two pans and a pot
A sauté pan, a saucier pan, and a big pot. These are my only pots and pans, all three are stainless steel. They have the look of being loved; that’s the point. (When I road trip somewhere for a few weeks, I bring the sauté pan.) I don’t list my knives below, but it’s the Global sankotu I like best.
Above the stove are the things I reach for most:
Hand blender (I have a standing mixer and rarely use it), colander, 14 cup food processor, secret recipe binder. It’s best to keep oils and vinegar away from light; I have a good olive oil, a whatever olive oil, sherry vinegar, and balsamic. I keep them in their original bottles.
And then there are the baking pans:
A few muffin tins, various sizes, cake pans (2 8″ and 4 9″), 2 tart pans with removable bottoms, springform pan in 6″, 8″, 9″, bundt pan, angel food cake pan with removable bottom, double boiler, bread pan, pasta machine with a hand crank and fettucine/spaghetti attachment.
The randoms (including my favorite tool):
I’m very fond of this digital kitchen scale, which is important for baking measurements, and the knife sharpener; I inherited the Belgian waffle maker, occasionally use the pizzelle maker, more occasionally use the tortilla press, and invent ways to use the best tool in my kitchen, the small torch (I peel tomatoes with it).
These fill the drawer next to the stove:
An immersion blender, corkscrew, bottle opener (upcycled from a bike chain), whisk, lighter, small spatula (I dislike the big ones, which feel clumsy to me), potato masher, measuring spoons, scissors, can opener, vegetable peeler, bizarre blue silicone thumb grip for pulling pans out of the oven that works marvelously well, offset spatula (not just for cakes—this is better than a fish spatula for turning things), microplane in the regular grating grade, and tongs (these become an extension of your arms, truly; find ones with a clasp mechanism).
I use these less often and keep them in a bag near the fondue pot on a high shelf:
A zester, two sizes of biscuit cutters, an oven temperature gauge, a pasta fluter, kitchen tweezers (the best for pin bones in salmon), chocolate prongs, citrus juicer, plastic mandoline (much easier than the complicated stands, I’m using this more and more lately for fennel and sunchokes).
What’s in your kitchen drawers?
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Posted by Kristen Taylor on Tuesday, January 12th, 2010, 7:08 am * Filed in Food. * Tags: kitchen, kristen, kthread, taylor, utensils. Follow responses through the RSS 2.0 feed. Leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
January 12th, 2010 at 5:33 pm
Whoa, I love your kitchen inventory–so sleek and efficient! I’d list the contents of my drawers and cabinets, but it’s already too much to think about. (George Foreman grill? Ugh, why do I own you?!?)
A question for the culinary queen: Do you think I should invest in a good food processor? I have a CuisinArt blender/food processor thing, but the mixing cup is pretty small, and I don’t think that it can handle processing dough. Since a lot of my cookie and bread recipes include making a dough in an FP, I’m debating upgrading to a real one. Unfortunately, it’s another bulky appliance that I really don’t want. Can I get by making cookie and other doughs with a pastry knife? Two butter knives? My fingers? My giant KitchenAid mixer?
January 12th, 2010 at 6:19 pm
Mica, thanks, it was a useful exercise to open the drawers and really look at what I have.
I would say yes, invest in a real food processor. You can definitely use the mixer or a hand blender, but think about how else you can use the processor–there are blades for slicing and grating vegetables (there’s an attachment for pasta dough for standing mixers, while we’re on the topic) and you can store it with the container off the base if space is an issue.
I also use it for aioli and mayonnaise; you’ll find you reach for it often—keep us posted on what you decide–
January 12th, 2010 at 7:00 pm
I’m currently in the market for two additions to my kitchen–a food processor (like Mica) and an espresso machine. I also have to share that K’s pictures make me a tad sentimental, because I’ve used many of those items many times, including the knives, colander, and love-worn pots and pans. It’s nice how those objects connect me both to K and to a past housing myriad fond memories, culinary and otherwise! Speaking of objects and connections, I still use the router K and I shared in Charlottesville, taking the network with me wherever I travel.
January 12th, 2010 at 7:06 pm
Ben, we miss you! I like to think all these tools are imbued with that old Charlottesville magic; so glad we shared a kitchen for years. That the router still works, on another coast and many moons later, is almost too perfect—but then, to make an allusion you might, we both think, write, and research about how objects and people are invited to “only connect”—
January 13th, 2010 at 11:13 am
While she doesn’t fit in any kitchen drawer…my first and truest love is Bea. LOVE the 2010 posts so far! Keep ‘em coming <3
January 13th, 2010 at 11:02 pm
Thanks, J! I’m making one of your favorite things, onion soup gratinée, tomorrow night; wish you were closer and could be here.
I think Bea is the rightful mistress of all the good things in your kitchen, and she should stand tall in her mixing glory—
January 14th, 2010 at 6:43 pm
OK so the 2 microplanes lovingly given to me by kthread are now among my most frequented gadgets, even though I do try to be pretty anti-gadget in the kitchen. also my inherited kthread stand mixer. ok so I blame kthread for all my gadgets. but they are useful ones! xoxo
January 18th, 2010 at 9:35 am
Laura, I take full responsibility for these three gadgets, and happy they are useful for you! :)