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What is your most used piece of kitchen equipment / what surprised you in its usefulness?
Inspired by https://tildes.net/~food/16kl/what_is_your_least_used_piece_of_kitchen_equipment_what_do_you_regret_buying
Inspired by https://tildes.net/~food/16kl/what_is_your_least_used_piece_of_kitchen_equipment_what_do_you_regret_buying
A cheap bench scraper makes so much of a difference with baking, I wouldn't want to make bread without one nowadays. It means I don't have to put any flour or oil on the counter top while kneading, it helps me clean up mixing bowls, it helps me cut and portion dough. I'm surprised at how useful they are and how much I use them for the simplicity/price.
I also think my air fryer is one of my most used things I've bought. I have a rack-style one that can take multiple racks. It heats faster and more evenly than my gas oven, and I don't have to bend down to get things in and out. I now only really use my main oven about 10% of the time.
I would not be without a bench scraper either. These days, I use it for transferring chopped vegetables from board to pan more than anything else. Brilliant tool.
I basically use old rewards cards and expired credit cards as bench scrapers (and cleaning aids). I’ve thought about getting a real one, but other than it being bigger, why?
There are two types of bench scrapers, rigid and flexible. I quite like my rigid metal one for cleaning, and portioning dough, as well as helping me shape larger high hydration loaves. It has a nice thick plastic handle on the top that's comfortable to grip.
I like my flexible scrapers for getting inside bowls and moving/shaping smaller items. With flexible scrapers, the answer is it's bigger, but it makes it much easier/more comfortable to bend it to the curve you want and generally hold it. (edit: I should also mention the other main difference - the shape. I have two shapes I use, a rectangle with a curve cut out on the side, and bean shaped. This makes it so much easier to scrape out the inside of bowls)
My issue with using something like a card is that sometimes the ink/coating can start to flake off, and I'd be weary about that getting into food. For most things, I'd say if you don't see why you'd use it, there's not much point getting it. Flexible plastic bench scrapers can be had for so cheap, though, it's worth a go if you're curious.
A rigid scraper will cut through a large portion of bread dough, can be used in handling it on a table or countertop, and can scrape dough off that countertop when you're cleaning up after baking.
Cardboard or plastic won't hold up to that, and plastic may leave you with bits in your food.
I did use a drywall spatula for a while, before finding a proper bench knife.
The thing that takes the most stress out of my cooking is my probe thermometer. I'll never have to worry about undercooking chicken, or overcooking a steak again. Nothing worse than spending a lot of money on a good bit of meat, only to ruin it during the cooking.
I completely agree there. So many meals saved because cook times vary by thickness and heat.
For steak, I always go sous vide. But 100% agreed on the chicken. I make buttermilk roast chicken regularly and my thermapen is invaluable for making sure it's properly cooked.
Rice cooker. I can cook rice on the hob just fine. Even rice for sushi. Cooking rice is not a problem I thought needed solving. But the rice cooker does it perfectly, every time, with a fraction of the amount of effort involved (and rather less energy because it's better insulated than a pan). All sorts of rice, it does not care. Perfect, every time. And it keeps it warm for me until I'm ready to use it.
"Rice + stuff", where "stuff" is whatever we have around, is now a weeknight staple in our house and I've started buying fancier rice because really a good quality rice is almost enough of a meal in itself. A few vegetables, maybe an egg, splash of Maggi or similar, maybe some gochujang if I'm feeling fancy.
It also has a slow cooker mode which is great for soups, stews and so on.
Copying my reply from the other topic since I think it's relevant, and I couldn't live without a rice cooker either:
I love my Zojirushi rice cooker! And take great joy when it plays me twinkle twinkle little star when my rice is done.
Alton Brown used to have this thing against single use kitchen tools, and while I realize my rice cooker can do more than just rice, rice is all I use it for and I never begrudge it my counter space because I love it so much.
Cooking rice on the stovetop ends up wet and gross usually if you're using too much water.
The Chinese method of cooking rice is easiest for well-cooked stovetop rice: wash rice, add to pan and add water about 1cm (or to pointer finger's first joint) above the rice, bring to boil without and boil stirring until the water dips below the rice and holes appear in the rice, close lid and steam for 10 minutes.
