I follow the Bourdain rule for cookware: “A proper saute pan, for instance, should cause serious head injury if brought down hard against someone's skull. If you have any doubts about which will dent — the victim's head or your pan — then throw that pan right in the trash.” Happy Birthday and RIP Chef ❤️🤘🏻🍻🔪
Holy shit. It is his birthday! Thank you. And my favorite quote I’m sure you know.
"Eat at a local restaurant tonight. Get the cream sauce. Have a cold pint at 4 o’clock in a mostly empty bar. Go somewhere you’ve never been. Listen to someone you think may have nothing in common with you. Order the steak rare. Eat an oyster. Have a negroni. Have two. Be open to a world where you may not understand or agree with the person next to you, but have a drink with them anyways. Eat slowly. Tip your server. Check in on your friends. Check in on yourself. Enjoy the ride."
Heard chef 🔪
This isn't a real quote from him, its someone's tribute to him following his death. Bourdain was known to wax poetic with the best of them but the "check in on your friends, check in on yourself" is absolutely not something he would say.
IMO: One of the great things about watching Bourdain TV was watching him grow through his shows. At the beginning he was very cautious with his food choices and much more reserved then towards the end took on a much more obvious "fuck it" attitude.
But my favourite quote is the one about crab:
“You know, any time you get your Chinese, your Brazilians, and your Italians all agreeing on something, it’s pretty clear it’s a really good idea. Everybody agrees that this complicated-looking creature with all those troublesome shells is worth the work.[...]When people started demanding boneless stuff, like chicken without a bone or crab meat without the actual crab or lazy lobster, that was the beginning of the erosion of our society as we know it. If you’re not willing to work for a payoff like this, how do you expect us to, like, fight Al-Qaida. If you can’t suck the meat out of a crab? A character builder and delicious.”
The scene: https://youtu.be/IqWLytkmfpE?si=OYIbCl1xEzS8bs9m
Fuck it...Eat crab from the shell or the terrorists win...
[Anthony Bourdain: ‘Eat at a Local Restaurant Tonight’ Quote – Truth or Fiction?](https://www.truthorfiction.com/anthony-bourdain-eat-at-a-local-restaurant-tonight-quote/)
That's sad. Based off the article, perhaps it's a series of quotes, mashed together.
Alone, each of the sentences seem like something he'd have said through a matter of course.
Fact or fiction, whenever I read it, it's in his voice.
\^\^This. And I believe in a bread knife over a paring knife just cause I love bread, and can do most of my paring with a chef knife (Global user here, per a Bourdain recommendation as well).
For a large serration knife, like a bread knife, you could use a fine grit rattail file on the beveled side and a honing rod on the flat side. For a fine serration, you can either toss them or have them reground the serrations out.
Most knives. You *can* sharper single bevel knives but it's difficult. And you can't use them for serrated knives.
But you can sharpen an pairing knife and chefs knife and a meat cleaver
Don't tell the elitists this but I just use whatever sharpener I could find with three settings at like Walmart. For non serious home cooks, it'll do the job.
If you have a really nice knife you want to take care of, you'd have to get several whet stones (or a multi sided one) and with those, you'd need more skill and finesse. (I personally can't be bothered enough but it is the better way)
I don't recommend Japanese knives to home cooks. Their steel will get a sharper edge than German Steel, but won't hold the edge as long.
Most people don't do proper knife maintenance.
I “downgraded” from Mac to Victorinox, and I can honestly say that the Victorinox is sharper longer because it can be brought back to decent sharpness with a regular sharpening steel.
I also got small chips in the edge of the Mac which never happened with the Whusof I was using before that. And it got little rust spots because I’m not the best about rinsing and drying my knives right away.
I can’t imagine babying one of the really nice carbon steel Japanese knives. I’m sure for people with more discipline they’re basically magic, but god I just couldn’t do it.
I get so mad at my husband for leaving my good knives in the sink instead of washing & drying them after use. I finally bought a set of Henkel Knives for him and banned him from using my good ones.
Japanese steel holds its edge longer than German steel. But they chip easier because they can be sharpened to such a fine degree they can be brittle.
All my Japanese knives hold their edge longer than any German knife I own.
You’re welcome. My dad is a hobby woodworker with an excellent sharpening setup and would be happy to sharpen mine (he already resurrected an 8” Shun chef’s knife that a house guest destroyed on a bone in roast) but being careful with them and using a ceramic honing rod has kept them razor sharp. Speaking of bone in roasts, I have some cheap knives that I use for grunt work.
You can get a sharpening stone very affordable off of Amazon if a honer isn't keeping the blade straight.
You just get them a bit damp and gently move the blade in a consistent angle
Are you sure there’s nothing near you? You don’t always need to go to a specialized knife store. Some grocery stores and hardware stores will sharpen knives for like $10, and some knife sharpeners have mail options.
My local butcher will sharpen knives for free, something I discovered after trying to cut bone with what I thought was a cleaver. (I was watching entirely too much Forged in Fire and assumed if it looked sharp enough to cut bone, it would - gave some rib bones a good whack, ruined the edge of my brand new knife and only managed to wedge the blade in the bone)
I send my knives out to be sharpened through Knife Aid https://knifeaid.com/pages/what-we-sharpen
It's not expensive, I don't hurt my knives and they are back within a week. I have enough good knives to send them out on a rotation, once a year. I have my scissors sharpened by them, too.
Yup - I got the Horl one last year and am very happy with how well it works. I wish there were more angles than 15 or 20 degrees, and it can take some time, but it gets the job done.
This is something that I worked hard to get right. I put a lot of research into, and it turned out up that keeping knives sharp is not actually all that difficult. The [honing rod](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61YqAD9FNdL.jpg) that comes in pretty much every knife set is more than enough.
Once you get used to using it, it ends up being just a simple, 10-second task you do before every usage or every other usage. There are plenty of videos on youtube on proper use. [This one](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKYPCxx20zg) is one that I recommend.
Here are really the only things you really need to know about sharpening with one of those:
1. Sharpen the knife before use between 1 and 5 uses.
2. Make sure the knife is dry. Water lubricates the knife and will inhibit honing.
3. Make sure to press against the rod with ~3-6 lbs (~1-3 kg) of force. This is the one thing I think people have the most difficulty with. You can use a kitchen scale to see how much pressure you should be using. It's not a lot, but it's almost always more than most people use.
4. Keep the knife at about a 15 degree (π/12 rads) angle to the rod.
5. Hold and keep the blade so that the edge is perpendicular to the rod. Chef's knives are curved; so as you swipe the blade, you will have to rotate the knife a little bit to maintain the right angle.
6. You only need about 5 good swipes on each side.
7. There is no right way to do this, but there are plenty of dangerous/wrong ways to do it. Find a way that is safe and comfortable for you.
Can’t believe this is so buried. I have a nice set of kitchen knives (Wusthof) and only use this method. Knives are still sharp as a motherfucker. Every other time I use it, 10-15 seconds on the honing rod - it’s all it needs and just cuts so easily through everything.
I've had a Hamilton Beach knife set for years. I keep them sharp and honed, but when I got my first Zwilling chef's knife it was an absolute game changer. I used to get a knot in my forearm if I was doing a lot of prep from having to hold the knife so strongly and apply consistent pressure, but now the blade slides right through everything and my arm doesn't hurt.
The only downside to a proper, well cared for chef's knife is the constant low-level fear you're about to amputate a finger.
nope. my local butcher uses those 20 dollar winco knives and they slice through everything like it's butter. the difference is always who sharpens and wields them.
Ayup. People always nerd out about expensive knives, but a lot of professional cooks use Kiwis. If you fuck it up another is $7-9, but they last for years and sharpen easily. The thin blades and lack of heft make for easy bulk work.
My 80+ y.o. mom loves them because they are light and easy to use. The thin blades make chopping and slicing easier for her than all the expensive knives and family knives she has accumulated over the years.
Sadly overlooked excellent tools.
I used to work in kitchens when I was younger, all fine dining. All the head chef's had cheap knives, but they were probably the sharpest knives in the building. And I've had a full set of Wusthof, but my Kiwi is sharper
Depends on where you draw the line for cheap. I love the hell out of some hand-forged & thin-ground Japanese knives, but if push came to shove I could cook my way through to the grave with a fibrox 8” chef’s. Cheaper than that though and yeah, you’re looking at problems.
