The one kitchen tool you can't do without.

[Redtide]

A Digital Cooking Thermometer

Ya I'm going to go with a decent digital thermometer too.

For all my life my Mom has been over cooking meat because she is afraid of food poisoning. Proving to myself and her that a chicken can be moist and not poison you has been pretty eye opening to her. However she still won't eat a steak unless it is charcoal. I just bought a sous vide immersion circulator to try out so maybe that will help change her mind about over cooked steaks.

 

[Cactus Bob]

Ya I'm going to go with a decent digital thermometer too.

For all my life my Mom has been over cooking meat because she is afraid of food poisoning. Proving to myself and her that a chicken can be moist and not poison you has been pretty eye opening to her. However she still won't eat a steak unless it is charcoal. I just bought a sous vide immersion circulator to try out so maybe that will help change her mind about over cooked steaks.

The digital thermometer made a huge difference cooking meats. I always overcooked them and cut into them to see if they were done. Now I never cut them and they come out just right.
My dad cooked everything until it was burnt up, he always said the charcoaled burnt meat is good for your digestive system.

 

[chicks]

It's going on six months with mine, hit it with the steel every now and then, still holding a great edge. Most comfortable knife I've had too.

It's going up against my current all around favorite kitchen knife, a Costco purchase several years ago. The Tramontina has much thicker steel, also a very comfortable handle, and holds its edge very well. The Victorinox has more curve, which I'm betting will make it a better chopper. Time will tell...

 

[Wildcat]

Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer--THE required appliance for a kitchen--and it must be either a Kitchen Aid (or if you want to go all-out, a small Hobart). Neither of them have changed designs or quality in 100 years--a 50 year-old attachment will still fit a brand new one, and you can get attachments to do anything with them.

I know a local pastry chef who hates the Kitchen-Aids. Found out why--the newer ones don't last long. The older Kitchen-Aid had metal gears, and apparently the newer ones have plastic. (But I think he said that if the plastic gears go bad, you can order metal gears to replace them with.) Given the abuse I've dished out on my Kitchen-Aid (which dates to around 1990), I'm thinking it has the metal gears. The motor head has worked loose over the years, but it is a simple adjustment done underneath the mixer. Other than that, I've done bread dough (actually pizza dough) recently, and will do meat for meatballs in it several times a year--the meat really gives it a workout. But it has plowed right through it! (Can't picture Mom's Sunbeam ever standing up to that abuse!)

If it's older, take good care of it! It'll probably outlive all of us!

 

[Djcoolray]

A good peeler....

 

[Wildcat]

One thing that is interesting and kind of pathetic is that my ex was into those MLM parties, and one of them sold kitchen utensils and stuff. I admit some of their stuff was higher quality (I have silicone spatulas and two meatball/ice-cream scoops that I use regularly), but when she moved out and I cleaned the kitchen drawers and cupboards, I found enough gadgetry to fill a few shopping bags. All useless one-time gadgets that I had no use for.

I feel better off using the bare minimum of things, but using only high quality. And fill in with specialty items only when needed (if it makes a specific job a lot easier). As such, I can't pick any one item I can't live without, as there are probably a dozen I could say that about.

 

[IPADave]

One thing that is interesting and kind of pathetic is that my ex was into those MLM parties, and one of them sold kitchen utensils and stuff. I admit some of their stuff was higher quality (I have silicone spatulas and two meatball/ice-cream scoops that I use regularly), but when she moved out and I cleaned the kitchen drawers and cupboards, I found enough gadgetry to fill a few shopping bags. All useless one-time gadgets that I had no use for.

I feel better off using the bare minimum of things, but using only high quality. And fill in with specialty items only when needed (if it makes a specific job a lot easier). As such, I can't pick any one item I can't live without, as there are probably a dozen I could say that about.

As Alton Brown says, the only unitasker in your kitchen should be a fire extinguisher.

-Dave

 

[arts]

A Digital Cooking Thermometer

I bought one of those! I shortened the metal probe,then extended the length by about four feet with a shielded teflon cable.I now use it for checking automatic transmission fluid temperature

 

[IPADave]

I bought one of those! I shortened the metal probe,then extended the length by about four feet with a shielded teflon cable.I now use it for checking automatic transmission fluid temperature

 

[KrisM]

Yeah, most one time use gadgets are just a waste of space. I've moved along a few of them over the years.

Some are keepers, though. My fav way of doing mashed potatoes is with a ricer. I've got one of those things that slices and cores an apple that gets a lot of use. Whenever I do something like a potato salad I use one of those goofy looking egg slicer things, and it works great.
About a year ago we bought a stove top popcorn maker, and I gotta say it was a solid purchase.