I didn't quite splurge for the induction Zojirushi, but I did get a fairly high-spec Yum Asia model. The extra features like slow cooking are very useful, but I'm reliably informed that the $20 one-button models do the job just fine too. I do have some black rice around somewhere, I remember it being extremely delicious. I've been getting heavily into Japonica short-grain recently though, usually cooking more than I need for the evening so I can wrap a handful in a nori sheet for lunch the next day.
Obligatory link to Technology Connections' video on rice cookers (they are super clever)
Last Christmas I got a good rice cooker, and I have been eating so much more rice than in previous years. It’s so easy and comes out perfect every time. It’s so nice to not have to fuss over the carb part of my meal. I can just get the rice cooker going while I make the “stuff” part of the “rice + stuff” meal, as you say.
Is it that different from using a pressure cooker?
I can't say we eat enough rice to justify an extra appliance, but I've always wondered.
No, most of them at least aren't pressurized, rice cooks in ~10-20 minutes anyway unless you're in the mountains. It's basically just an electric stovetop and non-stick pot with a clever mechanism to detect when it's done. Well, I think the fancier ones have electronics for that now.
My Zojirushi takes ~55 minutes to cook white rice. It has a "quick" mode that takes ~25 min but the results are not nearly as good. No idea what it's doing in all that time, but I can't argue with the results.
The combined smarts of several countries who take rice very seriously, including but not limited to Japan, Korea and China have engineered modern rice cookers to do something very clever in all that time but I really don't know what it is.
The long cook time on Zojirushi and similar rice cookers is because it soaks and steams. The rice cooker follows three stages: soak > cook > steam (source). Rice takes time to absorb water, so giving it more time to absorb and cook through makes the rice better.
These expensive rice cooker models ("micom", "fuzzy logic", etc) also come with microchips and sensors that can account for variability from batch to batch. Like if your house is hot one day and cold another day, the rice cooker compensates for that temperature difference by adjusting cooking time / temperature, so that you get a consistent result.
That. Is. Brilliant.
Thank you!
I love having a rice cooker because I killed my pot by not keeping an eye on the rice one time on the stovetop.
I set the rice cooker and then forget it, and then focus my attention on the rest of my meal. Especially because when my rice cooker stops cooking it becomes a rice warmer as the next default setting.
What they say about aeropresses is true. It makes some really good coffee. I feel like some other methods are just far more precise if you want good results. I love that the aeropress is forgiving. I will approximate coffee and water levels, do different techniques, change up the water temperature, and almost always the coffee is decent to fantastic. I thought I was just going to use it for camping trips but now it lives on the kitchen counter and I use it all the time. I guess this also implies a bonus all star appliance: the electric kettle.
We upgraded to an electric water boiler. We have a 5L model we run at 85 degrees, and I wish we had considered larger. It's as close as I'll ever get to "Tea, Earl Grey, Hot", and damn it's fine.
Using it with an aero-press is something I should consider, and save myself some counter space.
Only problem is it makes like half a mug of good coffee. I need at least a full mug darn it
I agree; my one problem with the Aeropress is it only gives me about 60% of a mug full. However, I picked up a a recipe milk frother a couple months back, and oh lord does that take care of that empty space in the cup
Huh I've not considered running the same grounds for a round 2. I might try that. I'm certainly not going to just add hot water why would I weaken my drink lol. Thanks!
I think this reply was meant for me and the reply to me was meant for @Savaaq, but anyway, you don’t reuse the grounds. If you follow the instructions and use the prescribed quantity of grounds and fill the water to “1,” you are making “coffee concentrate.” Adding water to fill the mug then brings it to regular strength coffee. So what I do is I use the normal amount of grounds but fill the water to the top instead of just “1,” let that brew, then press it all through.
I've got a "travel" aeropress. Not sure if it's any smaller than the original model, but I don't think so. In any case, I've never had a problem making one or two large coffees per batch.
For one large coffee (~500ml or so) I put two rounded tablespoons of fine grounds into the inverted aeropress, fill with ~80-90 degree water, wait 3-5 minutes, put the cap/filter on, swirl, wait 30sec, press. Add hot water until it's 75% full, add milk or cream to fill the rest of the way. For two cups I'll take the concentrate, add hot water until it reaches the top of the 500ml cup, pour off half into a second cup, fill both cups to 500ml with hot water.
