Thursday, September 11, 2014

Essential Tools: Part Two

Everyone has favourites.  Whether it's tools or toys or, gee, even people.

And I'm no exception.

I have my favourite toys that I use in the kitchen.  They may not be all that fancy, or even pretty, but I use them on a regular basis.

Starting with my thermometers.   I used to just use your basic one, you know the kind you plunk it into the meat, and when the little arrow points to the general temp range you pull it out and figure it's done.  I still use mine from time to time.  But I got a little bit more sophisticated when a friend gave me my first instant read thermometer, and I'm now on my third one.  I managed to destroy melt one, accidentally, and the second, didn't survive a dunking in sinkful of hot soapy water.   Whoops.  But an instant read thermometer is a great tool, especially when you're cooking steak. 
I also have a wired one, which I use to monitor my Prime Rib roasts as well as Turkey or any kind of roast.   I love this, and so long as I remember to replace the batteries in a timely fashion, I can continue to rely on it.  If you don't replace batteries, or leave it on and let the batteries run down, it can skew the readings.

I like having choices.

I love my mechanical kitchen scale.  I don't have to worry about batteries with this one.
I use it when I'm baking a lot of my danish recipes.  I can weigh out grams or ounces or even pounds with this. 


I bought some silicone spatulas awhile back, they were so handy I went and bought a second pack and I use them everywhere.  I don't have to worry about melting them in a pan, I can slip them under a frying egg and loosen it, I can fold egg whites into a batter, I can stir stuff with them.  And they go into the dishwasher like a dream.
And the other purply blue things.  They're a silicone ice cube tray.  And they work great.  My sister had some and I had to copy her and get some myself.  She uses them to freeze leftover wine, so I copied here and did the same thing.  Gotta say, it's nice to just have a cube or two or white or red wine to add some 'oomph' to a recipe.


And now for my other fun stirring type objects.
From the left, a bamboo spoon, I use this one to lightly toss the rice when I'm making Sushi, well, California Rolls.
Next in line is another one of my workhorses, a wooden spatula. I actually have several of these.  Great for stirring, or unsticking stuff.
My angled wooden spoon.  I'm not saying how long I've had this.  It just works great with that angled edge for making sure you get everything stirred together. In other words, it gets into the corners.
And last, and most certainly not least.  The wooden spoon/stirrer my dad made and I prize.  I use it to stir together any heavy doughs.   At least until I can get them into the kitchenaid and let it do the rest of the mixing. 

Well, that's it for this week.  I have lots more stuff to share.  Well, toys, tools,  that is.

Tools, that's what they are, tools.

I do have some toys as well.









Sidsel Munkholm - Author
Sidsel Munkholm - Author

Sid loves to cook, feed people and have fun in the kitchen. She shares her successes and the involuntary offerings she sometimes gives the kitchen goddess as well. And she's still looking for the mythical fairy to help her clean the kitchen after a marathon cooking session. Currently working on a cookbook showcasing the recipes from her Danish heritage.

2 comments:

  1. I love my immersion blender!! I used it this morning for my greek yogurt & blueberry breakfast. I don't like plain nonfat yogurt at all, but thanks to my little blender I can mix it with frozen blueberries in a big cup & finally get the health benefits from high protein greek yogurt! p.s. yours has a food processor bowl??

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    Replies
    1. I love mine as well. But I had a 'blonde' moment, and didn't pull out the little processor bowl to take a picture of. But it's great to use when I'm mixing up a batch of hummus.

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