KNIVES
Calm down with the knives. You probably own too many knives. And folks are gaga about the German brands. The impulse seems to be to buy one of those really expensive blocks that come with twelve knives. Take a calmative. I’ll put you in the hands of Anthony Bourdain, He’ll explain:
There. You just heard from the man. I use in the kitchen an 8-inch Global chef’s knife (G-2). Yes, they are now a tad spendy, but your grandchildren will use it in their kitchens.
Forget that teflon-coated nonsense you’ve been buying at Bed, Bath & Beyond. Time to go cast iron, kids. Yes, cast iron. If your chef’s knife will last a bit, your great-great grandchildren will be using these pans.
Cast iron lasts forever, is better for you, and cooks the food better. The brand Lodge, which is what I use, comes seasoned. So, take it out of the box and get busy. When it’s time to do the washing up, hot water and a stiff brush. That’s it. Dry it thoroughly (you can heat it up to make sure), and then hang it up. Sure, it’s heavier, but the benefits outweigh (sorry) the inconvenience.
Use cast iron for dutch ovens as well. That extremely expensive Le Creuset BS? WAY overpriced. Le Creuset is for the affluent trying to impress their guests. It’s just enamel-coated cast iron. You can’t make better cast iron. Lodge wins here again.
In general, cool it with the gadgets. You don’t need to fill your kitchen with every neato thing you see. Just focus on the cooking. You want a Kitchen Aid mixer? Are you going to use it? And really, that’s the question you need to be asking yourself, Are you going to use it? Kitchen Aids are great, but not if it’s going to sit there and collect dust.
And get a small blender. These are quite handy:
So, that’s it. (1) A good chef’s knife, (2) some basic cast iron pots and pans, (3) maybe a carbon-steel frying pan, and (4) a small food prepper. You’re off to the races.
Calm down with the knives. You probably own too many knives. And folks are gaga about the German brands. The impulse seems to be to buy one of those really expensive blocks that come with twelve knives. Take a calmative. I’ll put you in the hands of Anthony Bourdain, He’ll explain:
You need, for God's sake, a decent chef's knife. No con foisted on the general public is so atrocious, so wrongheaded, or so widely believed as the one that tells you you need a full set of specialized cutlery in various sizes. I wish sometimes I could go through the kitchens of amateur cooks everywhere just throwing knives out from their drawers—all those medium-size “utility” knives, those useless serrated things you see advertised on TV, all that hard-to-sharpen stainless-steel garbage, those ineptly designed slicers-not one of the damn things could cut a tomato. Please believe me, here's all you will ever need in the knife department: ONE good chef’s knife, as large as is comfortable for your hand. Brand name? Okay, most talented amateurs get a boner buying one of the old-school professional high-carbon stainless knives from Germany or Austria, like a Henkel or Wüsthof, and those are fine knives, if heavy. High carbon makes them slightly easier to sharpen, and stainless keeps them from getting stained and corroded. They look awfully good in the knife case at the store, too, and you send the message to your guests when flashing a hundred-dollar hunk of Solingen steel that you take your cooking seriously. But do you really need something so heavy? So expensive? So difficult to maintain (which you probably won’t)? Unless you are really and truly going to spend fifteen minutes every couple of days working that blade on an oiled carborundum stone, followed by careful honing on a diamond steel, I’d forgo the Germans.
Most of the professionals I know have for years been retiring their Wüsthofs and replacing them with the lightweight, easy-to-sharpen and relatively inexpensive vanadium steel Global knives, a very good Japanese product which has—in addition to its many other fine qualities—the added attraction of looking really cool.
There. You just heard from the man. I use in the kitchen an 8-inch Global chef’s knife (G-2). Yes, they are now a tad spendy, but your grandchildren will use it in their kitchens.
Buy your Global products here:
POTS & PANS
Time to grow up.
Forget that teflon-coated nonsense you’ve been buying at Bed, Bath & Beyond. Time to go cast iron, kids. Yes, cast iron. If your chef’s knife will last a bit, your great-great grandchildren will be using these pans.
Cast iron lasts forever, is better for you, and cooks the food better. The brand Lodge, which is what I use, comes seasoned. So, take it out of the box and get busy. When it’s time to do the washing up, hot water and a stiff brush. That’s it. Dry it thoroughly (you can heat it up to make sure), and then hang it up. Sure, it’s heavier, but the benefits outweigh (sorry) the inconvenience.
Use cast iron for dutch ovens as well. That extremely expensive Le Creuset BS? WAY overpriced. Le Creuset is for the affluent trying to impress their guests. It’s just enamel-coated cast iron. You can’t make better cast iron. Lodge wins here again.
As for the hardcore, you might want to pick up a Matfer Bourgeat carbon-steel frying pan. This you will have to season. Many videos on YouTube. Or just email me. And then treat it like a cast iron pan.
Get one here:
Get one here:
CONCLUSION
In general, cool it with the gadgets. You don’t need to fill your kitchen with every neato thing you see. Just focus on the cooking. You want a Kitchen Aid mixer? Are you going to use it? And really, that’s the question you need to be asking yourself, Are you going to use it? Kitchen Aids are great, but not if it’s going to sit there and collect dust.
And get a small blender. These are quite handy:
So, that’s it. (1) A good chef’s knife, (2) some basic cast iron pots and pans, (3) maybe a carbon-steel frying pan, and (4) a small food prepper. You’re off to the races.
Bon appetit.