Three large cups is a stretch for mine, and the coffee will be weak unless you use more grounds and/or steep longer.
James Hoffmann has a good youtube series about aeropresses you should check out if you're any kind of coffee nerd. He goes into a lot of detail about how each variable changes the flavour profile of the finished coffee.
I just run enough water through mine to fill the whole mug instead of just the small amount the instructions say (you’re then supposed to add water directly to the mug after you’ve pressed) and I have no complaints. But I admittedly have a less refined palate than most coffee geeks so ymmv.
The reason you are meant to add the water after rather than running it through is that the bad tasting stuff starts to come out later. While adding it after just diluted the good extraction.
I do love my wife's milk frother. So good with espresso
I've really enjoyed the aeropress as well. It's so easy to clean in comparison to the french press. It's also much easier than pour over to execute, especially without a pouring kettle. I know some people complain about the limited max volume, but I feel the 200ml of water is plenty for a nice cup. Really helps me keep my coffee intake too a reasonable amount (I used to drink 6-8 cups daily).
I would like to get into espresso some day, but that's a major jump in equipment costs and permanent counter space.
I bought a Microplane zester, after watching a testing/review video on America's Test Kitchen. It was game changer for me. I had always just used whatever cheapo grater I had to hand before, and just ignored all the pith I was taking off along with the zest.
But with the Microplane zester, it's so ridiculously sharp, and well suited to the task that with only the absolutely lightest of scrapes I can take off purely just the zest... and it makes a world of difference. Now I use zest in almost everything I cook (even rice). And I also now regularly make a quick sauce using sour cream+ black pepper + zest + the fruit juice, to go along with potatoes, in tortillas, and anywhere else sour cream is typically used as a condiment.
So if you also cook a lot, do yourself a favor and get yourself a proper, dedicated zester. Zest (orange, lime, lemon) adds such an amazing flavor to everything you put it in, and if you use a good zester you won't get any of the bitterness from the pith.
Microplane graters are just indispensable, tools perfectly suited to the task. Back in the kitchen days, we'd make recipes that called for, oh let's say, 24 lemons worth of zest. With a Microplane, that was about 10 minutes work, leaving not a speck of yellow on those lemons, and not a trace of pith in the pile of zested peel. The zest was so fine, it practically melted into the curd, icing, cake, or whatever we were making.
I have a couple of different coarsenesses for home use, one for hard cheeses and one for citrus.
A microplane is also a great way to finely mince garlic. I never chop it with a knife anymore! It comes out like a paste
I eat a lot of garlic (Italian Canadian), so I have a stainless steel garlic press. I love that I can just pop whole cloves in it with the skin still on, and not have to worry about peeling them. :P
It's not the Garject is it? I thought the price tag was wild, but it was worth every penny.
Nah, just some no name brand that I have had for over a decade. But I have a few others Dreamfarm products (Fluicer (lemon), Flisk + Mini, Sharple) and love them all, so I have considered getting the Garject at some point too. How does it compare to most other garlic press designs?
It could be used as a weapon. Extremely solid and can easily handle multiple cloves at once. The integrated cleaner works well.
LOL yeah mine could be used as a weapon too. But the cleaning is definitely the most finicky part of my press. Sometimes the garlic skin gets deeply embedded in the holes, and I have to use a sharp knife to pop it out. So you have convinced me to order a Garject now. Thanks! :)
This one was a game changer for us as well because we do a lot of parmesan. Kale pesto has been a recent favorite.
A small scale. Seriously a gamechanger.
Feeding sourdough starter? Put on scale, tare. Add 50ish grams of flour. Tare, add same grams of water. No more measuring cups. Do basically the same when baking, scoop flour in until you get the right mass. Tare, next ingredient. Rinse/repeat for almost anything.
Making meatballs? Make one the size you want, weigh it. Now weigh out before you roll and all your meatballs are identically sized.
If you're trying to lose weight there's no better way to properly count calories.
I have two scales, one small one for precise weighing (ex: sourdough starter) and one large one for bulk weighing (ex: making sourdough)
Hence why I got one good up to 11 lb. If I'm hoofin 12 lb of dough I'm gonna need a bigger kitchen.