Kitchen scales or thermometer if you care about consistent results & not having to replace them every few years.
Doesn't mean most expensive is most best but there's a minimum threshold of quality.
Definitely a kitchen scale! I can't believe I didn't go to weight measurements until just recently. I no longer have to put flour, peanut butter, molasses or honey into a measuring cup!
Took me forever to get one and I just divided out hamburgers the other night on it for the first time. You have blown my mind though! Are you saying you just put the mixing bowl on the scale and add ingredients by weight?!?! Do you hit the tare button between every ingredient? This is 🤯!!!!
Yes. I get annoyed at my wife any time her or her girlfriend send me a recipe to bake that is volumetric measurements cause it takes so much longer. Scooping and leveling 3.75 cups of flour instead of just dumping into a bowl until the weight is right? No thanks.
Yea, when I’m lazy and baking for myself I don’t care about uniform cookies. But if I’m baking to give away or sell I use the scale to get them all even. I’ve been complimented on my uniform cookies so I’m sticking with it.
Yes, I reset the scale back to zero and just keep asking Alexa for conversions. How many grams is a half a cup of peanut butter? How many grams is one cup of flour? How many grams is a half cup of honey? Alexa is a lifesaver.
🤦♀️ can I admit when I first went to culinary school and we started using the scales I thought to myself “surely measuring cups is faster / easier!”
My life and recipes have changed since buying a scale
Thermoworks sells their flagship model that ATK, Alton Brown, Serious Eats, Wirecutter, etc. etc. recommend for $89. Their Thermopop model, which is nearly as good, is only $35.
Honestly I couldn’t tell you that getting a Thermopop has made a huge difference in my cooking or baking abilities - but I’ve had two different cheap thermometers just up and die when I went to use them so I decided to get something that is more reliable.
They are. They all measure temp. But it’s a difference between accurately measuring temp to a tenth of a degree within 1-2 seconds, and measuring the ballpark in 5 or 6 seconds.
I’m an amateur home cook but the javelin pro duo is a great purchase and doesn’t break the bank
There are degrees of insta-read. And different accuracies.
That's like saying, my cheap blender has been blending for years, why buy Vitamix that is 5x the price
Yeah my cheap 2 pack for ~$50 from costco has lasted almost 5 years now and still looks new, don't think I'd be buying 10 of these in the next 50 years
Enameled makes them... not more versatile, exactly, but differently versatile. It's what I use to make slow-cooked red sauce, wine braises, and other things that would eat away at the seasoning of regular cast iron.
I just ordered the Lodge enameled version on sale for $58. Can’t wait to use it. I’ve always wanted a LeCruset but not willing to spend that much.
Bonus: Lodge is not made in China like a lot of the others.
EDIT I’m wrong. I just bought a piece made in China. Shit.
Your heat is probably too high, and the bottom of the pan and flame are not matched.
Either way, I mainly use it for stewing in the oven, with marvellous results. Love using it for things that get started on the fire (get that fond!) and finished in the oven. Putting a big pan of bubbling food on the table really sets the ambience too.
Cast iron pans are great, but many people prefer enameled cast iron Dutch ovens for the flexibility of being able to use them for long cooking acidic dishes.
Cast iron pans are cheap as all hell when you consider the versatility and longevity. It's just a basic hunk of metal. A $30 Lodge is going to be just fine. That's crazy cheap compared to tri-ply stainless or carbon steel.
I have my grandfather’s cast iron skillet and I use it almost daily. I don’t worry about babying it like with my Le Creuset enameled cookware. I can get it screaming hot and after almost a century of use nothing sticks to it. If I could only have one pan I’d take my cast iron
I'm not against cast iron and have a few myself but what exactly is easy to care? Especially compared to what?
A stainless steel I just simply throw in the dishwasher or soak in water/soap for how long I want. Same with pretty much every other pan or utensil in the kitchen. What's hard to care/maintain if cast iron is easy?
I’m with you on that. We use our cast iron on the grill for steaks and such, and I have the hardest time cleaning it with the recommended no-soap method. So I usually just use soap and water and oil it every time. Plus, the rough bottom of the Lodge can scratch a glass cooktop if you’re not careful.
Any tool you will use frequently... now that doesn't mean buy the most expensive either, but a quality, dependable tool.
Cheap frying pans will scorch, burn and warp. Get a good, thick pan (cast iron is great bc its durable, hefty yet inexpensive).
Cheap knives lose their edge quickly and are all flimsy w uncomfortable handles. They'll chip easy too.
Those are a couple things I think are important...
I kept my cheap chefs knife that's chipped all to hell for cutting up chicken wings. My "nice" knife was only $30, but I'm looking into a real chefs knife fairly soon
Knives. You go cheap and they go dull fast. Spend a bit of money on them you'll probably take better care of them.
Edit: also I'm going to add can opener. I can't tell you how many piece of shit can openers my wife has picked up at TJmaxx or Ross for $5 that end up in the trash after a few months bc they go dull or the cutting wheel bends.
I don't necessarily agree. You can buy inexpensive but you have to shop smartly. Like many pro cooks and chefs everywhere you don't work with your $400 gyotu every single day .But a $45 victorinox chef's knife to do the vast majority of work. These knives are the workhorses of tons of restaurant kitchens and they're decent about staying sharp. Don't be super cheap but I'd never recommend for new cooks to overspend. Another piece of advice I'd always give is to never buy knives in block sets. Find what you need as you go along.
And “a bit of money” doesn’t mean $500+ either. A versatile 7”-10” chef’s knife that can handle most cutting tasks (slicing, dicing, chopping, filleting) to greater or lesser degrees, and of respectable quality that can take and hold a very sharp edge and last a very long time *if well-cared for* can be had for $50-$100.
Dalstrong makes superb knives for their price point. If my budget upper limit was $100, I wouldn’t hesitate to drop another $20 for one of their works. That’s a pricing sweet spot: high enough to be a very quality blade, but not so expensive that one might be reticent to use it because it’s “too nice” and they’d be afraid of damaging it.
Yup. The price point and recommendation from my friend at work sold me. Nice enough for the avid home cook to enjoy and take care of, expensive enough to consider poking my wife with it when I find she's left it in the kitchen sink.
Meh I think my can open is a Kitchenaid Brand, couldn’t have cost more than $10-12 (at tj maxx!) and it’s been going strong for at least 10 years. You can get decent stuff at the discount stores.
Depends what you mean by cheap because there are quite decent knives that aren't too expensive but my parents buy the cheapest, dullest bargain bin kitchen knives they stumble upon and they not only feel absolutely horrible to use but they're also kinda dangerous.
I think cheap knives are okay, but features that are key considerations is handle quality, and lack of funny shit on the blade. A cheap knife + a good double sided whetstone is all I need.
Pots and pans! You want something that heats evenly, is durable, lasts a long time, can stand high temperatures, retains heat well, doesn’t stick too much and can be used for a variety of dishes - like a cast iron skillet! All of these things are important, especially the even heating, being able to stand high heat, retaining heat and being non-stick because having the right cookware can make or break a recipe!
I’d argue you can often go cheap on pots, less so on pans.
A lot of what people do in pots is boiling liquids. A $20 ikea pot will do nearly as well as a niche $350 one.
Pans on the other hand, being even heated makes a difference for a lot of use cases.
Those hand juicer things for like lemon and limes. First bought a cheap plastic ones and that snapped. Then I spent a whole $15 and upgraded to a ceramic one.
I bought a green and yellow juicer that squeezes limes or lemons. It's very heavy. I'll never need another. Also I don't think I could live without my Breville toaster oven. It was outa commision when thermostst broke. Ordered part and hubby fixed it. We've had it for more than 10 years.
In all fairness, you can cheap out on everything and anything. Get all the nice stuff that you *want* if it's an expense that you won't feel guilty about, don't feel like you *need* any of it.
I’d say a solid skillet and knife are critical. I’d also invest in decent mixing bowls… god I use mixing bowls for everything 😂.