 

[KrisM]

Do the propane conversion and stash a small propane tank--like for a BBQ grill--in a nearby cabinet.

Can't propane be used indoors? You might want to look into it.
I know here out in the country where they can't get natural gas they have huge tanks sitting outside to power their stoves and such.

Propane can totally be used indoors. Storing a tank indoors, though? I'd take a serious look at the local code before thinking of doing that.

 

[savatage1973]

I know a local pastry chef who hates the Kitchen-Aids. Found out why--the newer ones don't last long. The older Kitchen-Aid had metal gears, and apparently the newer ones have plastic. (But I think he said that if the plastic gears go bad, you can order metal gears to replace them with.) Given the abuse I've dished out on my Kitchen-Aid (which dates to around 1990), I'm thinking it has the metal gears.

Now, there are various versions of the Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer, but they all look pretty much the same. They cheapest "consumer" models start at ~$200, but the "artisan" and "professional" models run into the ~$500-800 range. That is why he probably hates them--he encountered a couple "low-end" ones. Just go buy an "ancient" one from a flea market or estate sale and you've got the "real deal". This is going to sound really f**ked up, but I have used mine to mix drywall compound and mortar/grout before.

 

[IPADave]

My fav way of doing mashed potatoes is with a ricer.

They make the best mashed potatoes!

-Dave

 

[valvenator]

A few years back one of my wife's friends at work gave her one of those egg cookers for her birthday similar to this:
https://www.amazon.com/Dash-Rapid-E...=1540073596&sr=8-3&keywords=amazon+egg+cooker
I just rolled my eyes and thought here's another useless unitasker that will do nothing but clutter up space.
I'm happy to say I was totally wrong. I use that thing all the time so much so we don't even bother to put it away.
Makes perfect hard boiled eggs

 

[Wildcat]

Now, there are various versions of the Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer, but they all look pretty much the same. They cheapest "consumer" models start at ~$200, but the "artisan" and "professional" models run into the ~$500-800 range. That is why he probably hates them--he encountered a couple "low-end" ones. Just go buy an "ancient" one from a flea market or estate sale and you've got the "real deal". This is going to sound really f**ked up, but I have used mine to mix drywall compound and mortar/grout before.

Hey, whatever works!

The kitchens this chef works in spend the big bucks (works the high-end, in other words), so they don't go low end on their "tools." I would think they would have had the larger capacity stand mixers. Wherever he works now has different mixers ("industrial" models, in other words).

I have the smaller model--it's been a workhorse so far! When I got this one, there weren't nearly as many variations available as there are now.

A few years back one of my wife's friends at work gave her one of those egg cookers for her birthday similar to this:
https://www.amazon.com/Dash-Rapid-E...=1540073596&sr=8-3&keywords=amazon+egg+cooker
I just rolled my eyes and thought here's another useless unitasker that will do nothing but clutter up space.
I'm happy to say I was totally wrong. I use that thing all the time so much so we don't even bother to put it away.
Makes perfect hard boiled eggs

We have an Oster egg cooker from the mid 70s, which my mother had. That's the same reason we keep it--perfect hard boiled eggs, and it also works great as a poacher.

 

[savatage1973]

Wherever he works now has different mixers ("industrial" models, in other words).

In one word "Hobart"--THE name that all others are judged by. I have a large Hobart mixer, Hobart meat grinder, and Hobart slicer that I bought at an auction a couple decades ago--and they were "old" back then. I only use them a couple times a year (mainly during deer season to process deer), but they have never failed me.

We have an Oster egg cooker from the mid 70s, which my mother had. That's the same reason we keep it--perfect hard boiled eggs, and it also works great as a poacher.

Yeah, they don't make stuff like they used to. As discussed earlier in this thread, I still have my grandmother's Sunbeam toaster that is at least 60-70 years old--still works like a charm.

I know this thread is about kitchen stuff, but I'll digress--I also have a 1953 Kirby vacuum cleaner (also courtesy of my grandmother). Weighs a ton, but will suck the paint off the walls.

 

[likebike23]

I cook a lot, as in every single day. My daughter has food allergies, so eating out is a no-go. I have to have sharp knives. So with that in mind, I say knife sharpeners. I always use a butcher's steel before using the knife and occasionally use the sharpening tool. Even the best knife is worthless if it's dull.

 

[Johnno_Oz]

Time to do some Christmas carving , so out comes the Damascus VG10 Steel, Gyuto knife made by Shigeki Tanaka. It's scapel sharp and goes through ham and turkey with ease. I've chipped the edge so will take it to Japanese knife specialist in Sydney to get the edge repaired and back to new.

Features a buffalo horn ferrule and rosewood handle.

 

[simplynuts]

Good sharp knives.

 

[Codesix]

Instant read Thermopen. Used on a regular basis.