As an American, I didn't understand the true power of the kitchen scale. Learning how to convert recipes was a bit tricky, but you can usually use the nutrition facts to get the conversion of volume to weight.
It was especially useful this last Christmas during holiday baking time. Quadrupling a recipe has never been easier.
I too am from America, but take great pains to use metric as much as I can and hope I can do my part for killing Imperial.
This is interesting! Off the top of your head, what do you use them for the most?
I have a pair of "surgical" 12 in tweezers with a fine and wide tip respectively and they are used so much in my cooking when making bacon especially
Countertop convection oven. I barely ever use my full size oven anymore. Air fryers aren't quite big enough, this oven is the perfect size for my husband and I.
Rechargeable battery powered pepper mill is my number one kitchen recommendation. I love freshly ground pepper so much that I'd have to go to the gym if I wanted to grind enough of it by hand. People always laugh at me when they see my automatic one, but then they usually decide they want to buy one for themselves.
I also love my cordless miniature vacuum. It's small enough to slide in a drawer where my utensils are stored, and I use it to vacuum up crumbs, flour, etc. Makes cleaning up really quick and easy.
Tongs
Alton Brown talks about this in his first book, they are your hands for everything you can’t or shouldn’t touch. There are a lot of good responses in here, but I’d bet that everyone gets more use out of their tongs than anything else they’ve said.
You can also use cooking chopsticks, which are just very long chopsticks. Or just normal chopsticks, although you risk some oil getting on your hands. It's fairly normal in Asia to cook with normal chopsticks, which is effectively tongs.
Normal chopsticks often have some sort of finishing on them that can get damaged from the high heat when cooking.
I found that having multiple sets of various sizes of lightweight steel mixing/prep bowls made cooking a lot more organized. They are easy to clean, stack well when not in use, and you don't feel fatigued when using them.
Our Breville Smart Oven Air is probably our single most useful piece of equipment in our kitchen. Otherwise, it’s gonna be my food processor or stand mixer.
Second the Breville! Super convenient and functional.
We got an air fryer/ toaster oven that’s really just a small convection oven and it works great. We use it everyday. It’s on the big end for these things, it could fit a whole pie plate for instance.
Yeah, came here to say this - we upgraded to a bigger toaster oven because our actual oven is gas and smells horrible when used. It has an air fry mode AKA convection-by-any-other-name and it's by far the most common way we cook things now. Roasted veggies all day erryday.
I adore my Kenwood Chef Elite stand mixer. I use it to:
I also have a Vitamix that I use for soups, iced coffees, and homemade condiments. Both indispensible to me and if either fail the first thing I'm doing is repair/replace. Although I spend a lot of time in the kitchen, making pretty niche stuff, so I wouldn't say either of the above are a general recommendation.
How/why would you use the mixer for this instead of the blender?
I think they mean using the blender attachment? I have a Kenwood... Something and the blender attachment for it is a massive beast
Correct! It has a bowl with an orbital mixer/kneader/whisk, low speed front attachment port (for pasta rollers etc) and a high speed rear attachment port (which houses the blender, in my case). It's not good enough for the heavy duty stuff I trust my vitamix for, but for the odd quick blend that doesn't warrant getting the vitamix out of the cupboard for, it works well.
The Kenwood I have I got second hand and it's an older model, the blender is made out of this thick glass and it's legit massive. I haven't tried nuts with it, but I chucked onions and garlic in it and it just pureed the heck out of everything.
Though mostly I use it for bread dough, I rarely need to blend so much stuff that the immersion blender can't do it.
We put off buying an immersion blender for years. Now that we have one, it gets used all the time. One benefit that wasn't obvious, is that we can take (most of) our veggie scraps, and make soup with them. Onion skins and carrot tops obviously go in to making stock or broth, but broccoli/cauliflower stalks, cabbage cores, etc we dice, roast or pan fry, and then add milk or a roux or something, and puree in to a soup. Probably paid for the purchase price of the immersion blender in savings.
Immersion blender has to be the answer for me. I don’t have a food processor or a full blender, but the immersion blender makes up for it in 90% of cases without taking up counter space. I’ve made hummus with it, tons of sauces, blended soups, etc. I find it very useful too for pureeing veggies - I’ve taken to buying fresh tomatoes instead of canned when they’re in season and just blending them whenever a recipe calls for crush tomato. Very very convenient and i would consider it indispensable now.
