Minimum Kitchen Equipment - Final List

April 12, 2008

Here is the final list of the minimum tools a new cook needs in the kitchen:

1. Chef’s knife: Used very frequently.
   
2. Paring knife: Used less frequently, but often enough to need it.
   
3. Serrated knife: Good for fresh bread and tomatoes. I love bread, so, with the convincing of a reader, it stays on the list.
4. Two cutting boards: One for meat, one for vegetables. Both medium sized probably.
   
5. 12″ cast iron skillet: There are positive and negative reactions to cast iron, but it will do 90% of what I want a skillet to do, and do it really well for a low price. It does require extra maintenance, but it seems worth it for the price and performance. A decent stainless steel pan easily can be substituted here.
6. 10″ skillet: Having two skillets will be good, although I’m not sure if this should be non-stick or stainless. I need to look into the health effects more for non-stick pans before I decide. I think I’d look for something just above the bottom in quality.
7. Large pot: Either a stock pot or round dutch oven. At this point I would get something inexpensive that can boil pasta and make decent soup. You can correct me if I’m wrong, but I would guess that high quality stock pots are not as important as high quality skillets and pans that have direct contact with food.
8. Medium Sauce Pan: For tomato sauces, macaroni, and anything else that doesn’t need a big pot. Again, I would probably go with lower quality stainless steel, maybe 3 or 4 quarts.
   
9. Colander: I eat too much pasta not to have one.
   
10. Tongs: They come in handy pretty frequently, whether for flipping a steak or serving salad.
    
11. Two or three wooden spoons: I use these all the time. Cheap and useful.
    
12. Silicone spatula: Sometimes things need scraping.
    
13. Silicone pancake flipper spatula: The big flat wide ones that will flip pancakes and whatnot. Silicone might be a little more expensive than other materials, but there is no chance of hurting the non stick pan.
    
14. Large cooking ladle/spoon: Could be silicone, but probably not necessary.
15. Large slotted spoon: Again, material is flexible.
16. Cheese grater: Probably the box style since it can do more than one size.
17. Baking Sheet: With a rim, jelly roll style.
18. Pyrex baking dish: 9 x 13 probably. It is cheap and supposedly cooks well.
    
19. Mixing bowls: Two or three.
20. Measuring cups: 1/4, 1/3, 1/2 and 1 cup sizes. Then mini ones for tablespoon, teaspoon, etc. Maybe this is blasphemy, but I usually measure my liquids in cups for dry goods. I never pull out the liquid measuring cup. Mrs. W. informed me there is a little difference in measurements, so a liquid one is probably a good idea.
21. Tupperware: Leftovers and stuff.
22. Something with a fast spinning sharp blade: A hand immersion blender, food processor, or regular blender. There are enough foods that I would like to make that need blending to make something like this useful. The food processor would be the most versatile, but it is also the most expensive. I’ll probably try to find a good hand blender.
23. Knife Steel: Sharp, honed knives are much easier to cook with.

I added the knife steel and some sort of blending machine. The serrated knife remains and I took away my recommendation on the material for the 10″ skillet.

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