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Contest: What is Your Kitchen Essential?
Last week, the luminous cookbook writer, Marion Cunningham died at the age of 90. Cunningham’s updated edition of The Fannie Farmer cookbook has become a classic. The original Fannie Farmer was also a visionary in the kitchen, and one of the first celebrity chefs. (See my profile of Farmer from the “single woman’s hall of fame.”)
To win a copy of this wonderful cookbook, answer the question: What is your kitchen essential? I realize it’s absurd to narrow it down to one, but that’s what makes it a challenge. What item or tool couldn’t you live without? Submit your entry using the Comments section. Include your first name. (If you win, we’ll get in touch by email for your U.S. shipping address, and telephone number.) Deadline: July 27, 2012.
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112 comments for “Contest: What is Your Kitchen Essential?”
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My left-handed knife. No more weird angles and messy dices for me!
Um, since I don’t cook — ever — I would have to say my kitchen essential is a working refrigerator to keep my diet Coke cold.
That has been an issue in past relationships…but if you look in the frig early on and see only the aforesaid diet Coke, why is it a suprise (and accusation) four years later: “But you don’t cook!”
Oh, did you think I was going to change??????
Yes, Noelle. It’s good to be true to yourself. But I have to say that Marion Cunningham is such a good writer, you might enjoy just reading the cookbook anyway.
All I need is a recipe and I’m set. I’m good at following directions, and once I master them, I’m free to experiment with an extra pinch or dash of things to put my own unique spin on a dish.
I love to cook, but I’m not especially inventive with recipes, so I rely on experts. But I admire those who get creative.
My Scan pan. This is the BEST frying pan ever, nothing sticks, it’s easy to clean, it cooks evenly. I recommend this as the best pan in the universe! 🙂 It cost a lot, but it’s worth it because if you take care of it, it lasts for years. Maybe decades, I’m not sure I haven’t had it that long yet. Will a poem help me win? I’m a FAN of the SCAN PAN, No I don’t have a MAN, but I have this great PAN! I didn’t spend a lot of time on that poem, do I get credit for that?
I LOVE my scan pan, Juliet. Any tips for how to get the outside clean?
Oh my goodness, so many.
I love a trio of brightly colored, flexible cutting boards I got at Crate and Barrell because you can chop onions and then just bend the board and funnel them into the pot.
I love my Martha Stewart ginsu knife and bamboo cutting boards.
And I really really love my gorgeous Berard wooden spoon, carved out of a whole slab of an olive tree, that I got online.
I’ve often wondered about those flexible cutting boards. I’ll have to give them another look.
My cast iron skillet. I rescued it from my aunt’s barn-turned-pottery-studio, gave it several thorough cleanings and now, six or seven years later, it’s seasoned to the point of nonstick and used probably four or five times a week.
I don’t own a cast iron skillet, but I’ve heard they’re the one pan to have.
This is tough, but I am going to go with my Staub enameled cast iron Coq au Vin pan (an oval Dutch oven). It was my first piece of enameled cast iron and it’s a constant companion in the cooler months–used for braises, stews, even no-knead bread! It has a little rooster for a handle and I not only cook with it, I proudly display it! I love the way it looks and works!
FYI, Marion Cunningham also authored the Fannie Farmer Baking Book, one of my first real cookbooks. Received it from a friend and I read it as a novel. After taping it together with duct tape, the friend who originally bought it for me gifted me with a replacement copy 20+ years later!
ONE item is hard to pick when you think of all the other items that get you to use that single thing. I do not cook much but I’d say a good sized sauce pan. I’m a pasta eating fiend (hot and cold dishes) and just one big one can let me make as little or much as I want.
Bottle of wine to sip while I chop stuff with my indispensable ceramic knife.
I’ll drink to that!
I know. It’s an impossible mission. I’m with you on the pasta. I had Spaghetti Bolognese the last two nights for dinner.
Hands down my food processor. Fresh pesto made with my fresh grown herbs, my “fall coleslaw” (add honeycrisp/pink lady apples and poppyseed dressing instead of mayo – it’s addicting!), homemade salsa & soups! Cheers 🙂
I couldn’t live without my food processor. No way. No how.
My french knife: it makes cutting so easy and it’s a delight to do something mindless with tangible results after a day in the lab or on the computer.
Finite tasks are so rewarding.
The herb garden. Herbs are great. They’re like weeds, for the most part, so they’re hard to kill, will grow in just about anything, and will come back season after season. I have an 8-herb outdoor arrangement for the spring/summer/fall and a 4 herb indoor garden to help me overwinter. Fresh herbs will save most cooking disasters. 🙂
Snipping fresh herbs from your own garden is poetry.