The most obvious:
Got an induction stove/oven combination a year ago that I love. You can even combine the four plates into two bigger ones. Cooking makes so much more fun and is done quicker. One of the best investments I had done in a long while. The oven has pyrolysis and a fast heat mode. Especially pyrolysis is an amazing switch from my old and dirty oven. I always thought an oven just makes food hot, but the differences are impressive.
Besides this, I have an automatic knife sharpener with three different strengths. It has rotating disks, so you can just move the knifes in and out for a few times and then they are sharp enough to cut your arm hair. No need to use sharpening stones anymore.
I use that one so often, that its permanently in the kitchen. Definitely suggest that. Dull knifes are terrible.
Otherwise I try not to buy too much stuff and keep the kitchen an open space. So no rice cooker or air frier or similar things. Although I eat rice now almost every day, so Im thinking about one, to have more space on the stove.
Then it's the perfect reason to get a rice cooker.
Yeah maybe. I was already looking at a few today and they are not expensive either. Might be a useful addition.
I'll jump onto the countertop convection toaster train. We hardly use our full oven.
We also use our blender a surprising amount - smoothies, soups, hummus, dressing, sauces, etc. The blender has a usage counter on it for some reason and I've used it like 1500 times apparently.
I also use my instant pot a lot. It makes for easy weekday dinners.
Also, I hesitated to buy one because it was very expensive, but I've use my espresso machine every day for the past 6 years. That thing has payed for itself many times over.
I'll third the convection oven (mine's an Oster) and the Instant Pot. The two of those together are 95% of my meals.
Earlier this year I got a panini maker from a discount store for 7 bucks. Don't know if I would have paid for it at it's normal retail price, but now that I have it I use it just about every day. Super easy to use and massively improves any sandwich I put into it.
Also echoing the other posts that mention the aeropress, it makes delicious coffee. Although recently I've been using a moka pot, which produces similar strength of coffee but has a lower chance of me spilling hot coffee all over myself when I'm groggy
A slow cooker. I bought one at Target about 8 years ago and I've used it about two or three times a week since then. As a matter of fact, it is currently cooking my dinner!
Toaster Oven. It takes muuuuch less time to preheat than our regular gas-powered oven
Or a full electric oven for that matter. We got one of those air fryer/toaster ovens and it's a godsend in the summer. Pop that thing on the porch and not force your AC to fight the 300 degree box.
Sticking with "gadgety" type things as opposed to staples like knives/pans:
I guess the classics have to be in - my good knife that I use for basically everything and I got so used to it feels awkward trying to use other knives. My induction stovetop, the oven with forced air and deep clean mode etc.
But those are classics that all kitchens have because you kinda need them or an equivalent to even call it a kitchen.
I really love the Contact Grill I have. It's a random no-name brand, but I've grilled meat and veggies on it (cleanup was a pain, no easy to remove inserts, so I'm not gonna do meat on it again)... but it's amazing for sandwiches and toasting stale bread or thawing frozen slices. Aside from when I have freshly baked bread, it goes through the grill before I eat it.
Another thing I debated getting is one of those hand-held foil holders that you can snap closed to cut the foil. I was surprised how much of a difference it actually made when I needed a straight-cut bit of foil to cover a rising dough
My cast iron dutch oven is my favourite piece of cookware and it's not even close... I feel like there's basically nothing it can't do. Soups and stews and chowders and beans are the obvious, but I also use it pretty often for roasts and other oven tasks. I've done pulled pork a couple times too in the oven and that's been pretty successful. I'm actually currently making a broth in it!
A half sheet tray, with rack. USA Pan makes my favourite one.
Crank your oven for quick spatchcocked chicken. Perfect size for a batch of focaccia. Killer for drying out steaks in the fridge before searing.
Do disposable sheets of parchment count? I use them for absolutely everything. Bread, cookies, cut into circles for cake pans, roasting vegetables, pizza…
My most used are my global kitchen knives. I got my first 2 when I was an apprentice chef in 2007 and that are still just as good.
