife is one of the most dangerous things to have around the kitchen.

Read: The Essential 5 Must Have Knives for your Kitchen

There’s always a lot of chatter about cutting boards, myself included. There are two things to think about: food safety and utility. I know people who swear that their glass cutting boards help them permanently solve the food safety issue (you can sanitize them). They also last longer than wood, bamboo, or plastic. But a glass cutting board will dull your knives faster than you can read this sentence. Actually, glass can ruin your chef’s knife.

So, what’s the perfect cutting board in my kitchen? A good hardwood (walnut, hickory, oak). If you want to preserve your knife and don’t care that you’ll have to replace your board often, softer woods like cypress are great. Good wood boards are perhaps 2” thick, so they don’t warp when they get wet. A Bamboo board—which is a nice compromise between hardwood and softwoods—will be about ¾” thick. As for the food safety issue, you should have a separate board for vegetables and another for animal proteins—you don’t want to cross contaminate. That’s where plastic cutting boards come in. You can stick them in the dishwasher and they’re cheap to replace when they warp, start to chip or get heavily scratched.  By the way, never stick your wood or bamboo board in a dishwasher.

Read: Don’t Take Your Cutting Board for Granted!

You need a 5 to 8-quart heavy stockpot. You will use this for boiling pasta, blanching veggies, and cooking up batches of your favorite chili or soup recipes. You want a heavy-bottomed one so that the heat is distributed evenly. Make sure that the lid is tight fitting.

It may seem obvious, but you’ll want a large cooking spoon—wood or stainless steel. I have several. Stainless is durable but can scratch some surfaces. Replace wood spoons as often as you replace wood cutting boards.

People sometimes forget how important it is to have a good set of measuring spoons and measuring cups. I like metal ones—they’re sturdy, and they retain their shape after years of use. You’ll find sets with eight or more different spoons and cups. Go for the simplicity of the basic four. In spoons, that’s one-tablespoon, one-teaspoon, half-teaspoon, and quarter-teaspoon. In cups, you’ll want one-cup, half-cup, one-third cup, and quarter-cup. Any more than that is just clutter.

That leads me to your basic liquid measuring cup. Glass is fabulous—but get one that’s tempered glass, so it doesn’t shatter the moment you put boiling liquid into it. Forget the one cup size because you already have that in your set of measuring tools. Go straight for the 2-cup and then add a 4-cup later.

You’ll want a rimmed sheet tray. Emphasis on “rimmed”—I like the ones with taller rims that are about half-inch tall. You’ll use this for roasting and baking.

A veggie peeler is definitely an essential. There are all kinds of designs but, I love my Y-peeler. It’s faster than a swivel peeler, easier to handle, and so cheap that when it finally gets dull, you can just replace it.

Lastly, a set of fine-mesh sieves. A lot of people make the mistake of thinking that you can do all with big mesh colanders. Big mesh is suitable for draining big veggies, but not very useful otherwise. No plastic, it can become warped if you put hot liquid in it. You want a thin-rimmed metal sieve. Some come with plastic handles—but the simplicity of all metal is better. I say “set” because you’ll want perhaps three sizes. One should be about 6” in diameter that will double as a spider in the kitchen for scooping out blanched veggies, pasta, rinsing beans or grains, draining stock and sauces. I also use that one for poaching eggs.

That’s my “essential 10”—check out my video so you can see them for yourself.

You may think of other tools like saucepans, spatulas, whisks, and a slotted spoon. But if you’re a beginner, don’t clutter up your kitchen with all the accessories. Take it one step at a time. Learn your tools, and you’ll have more fun. I promise!

Kitchen Hacks

Tips for kitchen knives: which ones do you really need?

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Which one is right? Do you need more than one? Do you need a full set?

Everyone needs a good set of kitchen knives. I mean everyone! But there are so many different types of knives to choose from made by so many companies that offer great quality. So, the question is how do you pick the best ones for your kitchen?