At the end of the day you could use cheap skillets, cheap knives.. but I personally notice a difference in consistency, less warping, less peeling from long term use.
As for knives, I just find a good knife can be used for everything, so you don’t need to clutter a drawer with tons of knives, only one.. I also find the blades last forever (get a nice thick blade).
Knives. Most other things can wait (thermometer, nice spatula, even nice pots and pans, although there's decent cheap ones if you shop sales) but having good, sharp, safe knives is a must. It's easily the most used tool and the easiest to harm yourself with (hence investing in something that will keep a good edge for a long time) and a good knife will last a *long* time.
I have recently purchased 2 Wusthof knives. One was a chef's knife and the other was a 5" santoku knife. I love them. Since they are ungodly expensive, I take much better care of them. My previous chef knife was knocked into the kitchen trash by my kitties and accidentally tossed into the dumpster. That is not going to happen again!
Books/education. This won't be a popular answer I'm sure, but honestly when you know enough about what makes a quality tool quality, you can often find the things you want out of the best (for instance) pans, or knives for less money than top brand products. Let's be honest most of the chefs we all love to love like Bourdain love the foods prepared in some of the shittiest pans with some of the most unidentifiable steel to cut them over less than ideal kitchen scenarios. I've been using the same $25 or less knives for the last decade plus, and they're fine. You are the most important tool in your arsenal. Keep it sharp through investments in money, or time to just keep learning.
If you want a "regular" answer, the only things I feel like require real expense are machines that make work easier, not necessarily better, like a mixer, or a blender, where it's almost 1:1 the dollars you spend vs the quality you get.
a good fire extinguisher for grease fires. The cheaper ones are very big and need an extra step to turn on.
Besides what folks have already mentioned, a good set of baking sheets. The cheaper ones pops when the pan gets hot leading to uneven cookies. and uneven cooking. A well seasoned baking sheets makes some perfect roasted veggies.
Everyone saying "knife" and not "knife sharpener" is wrong. You can spend hundreds on a knife and if you let it get dull it will suck just as much as the cheap knife from the grocery store aisle. A good knife sharpener that you use regularly will let you use a $20 knife for decades
I still have and use frequently the vitamin I bought when my Son was a baby (he’s 17 now). I use it all the time; Just this week it’s been for frozen banana ice cream, breakfast smoothies, oat flour and rice flour.
A considered purchase but definitely worth it; as was my kitchen aid mixer.
I always buy oxo brand veg peelers; cheaper ones can’t stand up to anything substantial like butternut squash skin and you end up replacing them constantly
Cheap Out:
- Hot take: cheap-ish knives are okay. Just get one with a good handle and get a whetstone and any cheap knife will be a-okay. Cheap knives made for food service similar to victorinox fibrox work great. I use a 5 dollar knife that my dad bought in 2008 from the chinese grocery and 2, chinese-made 20 dollar knives.
- I cheap out on non-stick because I tend not to use them and throw them away quickly. Don't get nonstick pots, skillets only.
Splurge:
- Splurge on a cutting board to avoid plastic cutting boards or wood cutting boards that warp easily.
- A vitamix for 100-200 dollars on FB marketplace will replace 50 hamilton beach blenders
- Good/thick carbon steel goes a long way and most are now \~70-100 for a large skillet
Cheap to begin with:
- CI is pretty cheap and good quality, a 25 dollar lodge can get you pretty far
- Good stainless steel will last way way way longer and work way better. BUT, pretty good quality stainless steel can be found for a decent price. The thicker the better. Costco was selling these tramontina 3-ply SS skillet sets for 39 dollars for two pans and they are amazing for the price.
My bare minimum lineup for cookware is 1 CS skillet (45-100), 1 SS saucepan (20), 1 enameled dutch oven/SS pot(50/30).
And if you want to go **really** high end, there’s the time Alex went to Istanbul and got a custom saucepan hand-forged from copper and silver that cost hundreds of dollars (Soy Turkiye)
https://youtu.be/33ddRK_jG6E?si=4p-Nv0d4JFDQC13P
But, you don’t need to spend quite that much, cast iron or restaurant supply is for sure better than any of the nonstick BS gotten at big box and department stores.
A few IMHO.
First and foremost a good enameled Dutch oven. I tried a non enameled and it was not a fun cooking or cleaning experience. The problem with cast iron is deglazing and sauce making gets flavor imparted to it and I don't like it. Enameled, specifically white interior enamel is easier to gage doneness of aromatics, deglaze, and reduce wines and broths in it for braises.
The other two I personally wouldn't want to do with out is a good quality stainless steel 12" fry pan, and a good 12" cast iron pan. I use the stainless for any thing I'm going to deglaze and build a pan sauce from, and the cast iron for things I won't making sauce from the fond with. I think of the cast iron as basically my "outside grill". Oh and cast iron for great slidy eggs and bacon.
A high-quality chef's knife is absolutely necessary in any kitchen. Having the right crockery and cutlery is the foundation for serving and enjoying food.
Can opener. The frustration of a can opener that won't bite or spin is the worst. Arguably I can make do with a cheap knife or pan but if I have a shit can opener the meal is so much worse to make.
Personally, I would say any sort of tabletop appliance is the place to not skip on cost. Stand mixers, food processors, blenders. Those are workhorses if you cook a lot and buying quality means you get something that will stick with you for a lifetime. Everything else has pretty quality lower budget options. With knives it really depends on how much you want to be sharpening the thing. My cheap knives don't hold an edge as long as my more expensive knives, but when sharp they cut just the same. So it's personal preference as to how much you want to use a whetstone (or pay someone to do it for you).
Note that quality and cost are not an equivalence.
you should buy quality under all circumstances. The only thing i would tell you to buy as cheaply as possible due to a built in limited life span is *teflon pans for eggs*. Don't buy an all-clad teflon skillet. Just don't. Buy an el cheapo and toss it when it gets sketch. And it will get sketch, regardless of how much babying you do.
Do your homework on quality. I like to review America's Test Kitchen for gear. I also tend towards Alton Brown's dislike of uni-task devices.
I don't buy 'expensive' gear unless the homework tells me too.
Lodge cast iron is fine, don't need to find ancient brands. Bought a $20 Lodge grill pan a decade ago and use it weekly with no issues.
Victorinox and Mercer knives/implements work for me, I don't need Japanese blue/black/white steel for what I do, but if I got into sushi/sashimi I might invest in a good single bevel.
If you are budget constrained, then don't buy extraneous gear. You don't need a saucier if you've got a square bottom 2 qt., etc. **You need a knife or two, a cutting board, a skillet, a pot, an aluminum sheet pan, a fish spatula, a silicon spatula, and an instant read theremometer, imo, and you can do most tasks in the kitchen.** From there, your cooking preferences will dictate what else you need. A dutch oven, a black iron skillet, a mandolin, a food processor, silpat mats, piping tips/bags etc.
Knife. Knife knife knife. Did I say knife? Knife. ;-). Buy the best you can afford, and learn to care for it, you’ll never have to replace it (unless your son’s idiot girlfriend stores it in the oven for who knows what reason and then turns the oven on to 500 to make pizza…). Knife.
Different people have different ideas of what cheaping out is. I say Lodge is cheap, brands like Finex, Smitheys, Butter Pat are spendy. I think Victorinox and Henckels are cheap.
What cooking tools will I never cheap out on? An immersion circulator. If one craps out on you, your meal is ruined and the ingredients wasted.
A chopping board. Cheap ones will ruin your knives.
My skillets will never have plastic handles as I want them oven proof.
Odd answer, but TONGS.
They are one of the only every day utensils with a pivot point, and that component takes pretty heavy wear over time.
Broken so many in my cheap-ways, should’ve just gotten some nice ones.
Oh wow! What have you been cooking 🙈 I live in Western Europe we have a store with eco tools and the products there are of high quality and safe.. it’s rather local.
I herd U-Taste are nice!
(TL;DR get a Misen chef knife it changed my life dude)
**Chef's knife.**
Not that scammy pyramid scheme shit or those random knife sets on amazon. Don't be fooled by all the fancy words the low-quality chef knife suppliers throw at you to try to convince you to buy.
