Periodically, some august publication sets forth a prescription for The Best Kitchen Utensils. Sometimes I even agree with them, though their emphasis is usually on new single gadgets while my list contains splendid vintage items and multitaskers. Here is my current list.
Good knives: a large chef’s knife, two fine paring knives—one serrated, one not—and a bread knife. I prefer carbon steel but it is harder now to find than when I was a youth.
Case knife: this used to be tableware in the 19th and early 20th centuries, but the wide carbon steel blade is grand for spreading and is sharp enough to slice things. My grandma reputedly could flip an egg with one, which I’ve rarely succeeded in doing though it works sometimes if I tilt the pan to meet the leaning egg.
Microplane: narrow bladed ones are perfect for grating hard cheeses like parmigiano, romano, etc., even chocolate bars for dusting desserts; also good for pureeing garlic and fresh ginger.
Box grater: mine’s often in the dishpan. I use it for cheddar cheese, carrots, potatoes (hash browns).
Bowl scrapers: especially those nice silicone ones. I have an old bowl scraper from way back. I’ll even scrape a tablespoonful out of peanut butter, mayonnaise, jam, sauce, jars.
Silicone pastry brushes: so easy to use and wash! Great for greasing muffin pans, baking dishes, and for spreading melted butter, egg whites, etc. on pastry. Bristle ones get oily, disgusting, and shed themselves in your food. Yuk.
Pancake turners: antiques ones with wooden handles and very fine blades that slide slickly under anything that needs flipping.
Fish slice: I hardly ever use it for fish, but it’s great for stir fries, sauteing onions, and browning crumbled stuff. This plus an ancient spoon I inherited, named Bertha’s Spoon—with one flattened edge worn down by an elderly friend’s cook who used it constantly for decades in the 1900s—do most of my stirring.
Three-tined fork: for beating eggs for omelets, and picking up slices to turn them over.
Y-shaped peeler: muckle onto one of these babies and haul it across your winter squash to remove tough skin in a jiffy. Drag it lightly over a carrot or potato. It does the job so easily.
Hands: wonderful for tossing salad, rubbing shortening into flour or sugar, mixing cold ingredients.
A mandolin: makes the fastest coleslaw in the west. On the thicker blade, I burn through cucumbers and onions in a flash for bread-and-butter pickles. Very even-sized slices result. You quickly learn to mind where your fingers are.
Immersion blender: an electric tool that purees very hot things without the explosions that occur when you try to use your food processors without waiting for the food to cool.
Miscellaneous: I like my digital thermometer very much. Whisks in various sizes are handy. Off-set spatulas spread icing neatly. I adore parchment paper, freely used to line nearly all baking pans, which saves a lot of greasing and solves nearly all my sticking problems.
Cast iron frying pan: the first kitchen pan I bought 60 years ago before I left my childhood home. It’s an old Griswold, lighter than many newer models, and it is seasoned so well it has a non-sick surface.
Roasting pan: if I saw it in a yard sale, I’d recommend recycling it. Nonetheless, it’s my kitchen work horse, black with seasoning and a little warped. I use it constantly.
Finally, scissors: I seldom get through a day without having to resort to hacking into packaging. Tearing, even with my teeth, doesn’t work. I have scissors in every room of the house, sometimes more than one pair, and am seriously thinking of wearing a pair on a chain around my neck.
They even cut through plastic zip ties.
Sandy Oliver is a food historian who gardens, cooks, and writes on Islesboro. She may be contacted at SandyOliver47@gmail.com.
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