I learned from all my years as a restaurateur that you do not go for the prettiest nor do you necessarily need the most expensive. Most important, you don’t absolutely have to buy every knife that a sales person suggests. The most important thing that you will always want to look for in any knife you’re buying is a “full tang” – that means that they have been forged from a single piece of steel – one piece that goes from the tip of the knife all the way through to the end of the handle. Very often you can see that the handle looks like a “sandwich” but sometimes with a synthetic handle you won’t be able to see it (ask them to be sure). Once you’ve found the knives in your price range that have a “full tang” you can narrow your choices down if you follow these simple steps:

The first thing to think about is comfort. No matter if you cook a lot or a little in your kitchen, you’ll want to pick the one that feels the best in your hand. Pick it up, hold it – you don’t ever want it to slip.  If it feels good in your hand, you have a candidate.

The next thing to think about is ease of control. Some knives can be fairly heavy. Especially some of the newer “pro” versions. Heavy is not always good but you also don’t want one that’s too light for your hand. What you need is one that balances well in your hand and is easy for you to control.

Once you find the kind of knives you like, don’t feel pressed to buy a full “set” just because they’re on sale. You don’t need all of them. There are only three types of knives that are essential to any cook – four if you’re like me and like some variety.

Fran's Knives

Fran’s choice of knives, from left to right: paring, santoku, chef’s, and serrated, all from Zwilling J.A. Henckels.

  • 3.5″ Paring Knife – a real necessity for picking and fine trimming and cutting.
  • 8″ Serrated – useful for cutting crusty bread.
  • 8″ Chef’s Knife – excellent for chopping and perfect for ‘rocking’ while slicing. Or…
  • 5-7″ Santoku – an alternative for the chef’s knife, also good for chopping and slicing but a completely different shape.  I find that I usually reach for my Santoku before I reach for my Chef’s Knife but it is personal preference between the two.

Whatever knives you select, remember that comfort and control are the two most important things to consider. Don’t believe for one minute that you must pick knives from the same company. If you find that you like different knives from different companies, be bold and mix and match them.  I happen to like the knives from Zwilling J.A. Henckels. You should also look at Wüsthof, Shun, and Global – all offer very practical, well made, and – in my opinion – high-quality tools.

Now for some tips on the care and use of your new kitchen knives.

Don’t let knives ever go dull – learn how to sharpen them – you can use either a sharpening stone or even an electric sharpener. Contrary to popular myths, even serrated knives can be sharpened (but, you will probably need to have these done professionally). Dull knives are not just a hassle; they can also lead to injury. You should never have to work hard to slice and chop. Dull knives will cause you to grip not only the thing you’re cutting but also the knife. Cutting, chopping, and slicing should be easy tasks that take little physical effort. If you force a dull knife to do a job, it can cause you to make mistakes or slip, and you will probably end up cutting things that you don’t want to cut, like your fingers!

I hate to harp on a list of ‘don’t do this, ‘ but there’s another big don’t for your new kitchen knives: don’t ever put them in your dishwasher and don’t drop them in your sink to wash later. Good kitchen knives are precision tools. It doesn’t take much to bump and dull them. Learn to wash them by hand – blade side away from you – and wash and dry them right after you use them. Washing them right away keeps food from drying and crusting on the blade, which forces you to scrub. You don’t want to scrub a sharp knife!

Think about how you’re going to store your knives. At the least you’ll use the safety covers that may come with the blades. The last thing you want to do is grope around in a drawer full of uncovered and sharp knives. Seriously! What you’ll find is that there is a quite a diverse number of ways to store knives – countertop blocks, wall mounted blocks, magnetic strips, in-drawer inserts. There are dozens of systems and methods, and each has their pros and cons. The best idea is to look around at all of them to see what’s best for your kitchen. Like your knives, select one based on what makes you feel the most comfortable.

Enjoy your kitchen knives – safely – and cook lots of great meals with them. Most of all, have fun.