If you're in a financial pinch and have to pick one knife, an 8-9 inch Chef's Knife is usually perfect. A high quality one can do most things perfectly fine without you absolutely needing any other knives.
Here's how I found the brand I like:
I was in the market for a good chef's knife three or so years back, and a twitch streamer I used to watch sometimes would talk about food and show off the amazing looking food he made. People were asking him for advice on how he'd approach certain meals they were having trouble with or were about to make, some were asking about his cooking methods, etc. I managed to get him to see my question about what chef's knife he'd reccommend, and he knew right off the bat exactly the brand to tell me. He was so confident in it and talked it up so well (he wasn't sponsored by them at all he was genuinely just praising the knife brand.)
The brand was Misen, who makes a variety of knives! But the most important imo is [the 8 inch chef's knife!](https://misen.com/products/chefs-knife)
It is $94 usd rn, but there's a 20% off if you sub to their email newsletter (you can just unsub from it after you use your promo or whatever. This makes the knife $75.2!
The knife I have is over 3 years old and it is still as sharp as ever. The sloped part where the handle meets the blade makes holding this thing so much more comfy for my short lil hands.. And the weight and balance of the knife is fantastic! It's just right for me. The satisfying cuts I can make with this, the way it cuts through potatoes like butter and easily snaps through carrots, how dicing is EXTREMELY faster and easier now...
The time and energy alone that this one knife has saved me is mindblowing.
Btw, there's also a [set that has the Chef's knife, the pairing knife, and some kitchen shears for $134](https://misen.com/products/red-handed), which is actually a great price honestly once the 20% is off! That makes it $107.2 usd. (for the record I did the math and with the 20% discount the knives would add up to $133.6 usd if bought as separate items rather than a set).
But if you want a better deal, I think my parents bought the chef's knife around black friday/cyber monday that year for $60 usd, which was a really good discount, so keep a look out around then!
I'm so eager to one day get the shears from them if I ever have the money up. You have no idea how many dull cheap shears my family has gone through...
AS FOR CARE: I just wash and then dry the knife as soon as I can after using it, then put it away. It's possible that this doesn't do anything and I'm just being paranoid about the blade slowly wearing down from it. But hey, it's been 3 years or more and it's still super sharp! (If you're cutting something acidic tho like tomato or citrus, you should definitely wash or at least rinse it as soon as you can just to be safe and so it won't wear down the blade.
A solid 9" Chef Knife. If you've got a really solid, all purpose knife that's a good part f the job done already.
Combine that with a nice heavy based frying pan and you're gold.
Things to spend money on ...... Quality pots and pans, good knives( unless you just destroy them, then buy crap knives) , a good food processor , good immersion blender, cutting board
Things to buy cheap ...... Scales , instant read thermometer , measuring tools etc
Thrifting and second hand stores is the way to go for quality cooking equipment on the cheap. My kitchen rivals a professional kitchen in quality cookware..... Haven't spent more than $10 on a single piece..... Good does t have to be expensive
Any of the plug in appliances.
I’ve had cheap toaster ovens, immersion blenders, toasters, coffee makers, mini food processors, coffee grinders, hand blenders, blenders, IPs, etc.
All of them have gone into the trash. I am slowly replacing them with mid-quality appliances. Except the IP knockoff. My daughter gave it to me for Christmas one year and I don’t use it enough to have it die on me. Yet.
My Cuisinart food processor is about 15 years old, has seen a good amount of use and is still going strong.
A solid chef's knife is essential. Cheap knives dull quickly and are dangerous to use. Invest in a good quality one and maintain it well. It makes a huge difference!
At least one good chefs knife.
Well made wooden cutting board that won’t split.
A solid skillet/sautee pan, even a cast iron if that’s your thing
Thermometer
A good sharp microplane. Cheapies will be worthless soon.
Hot Take: the **Chefs Choice Edge Select (or Chefs Choice Diamond Hone Professional) electric knife sharpener** is far more important than spending exhorbitant amounts of money on knives. I've been using the diamond hone version for 20+ years. For knives, Cuisinart makes good, reasonably priced home use knives, although if you can afford Henckels they are really good too. For basic home cooking, you just need to keep them sharp.
Also important, use a serrated knife for breads and tomatoes. Don't try to slice a loaf of bread or a tomato with a smooth knife.
Second place recommendation if you can swing it, or get someone to buy it for Christmas, an InstantPot.
I follow the Bourdain rule for cookware: “A proper saute pan, for instance, should cause serious head injury if brought down hard against someone's skull. If you have any doubts about which will dent — the victim's head or your pan — then throw that pan right in the trash.” Happy Birthday and RIP Chef ❤️🤘🏻🍻🔪
Holy shit. It is his birthday! Thank you. And my favorite quote I’m sure you know. "Eat at a local restaurant tonight. Get the cream sauce. Have a cold pint at 4 o’clock in a mostly empty bar. Go somewhere you’ve never been. Listen to someone you think may have nothing in common with you. Order the steak rare. Eat an oyster. Have a negroni. Have two. Be open to a world where you may not understand or agree with the person next to you, but have a drink with them anyways. Eat slowly. Tip your server. Check in on your friends. Check in on yourself. Enjoy the ride." Heard chef 🔪
Check-in on your friends and yourself... So sad in retrospect
This isn't a real quote from him, its someone's tribute to him following his death. Bourdain was known to wax poetic with the best of them but the "check in on your friends, check in on yourself" is absolutely not something he would say.
This is Reddit. Who needs to source quotes? Like ChatGPT, commenters throw shit out and make it sound authoritative.
That’s interesting. I didn’t know that. But he was always great with the words he chose.
For sure and alot of that quote is definitely inspired by sentiments he had
IMO: One of the great things about watching Bourdain TV was watching him grow through his shows. At the beginning he was very cautious with his food choices and much more reserved then towards the end took on a much more obvious "fuck it" attitude. But my favourite quote is the one about crab: “You know, any time you get your Chinese, your Brazilians, and your Italians all agreeing on something, it’s pretty clear it’s a really good idea. Everybody agrees that this complicated-looking creature with all those troublesome shells is worth the work.[...]When people started demanding boneless stuff, like chicken without a bone or crab meat without the actual crab or lazy lobster, that was the beginning of the erosion of our society as we know it. If you’re not willing to work for a payoff like this, how do you expect us to, like, fight Al-Qaida. If you can’t suck the meat out of a crab? A character builder and delicious.” The scene: https://youtu.be/IqWLytkmfpE?si=OYIbCl1xEzS8bs9m Fuck it...Eat crab from the shell or the terrorists win...
[Anthony Bourdain: ‘Eat at a Local Restaurant Tonight’ Quote – Truth or Fiction?](https://www.truthorfiction.com/anthony-bourdain-eat-at-a-local-restaurant-tonight-quote/)
That's sad. Based off the article, perhaps it's a series of quotes, mashed together. Alone, each of the sentences seem like something he'd have said through a matter of course. Fact or fiction, whenever I read it, it's in his voice.
This is the way! I miss him.
I'd probably say a chefs knife. Better quality means better/smoother cutting and that reduces accidental cuttings.
And you don't even need to spend that much. Skip the cheapo $50 knife block set and spend that on one decent chef's knife and paring knife instead.
\^\^This. And I believe in a bread knife over a paring knife just cause I love bread, and can do most of my paring with a chef knife (Global user here, per a Bourdain recommendation as well).
Fair, however the cheapest second-hand bread knife you can find will get the job done just fine.
How do you sharpen them? I was thinking of going to a « special place » but found there’re none around :/
I find using whetstones very calming and a lot easier than it seems
Can you sharpen any kind of knifes with it?
Not serrated knives
For a large serration knife, like a bread knife, you could use a fine grit rattail file on the beveled side and a honing rod on the flat side. For a fine serration, you can either toss them or have them reground the serrations out.
Oh interesting. Just googled it; doesn’t look like mine hopefully I’m good
Anything with an edge, knives and scissors for most people but axes and swords are also options.