Most supprising has been the slow cooker, you can just throw what ever in there and in a few hours you will have something that tastes decent. Plus I am a lazy cook and it is easy.
Both of these awansers are for cooking at home as I have not woke as a chef for quite some time.
My ninja foodie sp100 toaster oven air fryer combo; really, it's just a small convection oven. Use it pretty much every day, and it has more or less replaced our regular oven. Love it, zero regrets.
My mother gifted us a Ninja Foodie combo air fryer and pressure cooker, and it is so cool. Pressure cook the protein on one rack and the veg in the bottom, then crisp up the protein (or whatever else) under the convection top. So damned useful, and I usually hate large standalone kitchen devices.
Same situation with a different air fryer. Such a great easy to use tool.
I bought an As Seen On TV stainless ceramic lined medium sized Wok and it’s the best pan I have by a long shot. The rest of my cookware is well maintained stainless and I would go with ceramic lined pans in the case I have to replace them. Aside from that, an oven style air fryer that is awesome for making sides with minimal effort. I have fired up the oven maybe 10-15 times since I bought it about 6-8 months ago.
My 12-inch cast iron pan, my 10-inch carbon steel pan, and my small enameled cast iron saucepan.
These never leave my stove, as I use them multiple times daily. They are a joy to cook with.
Also...rubber spatulas. I can never have enough.
Surprisingly for me has to be the Soda Stream. From flavored fizzy water to a pretty convincing Red Bull energy drink substitute, I get use out of it almost every day.
I mean..... My knife.
But geez... There are some crazy good answers here.
Yes! A good enough knife is important.
For a while I was using the cheap knives sold in supermarkets. I thought they'll be sharp enough, and they'll do.
But usually they're terrible knives.
As soon as I got a good knife, on a solid chopping board, with a non-slip mat (or cloth) under it, I started cooking more, because everything is just easier.
Hacking an onion into a rough chop because my skills and knife don't allow anything else is okay, but getting a reasonably fine chop because I've improved my skill and I have a sharp knife makes me feel like I can achieve stuff in the kitchen.
I can't list just one, there's actually quite a few:
With the COVID-19 pandemic, I got into the whole sourdough thing. I'd attempted this a couple of times before without success, found joy this time largely through YouTube videos, supplemented since with some cookbooks (Flour, Water, Salt, Tartine, etc.).
Pointedly, there aren't a slew of appliances and devices here, though I've access to several and occasionally use them: Hand and immersion mixers, two-speed bar mixer, a Cuisinart food processor, a Kitchen Aid stand mixer, a countertop convection toaster-oven, and a Foreman grill (excellent for chicken) all see some use, but I could live without them.
Stainless steel bowls. I had some mixing bowls but they're heavy and they don't stack and they're stuck in a cupboard. I have a few now. I got a range of sizes - small for helping prepare chopped veg, large for mixing things.
They're practically indestructible, they're very light, and I use them every day.
Super automatic coffee maker. Use it everyday. Only issue is you have to get medium roast beans that are not greasy or it will get jamed and waste the beans. We have a Gaggia anima deluxe, I would not recommend it though as it can't use french roast beans without wasting half of them.
I have a DeLonghi espresso maker. It was a crazy amount to pay for a coffee machine but I've more than gotten my money's worth out of it. Even though I only make Americanos with it, it can froth milk etc., but it is so nice in the morning to just turn it on, press a button, out comes a great cup of coffee from freshly ground beans ... I've had it 10 years now and last year was the first time I had to send it away for service to replace the diffuser that had cracked (possibly because I've had one international move, and three within the U.S. moves since I've had it).
How does it handle greasy beans?
I’ve not had any issues with coffee beans that are oily in terms of grinding/filtration etc. It’s a constant battle to keep that film build out up out of the drip tray though and I do clean off the diffuser from time to time, but idk if that’d be much different with drier beans.
Most surprising: Cuisinart STM-1000 countertop steamer. Really nice for re-heating many types of (non-crispy) dishes, and it’s amazing for steaming vegetables before stir frying. Have a new baby?The steamer is a huge help for making homemade baby foods. And for anyone who cooks or is interesting in learning to cook Asian dishes, a steamer opens up a whole new world, including steamed breads. This device is also really easy to clean.
