My Favorite Kitchen Essentials

Like many people I’ve spent a lot more time cooking and baking as a result of the pandemic and lockdown. Before the pandemic, I did cook or bake occasionally and at one time was even married to a culinary school graduate who worked for a pair of famous chefs, so I do sorta know my way around the kitchen. Still, it had been a minute and when I got back into it I essentially started from scratch (see what did there?)

Fortunately, we have a pretty good selection of tools to work with and there’s a lot of info about how to cook online to get me started. As I’ve gone through my culinary adventures I’ve come to realize I use some of the tools more than others and have figured out my essential favorites.

Some of these may be fairly obvious, but I’m hoping those of you who are new to cooking, coming back to it after an absence or starting to take it more seriously, will benefit from my experiences.

So what are these favorite essential tools? Glad you asked.

Chef’s Knife — If you’re gonna make food, you’re gonna need to cut some stuff. So, you need a knife. I own and use a few knives and have tried quite a few others over the years. I’m kinda a knife “enthusiast” if I’m being honest. Don’t hold it against me.

There’s several options for knives (forged, full tang, etc.) and you can spend a lot of money on a knife. But if you’re just starting out you don’t really need to worry about that too much. Just select a knife from a reputable company that feels good in your hand and gets you excited about getting into the kitchen and making stuff.

Then, use it and keep it sharp. That’s very important. Your knives need to be sharp. A dull blade is dangerous and makes things harder in the kitchen.

At the moment, my main knife is a Wustoff Classic 8" Chef’s Knife. But I’m also a big fan of the Wustoff Classic 7" Hollow Edge Santoku. It’s lighter and I find myself reaching for it more and more. The big Wustoff is great, but it almost feels too big in some cases.

I also have another knife I really like and have been using a lot lately: the 7" Hollow Edge Santoku by Victorinox. It’s not a forged blade (which might matter if you use the knife daily for many years) so it’s not as expensive as some of the other ones.