Here are some of the things I use almost daily when cooking.
Iron Skillet
I use my iron skillet for everything. I shudder to think of how many slices of bacon have been cooked in it, but it’s also delightfully absurd how that naturally non-stick surface can be created from decades of bacon fat. You can achieve crazy high heat with an iron skillet so it’s fantastic for searing and blackening, as well as baking and frying. The best part is if that non-stick surface ever needs a boost, you just COOK MORE BACON.
Chopsticks
I would be lost in the kitchen without chopsticks. I use them for whipping eggs, stirring sauces, picking strands of spaghetti out of a pot to see if they’re cooked, delicately reaching into a hot pan of oil to flip a slice of bacon, etc. I believe the Western version of cooking with chopsticks are tongs, but I still prefer chopsticks — you get great control, you’re a safe 12 inches away from any sizzling surface, and you can easily grab things that fall beneath the grate of your stove when you’re cooking. They’re also crazy inexpensive.
A really good knife
A good knife can seem annoyingly expensive, but the difference it makes in your life in the kitchen is huge. If you’ve got a shitty knife, all your kitchen prep work takes longer, feels terrible, and it’s more likely you’ll shave part of your finger off. I am pretty sure there are way better knives than my Wustof chef’s knife, but this one has lasted me a decade and is another one-knife fits all sort of tool. Works equally well as a chopping knife, cheese knife, and meat knife, and I use the broad side of the blade to smash garlic cloves and ginger almost daily. As one does.
A slightly tall wide-bottom pan (aka a not-quite wok)
I had a wok but it was huge and never really fit on New York-sized stoves. So instead I use this slightly tall, wide-bottom pan. It’s a one-size fits all sort of pan, where I can make soups, sauces, boil stuff, sauté, stir-fry, with just this pan and nothing else. Perfect for cooking meals for up to 4 people.
A flexible cutting mat
It’s kind of nuts how many different kinds of cutting boards are out there, and while some are certainly more attractive than this, I still prefer the high-functionality of the low-cost flexible cutting mat. You can also use it as a non-stick surface for things like kneading dough and flattening tortillas. It’s easy to use, store, and clean, and somehow lasts almost forever, despite your cutting it over and over and over.
Those are my cooking essentials! What are yours?
