Optimum Health

Cooking

- Two round skillets or sauté pans, with lids: one small (8”), one large (10-12”). Choose heavy ones with a thick bottom, as they will conduct the heat better. (A sauté pan has straighter and higher sides than a skillet, so you can flip the contents with one adroit shake of the pan, but in most recipes they are interchangeable.)
- Two saucepans, with lids: one small (1 quart), one large (quarts).
- A heavy pot or Dutch oven, for soups, stews, and no-knead bread. Choose a large one, round or oval, 6 to 8 liters/quarts in capacity. I wholeheartedly recommend a cast-iron cocotte, enamel-coated or not: it’s definitely an investment, but the heat conduction is perfect and it will last several lifetimes. I own one large and one smaller Le Creuset. Make sure the handle of the lid can take high temperatures without melting, so you can use your pot in the oven, too.
- A steamer insert, with lid, to steam vegetables and fish. I use a basic set of wire mesh baskets which you simply set over a pan of simmering water.

Not indispensable, but nice to have:

- An oval skillet, to cook whole fish.
- A grill pan, to sear meat and give it those nice, appetizing grill marks.
- A ceramic terrine dish, with lid.

Baking

- A fluted 10-inch tart mold. This is a round and shallow metal pan that is used to bake dessert tarts. (I have a nonstick one with a removable bottom.)
- A 10-inch round springform cake pan, for cakes that can’t be turned out to be unmolded.
- Two or three 9-inch round cake pan to bake other cakes.
- A baking sheet. Some people are partial to silicone baking mats; I find them annoying to clean and dry, and I prefer to use a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- A 10-inch quiche pan. This is a round pan made of glass or ceramic, deeper than a tart mold, in which to bake quiches and savory tarts.
- Two baking dishes, glass or ceramic: one medium (6 cups in capacity), one large (14 cups in capacity).
- A tray of muffin molds, to bake mini-cakes and mini-quiches. I have a preference for mini- or micro-muffin molds; they make for cuter and more reasonable servings.
- A loaf pan, about 8 cups in capacity.
- Cookie cutters. If you have room and budget for just one set, get shapes that do not scream “holidays” too loudly, so you can use them during the rest of the year, too. The most versatile one I have is a 2-1/3” round fluted cutter, which I also use for miniature tartlet crusts.

Not indispensable, but nice to have:

Pizza Stones- for the obvious, but I also leave them in my oven full time to help the oven stay at temp . It holds the heat, making it so the oven has to cut on and off as much, saving energy.

- A set of ceramic ramekins, to bake eggs, soufflés,flans and custards. They are also very handy to set ingredients aside as you measure them.
- A set of 4-inch tartlet molds, to make individual versions of savory or dessert tarts. (I have nonstick ones with removable bottoms.)
- An 7-inch charlotte mold; it can be used to bake small cakes and panettones, too.
- As many different silicon molds as you can possibly justify: I personally own (and use) trays of miniature tartlet molds, madeleine molds, and financiers molds, as well as a jelly roll mold.

Utensils

- A slotted turner, to lift and turn food in the skillet or sauté pan. Choose a heat-resistant one made of silicone or nylon so it won’t scrape your pans.
- A pair of tongs, to grab, flip, and arrange food in the pan as precisely as if you were using your fingers, minus the burns.
- Wooden spoons, to stir and mix. It’s nice to have at least two of these. Choose them with a long handle (about 30cm/12”) so your hand will be far from the heat source as you stir.
- A slotted spoon, to lift the solids from a pan and leave the liquids behind. Very handy to serve stews, too.
- A ladle, to transfer and serve soup.
- A heat-resistant silicone spatula, to scrape bowls to the last drop, and smooth out the surface of cake batters.
- A wire whisk.
- A set of measuring cups and spoons. I personally use the same set of cups to measure liquids and solids, and I am still alive.
- A nesting set of mixing bowls. It’s hard to have too many mixing bowls.  I have about 10, three of the huge ones and assorted sizes all the way down to 6 inches across.  Choose stainless steel; make sure they are stable and don’t tip over too easily. If you’re short on space, get glass or ceramic bowls attractive enough that they can also be used as salad bowls.
- Cutting boards. I myself am partial to wood. (Note: to avoid cross-contamination, our friends the food safety experts say you should assign three different boards to work with produce, cooked products, and raw animal products.)
- At least three cooling racks, to speed up the cooling of baked goods so you can eat your cookies sooner.
- A fine-mesh sieve, to strain sauces and marinades. I use mine to sift the flour for cakes.
- A large colander, to drain pasta and set vegetables aside as you chop them. I like the wire mesh ones, you can use them for steaming foods also, stacked up!
- A salad spinner to dry your salad greens. It does a good job with fresh herbs, too, no real need to get the miniature one.
- A pepper mill. I love the kind which you operate with one push of the thumb.
- A can opener, preferably one that also has a little metal lip to open jars of jam (and, incidently, bottles of beer).
- A nut cracker. I use a simple yet sturdy vintage one that I’ve had forever.

