A question for culinary experts!!!

[vulturesrow]

Grunch,

Awesome post. I like your suggestion about the cast iron skillet. The main reason to have one is to make cornbread properly [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Someone made a good suggestion earlier about must have knives. If you want to get serious about cooking, a good chef's knife, a paring knife, and a serrated knife should be more than sufficient. I agree with this. What other sorts of kitchen items are "must haves" for the serious amateur cook?

[GrunchCan]

Hm, the serious amatuer cook? I suppose we're talking beyond the measuring spoons and spatulas we get for a kid's first apartment.

This list could become unending. A quick scan of my kitchen reveals a massive pile of kitchen toys. And I'm still getting.

Here's a start tho:

- oven safe ramekins, very useful for mise en place
- honing steel to care for your fancy knives
- if your really serious, get a set of waterstones and sharpen your own knives.
- 12" cast iron skillet
- 3 qt. saucepan with lid
- 12 qt. stock pot/sop pot with lid
- lots of mixing bowls; no matter how many you have, you need more
- a serious KitchenAid stand mixer.
- good selection of casseroles, bakers, etc
- kitchen scale. in baking, it is better to measure by weight than by volume.

Probably more than anything else, you need excellent cookbooks. There's 2 kinds of cookbooks; home and professional. Some home cookbooks you just have to have, like the Joy or the New Basics. But you really need to invest in the big professional cookbooks if you want to learn culinary arts.

Most professional cookbooks are topical, but here is a good general techniques book

This is the bible of pastries and deserts
An excellent book about sauces

[MortalNuts]

Hi vulturesrow --

GrunchCan's post is a good one. I also agree with what people have told you, generally, about knives and pans: fwiw, I use Wusthof classic knives, and a mix of allclad (great, but good god the cost) and Calphalon pans. I strongly prefer the 10-inch chef's knife to the 8-inch, but some people don't; in any case, that plus a paring knife plus a serrated knife will do you just fine for a long time.

A few of my own personal favorites for the serious amateur kitchen, in addition:

A good blender. You want one that has like two settings: low and hi. Waring, etc.

For desserts: get an ice cream maker. Seriously, I use this all the time, you can get an okay one (i.e. not self-refrigerating) for like $50, and making your own ice cream for some reason impresses the hell out of people. Which is weird, because it's really really easy.

If you like Italian food, it's worth getting a "food mill," basically a handheld thingy with serrated disks you can pass stuff through. It's like a low-tech food processor, very handy for making fresh tomato-based sauces and lots of other stuff.

Again if you like Italian stuff, get a pasta maker. With practice, you can make handmade pasta (for you and a guest) in no longer than it takes a decent-sized pot of water to boil. And it really is totally different from factory-made stuff -- more absorbent, different texture, etc.

You didn't ask, but while I'm at it: if you have any kind of serious bar and throw even mildly serious parties, you will thank yourself if you get a) pourers (go to a restaurant supply store and buy the metal ones in a 20-pack), b) "Pourmaster"-style jugs+pourer, for when you have like 100 people over drinking margaritas and want to pre-mix them, and c) a bar spoon with a twisty handle and a flat top (for layering drinks and muddling). Trust me.

Other misc. kitchen stuff I use semi-frequently: mortar & pestle. tortilla press. crepe pan. couple types of instant-read thermometer.

And re: cookbooks, I like the Sauces book GC mentioned. Amateur-level stuff I like: "Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking," by Marcella Hazan. The Chez Panisse dessert book. If you're not a terribly experienced chef, you might like "How to Cook Without a Book," by someone I don't remember. Also, every cook who's scientifically literate should read "The Curious Cook," by harold mcgee (?), at some point.

have fun. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

later,

mn

[benfranklin]

[ QUOTE ]


Now here's a surprise. The very first pan I recommend anyone getting is a 12" cast iron skillet. ...... Get one, season it well, and take care of it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Lodge is one of the big names in cast iron skillets. They now have a line called Lodge Logic, which is preseasoned. I have a couple, and really like them. They save a lot of hassle involved with the original seasoning. The correct pronunctiation, by the way, is "cast arn".

Cast Arn

[busguy]

[ QUOTE ]
Well, Calphalon is probably the best. I work at a Williams-Sonoma store . . .

[/ QUOTE ]

Are you serious ?? I didn't know they made any stainless, but their anodized aluminium stuff is garbage.

Some one else mentioned All Clad. This is the ticket and it ISN"T EVEN CLOSE.

Spend a few extra bucks (don't need to be in the 1000's) to get the All Clad and you won't be disapointed. I've had 12-14 pieces of the stuff for 12 + years and it still looks and cooks fantastic.

Lot's of places on the internet with deals on individual pieces and sets . . . oh and check e-bay as well.


my 2 cents

[img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img] busguy

[wacki]

Ya All Clad is good stuff.

[the42]

I have calphon knives and they're pretty good. I don't know where you live but in MA we have marshalls and they sell about 1/2 the price. don't have any pans by them

[jakethebake]

I saw a nice set of Henkel knives at Sam's Club recently.

[turnipmonster]

find a restaurant supply store near you, and go there. I got my pots and saute pan for a very reasonable price from a place that supplied a restaurant I worked at, and I love them. I have tried out a number of pans in various stores and never found anything I liked half as much. allclad pans are pretty good though.

--turnipmonster

[Allan]

I've had stuff from restaurant supply places as well. It's affordable and cooks just as well as calphalon or all-clad IMO. The only problems I've had with it is that it hasn't held up as well as the brand name stuff. The sautee pans have tacoed. All of my stock pots are from supply houses. I wouldn't pay brand name prices for stock pots.

Allan