A binder with take-out menus
In total agreement. I love to cook, but I love take out!
I find that I get a lot of use out of a glass bowl with a handle–good for mixing, good for using in the microwave, even just being a place to dump the veggies I just chopped.
The more glass bowls the better.
My non-stick skillet (actually my landlord’s non-stick skillet…don’t know what I’ll do when I move out). Everything else I can improvise with basic utensils, but that thing can do everything from re-frying my rice to eggs to heating up food without burning it (no microwave).
I have more expensive pots and pans, but I always prefer to reach for my non-stick!
I bought a cheap serrated knife at Target several years ago as a back-up to my nice Henckels santoku knife. It quickly became my go-to for chopping veggies, and I chop a LOT of veggies. I’m a big believer in “you get what you pay for” (which is why I bought myself a Vitamix – TOTALLY WORTH IT), but this knife…I got lucky.
I’ve often wondered if the Vitamix is worth it. What do you love about it?
I’ve had a Scanpan for about a year and have been heard to say that it has changed my life. I have horrible electric burners and it actually makes sautéing possible. I’ve had Le Creuset enamel cast iron for as long as I can remember and wouldn’t know how to cook with out it. About three years ago a friend gave me a Rosle garlic press. I scolded her for spending so much but adore it. It presses beautifully, has exceptional heft and is a breeze to clean. But the thing I use absolutely every day is a wooden spoon. I’m mighty particular about wooden spoons and had a conversation with my nephew about their pros and cons. At Christmas that year the perfect wooden spoon was under the tree for me. The handle is flat and tapers to the scooping part which is the perfect thickness and size. It only gets better with use. I often think of my nephew when I use it and bask in the memory of someone I love really listening and giving me something so perfect. It undoubtably improves my cooking and temperament which I venture are inextricably linked.
Great contest. I’ve totally enjoyed reading the entries and will check back for more. Our choices give a glimpse of how we live and our personalities. Very fun!
I’m so glad you’re enjoying reading through these comments, Jules. I am too, and I’m learning a lot. I haven’t used a wooden spoon for years, so it’s interesting to read how much you love yours.
My kitchen table. I bought one for extra counter space, but it has truly improved the quality of my life. I’ve heard it dozens of times, but I never really understood how important it is to pay attention to my meal, even if I’m eating alone…maybe, especially because I’m eating alone. The food I cook is beautiful and delicious, but I had never really noticed or cared so much, because I was too distracted by the television. I can make do without most items in my kitchen, but I’m not going to do without a table again. Food is too important!
I really believe the table we set for ourselves is as important as the food.
My ipad so I can search recipes onlie
I fret sometimes when I get a favorite cookbook stained. Do you ever worry about getting your beautiful iPad greasy?
I hate how few resources exist to help single cooks, and am not a fan of eating leftovers for an entire week. At Sur La Table, I found a 10 oz. Le Creuset covered casserole and it has become my absolute favorite baking dish for everything from quiches to lasagnas to single-serving desserts. I wish there was a more reliable tool for helping convert recipes, but this is a great start!
The more Le Creuset in one’s kitchen, the better. Karen, I know this doesn’t really address the issue, but have you seen the cookbook, The Pleasures of Cooking for One. It’s by Judith Jones, who was a long-time editor of Julia Childs. It’s delightful. http://amzn.to/MIYF7W
The Vitamix annihilates whatever you put in it. With my regular blender, I’d wind up chewing my smoothies, which can get really disgusting. I also had to put everything in in stages so that it would get pureed. Now, I just dump everything in, blend for about 20-30 seconds, and it all comes out perfectly smooth and creamy.
I make smoothies almost every day. I use an Oster beehive blender which works pretty well. But it takes a while to get everything really pureed. Vitamix sounds awesome.
I yearn for a vitamix. I don’t fret about cookbook stains. They add a patina. After all cookbooks are meant to be used not just looked at. But I’m constantly cleaning my laptop and am sure I’d make more of a mess with an iPad. Maybe I’m meant to stick with cookbooks and recipes I download and print, despite how archaic that sounds.
To ameliorate the food/water/other nastiness on the laptop problem, I have an Android app (not sure if it’s available for iPhone) that allows me to program in my recipes and responds to voice commands. I think it’s called “My Recipe Sidekick” (phone battery is dead and I’m off-grid so I refuse to charge it for a few hours). I can ask it, from a few feet away, how many eggs or what step 3 is (it also responds to “next step” if you’re moving along and don’t know what step you’re on), keeping it safe from kitchen disasters. Pure genius. 🙂
My kitchen essential isn’t a pot or pan or bowl…my essential item is an idea, a word or picture, or even a smell..something to inspire my thinking and creativity in the kitchen. It might be a tweet from Mollie Katzen, a photo in the NY times, or the smell wafting in the yard of a neighbor.