Not indispensable, but nice to have:

- An oven thermometer, to make sure your oven is not lying to your face. Hang the thermometer inside the oven and rely on it, rather than the thermostat, to know when the temperature is right.
- A lemon juicer. If you don’t have one, stick a fork in the flesh of a halved citrus: hold the fork in one hand, and squeeze the fruit over a small bowl with the other hand. Remove any seeds from the juice with the fork.
- A garlic press, to extract the pulp and juices from a clove of garlic without having to peel it, thus dodging the smell of garlic on your fingers. The garlic press can be an annoying animal to clean, but I use a toothbrush with good success.
- A mortar and pestle to make pesto the old-fashioned way (it does make a difference in taste), and grind spice mixes, nuts, or herbs. I have a large marble mortar and two Japanese surabachis, and use either depending on the volume of the stuff I have to grind. – A rolling pin. If you don’t have one, use a clean, tall, straight-sided bottle, such as a bottle of Bordeaux wine (remove the label).
- A pastry brush to apply egg wash, melted butter, or glaze on baked goods. If you don’t have one, use the back of a small spoon.
- A flexible baking spatula and cutter. This is a thin, narrow, and long-bladed spatula (about 20cm/8”) that my friend Alisa gave to me as a gift, and it is incredibly handy for all manner of things: loosening and lifting baked goods from baking sheets, lifting a loaf of bread from the pot it has baked in, cutting and serving cakes, spreading icing… I’m still looking for things that it won’t do.
- A mini-torch to caramelize sugar on crèmes brûlées or tart crusts. You can buy it from a cooking utensils store, or just buy a small regular blowtorch at a hardware store.
- A sugar thermometer, for jams, caramel, and candy.
- A chocolate dipping fork. It is what chocolate makers use to make chocolate-dipped things : you melt some chocolate in a wide and not too shallow pan, you balance whatever it is you’d like to dip onto the tines of the fork, lower the fork into the chocolate, take it out, and deposit the coated bite on a special non-stick plastic sheet (“feuille guitare”) for it to dry and harden.
- A potato ricer.
- A meat cutting board with a trench that runs all around it, to save the juices.
- A meat fork to keep the roast/poultry in place as you carve it.
- A set of metallic serving circles (3” across) to create stacked desserts and vertical platings.

Sharp Things

Here’s my basic kit:

- A 10 inch Henkel for cutting potatoes, onions.

- A 8-inch Global chef’s knife , to cut, slice, mince, chop, and dice. I love my Global.

- A 4.5-inch Connoisseur paring knife for when the item to work on is small or handheld and more control is needed. I love my Connoisseur.

- A knife sharpener to keep these two knives happy. I use a flat stone. — I soak the stone in water first, set the knife at a 15° angle, and swish the blade away from me.

-A steel for sharpening after the knife has been on the stone.

-A diamond steel for getting the edge VERY sharp.

-A leather strop for finishing.

- A 10-inch serrated Henkel bread knife to slice bread and cakes without making a horror movie scene out of them.

. – A four-sided box grater, for cheese and vegetables; my favorite side (of course one has to have a favorite side) is the large hole one. Again, make sure it is sharp as a whip (I can recommend the Gefu brand), otherwise the merest carrot to grate will be such a hassle you will stop eating grated carrot salads and that would be a pity, wouldn’t it, because grated carrot salads are rather nice, not to mention good for your complexion.

Not indispensable but nice to have:

- A mandoline, to slice vegetables and fruit quickly and in thin, regular slices. It can also be used to cut matchsticks or crinkled slices, which is pretty neat, and chunks of your fingers, which is pretty painful (be careful with that thing). Depending on your budget, you can go all out and get a professional model (mine is a Bron) or buy a cheaper plastic one outside any kitchen store: the latter may not have as long a life, but it will work acceptably well.
- A microplane zester to grate citrus zest, cheese, ginger, chocolate, etc. finely and effortlessly.

Appliances

- Mixers, food processors, etc. The only choice is a Cuisinart, all others fall very short of working well. I also splurged on a stand mixer for baking. : this one mixes batters, whips whatever you want it to (to a certain extent), and kneads dough without hop-hopping across the counter.
- A digital timer, preferably magnetic, so it can live on the fridge door.

-

Not indispensable, but nice to have:

- A rice cooker for perfect rice you don’t need to babysit. (The best deals on those can often be found at Asian supermarkets.)
- A fondue pot. We only use it a handful of times each winter, admittedly, but these occasions are always so convivial and fun that I find it worth allotting the pot a bit of storage space.
- An electric Champion juicer, it makes great juice, nut butters, shaved ice and awesome sorbets.  The one I have is 30 years old and still going strong.

-  A citrus juice press- because a tall glass of freshly squeezed orange juice is what winter mornings are all about.