Honestly, it’s completely extraneous, but I love my cheap Cuisinart egg cooker. It doesn’t come out super often, but when it does it’s a total time saver. Want a medium-boiled egg to spice up ramen? Done in just a few minutes. Boiling 10 at once for deviled eggs or Easter egg dying? You got it! It’s way faster than doing them in the stovetop which is a game-changer for weeknight meals. We just used ours tonight so it’s top of mind.
I also love my instant-read thermometer which takes all the uncertainty out of cooking meats.
A rice cooker is also another great addition to my kitchen. Doesn’t have to be fancy; mine is a basic model with just a single on-off switch, but it makes rice easy and now I love making meals with rice as a side.
I eat a lot of vegetables but don't like to spend a lot of time cooking, so I got a 12" cast iron wok (along with a wok spatula and a wok ladle) to supplement my existing cast iron skillet and griddle, and now the skillet and griddle collect dust. I use several times a week, more than I even use saucepans.
Honestly, a good flexible spatula. The egg-turner kind, not the bowl-scraping kind. Unfortunately the best one I've found isn't made anymore. The "Tailor Made Products" nylon spatula. It was made for decades, and is better than anything else I've ever found, but the company recently got bought or something and doesn't make them anymore.
I feel like this is a hard one compared to what you don't like! Just thinking about "must have basics" with 'makes your life easier' features, the set of measuring spoons I have. They've got magnets built into the handles so you don't lose the set in a drawer or need to play around with hooking together onto a ring
I have two, my all clad 12in skillet and my ceramic coated castiron dutch oven. I use one of those two things 99% of the time when I am cooking, and I cook almost every day so they see A LOT of use. I have no use for anything else unless I'm baking. I currently just have a $50 lodge dutch oven, but if I ever break it or need to replace it for some other reason I will probably go with a more high end brand.
For me It's a tie between my Anova Sous Vide, Ninja Foodie Air Oven and instant pot. The only other appliance that gets the most use is my BBQ grill. I can count on one hand how many times I've used my actaul oven in the last 12 months and it was 1 time for the turkey at thinksgiving.
A silicone microwave popcorn popper. It’s basically a collapsible silicone bowl with a lid. I used to pop popcorn on the stovetop, but I’d get spatters of oil all over the place and moisture-control was pretty difficult (chewy popcorn sucks). So my popcorn popper had been amazing. Easy cleanup and light, crunchy popcorn every time. I also use the popper to pre-steam vegetables in the microwave.
Seconding this one. Silicone bowl + popping oil (oil with butter flavouring) + Flavacol (extra fine butter flavoured salt) = perfect movie theatre style popcorn. Y’know that special, hard to identify something something in real movie theatre popcorn that sets it apart and makes it taste so good? Yeah, it’s popping oil and Flavacol. I will never go back to air popped or pre-bagged microwave popcorn again.
P.s. 1/4 cup kernels, 1 tbsp popping oil, 1/4 tsp flavacol, microwave on high until popping slows down
Not the most used by any means, but a garlic chopper is a massive time saver for getting fresh minced garlic into your meal. Fresh garlic makes a difference!
The rice cooker was also surprising to me, which is silly to say, but true. "I can make rice by myself on the stove, and it's not even a big deal" I said to myself. The thing is though, making rice on the stove, you have to baby it the whole time. With the rice cooker, I set it and forget it. Even though it takes longer, if I get it going before I start cooking the rest of my meal, even if it's done early, it switches to warm automatically. It's perfect rice every time.
My wok. I love the "one pan for everything" approach it lets you easily achieve, and there's no better pan for quickly cooking vegetables. I was always taught "low and slow" to render onions, peppers, carrots, etc., but in a wok, it's "hot as you can get it and move quickly." I've literally prepared entire meals in under fifteen minutes, and I don't even have a dedicated high-BTU burner for the wok; I just use a normal gas cooktop.
You don't have to spend a lot on a wok, either. I think mine was about $25, and it came with a decent wok spatula (the only other tool you need unless you make soups). Any decent carbon steel wok will suffice. If I had to have just one pan, it would be the wok. You can cook just about anything in it.
Tie between my ThermaPen and my chef’s knife. Nothing really special about my knife. I just keep it sharp and maintained.