Essential Cooking Equipment for Your Kitchen

Whether you’re a Michelin-star chef in the kitchen or a novice with aspirations for great culinary creations, the right tools and utensils are key for assisting you with your preparations. In this article, we’ll take a look at some of the essential cooking equipment your kitchen should be stocked with to help you create great meals.

Knives

Food preparation can be a laborious and messy task without a decent knife. If you are to invest in one item, this ought to be it. Many people purchase an entire block of knives, but may only end up using two or three. According to the experts, you only need three knives: a chef’s knife, a paring knife and a serrated knife.

Choose a knife that feels comfortable to hold and control and which comes with a long or lifetime guarantee. To ensure the essential knives for your kitchen stay in top condition, it is also worth investing in a good quality knife sharpener.

Chopping Board

As with your knives, it is a good idea to have more than one chopping board to prevent cross-contamination between meats and vegetables.

While some materials can look attractive, such as stone or glass, it is recommended that you purchase a wooden or plastic chopping board, as it is less likely to blunt your knives and provides a solid and stable surface on which to chop your ingredients. Bacteria can build up on your chopping board over time so it is best to replace them every year or so.

Thermometer

When preparing meat or poultry, it is essential to know whether it is safely cooked. An instant-read thermometer will allow you to easily check this, and many digital thermometers which are attached with a cable can be put into the oven with the meat and will alert you when the target temperature is reached.

Range Hood

With all of this cooking going on, installing range hoods into your kitchen can be a beneficial addition. Designed to remove smoke, airborne grease and odors that can fill your kitchen when cooking, a range hood is one of the most important appliances you can have for your kitchen.

Spoons

A wooden spoon is ideal for stirring food while it’s cooking, especially when it is hot. Spoons made out of plastic can melt if the temperature is too hot, and metal ones can heat up, making them too hot to handle.

A slotted spoon is another essential kitchen implement that serves as a mini sieve, removing the liquid from food while keeping the liquid in the pot. It is essential when preparing food such as spaghetti or noodles and fried foods such as pakoras.

Skillets

Cast-iron skillets are large, heavy pans that can heat to high temperatures and will conduct heat well in addition to retaining it for a long time. These sturdy, indestructible items can also go straight into the oven making them ideal for transferring food from the stove to the oven.

Nonstick skillets which are lightweight and easy to clean are also essential kitchen items, ideal for frying eggs or wilting spinach. Some of the safest coatings when purchasing a non-stick skillet are ceramic or silicon.

With these six items in your kitchen, you’ll be ready to serve up some gastronomical feasts for your friends and family in no time.