Kitchen stuff I can’t live without…

Well, of course I can, it’s just a lack lustre life, filled with curses and longings for my stuff.

If only I could carry them around with me in a toolkit like a doctor or a plumber.  Not sure how the airlines would feel about my hoard?

Here they are, in order of importance;

1. My Japanese knife.  It cuts through most things like a hot knife through butter.  Swoop, straight through, no hanging on or stumbling.  I sharpen it once a week on an electric knife sharpener (yes, that is just how important a sharp knife is to me!).  Mind you, chefs sharpen their knives before every chopping “job” so my once a week routine seems pretty flimsy in comparison.

2. Digital Scales.  Whenever I go to Athens or Bucharest I have to use spring balanced scales and find that the weight seems to vary depending on the angle I look at it and I am limited to the weighing bowl that comes with it.  I love my digital scales, petite, easy to clean and weighs in grams and ounces.

3. Spatula.  I find it disturbing to leave cake batter behind in the mixing bowl or not be able to scrape out every last bit of porridge(leaving it behind for some messy washing up).  A spatula is incredibly handy in the kitchen, it get’s into all those impossible to reach with a wooden spoon places.

4. Kitchen Aid Mixer.  Pricey gadget this one, no doubt about it.  But worth every single penny.  I bake at least 10 times more since this beauty entered my life.  Good for bread, cakes, meringues, biscuits.  It does it all bar your laundry.  Love it.

5. Microplane zester / grater.  I hate box graters.  I hate having to throw my entire body weight behind a lemon or an orange just to get some mushy zest which I then have to chase around with a knife.  Life is to short for box graters!  Get a microplane.

6. Peeler.  A proper one that peels quickly and smoothly without getting caught or swivelling round the wrong way.

7. Paring knife.  Not that I spend my time paring potatoes but it’s perfect for coring pears and apples or even slicing cucumbers for one when you can’t be bothered to break out the cutting board.

8. Skewer. Because I bake a lot, having this long metal needle is a must for letting me know when my cake is done.  A few moist crumbs clinging on to the surface tell me I’m in for a treat.

9. Salad Spinner.  Bagged salads are gross, tantamount to wearing someone else’s sweaty T-shirt and thinking it’s good for you.  If you are serious about salad, buy a spinner and eat fresh salad.

10. Little Mixer.  I could use a pestal an mortar for some things but this little gadget is so much faster.  Mine is 10 years old, the plastic is full of hairline cracks but it still works just fine.  The wand is for blending soups, the mixer part for chopping nuts, making breadcrumbs, even crumbles or pastries (in two goes obviously).

Of course, I love my pots and pans (I recommend heavy duty Skk pots or if you have a bunch of hundreds in your wallet, Mauviel Copper pots), my baking trays, cake tins, coffee machine, muffin tin, calculator (for halving doubling recipes), timer, ruler, temperature probe and all that but it’s the 10 things listed above that I miss the most when I am cooking in someone else’s kitchen.