Favorite kitchen tools

John McReynolds
Special to the Sun
After many years of cooking professionally I’ve assembled an enormous collection of kitchen tools and gadgets. Many are useful, but only some have become essential. More than a few have ended up at the thrift store.
At the top of the list would be my Kasumi eight-inch chef’s knife and the Global five-and-a-half-inch vegetable knife. Even though I lived in Germany and married a German woman, my Henkels are put away in the garage in favor of my Japanese knives. Maybe it’s the Samurai tradition, but their knives just have a great balance and the blades are as sharp as razors. The other indispensable tool from Japan is the plastic slicer known by the brand name “Benriner.” It has a sharp stainless-steel blade that allows you to slice vegetables into paper-thin sheets and another comb-like blade for julienne. Perfect for zucchini carpaccio or shaved fennel. At 30 bucks, it is a lot cheaper than a French mandolin and easier to use.
The smallest and cheapest useful gadget is also the simplest, the Kuhn Rikon vegetable peeler from Switzerland. At $3.50, it blows away the fancy, more expensive peelers. The other Swiss essential is the Zyliss salad spinner. It spins so fast that it even has a brake to slow it down. In fact, any kitchen tool from Zyliss is of great quality.
I would be lost without my electric spice grinder that is nothing more than a small coffee grinder used only for spices – unless you want your coffee to taste like cumin. The low-tech version of the grinder is the mortar and pestle, which is also very handy for grinding nuts and smashing garlic.
The best thrift-store gadget is the two-quart Foley Food Mill. It is basically a sieve with a handle that turns a metal plate, which gently pushes cooked food through the little sieve holes. I use it to puree the long-braised vegetables in pot roast or lamb shanks. It can also be used for making your own baby food or applesauce. Thrift stores are also a good place to be on the lookout for cast-iron skillets and the ubiquitous fondue set. My biggest score was a set of Le Creuset enameled cookware in red.
For margaritas and mojitos, nothing beats the hinged cast-metal lime press from Mexico. It squeezes out every drop of juice and is available at every Mexican market in town. The other small wonders that are stuffed into my gadget drawer are: an instant-read thermometer, high-heat rubber spatula, microplane zester, tiny offset spatula and the controversial garlic press. When garlic is smashed in a garlic press, its cells are obliterated, causing more of the garlic to react to the air, which makes for a more pungent and hot taste. When garlic is chopped with a sharp knife, fewer cells are damaged, resulting in a milder flavor. Still, I use the press occasionally when I need garlic quick and I don’t feel like peeling and chopping.
The china cap is my tool of choice for straining stocks and soups. It is a cone-shaped metal strainer with a handle. The version from France is called a chinois and is usually a very fine mesh that is useful for producing very clear strained liquid but too fine for pureed soup.
In the power tool department, the basic white Kitchen Aid five-quart mixer is my countertop workhorse. It is a great mixer that comes with paddle and whisk attachments and a dough hook for bread. It also has lots of optional gadgets that make this single piece of equipment the most useful in my kitchen. I have an attachment that grates cheese, shreds vegetables and makes breadcrumbs. Another one grinds whole grains into flour and dried corn into polenta.
In short, the simplest and most well conceived tools and gadgets are the ones we use every day. A few good tools and gadgets are better than a whole drawerful of strawberry hullers and corn strippers. My chef’s knife is the single most important tool I own and the only one I couldn’t do without.
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