The essentialness of inspiration.
My one kitchen essential is the 8 inch cast iron skillet my mother gave me 33 years ago when I was moving into my first apartment at college. She told me then it was probably the most important item I would ever have in my kitchen. She was correct, but the utility of the skillet is not the only reason it is essential for me. Every time I use the skillet, it brings back memories of cooking with my mother and gives me the sense that she is still cooking with me. Cheers!
My grandmother’s old Kitchenaid! Especially now that I can keep it on my counter (old apartment had no counter space) and use it easily.
For 20 years, I’ve taken up precious real estate of my kitchen counter with the Kitchenaid. And I’ve never looked back.
My kitchen essential? My Cuisinart Mini-Prep Plus. It only has two speeds, chop and grind, but it is a time saver for me when it comes to chopping green peppers and most of all onions. In the fall and winter I prepare two or three dishes at a time and many of the recipes will call for onions. I have a horrible time chopping onions by hand; my eyes water like crazy and the Cuisinart spares me the agony. I love my onions and the little Cuisinart makes sure I get my dose of them in my favorite recipes.
I hardly ever chop onions by hand anymore. I much prefer using the Cuisinart.
My microwave oven. I’m not much of a cook…I just heat stuff up.
I get it!
Wendy, thanks for the link! I have seen the Judith Jones book, but it’s a bit too meat-heavy for me. Stephanie Bostic’s “One Bowl” is pretty good, too! 🙂
The ONE kitchen tool I couldn’t do without?
A good, sharp knife. Simple as that!
My XO veggie peeler,best on the market
A nearly full bottle of Maker’s Mark. A totally full bottle if it’s a complicated recipe.
That’s good, Julie, for so many reasons.
It’s a toss up between my my Henckels santoku knife and my Le Creuset 7+ qt. dutch oven. I really should use my cast iron pan more often…
First and foremost, my castiron pan. Second, not an essential, but a nifty gadget, my microplaner.
My beloved skimmer/strainer spoon, perfect for poaching those lovely egg clouds.
A good quality knife
I depend on my kitchen shears every day!
Shears. Yes, one of the most versatile tools.
Apart from my trusted Global knife I find that humor is essential as I am always making mistakes, dropping things on the floor, breaking glass bowls etc….Without a smile I would be fretting about objects which are not too important in the grand scheme of things 🙂
When I was making the Momofuku Milk Bar recipe for Crack Pie, I realized right after I’d put the pies in the oven, that I forget to add the butter. (And then had to start from scratch and make the whole thing again.) It made for a good anecdote, but it was hard to laugh about at the time. I applaud your spirit, Sigrun.
I started out with so little in my kitchen and steadily added utensils and appliances… it feels so homey now in my kitchen, like a perfect balance, even though I’m probably still missing some essentials. So what’s my most most essential? i think it must be my sheet pans! I love using the oven, even for non-sweet baked goods, like baked fish and fries!
Are your sheet pans nonstick?
I came here via Eating Rules and am enjoying the comments immensely. Thanks for this thought-provoking and entertaining conversation!
I’ve got a 1979 edition of the Fannie Farmer Cookbook which was essential as I learned to cook basics. Now, I’d have to say my Henckels knife block (can’t pick just one knife!). I use those knives every day. And salt. Not to go all Cordelia in King Lear on you, but I really like what a pinch of salt does to enhance flavors.
Thanks, Lee. I’m thrilled to have you visit and comment. I hope you’ll stay with us for awhile. And thanks for bringing some Shakespeare to the conversation.
Just this morning I was thinking about how much I love my garlic mincer. I know it’s a terrible unitasker, but I absolutely love squeezing cloves of garlic into little minced bits with it.
And I use a lot of garlic! 🙂
It’s interesting to hear you say this, Paulette. I recently heard the Barefoot Contessa took trash about the garlic press.
The item I cannot live without in the kitchen would be the potato peeler that was passed on to me from my mother. She used it and I used it when I was a child. Such memories. and it still works today!
That’s lovely, Emly. I don’t have any remnants of my mother’s kitchen, and I wish I did.
My kitchen essential would be a cast iron skillet.
A sharp chef’s knife
My two tiered steamer. Although I started preparing food with it only one year ago on July 8, 2011, I’ve used it on a daily basis. It has been an essential kitchen helper during my weight loss journey!
I know it’s such a simple thing, but the cutting board is used daily. I have a small kitchen and very little counter space. The cutting board I have is large enough to place across over the sink area. It provide more space and good cutting surface.
Bonnie, what’s the material of your cutting board? I’m still a sucker for wood.
My Magic Bullet. Couldn’t live without it