Kitchen Vitals: A Special Series For The Less Confident!
Good morning, Monday friends!
I recently had a discussion with a young friend that brought to light an interesting thing I hadn’t noticed about myself: I assume a lot about what my fellow home cooks already know. As in, I assume that everybody has well-developed kitchen instincts, mastery of a certain level of technique, and can keep up with quick, streamlined descriptions of how to prepare a dish. In my recipe-writing I try to think like someone who has a beginner’s skill level and give more information than a mature cook might need. But over all, I make a lot of assumptions.
From the second I could sneak tastes of butter, I have been involved in the kitchen. It was a place where much of our family life happened because it occupied half of the non-bedroom square footage in our brimful townhouse. I grew up helping my parents form “biscuit men,” making box mac-and-cheese and hotdogs on babysitting nights, and was even given freedom to make up recipes with my older brother while the little kids napped. The first iteration of our genius was a tray of villanous-looking green “cupcakes” that tasted of nothing but baking powder. Captain Hook would have been proud to use those to poison Peter Pan.
As I got older I added skills and polished those I already had, and (at this point) have spent thousands of hours cooking. But this playful kitchen literacy is not something that everyone has developed. Plenty of people have reached full adulthood without ever having gotten really comfortable in the kitchen. And while some are totally content to stay at that level, other friends have asked me to help them grow their experience.
I thought that it could be enjoyable in this second year of our Substack newsletter (WOO) to share occasional kitchen vitals: the things that take living and working in your kitchen space from something that feels like a have-to and making that space more appealing. When I feel inefficient, underequipped, or simply not good at something, it can be hard to gain the momentum to do the thing at all. So it is my hope that with some of these kitchen basics, you’ll find yourself more inspired and ready to throw down some really great food. The way I see it is this: you are here, I am here, and we are both spending ten minutes together each week in your email inbox; let’s make the most of that time!
You know that section in the front of a cookbook that you usually skip to get to the colorful recipe photos? Well, this is that section. I want to give you a checklist of the things I think that you need (equipment wise) to have a good time in the kitchen. Less than this, and it can feel like you’re working in an Airbnb kitchen; much more and dishes are falling out on you when you open a cabinet door; you are providing room and board for a Pampered Chef baster that you will never use but feel bad about giving away because Cousin Suzy (who isn’t your cousin) gave it to you as a wedding gift. These are the items I personally feel make up a decent war-chest for the home cook that wants to be able to cook well, bake simple things, and spare their kitchen extra clutter. If you’re looking to set up a kitchen for the first time (or looking to weed out the kitchen you’ve already collected) I hope that you find this list helpful! Some of the items you may find surprising (I hate a traditional knife-block set even though I own one), but remember: this is the ride-or-die list I would hand out if my little sister was moving away from home and wanted max efficiency with minimum financial output. Pad out the collection as you choose after getting these bones in place, but you might find you have all you need!
I have designed this list to suit the person who does not want a dorm-room kitchen, who feels like they are constantly lacking the right “tools" to make the recipes that appeal to them, and are looking for suggestions for how to reset. For the person who is following cooking accounts, loves to eat good food, but doesn’t feel like they are adequately equipped. This is the person I have in mind when I wrote this list! So here we go:
The Kitchen Equipment Checklist
one set of stainless steel cookware: should contain a small saucepan, a larger saucepan, and a “pasta pot” (6 quarts should do you). Some will also contain a lower-sided sauté pan which is nice for braises. I have this set but I’ll tell you, I could do without the sauté pan.
one 12” high heat sauté pan/skillet -My favorite ever is this Made In skillet. At this point it is seasoned from use, and naturally almost 100% nonstick.
2 rimmed stainless steel baking trays of the same size - I make pizzas on these, cookies on these, roast veggies on these, do oven bacon on these, make sheet-pan dinners, and more. You must have at least two. ( I own like eight.)
Two 8” aluminum cake pans - nobody likes having to bake one layer at a time. Also nobody likes a scratched nonstick layer after a year or two. Go aluminum and grease them yourself.
One 9x13” casserole dish - it can be the glass version we are familiar with or a metal or stoneware version, whatever floats your boat. While I don’t use mine a lot, it does come in handy in specific moments in a way I don’t think another type of pan could.
1 bread pan - because we even though we prefer a free-form loaf of actual bread, we love a pumpkin, chocolate zucchini, or banana bread loaf at the right time.
1 set of stainless steel mixing bowls - useful for everything and more.
1 blender or food processor - a food processor can do a few more things than a blender, but I do love that a blender can make an actual smoothie too.
One 2-cup glass liquid measure - I never use the one-cup measure I own, and the 4-cup is useful mainly for when I’m straining stock and need something in which to catch it, but a saucepan or bowl can do just as well.