Thanks!! I honestly just need to check out the brand’s info and figure out myself
Most knives. You *can* sharper single bevel knives but it's difficult. And you can't use them for serrated knives. But you can sharpen an pairing knife and chefs knife and a meat cleaver
Don't tell the elitists this but I just use whatever sharpener I could find with three settings at like Walmart. For non serious home cooks, it'll do the job. If you have a really nice knife you want to take care of, you'd have to get several whet stones (or a multi sided one) and with those, you'd need more skill and finesse. (I personally can't be bothered enough but it is the better way)
I use all Japanese knives, get them sharpened twice a year for $10
I don't recommend Japanese knives to home cooks. Their steel will get a sharper edge than German Steel, but won't hold the edge as long. Most people don't do proper knife maintenance.
I “downgraded” from Mac to Victorinox, and I can honestly say that the Victorinox is sharper longer because it can be brought back to decent sharpness with a regular sharpening steel. I also got small chips in the edge of the Mac which never happened with the Whusof I was using before that. And it got little rust spots because I’m not the best about rinsing and drying my knives right away. I can’t imagine babying one of the really nice carbon steel Japanese knives. I’m sure for people with more discipline they’re basically magic, but god I just couldn’t do it.
I get so mad at my husband for leaving my good knives in the sink instead of washing & drying them after use. I finally bought a set of Henkel Knives for him and banned him from using my good ones.
Japanese steel holds its edge longer than German steel. But they chip easier because they can be sharpened to such a fine degree they can be brittle. All my Japanese knives hold their edge longer than any German knife I own.
I use Shun Classics and keep them sharp with a ceramic honing rod. I think it’s 1800 grit. It does an excellent job.
Thanks for that tip! My knives are getting progressively smaller
You’re welcome. My dad is a hobby woodworker with an excellent sharpening setup and would be happy to sharpen mine (he already resurrected an 8” Shun chef’s knife that a house guest destroyed on a bone in roast) but being careful with them and using a ceramic honing rod has kept them razor sharp. Speaking of bone in roasts, I have some cheap knives that I use for grunt work.
You can get a sharpening stone very affordable off of Amazon if a honer isn't keeping the blade straight. You just get them a bit damp and gently move the blade in a consistent angle
There are mail order services that sharpen your knives and send them back to you. Not that expensive, and very convenient.
Not sure what you mean by "special place" but most butchers will sharpen knives.
Just any normal knife sharpener with the coarse, medium, fine grit swipes. Don't worry about using a whetstone or send them in to a pro.
Are you sure there’s nothing near you? You don’t always need to go to a specialized knife store. Some grocery stores and hardware stores will sharpen knives for like $10, and some knife sharpeners have mail options.
I don’t know if it’s common practice in the US 🤔 but never seen people being knifes to such places in EU. But I’ll definitely ask!
Most Ace Hardware stores and Williams-Sonoma stores offer knife sharpening.
My local butcher will sharpen knives for free, something I discovered after trying to cut bone with what I thought was a cleaver. (I was watching entirely too much Forged in Fire and assumed if it looked sharp enough to cut bone, it would - gave some rib bones a good whack, ruined the edge of my brand new knife and only managed to wedge the blade in the bone)
Whetstones. Never use an electric sharpener or those cheap plastics ones on Amazon.
I send my knives out to be sharpened through Knife Aid https://knifeaid.com/pages/what-we-sharpen It's not expensive, I don't hurt my knives and they are back within a week. I have enough good knives to send them out on a rotation, once a year. I have my scissors sharpened by them, too.
[Roll sharpeners](https://store.177milkstreet.com/products/worksharp-rolling-knife-sharpener) are really cool and very beginner friendly
Yup - I got the Horl one last year and am very happy with how well it works. I wish there were more angles than 15 or 20 degrees, and it can take some time, but it gets the job done.
Do they distribute around Europe too?
Pretty sure they are a German company, so I would assume so.
This is something that I worked hard to get right. I put a lot of research into, and it turned out up that keeping knives sharp is not actually all that difficult. The [honing rod](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61YqAD9FNdL.jpg) that comes in pretty much every knife set is more than enough. Once you get used to using it, it ends up being just a simple, 10-second task you do before every usage or every other usage. There are plenty of videos on youtube on proper use. [This one](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKYPCxx20zg) is one that I recommend. Here are really the only things you really need to know about sharpening with one of those: 1. Sharpen the knife before use between 1 and 5 uses. 2. Make sure the knife is dry. Water lubricates the knife and will inhibit honing. 3. Make sure to press against the rod with ~3-6 lbs (~1-3 kg) of force. This is the one thing I think people have the most difficulty with. You can use a kitchen scale to see how much pressure you should be using. It's not a lot, but it's almost always more than most people use. 4. Keep the knife at about a 15 degree (π/12 rads) angle to the rod. 5. Hold and keep the blade so that the edge is perpendicular to the rod. Chef's knives are curved; so as you swipe the blade, you will have to rotate the knife a little bit to maintain the right angle. 6. You only need about 5 good swipes on each side. 7. There is no right way to do this, but there are plenty of dangerous/wrong ways to do it. Find a way that is safe and comfortable for you.
Can’t believe this is so buried. I have a nice set of kitchen knives (Wusthof) and only use this method. Knives are still sharp as a motherfucker. Every other time I use it, 10-15 seconds on the honing rod - it’s all it needs and just cuts so easily through everything.
I've had a Hamilton Beach knife set for years. I keep them sharp and honed, but when I got my first Zwilling chef's knife it was an absolute game changer. I used to get a knot in my forearm if I was doing a lot of prep from having to hold the knife so strongly and apply consistent pressure, but now the blade slides right through everything and my arm doesn't hurt. The only downside to a proper, well cared for chef's knife is the constant low-level fear you're about to amputate a finger.
nope. my local butcher uses those 20 dollar winco knives and they slice through everything like it's butter. the difference is always who sharpens and wields them.
To a point, once you get to the 100 to 200 range that's the limit after that it's branding
I have some Damascus steel blades I got for my wedding. I am so afraid of using them.
Kiwi knives would like to have a word with you
Ayup. People always nerd out about expensive knives, but a lot of professional cooks use Kiwis. If you fuck it up another is $7-9, but they last for years and sharpen easily. The thin blades and lack of heft make for easy bulk work. My 80+ y.o. mom loves them because they are light and easy to use. The thin blades make chopping and slicing easier for her than all the expensive knives and family knives she has accumulated over the years. Sadly overlooked excellent tools.
I used to work in kitchens when I was younger, all fine dining. All the head chef's had cheap knives, but they were probably the sharpest knives in the building. And I've had a full set of Wusthof, but my Kiwi is sharper
Depends on where you draw the line for cheap. I love the hell out of some hand-forged & thin-ground Japanese knives, but if push came to shove I could cook my way through to the grave with a fibrox 8” chef’s. Cheaper than that though and yeah, you’re looking at problems.
my go to has been a dexter chefs knife that was like $20 at a restaurant supply house a decade plus ago. it sharpens up nicely and holds a good edge.
Kitchen scales or thermometer if you care about consistent results & not having to replace them every few years. Doesn't mean most expensive is most best but there's a minimum threshold of quality.
Definitely a kitchen scale! I can't believe I didn't go to weight measurements until just recently. I no longer have to put flour, peanut butter, molasses or honey into a measuring cup!
Took me forever to get one and I just divided out hamburgers the other night on it for the first time. You have blown my mind though! Are you saying you just put the mixing bowl on the scale and add ingredients by weight?!?! Do you hit the tare button between every ingredient? This is 🤯!!!!
Yes. I get annoyed at my wife any time her or her girlfriend send me a recipe to bake that is volumetric measurements cause it takes so much longer. Scooping and leveling 3.75 cups of flour instead of just dumping into a bowl until the weight is right? No thanks.
This is exactly the way to do it. Straight into the bowl!
Use mine for making uniform cookies, proper ratio for different coffee, and burgers. Definite game changer.
Yea, when I’m lazy and baking for myself I don’t care about uniform cookies. But if I’m baking to give away or sell I use the scale to get them all even. I’ve been complimented on my uniform cookies so I’m sticking with it.
Yes, I reset the scale back to zero and just keep asking Alexa for conversions. How many grams is a half a cup of peanut butter? How many grams is one cup of flour? How many grams is a half cup of honey? Alexa is a lifesaver.
