Your hands are your best and most useful tools, so please remember to treat them well: wash them with soap and hot water before and after cooking (especially after handling poultry, meat, eggs and seafood); apply a good hand cream after cooking; and be very careful when you are cutting, chopping, carving, grating, and handling hot pots and pans.
Below is a list of what I cannot do without. Just remember that cooking is not about having a gourmet kitchen or the ultimate small appliance: you can still do it with only some basic tools.
- Pots and pans – good-quality, non-stick, Teflon-free
- Grinder/blender
- Immersion hand blender
- Stand mixer (mine is an Ankarsrum (nicknamed Bjorn because it’s Swedish)
- Electric hand beater/mixer
- Steamer
- Kitchen scale
- Non-stick baking pans
- Spring baking pans of different diameters
- Grater and Zester (Microplane are great!)
- Mouli Julienne
- Hand food mill
- Stainless steel pastry scraper
- Hardwood rolling pin
- Imperia pasta machine
- Mixing bowls
- Hand whisk
- Thongs
- Mandolin
- Toaster
- Potato Ricer
- Pasta & pastry cutter whee
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Pyrex measuring cup
- Stainless steel odor-removing bar
- A big wooden cutting board (and a couple of smaller ones for when the big one is busy or dirty)
- A set of sharp knives
- A good sharpener, or have your knives sharpened regularly
- Potato peeler
- Citrus juicer
- Food thermometer
- Freezer bags (gallon and quart size)
- Foil
- Plastic wrap
- Parchment paper
- Wooden spoons
- Non-stick spatulas
- Egg slicer
- Oven mittens + pot holders