1 large fine-mesh sieve - for sifting or straining ( a sturdy one can double as a colander), there is nothing better.
1 set of stainless steel measuring cups
1 set of stainless steel measuring spoons
1 battery-powered kitchen scale - the metric system is superior for baking. I don’t make the rules and have long accepted this truth.
1 instant-read meat thermometer - because it’s really nice to be able to grill or roast or pan-fry meat and not have to cut into it to check its doneness.
1 good chopping knife - we can do a deep dive on knives at a later date but in general, the sturdiest knives are made of steel, and are one piece of metal that extends through the handle so the blade doesn’t snap off.
1 good paring knife - ditto.
1 good bread knife - and again.
1 wooden cutting board - you can go fancy with a Boos block or something, but a basic wooden board is just fine.
1-2 plastic cutting mats - I like a cutting mat for raw meats so that I can easily sanitize it afterward.
1 Microplane zester - my most-used tool for grating fresh parmesan, garlic, ginger, citrus zests, and more.
1 box grater - cheese, carrots, potatoes, apples, zucchini…at some point you’re going to need a grater.
2-3 y-shaped peelers - I like to have a few because one inevitably goes missing or is dull.
1 small, flexible off-set spatula - useful for anything from releasing the edges of a cake to spreading frosting to smearing chopped garlic with salt into a paste.
1 flexible fish spatula - useful for fish and meats but also the perfect edge for scraping the crispy bits of roasted potatoes off the baking sheet intact.
1 “brownie” spatula - useful for prying in any context like lasagna, brownies, or other deep-dish situations.
1 set of cookie dough scoops - I like keeping these on hand for cookies, yes, but also to form meatballs, falafel, or anything else that might need consistent formation.
1 basic can opener - don’t get caught without one because just when you feel smug, it’ll hit you: “I can’t get into this can and I need to.”
1 ladle - soups, sauces, batters, etc. At some point you’ll wish you had one.
1 large whisk - useful for dressings, batters, breaking up eggs, whipping egg whites or cream, etc. If your whisk comes with a mini-me, a small whisk is also a personal favorite tool, but not a requirement.
1 flexible silicone spatula - (the kind for mixing batter or scraping bowls)
2 wooden spoons (one slotted, one solid) - wooden spoons are my favorite underrated kitchen tool.
1 pair of kitchen scissors (I like Joyce Chen)
1 pair of tongs or tweezers - because the pinch grip is an essential developmental stage for a reason: we need it.
Bonus Points For The Slightly More Advanced Cook:
one 8” cast iron skillet - I find anything larger is annoyingly heavy to manage, and rarely needed: I can fit whole hen to roast in mine.
1 handheld or stand mixer - not required for many recipes, but does cut down significantly on elbow grease.
1 small spice grinder - found one in a buy-nothing group and have used it for spices, nuts, powdering freeze-dried fruits, and more.
1 mandolin slicer - I enjoy having one for swift, delightfully thin slicing of things like cabbage, potatoes, apples, onions, cucumbers, and more. Beware of your fingers!
1 handheld immersion blender - a gap in my kitchen, probably mostly because it would be super nice for blending soups/purees.
1 enamel cast iron Dutch oven - at least 5 quarts but preferably larger
1 machadora - this is basically a blunt wooden instrument used in Mexico to mash beans (sort of a pestle without a mortar), but I use mine for everything from smashing bits of potato to making perfect guacamole; see above note re: not owning an immersion blender.
2 stainless steel cooling racks - helpful indeed, though I lived without them for years.
a pastry brush
piping tips/bag - another case of “we hardly use this but when we need it there is no substitute.”
flexible bowl scraper tool - unlike what I’ve labeled as a “flexible spatula,” this is a tool without a handle, designed to help heft big batch of cookie dough, bread dough, and other similar things from bowl to counter.
a rolling pin - I mean it’s nice to have one, but a wine bottle works in a pinch which is why I don’t consider this an essential.
I hope you find this list helpful, whether you’re building a wedding registry or just trying to clear out some of the unused items sitting like roadblocks in your kitchen cabinets. I know the list looks long when itemized like this, but a lot of those things are single utensils - I keep mine in a stone “bain marie” next to my stove where I can easily grab what I need. You can also tailor the list to what fits your desires. For instance, if you have no desire to bake, you could easily skip the cake pans, whisk, bread pan, etc.
My hope is that if you can collect most of what’s on the suggested essentials list, that you will find yourself feeling more at home in the kitchen, more certain of what to grab for, and less encumbered by things you don’t need. So now I’d like to know, what is your favorite kitchen tool? Did I miss anything essential in my list? I wish you could have seen me writing this: I was prowling through all my drawers trying to see what I felt I couldn’t cook well without and feeling like I wanted to include it all.
Till next time,
Rachel