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I was wondering how you guys cook, and what is your equipment of choice.
I have a sous vide cooker that sees the majority of my creations, often paired with a smoking hot cast iron griddle. Other favoured tools are an immersion blender, a smoker, an isi whip and a cast iron wok. I hardly every use the regular oven, and almost never the microwave. I've been contemplating getting a thermomix, but apart from the "cool and handy" factor there really is nothing I would need it for.
Fess up guys :p
This is a tough one for me since I employ quite a few essentials. We just covered stand up mixers in another thread. And you and I have exchanged blurbs on sous vide and immersion circulators. And yes, I have a Bradley smoker as well. I use my oven regularly. I have self contained, self freezing ice cream maker, pots and pans of almost every medium, and a thousand different bread/cake pans, cake/tart rings, cake frames, terrine molds, gratin dishes......and a waffle iron.....among other things. Too many to list. :D
There is only one piece of absolutely essential equipment in our kitchen, my wife cause I can't cook worth a plug nickle. :D
Bob
Here are a few more specialized items that get used with varying frequency.
A couple hydrometers and a refractometer for measuring salinity or baume in syrups and brines. Mainly used when I'm making ice cream or sorbet.
Attachment 191670
This one you may have seen before, a hand held smoker for small items on the fly. I love using it on mushrooms as they really soak up the smoke flavor well. I particularly like using it on morels.
Attachment 191671
And this scary one is great for use when brining duck or pork loins before smoking. Shooting some of the brine right into the center of the meat helps avoid that tiny unbrined pocket dead in the middle of your product.
Attachment 191672
What nobody has mentioned the most common and 2nd most important, kitchen knives.
1-3" pairing knife
1- Santoku 5" (I want a 7" boker though)
1- chef knife 8"
1- 5" utility (for the small jobs)
Henckels 8" Chef knife.
Henckels 6" Chef knife.
Sabatier 4" utility knife.
As above,my knives,than my cutting brds, than my cast iron pans,all I need.
My Shigefusas and Kato knives are vital in my kitchen.
Gyotos, paring knives, Usubas, Yanagibas, Chinese cleavers, Sujihiki, honesuki and pettys.
All honed and stropped to fit the various knives and their uses.
My set of Le Creuset pots and pans are a delight to use, all others have been relegated to the back of the cabinet.
A good wooden cutting board in Canadian Maple ads to the pleasure of working in the kitchen.
A mandolin and a good peeler is vital as well.
The most used appliance though is my Blendtec Spacesaver blender.
That sees use three or four times a day.
No meat, be it seared, grilled or cooked is made without the use of my Thermapen termometer.
It is such an awesome little tool.
What is not used, as a principle, is a micro-wave....
I hear you, I was just aiming for the bare-back essentials; I too have way too many. My .01 gram increment kitchen weight sees quite some use (for measuring out specialist ingredients like agar agar and stuff).. Daily use are my knives ofc, Tojiro shirogamashi santoku, a couple sabatier chef knives, a sabatier santoku and a small selection of specialized ones - butcher knives, fish knives, fillet knives, veggie peelers.. Flavor injecting basting syringe, check. I even have a fondue set for oil and one for cheese, they see no use at all.. A huge kitchen machine that only comes out when I make sausage. A cast iron sausage stuffer, I love using it even though there is one on my electric meat grinder. There even is a permanent pasta string in my kitchen, for drying fresh pasta before cooking. Pasta machine. Specialist items like silicone tubes for making modernist pasta (mango pasta anyone?), syringes for making caviar, a jaccard, silicone mats for baking.. One item that actually does see quite a bit of use it my fine mesh flour sifter, I use it for pressing purees through, makes them super smooth. Don't think I could live without that one, and it was less than a handful of small change.Quote:
Originally Posted by OCDshaver
I have a beautiful Le Crueset fondue set that too never sees any action. On a cold winter night, I love to have a pot of fondue and bottle of wine. But the wife has this phobia about melted cheese that I just don't understand. Take her to a baseball game and she'll eat that cheeze-whiz, toxic orange stuff with chips and pickled jalepenos all day long but won't touch fondue. :shrug: So there it sits waiting for the right company.Quote:
Originally Posted by str8fencer
These just arrived today. I know what I'll be making this weekend - caneles.
Attachment 194259
Attachment 194260
Mauviel hammered copper tin lined pots. Saute, fry, windsor, a few sizes of sauce pans, and a stock pot. Other odds and ends.
Yup, that sounds about right for me too.Quote:
Originally Posted by pixelfixed
Well, that and far too much coffee gear, but that's another thread...
I have a Breville espresso machine. It's kind of a n nonsense model. It's not one of those push a button and here comes your macchiato machines. It's a grind yourself, fill, and tamp models. I don't use it but maybe once every couple of weeks but I could never be without it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Cangooner
And here are the canele.
Attachment 194691
If only you had added another you could have posted four canelle.:beer1:
Looks absolutely wonderful! I once looked into buying cannele copper molds, but I never got around to it.Quote:
Originally Posted by OCDshaver
I have a silicone canele mold but I have to say that the results from silicone suck. You simply don't get the even browning that the copper ones deliver. So much so that I have to say it's not really even the same product without copper. These have the crunchy exterior they are supposed to have.
Too much to list, my wife has 3 of everything, but the things I couldn't do without would be our Le Creuset cast pans, electric slow cooker, tagine, and our tramontina stainless pot set, which is great for slow cooking on the fire over winter. The microwave does get as lot of use re-heating left-overs because SWMBO likes to cook twice as much as anyone can possibly eat in one go...:shrug:...
Cast iron skillets, good knives, cast iron Dutch ovens, my Big Green Eggs
I'm more or less of the opinion that about the only things essential to good cooking are a set of good pots, pans and skillets, and a good set of knives. Which isn't to say that my kitchen is w/o any gadgetry. I have some; It must, however, meet certain criteria. Like it must be easy to clean (above all) and it must do what it's supposed to do. And do it better than anything else. When it comes to gadgetry, I like the items that are NOT motorized. Anything, motorized or not, that goes around and around will only make so many revolutions before it won't go around and around any more. Things that are motorized go around and around a lot faster than things not motorized.
Anyway, what is probably my favorite piece of kitchen gadgetry or at least the most used, is called the garlic twister. If you need lots of minced garlic, this little gizmo will deliver it (I make Kim Chi........you can fill in the blanks). And it works as advertised; when you're done w/it you just rinse it off and throw it in the dish washer. The only place I've seen them retailed is at Territorial Seed Co. They have a web page.
whih
I'm much with kropp, although, I must chuck in a good quality chopping board. I've had the same kitchen knife half my life. Literally. I got it 16 years ago.
I'm a lover of cast iron, but can't overlook my slow cooker. Recently acquired an air fryer. It's on trial lol.
Geek
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Please let us know how the air fryer works for you. I like the idea of having a fryer, but as a guy trying to lose weight, a regular one would be a bad, bad idea right now. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by TheGeek
It's pretty good, I roasted a chicken in it, and it was moist and tasty. Still trying to master chips, as in British chips.Quote:
Originally Posted by Cangooner
The manual says it can be used for coffee roasting. So gonna try that soon.
Geek
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