Tools of the Trade

About author / Lauren Braun Costello

The competent cook; food stylist; cooking instructor; graduate French Culinary Institute. To die for dish? Maple glazed bacon wrapped roast turkey. Yep, bacon wrapped.

There are so many kitchen gadgets available on the market today. Recently I saw an advertisement for a wand of sorts that slices the avocado right out of the shell. I have been asked what I think of the gizmo that is shaped like a grid and dices onions for you (the answer, by the way, is 'not much'). The preposterousness of the single-task kitchen toy was best satirized in the first "Bridget Jones" movie when Bridget's mother resorts to selling a hard-boiled egg peeling trinket. Do we really need a separate tool for each and every task?

In general, I would say absolutely not. For centuries, the great cooks of the world have produced exceptional results with limited equipment. As Julia Child used to say, your hands are your best tool in the kitchen. And I have written that if we were left with only one gadget, it would have to be the knife. In all the examples above, either your hands or a knife will do the trick without the clutter. There are a few cases where certain tools perform just one task that truly does expedite your prep time. The cherry stoner, for example, is a boon to anyone cooking with fresh cherries. Using your hands and a knife in this case is cumbersome, time-consuming and messy.

Professional cooks do not use garlic crushers, asparagus baskets, or tomato knives. A garlic crusher actually wastes garlic and is a nuisance to clean when all you have to do is smash the clove with the flat side of your chef's knife, peel and chop. Asparagus baskets are just as silly when you already have a large and deep saucepan to use. When it comes to cutting tomatoes or anything else, a very sharp edge will do the trick every time. Space is always at a premium in any kitchen, professional or otherwise. But there are a few essential gadgets the pros do use, without which our jobs would be much more difficult.

Microplane

Also known as a rasp, the microplane was originally used to shape and smooth a variety of building materials, ranging from wood to rubber. Fitted with hundreds of tiny stainless steel razors, this hand-held tool revolutionized cooking when a frustrated home cook borrowed her husband's woodworking tool to zest an orange. Microplanes come flat, box or rotary. No matter the shape, microplanes can zest citrus fruit, grate carrots to the finest grade, or turn whole nutmeg into powder. Go out and get one. You will never use a standard zester again!

Spice Grinder

Spice grinders look like tiny coffee grinders and take up very little space. They allow cooks to work with whole spices and grind them fresh for the optimum intensity of flavor. In Indian cooking, for example, whole spices are often toasted and then freshly ground. This is the foundation of a good curry. You could grind spices in a coffee grinder, but you would be mixing flavors and potentially contaminating the taste of your coffee, even after a good wash.

Channeling Tool

Cucumbers with fluted edges are the quintessential bottom to smoked salmon, crème fraiche and dill. A channeling tool flutes the cucumber for you, making a flower-like shape with one quick peel. This makes your garnishes look elegant, and makes you look even better for it!

Ricer or Food Mill

If mashing potatoes is all you want to do, I recommend the ricer (named for the shape in which the potato emerges from the tool). This gadget pushes the flesh through a slotted disc with a steady squeeze of the handle. But the food mill is more versatile, even if a bit unwieldy to use. Food is placed in a bowl designed with a slotted bottom attached to which is a slanted disk that pushes the food through the mill as you move the handle in a circular motion. This contraption purees fruits and vegetables while straining out skins, seeds, fibers.

Mandoline

Do not confuse this tool with the stringed mandolin, even though it was named after the musical instrument (a cook can play the mandoline to get the cuts he wants the way a musician can play a mandolin to get the notes he wants). And please do not pronounce it that way (sorry, a big pet peeve of mine). A mandoline (Man-doh-leen) is a French cutting tool that does all the fancy cutting for you. Julienne, waffle cuts and paper thin slices are easy when you slide vegetables across this rectangular surface fit with a tilting blade.