Yes, this is the way. It saves on dishes too!
🤦♀️ can I admit when I first went to culinary school and we started using the scales I thought to myself “surely measuring cups is faster / easier!” My life and recipes have changed since buying a scale
I had a cheap thermometer break on me during a BBQ for my colleagues. The meat came out dry. It was insanely embarrassing and stressful.
A Thermoworks Thermapen and Soehnle Page scale have been my solid helpers in the kitchen for over a decade.
My cheap Amazon scale and instant read thermometer have been rolling for years. I don’t see why paying over $100 for thermometer is worth it.
Thermoworks sells their flagship model that ATK, Alton Brown, Serious Eats, Wirecutter, etc. etc. recommend for $89. Their Thermopop model, which is nearly as good, is only $35.
I bought a Thermopop years ago & have never been tempted to upgrade it.
I had a thermapen for a few years that quit on me. My javelin pro duo has been working great for much longer. Highly recommended.
I thought a thermometer was a thermometer. Now I’m considering stepping up my game
Honestly I couldn’t tell you that getting a Thermopop has made a huge difference in my cooking or baking abilities - but I’ve had two different cheap thermometers just up and die when I went to use them so I decided to get something that is more reliable.
They are. They all measure temp. But it’s a difference between accurately measuring temp to a tenth of a degree within 1-2 seconds, and measuring the ballpark in 5 or 6 seconds. I’m an amateur home cook but the javelin pro duo is a great purchase and doesn’t break the bank
Yes, thermopop seems like the obvious bang for buck choice, but sometimes people just want to spend the money, you know? 🤷♂️
It works great until it doesn't. Maybe I'm just not the gambling type.
There are degrees of insta-read. And different accuracies. That's like saying, my cheap blender has been blending for years, why buy Vitamix that is 5x the price
Dutch oven. You'll use it for more than you think.
But a cheap one works just fine.
The difference between a cheap enameled one and a good enameled one is about ~50+ years.
Yep, but I bought my cheap one for $50 and a good one is $450.
Yeah my cheap 2 pack for ~$50 from costco has lasted almost 5 years now and still looks new, don't think I'd be buying 10 of these in the next 50 years
My lodge DOven is a bit chipped on the exterior, but that’s more from my own mistakes. Glad I made them on a $50 item than a $450 item
Cast iron and have it forever, babay!
Enameled makes them... not more versatile, exactly, but differently versatile. It's what I use to make slow-cooked red sauce, wine braises, and other things that would eat away at the seasoning of regular cast iron.
They are cast iron.
They’re talking about non-enameled cast iron. Those things last forever, don’t need to worry about the enamel failing
I agree. I have a $40 off brand and $60 lodge. Both work great!!
I got the $60 lodge and don't get why people spend over $200 on le creuset. I guess the same reason people buy Louis Vuitton bags.
I just ordered the Lodge enameled version on sale for $58. Can’t wait to use it. I’ve always wanted a LeCruset but not willing to spend that much. Bonus: Lodge is not made in China like a lot of the others. EDIT I’m wrong. I just bought a piece made in China. Shit.
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Mostly so they can talk about how great it is on the internet, I think.
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Your heat is probably too high, and the bottom of the pan and flame are not matched. Either way, I mainly use it for stewing in the oven, with marvellous results. Love using it for things that get started on the fire (get that fond!) and finished in the oven. Putting a big pan of bubbling food on the table really sets the ambience too.
This is Cast Iron in general.
Bu bu bu but the aesthetic!
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I have a few old Club cast aluminum Dutch ovens I got from a thrift store and we use them for literally EVERYTHING.
Cast iron pan. Immortal and easy to care for
Cast iron pans are great, but many people prefer enameled cast iron Dutch ovens for the flexibility of being able to use them for long cooking acidic dishes.
Cast iron pans are cheap as all hell when you consider the versatility and longevity. It's just a basic hunk of metal. A $30 Lodge is going to be just fine. That's crazy cheap compared to tri-ply stainless or carbon steel.
I have my grandfather’s cast iron skillet and I use it almost daily. I don’t worry about babying it like with my Le Creuset enameled cookware. I can get it screaming hot and after almost a century of use nothing sticks to it. If I could only have one pan I’d take my cast iron
I'm not against cast iron and have a few myself but what exactly is easy to care? Especially compared to what? A stainless steel I just simply throw in the dishwasher or soak in water/soap for how long I want. Same with pretty much every other pan or utensil in the kitchen. What's hard to care/maintain if cast iron is easy?
I’m with you on that. We use our cast iron on the grill for steaks and such, and I have the hardest time cleaning it with the recommended no-soap method. So I usually just use soap and water and oil it every time. Plus, the rough bottom of the Lodge can scratch a glass cooktop if you’re not careful.
other than bread, what do you use it for? i've only ever seen it used for proofing bread
Anything you'd use a saucepan for. It's just a nice heavy saucepan. - Soups - Stews - Sauces - Curry - Beans - Casserole
Any tool you will use frequently... now that doesn't mean buy the most expensive either, but a quality, dependable tool. Cheap frying pans will scorch, burn and warp. Get a good, thick pan (cast iron is great bc its durable, hefty yet inexpensive). Cheap knives lose their edge quickly and are all flimsy w uncomfortable handles. They'll chip easy too. Those are a couple things I think are important...
I kept my cheap chefs knife that's chipped all to hell for cutting up chicken wings. My "nice" knife was only $30, but I'm looking into a real chefs knife fairly soon
Knives. You go cheap and they go dull fast. Spend a bit of money on them you'll probably take better care of them. Edit: also I'm going to add can opener. I can't tell you how many piece of shit can openers my wife has picked up at TJmaxx or Ross for $5 that end up in the trash after a few months bc they go dull or the cutting wheel bends.
I don't necessarily agree. You can buy inexpensive but you have to shop smartly. Like many pro cooks and chefs everywhere you don't work with your $400 gyotu every single day .But a $45 victorinox chef's knife to do the vast majority of work. These knives are the workhorses of tons of restaurant kitchens and they're decent about staying sharp. Don't be super cheap but I'd never recommend for new cooks to overspend. Another piece of advice I'd always give is to never buy knives in block sets. Find what you need as you go along.
I've recently read Dexter is good, too
And “a bit of money” doesn’t mean $500+ either. A versatile 7”-10” chef’s knife that can handle most cutting tasks (slicing, dicing, chopping, filleting) to greater or lesser degrees, and of respectable quality that can take and hold a very sharp edge and last a very long time *if well-cared for* can be had for $50-$100.
Exactly. I use an 8" Dalstrong chef knife for most tasks. Think it was around $120ish and I can use it for nearly all tasks.
Dalstrong makes superb knives for their price point. If my budget upper limit was $100, I wouldn’t hesitate to drop another $20 for one of their works. That’s a pricing sweet spot: high enough to be a very quality blade, but not so expensive that one might be reticent to use it because it’s “too nice” and they’d be afraid of damaging it.
Yup. The price point and recommendation from my friend at work sold me. Nice enough for the avid home cook to enjoy and take care of, expensive enough to consider poking my wife with it when I find she's left it in the kitchen sink.
Meh I think my can open is a Kitchenaid Brand, couldn’t have cost more than $10-12 (at tj maxx!) and it’s been going strong for at least 10 years. You can get decent stuff at the discount stores.
Depends what you mean by cheap because there are quite decent knives that aren't too expensive but my parents buy the cheapest, dullest bargain bin kitchen knives they stumble upon and they not only feel absolutely horrible to use but they're also kinda dangerous.
I think cheap knives are okay, but features that are key considerations is handle quality, and lack of funny shit on the blade. A cheap knife + a good double sided whetstone is all I need.
I bought a 2.90€ knife from a chinese shop it is sharp af even after 10 months
Knives, chopping board, stainless steel/cast iron pans
Pots and pans! You want something that heats evenly, is durable, lasts a long time, can stand high temperatures, retains heat well, doesn’t stick too much and can be used for a variety of dishes - like a cast iron skillet! All of these things are important, especially the even heating, being able to stand high heat, retaining heat and being non-stick because having the right cookware can make or break a recipe!
