There is no person alive who hasn’t tried to make something in the kitchen. Even kids try to make their own special recipes, usually involving things that should not be eaten.
From the earliest age, we are taught that the kitchen needs different things to help prepare the best meal. If you are a person who loves to cook and make amazing meals, you are aware of the difference the right appliances make.
It does not matter how good of a cook you are, how big your kitchen is or how many kitchen tools you have if you have the right tools and a bit of skill and creativity, you can make really tasty meals.
If you want to excel in the kitchen, these are the tools that will make the difference between being an okay cook and being the person who cooks the best food.
1. Knife set
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This is literary the essential, you cannot make good food if you don’t have great knives. If you want, you can choose the whole set of knives that will make your lives easier.
You should know that sets can include between 3 and 20 knives. You can choose the one that you need the most and that will get the work done. The most popular and used knives include:
- Chef’s Knife
- Utility Knife
- Santoku Knife
- Kitchen Shears
- Boning Knife
- Bread Knife
- Cleaver
- Paring Knife
- Steak Knife
- Fillet Knife
This sounds like a lot, right? Well, the good thing is, you don’t have to buy a full knife set that comes in a fancy wood box. You can just invest in a few essentials.
The knives you will most likely need and use are chef’s knife, serrated bread knife and a pairing knife. And of course, the scissors. These 3+1 cover anything you’d need to cut.
You should also think about going with forged knives instead of stamped because they will last longer and they are higher in quality.
2. Pots and Pans
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Right after the knife set, having good pots and pans is really important. This makes the difference between a well-cooked and burned meals.
Good quality pans and pots will also save you time. You won’t get food stuck on them and they will be easy to clean and store.
Same as the knife set, you don’t need to get every single type of pot or every pan on the market, you need the essentials. Here is the list of things you will use most often and that you should get for your kitchen.
- Skillets and sauté pans
- Cast-iron skillet
- Saucepans
- Roasting pans
- 9-x-13-inch baking dish or casserole with lid
- Enameled cast-iron stew pot
- Stockpot
You don’t have to buy all of these at once, start with a skillet and a good stew pot and work your way down the list.
3. Cheese Slicers
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You don’t know how much you need a cheese slicer in your kitchen. It will help you melt the cheese faster for that tasty dish, it will add a special touch to the food and you will be able to set up a nice arrangement when guests just show up on your doorstep.
The cheese slicers can be used for a lot more than just cutting cheese and it will help you with a lot of tasks in the kitchen.
There are two main categories of cheese slicers – handheld slicers and tabletop slicers. Even though people mostly use the handheld ones, the tabletop versions are much more durable. The handheld slicers are portable and the tabletop ones can process more cheese. So, you basically have to choose the one you’d use the most.
Other types of slicers include:
- Cheese Plane
- Board Cheese Slicers
- Rolling Cheese Slicers
Do a bit of research and find the right slicer that will suit most of your needs. Click on this link to find the right one. And when you start using it, you will buy another one because you’ll see how much extra help you are getting.
4. Blender or Food Processor
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The next thing every kitchen needs is a good blender or a food processor. If you love making soups and purees, a blender is a must in your kitchen.
Be careful when you choose the blender, sometimes spending a bit more for something that’s higher quality will go a long way. There is a rule, the cheaper you pay for blenders and food processors, the more money you are going to spend when you buy the second one.
If you try to get a food processor or a blender on a budget you will probably buy a new one sooner than you think.
Hand held blenders are great for making smoothies, chopping onions or garlic, or frothing up drinks.
Most popular types of blenders include:
- Hand Blender
- Single-Serve Blender
- Full-Size Blender
- Specialty Blender
- Frozen Drink Maker
- Blender Bottle
- Kitchen System
Most popular types of food processors include:
- Hand-Operated
- Mandolines
- Coffee Grinders
- Vegetable or Meat Grinders
- Hand-Operated Ricers
- Juicers
5. Digital Thermometer
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Last but not least, a thing every cook and especially every novice cook needs. The digital thermometer will make the difference between overcooked, just right and undercooked meat.
There are a lot of different thermometers available on the market. Most of them you don’t need to calibrate. And they are all really easy to use.
You just put them in the boiling water, soup, puree, or just stick them in the meat.
Put the thermometer in the roast, throw that in the oven and just keep the thermometer outside the oven. Set an alarm to go off when the target temperature is reached. The process is extremely easy and you don’t have to worry about anything.
Now you know the basic things you need for your kitchen. Go get them, get that recipe book and start making amazing things.
In time you can start getting more things that are not so basic or essential and you can learn to cook more complicated dishes that require extra precision.
However, with these 5 things you will be able to cook pretty much every dish you ever wanted to. Bon Appetite!
