In order to be an effective cook, it helps if you have the proper tools! You wouldn't remove a nail from the wall with a drill, would you?
Some tools I have found that I cannot live without are as follows:
Spatulas: Both metal and plastic
A metal spatula is best when cooking in an iron skillet. You do NOT want to use the metal spatula on a Teflon or other coated pan, however, as it will scrape the pan and ruin it. A metal spatula (as long as your handle is long enough so you don't get burned) can also be used for grilling.
A plastic spatula is best when cooking in any pan that is not an iron skillet. I have also found that several different sizes are best. That way if you have to flip one egg or scramble enough for five, you have a big enough tool to do it!
Iron Skillet:
An iron skillet is essential for frying anything! From fish, to chicken to vegetables (who doesn't love deep fried cauliflower- if you're interested, I have a great recipe and in my eyes eating deep fried vegetables is like eating nothing at all! The health of veggies cancels out the deep frying!)! Not to mention that they are super easy to clean. You want a well seasoned pan so when it comes to cleaning all you do is fill the pan with water, bring to a boil and let boil for several minutes then dump the water out and wipe out any residue with a paper towel. You always want to re season your pan and this is easily done by just putting a tablespoon or so of canola or vegetable oil in the pan and wiping the oil around the whole pan (sides included) and then putting it away.
Pasta Spoon:
If you enjoy pasta a pasta spoon is a must have. The teeth on the spoon help to break up any noodles so they don't stick together and get lumpy and gluey. Another hint on a pasta spoon- if you're unsure on how much pasta to make, most spoons have a hole in the center of them and some have two holes of different sizes. The smaller hole is a single serving and the larger is for two. Just take a handful of dried, uncooked noodles and put them through the hole until it fits snugly in the whole of the desired size!
Micro planer:
This tool is about 9 inches in length (you can get a smaller size as well). The handle is about three inches and the rest is about 6 inches. It is basically a hand held grater for finer grating of thing. I use my micro planer to grate garlic for recipes (when it calls for minced), Parmesan cheese (I never buy powdered parm, but always buy wedges and hand grate it when I need to ), and even to grate citrus when a recipe calls for lemon, lime or orange zest.
Juicer:
And I don't mean the large, cumbersome juicer that would get juice out of a stone! I mean the conical shaped juicer with the ridges for juicing citrus. My juicer actually has a cup that attaches to the bottom and has measurements up to one cup of juice. It also has fine holes on the bottom the cone to strain out any seeds or pulp.
Tongs:
I have three sets of tongs. Two metal and one rubber coated. The rubber coated tongs are useful for frying in Teflon or calphalon coated pans.
We have two sets of metal tongs; one short (standard) pair that aregreat for removing steamed veggies from the steamer or turning items in the iron skillet. The long tongs we use primarily for the grill, but we also use indoors if we make ribs in the oven.
Some other essential items I cannot live without are wooden spoons of various sizes (for sauteing, stirring soup, etc), more than one set of measuring cups/spoons (how many times has a recipe called for 1 cup of more than one ingredient and you have to wash your measuring cups?), a box grater, a meat thermometer, several different sizes of baking spatulas, a hand mixer, etc...
If you have any questions about any cooking utensils you may have seen somewhere but are unsure how to properly use them, feel free to ask!
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