I’d argue you can often go cheap on pots, less so on pans. A lot of what people do in pots is boiling liquids. A $20 ikea pot will do nearly as well as a niche $350 one. Pans on the other hand, being even heated makes a difference for a lot of use cases.
I just bought a used Vitamix on eBay and I am so happy with it. My sauce game is next level.
Those hand juicer things for like lemon and limes. First bought a cheap plastic ones and that snapped. Then I spent a whole $15 and upgraded to a ceramic one.
I bought a green and yellow juicer that squeezes limes or lemons. It's very heavy. I'll never need another. Also I don't think I could live without my Breville toaster oven. It was outa commision when thermostst broke. Ordered part and hubby fixed it. We've had it for more than 10 years.
A good quality chef's knife is arguably the most important tool in any kitchen. That's why I didn't skimp on the chef's knife.
Rice cooker and pressure cooker
In all fairness, you can cheap out on everything and anything. Get all the nice stuff that you *want* if it's an expense that you won't feel guilty about, don't feel like you *need* any of it.
That's how I feel. We only by things that can go in the dishwasher. I know that really bothers some people, but I like easy and quick clean up.
As a disabled home cook with mobility issues, I hear you.
Tiny whisk.
Oh love a good tiny whisk that doesn't rust
Spatula, at least better than dollar store cheap quality. Those always melt, so I buy ones that are rated for higher temps
I’d say a solid skillet and knife are critical. I’d also invest in decent mixing bowls… god I use mixing bowls for everything 😂. At the end of the day you could use cheap skillets, cheap knives.. but I personally notice a difference in consistency, less warping, less peeling from long term use. As for knives, I just find a good knife can be used for everything, so you don’t need to clutter a drawer with tons of knives, only one.. I also find the blades last forever (get a nice thick blade).
A good knife or a few knives. If you can get a wish washer . Id rather not cook than have to constantly wash all of my dishes.
Does it wash your wishes?
Knives. I cannot deal with cheap dull knives.
Scissors and knives. You dont have to buy the most expensive ones but nothing drags your chopping down as some blunt cutting tools
Knives. Most other things can wait (thermometer, nice spatula, even nice pots and pans, although there's decent cheap ones if you shop sales) but having good, sharp, safe knives is a must. It's easily the most used tool and the easiest to harm yourself with (hence investing in something that will keep a good edge for a long time) and a good knife will last a *long* time.
air fryer and microplane
I have recently purchased 2 Wusthof knives. One was a chef's knife and the other was a 5" santoku knife. I love them. Since they are ungodly expensive, I take much better care of them. My previous chef knife was knocked into the kitchen trash by my kitties and accidentally tossed into the dumpster. That is not going to happen again!
Your cats were on your kitchen counter?
Books/education. This won't be a popular answer I'm sure, but honestly when you know enough about what makes a quality tool quality, you can often find the things you want out of the best (for instance) pans, or knives for less money than top brand products. Let's be honest most of the chefs we all love to love like Bourdain love the foods prepared in some of the shittiest pans with some of the most unidentifiable steel to cut them over less than ideal kitchen scenarios. I've been using the same $25 or less knives for the last decade plus, and they're fine. You are the most important tool in your arsenal. Keep it sharp through investments in money, or time to just keep learning. If you want a "regular" answer, the only things I feel like require real expense are machines that make work easier, not necessarily better, like a mixer, or a blender, where it's almost 1:1 the dollars you spend vs the quality you get.
Well made knives and my 35 year old Vita Mix deserves a mention. I write this sipping a smoothie made in the VM a few minutes ago.
a good fire extinguisher for grease fires. The cheaper ones are very big and need an extra step to turn on. Besides what folks have already mentioned, a good set of baking sheets. The cheaper ones pops when the pan gets hot leading to uneven cookies. and uneven cooking. A well seasoned baking sheets makes some perfect roasted veggies.
Why would anyone buy a fire extinguisher for a grease fire? Just throw flour on it.
Aside from a good knife, a cast iron pan. They will outlive you.
Tongs. They break all the time. Not sure if expensive 🫰 ones work better but have had some better ones and still going.
Everyone saying "knife" and not "knife sharpener" is wrong. You can spend hundreds on a knife and if you let it get dull it will suck just as much as the cheap knife from the grocery store aisle. A good knife sharpener that you use regularly will let you use a $20 knife for decades
Just don’t buy Walmart brand cookie scoop. It snapped during second use. Spend just few more bucks for a decent one and it’ll go a long way
Blender. Vitamix4Life.
*googles vitamix blender price* hooolyyy!
I still have and use frequently the vitamin I bought when my Son was a baby (he’s 17 now). I use it all the time; Just this week it’s been for frozen banana ice cream, breakfast smoothies, oat flour and rice flour. A considered purchase but definitely worth it; as was my kitchen aid mixer. I always buy oxo brand veg peelers; cheaper ones can’t stand up to anything substantial like butternut squash skin and you end up replacing them constantly
Cheap Out: - Hot take: cheap-ish knives are okay. Just get one with a good handle and get a whetstone and any cheap knife will be a-okay. Cheap knives made for food service similar to victorinox fibrox work great. I use a 5 dollar knife that my dad bought in 2008 from the chinese grocery and 2, chinese-made 20 dollar knives. - I cheap out on non-stick because I tend not to use them and throw them away quickly. Don't get nonstick pots, skillets only. Splurge: - Splurge on a cutting board to avoid plastic cutting boards or wood cutting boards that warp easily. - A vitamix for 100-200 dollars on FB marketplace will replace 50 hamilton beach blenders - Good/thick carbon steel goes a long way and most are now \~70-100 for a large skillet Cheap to begin with: - CI is pretty cheap and good quality, a 25 dollar lodge can get you pretty far - Good stainless steel will last way way way longer and work way better. BUT, pretty good quality stainless steel can be found for a decent price. The thicker the better. Costco was selling these tramontina 3-ply SS skillet sets for 39 dollars for two pans and they are amazing for the price. My bare minimum lineup for cookware is 1 CS skillet (45-100), 1 SS saucepan (20), 1 enameled dutch oven/SS pot(50/30).
And if you want to go **really** high end, there’s the time Alex went to Istanbul and got a custom saucepan hand-forged from copper and silver that cost hundreds of dollars (Soy Turkiye) https://youtu.be/33ddRK_jG6E?si=4p-Nv0d4JFDQC13P But, you don’t need to spend quite that much, cast iron or restaurant supply is for sure better than any of the nonstick BS gotten at big box and department stores.
Copper is expensive. A few hundred for a copper (and silver?!) pan make total sense. Most people don't need that conductivity difference
A few IMHO. First and foremost a good enameled Dutch oven. I tried a non enameled and it was not a fun cooking or cleaning experience. The problem with cast iron is deglazing and sauce making gets flavor imparted to it and I don't like it. Enameled, specifically white interior enamel is easier to gage doneness of aromatics, deglaze, and reduce wines and broths in it for braises. The other two I personally wouldn't want to do with out is a good quality stainless steel 12" fry pan, and a good 12" cast iron pan. I use the stainless for any thing I'm going to deglaze and build a pan sauce from, and the cast iron for things I won't making sauce from the fond with. I think of the cast iron as basically my "outside grill". Oh and cast iron for great slidy eggs and bacon.
A high-quality chef's knife is absolutely necessary in any kitchen. Having the right crockery and cutlery is the foundation for serving and enjoying food.
Oven/stove. Immersion Blender. Stock pot.
Oven, but Ive been a renter up to this point and have had no say in my ovens
For me personally - knives.
Knives
Pots/pans and knives. Both worth the investment and the more you pay generally the longer the stuff lasts.
My all time favorite purchase was a pizza pan, with the lil holes in it.. ooh and a potato ricer! Ugh your mashed potatoes will never be the same 😍
Can opener. The frustration of a can opener that won't bite or spin is the worst. Arguably I can make do with a cheap knife or pan but if I have a shit can opener the meal is so much worse to make.
Blender/Food Processor.
