I have thought about this long and hard, if I could only have one kitchen gadget, what would it be? I am fairly certain that I know. The one thing I could never give up would be my chef's knife. I truly believe if you have money to spend on one good tool for your kitchen, this would be it. I learned to use a chef's knife many years ago. I worked my way through college, and one summer I worked in a restaurant. I was a waitress, but I also helped prep the salad bar. I was terrified of this big sharp knife at first, but the chef taught me that the sharper the knife, the less chance you will cut yourself. This is because you apply less pressure. Once I learned how to use it, I was sold. I bought my first chef's knife over 40 years ago, when I lived in Germany. It is a Wustoff; it's a wonderful knife, and I still use it today. I now have another one, a little larger and it is pretty much my go to knife.
I also have a really good set of stainless steel cookware that I would have trouble giving up. It's heavy and has a layer of copper imbedded in the bottom, so it conducts heat really well. I was lucky and purchased it a few pieces at a time at a once a year warehouse sale for a fraction of the actual cost. Good, heavy cookware is another really good investment if you can spend the money. I would recommend one or two sauce pans in different sizes, a skillet and a stockpot. These will last forever.
Next on my list of what I would hate to give up is my Kitchen Aid stand mixer. It was a gift from my children one Christmas. I use it so often, that I keep it sitting out on my counter. It took over the spot of my food processor on the counter. The food processor went into the cabinet, but I still use it fairly often. I use it when I have large quantities of something to chop, for making bread crumbs, and I always use it for pesto. Another favorite is my immersion blender, or stick blender. I received mine as a gift and it also has a mini chopper that it attaches to. While I love the blender part for soups, I rarely use the mini chopper. Could live without that part. One other chopping device that I love is my Pampered Chef chopper, I use it mostly to chop garlic and herbs. It goes right into the dishwasher, doesn't take up much room, and doesn't use electricity.
Now on to the things I have, but could live without. These are extras, they make life in the kitchen easier, but are not necessary. First, my George Forman Grill. I use it mostly to make paninis, I would probably replace it if it broke, but I could certainly live without it. Of course, yesterday I mentioned my quesadilla maker-a nice extra to have, inexpensive, easy to clean, but I could live without it. Next is my crockpot. While I love it and use it all the time, I could probably live without it. Finally, my bread machine. I love this. For years I made all the bread we ate by hand without a machine. This ended when I got a full time job. Then I got a bread machine. I can literally take ten minutes to put the ingredients in; I then close it up, and a few hours later I have wonderful fresh, warm bread. Could I live without this? Sure, do I want to? No!
Next we will talk about things that I have but hardly ever use. I have a hand mixer, you know a hand held electric beater. I got my first one when I was married, and replaced it when it burned out. Now that I have my stand mixer, I almost never use it-usually just for mashed potatoes. Next in line, my blender. I am not a smoothie lover, I have an immersion blender and a food processor, so this only comes out when we are making fancy drinks, which is almost never. Waffle iron-another thing I rarely use. I did use it more when I had kids at home but now, almost never. It's actually buried in the back of a cabinet and it would be a struggle to get it out.
So that pretty much covers my small electrical appliances. I do have a drawer full of little gadgets, things like cherry pitters, strawberry hullers, egg slicers, lemon squeezers, etc. I could probably devote another whole post to those. Let's leave that for another day. Now go cook something good for your family. I know I am!
Happy Cooking!
Carol
a.k.a. Nonnie
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