It's safe to say I've never cooked more than I have in the past two years.
I love to cook. But with a busy job, a long commute, and a passion for eating out, I generally only cook somewhere in the ballpark of five meals a week in normal times. I drink most of my drinks at bars with friends and hardly ever eat dessert, unless I'm out for a special occasion.
But these are strange times! Now I find myself cooking 20 or so meals a week. My husband and I break for happy-hour cocktails every day at 6, to help transition out of work-from-home mode. And I've developed a sweet tooth that just won't quit.
All this time in the kitchen spent preparing meals, cocktails, and dessert has made me very reliant on kitchen tools.
Here are the 15 gadgets, appliances, and tools I'm using the most.
Dutch oven
Zola.com
All right, this one's obvious. But I'm including a Dutch oven here because it's a staple for any home chef.
Dutch ovens are clutch because of their versatility. They get really hot and also distribute heat evenly. Their enamel coating makes them incredibly easy to clean. They're also pretty to look at. Mine lives on my stovetop, so this last point is important.
What I use it for: bread, sauce, soup, stew, casserole
Immersion blenders provide you with a supereasy and non-messy way to blend anything from soup to smoothies. They don't take up the counter space that a normal blender would, and they're very easy to clean!
If you're cooking every meal, you're going to accumulate leftovers quickly. I highly recommend investing in a good set of glass food-storage containers that you can microwave and stick in the dishwasher.
Using a meat thermometer is the most precise way to tell if your food is cooked through.
If you're also doing a lot of bread baking or making yogurt from scratch, you're going to want a food thermometer to measure the temperature of your water and milk, respectively.
What I use it for: chicken, milk to make yogurt, water to activate yeast
When you're cooking more ambitious recipes, it's always a good idea to get your ingredients properly prepped (mise en place, if you're being fancy). This step ensures that you're not frantically mincing garlic when your sautéed onions begin to burn.
A good set of mixing bowls will make it easy to get all your ingredients chopped and ready to go when you need them.
What I use them for: tuna and chicken salads, side sauces (like soy), proofing bread, mise en place
Samin Nosrat's "Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat" taught me that acid is a critical cooking element for balancing flavors. When I taste a dish that's near completion, the thing it's most often missing is acid. Usually, I'll add a splash of vinegar or a squeeze of citrus, and it always makes the dish taste more complete. A citrus squeezer makes the latter oh so easy!
What I use it for: squeezing lemons and limes for guacamole, salad dressings, and cocktails
Virtually every meal I make starts out on the cutting board.
I love to keep a big, beautiful butcher-block-style cutting board on my counter at all times. It just makes the kitchen seem more accessible and easy to use.
If you're doing a lot of cooking, you're going to want a good chef's knife. It makes what is arguably the most arduous step of cooking (chopping) a whole lot easier.
What I use it for: chopping vegetables, crushing garlic, slicing meat
Lugging cans of seltzer home from the grocery store is never fun. A soda maker provides you with a limitless supply of bubbly water, which is great to add to cocktails or drink on its own.
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