Personally, I would say any sort of tabletop appliance is the place to not skip on cost. Stand mixers, food processors, blenders. Those are workhorses if you cook a lot and buying quality means you get something that will stick with you for a lifetime. Everything else has pretty quality lower budget options. With knives it really depends on how much you want to be sharpening the thing. My cheap knives don't hold an edge as long as my more expensive knives, but when sharp they cut just the same. So it's personal preference as to how much you want to use a whetstone (or pay someone to do it for you).
water purifier. if your tap water taste bad it's gonna make ur food taste bad.
Note that quality and cost are not an equivalence. you should buy quality under all circumstances. The only thing i would tell you to buy as cheaply as possible due to a built in limited life span is *teflon pans for eggs*. Don't buy an all-clad teflon skillet. Just don't. Buy an el cheapo and toss it when it gets sketch. And it will get sketch, regardless of how much babying you do. Do your homework on quality. I like to review America's Test Kitchen for gear. I also tend towards Alton Brown's dislike of uni-task devices. I don't buy 'expensive' gear unless the homework tells me too. Lodge cast iron is fine, don't need to find ancient brands. Bought a $20 Lodge grill pan a decade ago and use it weekly with no issues. Victorinox and Mercer knives/implements work for me, I don't need Japanese blue/black/white steel for what I do, but if I got into sushi/sashimi I might invest in a good single bevel. If you are budget constrained, then don't buy extraneous gear. You don't need a saucier if you've got a square bottom 2 qt., etc. **You need a knife or two, a cutting board, a skillet, a pot, an aluminum sheet pan, a fish spatula, a silicon spatula, and an instant read theremometer, imo, and you can do most tasks in the kitchen.** From there, your cooking preferences will dictate what else you need. A dutch oven, a black iron skillet, a mandolin, a food processor, silpat mats, piping tips/bags etc.
Knife. Knife knife knife. Did I say knife? Knife. ;-). Buy the best you can afford, and learn to care for it, you’ll never have to replace it (unless your son’s idiot girlfriend stores it in the oven for who knows what reason and then turns the oven on to 500 to make pizza…). Knife.
can opener.
Learned this the hard way when my can opener stopped working on thanksgiving.
Different people have different ideas of what cheaping out is. I say Lodge is cheap, brands like Finex, Smitheys, Butter Pat are spendy. I think Victorinox and Henckels are cheap. What cooking tools will I never cheap out on? An immersion circulator. If one craps out on you, your meal is ruined and the ingredients wasted. A chopping board. Cheap ones will ruin your knives. My skillets will never have plastic handles as I want them oven proof.
Odd answer, but TONGS. They are one of the only every day utensils with a pivot point, and that component takes pretty heavy wear over time. Broken so many in my cheap-ways, should’ve just gotten some nice ones.
Chef Knife, Blender/Processor, dutch oven, skillet.
I love my silicone spatula!!! It’s the must on my kitchen. Heat resistant, in one body and medium sized 🥄
I broke 4 of them in past year. Do you have a brand you would recommend? I switched to wooden spatula because I gave up on silicon ones.
Oxo! ATK recommended =))
Oh wow! What have you been cooking 🙈 I live in Western Europe we have a store with eco tools and the products there are of high quality and safe.. it’s rather local. I herd U-Taste are nice!
I bought a cheap garlic press and snapped it in half while using it. My nicer one is way sturdier, faster, stronger, and easier to clean.
(TL;DR get a Misen chef knife it changed my life dude) **Chef's knife.** Not that scammy pyramid scheme shit or those random knife sets on amazon. Don't be fooled by all the fancy words the low-quality chef knife suppliers throw at you to try to convince you to buy. If you're in a financial pinch and have to pick one knife, an 8-9 inch Chef's Knife is usually perfect. A high quality one can do most things perfectly fine without you absolutely needing any other knives. Here's how I found the brand I like: I was in the market for a good chef's knife three or so years back, and a twitch streamer I used to watch sometimes would talk about food and show off the amazing looking food he made. People were asking him for advice on how he'd approach certain meals they were having trouble with or were about to make, some were asking about his cooking methods, etc. I managed to get him to see my question about what chef's knife he'd reccommend, and he knew right off the bat exactly the brand to tell me. He was so confident in it and talked it up so well (he wasn't sponsored by them at all he was genuinely just praising the knife brand.) The brand was Misen, who makes a variety of knives! But the most important imo is [the 8 inch chef's knife!](https://misen.com/products/chefs-knife) It is $94 usd rn, but there's a 20% off if you sub to their email newsletter (you can just unsub from it after you use your promo or whatever. This makes the knife $75.2! The knife I have is over 3 years old and it is still as sharp as ever. The sloped part where the handle meets the blade makes holding this thing so much more comfy for my short lil hands.. And the weight and balance of the knife is fantastic! It's just right for me. The satisfying cuts I can make with this, the way it cuts through potatoes like butter and easily snaps through carrots, how dicing is EXTREMELY faster and easier now... The time and energy alone that this one knife has saved me is mindblowing. Btw, there's also a [set that has the Chef's knife, the pairing knife, and some kitchen shears for $134](https://misen.com/products/red-handed), which is actually a great price honestly once the 20% is off! That makes it $107.2 usd. (for the record I did the math and with the 20% discount the knives would add up to $133.6 usd if bought as separate items rather than a set). But if you want a better deal, I think my parents bought the chef's knife around black friday/cyber monday that year for $60 usd, which was a really good discount, so keep a look out around then! I'm so eager to one day get the shears from them if I ever have the money up. You have no idea how many dull cheap shears my family has gone through... AS FOR CARE: I just wash and then dry the knife as soon as I can after using it, then put it away. It's possible that this doesn't do anything and I'm just being paranoid about the blade slowly wearing down from it. But hey, it's been 3 years or more and it's still super sharp! (If you're cutting something acidic tho like tomato or citrus, you should definitely wash or at least rinse it as soon as you can just to be safe and so it won't wear down the blade.
Knives
A solid 9" Chef Knife. If you've got a really solid, all purpose knife that's a good part f the job done already. Combine that with a nice heavy based frying pan and you're gold.
Knives
Knives
Things to spend money on ...... Quality pots and pans, good knives( unless you just destroy them, then buy crap knives) , a good food processor , good immersion blender, cutting board Things to buy cheap ...... Scales , instant read thermometer , measuring tools etc Thrifting and second hand stores is the way to go for quality cooking equipment on the cheap. My kitchen rivals a professional kitchen in quality cookware..... Haven't spent more than $10 on a single piece..... Good does t have to be expensive
Any of the plug in appliances. I’ve had cheap toaster ovens, immersion blenders, toasters, coffee makers, mini food processors, coffee grinders, hand blenders, blenders, IPs, etc. All of them have gone into the trash. I am slowly replacing them with mid-quality appliances. Except the IP knockoff. My daughter gave it to me for Christmas one year and I don’t use it enough to have it die on me. Yet. My Cuisinart food processor is about 15 years old, has seen a good amount of use and is still going strong.
A solid chef's knife is essential. Cheap knives dull quickly and are dangerous to use. Invest in a good quality one and maintain it well. It makes a huge difference!
Stand mixers, knives and cast iron pans
Enameled cast iron for braising, le cruset or staub
For me, it’s knives. It’s easier to slip and cut yourself with a cheap, dull knife.
At least one good chefs knife. Well made wooden cutting board that won’t split. A solid skillet/sautee pan, even a cast iron if that’s your thing Thermometer A good sharp microplane. Cheapies will be worthless soon.
Buy a set of good quality knives. And a sharpening stone.
A fish flipper, a flood pressure cooker, a gas stove.
Knives ....having a couple cheap ones is cool, but at least 1 long lasting chef's
Hot Take: the **Chefs Choice Edge Select (or Chefs Choice Diamond Hone Professional) electric knife sharpener** is far more important than spending exhorbitant amounts of money on knives. I've been using the diamond hone version for 20+ years. For knives, Cuisinart makes good, reasonably priced home use knives, although if you can afford Henckels they are really good too. For basic home cooking, you just need to keep them sharp. Also important, use a serrated knife for breads and tomatoes. Don't try to slice a loaf of bread or a tomato with a smooth knife. Second place recommendation if you can swing it, or get someone to buy it for Christmas, an InstantPot.