What Do You Cook With?

What kind of tools and cookware do you use in your kitchen?

Tonight I was looking over all the different things we use and I realized everything we own is very purpose oriented. With little exception, I don't think we own a "set" of anything. Now granted, my wife is a classically trained professional Chef, but still. I was wondering if anyone else is as weird as we are when it comes to the wild assortment of cookware and tools as we are.

Pans -
Skillet and fryers - (3) de Buyer 10", 12" and 14"
Egg pans - We have exactly (2) non-stick skillets in the house, both KitchenAid mineral pans.
Dutch Ovens and saucier(s) - Le Creuset
Wok - We've actually got a custom hammered steel one I bought in China (watched them make it even).
"pots" - Heh, we've got 3-4 just "pots". No idea what brand they are, just straight utility pots.
Stock pots - Gosh we've got a bunch of these. No idea on the brand, just picked them up at the commercial restaurant supply house.
Dutch Ovens and beater cast iron - Lodge

Knives -
Chef - a large 10" Wusthof and (2) Kyocera ceramics
Prep - 7" Henckels Pro "S" Hollow Ground Santoku (my personal favorite)
Butchering and Meat cutting - several commercial RH Forschner knives (breaking, butcher and cimeter)
Paring - This little 3" job I got for free with something. Sharpest most durable knife I've ever used. Even the wife is impressed with this little guy.
Steels - Wusthof and Henckels

Utensils -
Most of our utensils are Kitchenaid (and frankly, I think they suck...too soft).

Appliances -
(Buffer overrun) Too many to list!

It's definitely an odd assortment of stuff, but it all works perfectly for their respective intended functions. Sometimes it looks kinda' funny hanging on the pot rack or looking in the in-drawer knife block, but hey, what matters is what comes "out" of the pans, right?

You gotta understand. We're poor (in the sense of ready disposable income), so most of what we have in our kitchen is a hodge podge of what we could find or what we were given.

Most of what we do is cooked out of a very few, non-name brand pots, pans and skillets.

We have a cast iron skillet, one copper bottom stock pot (we got it at an outlet on close out, it has been one of our best purchases EVAR), a cheap oval roaster, two 9 x 13 glass cassaroles I got from my grandmother, a deep skillet/pot we use on the stove because I broke the glass lid for it, some random sauce pans (two non-stick), a very beat-up non-stick skillet I like for eggs ... you get the idea.

Our knife block is sort of the same.

Believe me, if we ever come into some ready, disposable cash, the kitchen and cooking utensils are high priority for upgrades because we use them a lot.

My stuff pretty much follows your's. No "sets" of anything, just whatever I need. I do love my cast irons skillets and dutch ovens though. My knives are Sabatiers......and a couple of old carbon steel blades that my Granny used. I had to make new handles for them a few years back and Jesus these things sharpen up nice. Razor edged and hold it for a long time. I think Grandpa got'em overseas in Korea or Japan, but they don't have a name on them. They do have a symbol on the tang, so maybe he got'em from a from a local blacksmith. I hone them on a 6000 grit water stone and after I get done....you better not slip.

a reply to: ketsuko

When I was in college (and for a while afterwards) I only had two pots, a cast iron skillet and cast iron dutch oven. My kitchen knife was generally on my belt and that's what got used to cut my dinner plate. I don't think I even had two forks that matched. To this day I still believe some of the best food I ever made came from that set up. So there's certainly no shame in that!

In fact, one year my roommate and I went for two entire YEARS without buying meat at the grocery store. (Had to save all our money for beer you know!). But our freezer was always stuffed full with wild game and fish, so much so we even had to give some away to keep it from going to waste.

I've always said, give me a cast iron dutch oven and I can make absolutely anything!

Stove, knives, cutting board pans, pots and oven... when I can get the darn space clean... and relax... oh stirring spoon and forks. Bowls are essential or plates to separate ingredients that are to be added separately.
I haven't prepared a full meal almost all summertime...🎏

a reply to: DAVID64

Yes, I sharpen all our knives too (except the ceramic ones, which we send out). I learned knife sharpening from an old master, and if you know how to use a water stone it's clear you know what you're doing! It took me years to graduate from a oil-stone to a water-stone. And then there's the art of stropping.

My wife calls it "skeery sharp". Cut yourself with one of these knives and you won't even feel it

We have a well-equipped kitchen and can pretty well handle any need. We've been told (by the cabinet resurface guys) that our kitchen is twice normal sized (in terms of cabinets) and it is stuffed. The problem is well-meaning relatives who find a "gadget" they think we need. They're usually made of plastic and for a single purpose.

For example, we are now proud owners of a "hamburger stuffer." It "stuffs" pretty much anything into the "inside" of a hamburger patty. (P.S. It doesn't work.) We also have a cherry "pitter" that pits a whopping six cherries at a time (Never used), a "pancake maker" that ensures round pancakes, several small cutting boards "for cheese" (never used), a "mandoline" which actually may prove useful--someday. At least it is traditional. Salt and pepper shakers in the shape of fish. A watermelon knife slicer AND a melon ball maker.

And a postal scale--which is actually quite useful. Oh, and I know about skeery sharps. We have a complete set of Wusthof and they are, indeed, so sharp you won't feel the cut.

Pathetic, really.

t.

a reply to: schuyler

We do have a mandolin, and we do use that.

I forget why we wound up buying it, but I got in the habit of taking wraps for lunch, and it cuts a nice thin slice off a cucumber or onion to put in a wrap among other convenient uses. I think we've also used it for making scalloped potatoes, slicing apples for a glazed pork shoulder recipe that is absolutely awesome, and other things. It's just faster than slicing things thin with a knife.

a reply to: ketsuko

The mandolin is probably the single most DANGEROUS item in the kitchen!!

We have a couple of them. They're good for large production cutting, but I can't imagine a more dangerous tool! I'll cut with a knife for hours before using one of those.

Just made a post about knife safety and common injuries, and probably should have included something about mandolins, but please BE CAREFUL with those mandolins! I know more people who have cut off bits and pieces of their appendages with one of those things than I can count!!

ETA...a whirling circular saw with the guard taken off is probably safer!! And the heck of the thing with a mandolin is whatever you cut is "cut off" instantly before most even realize it.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

We are fully aware of how easy it would be to take off the tips of your fingers with one. Ours has a guard you use with it, but you don't want to get going really fast with it just for safety sake.

a reply to: ketsuko

Yes, most of them do have a handheld guard on them, but still it's easy to get complacent...especially when items get small.

I'm sure you're fully capable of being careful, but just ... BE CAREFUL!!

We prepare massive amounts of food (from my competitions, raising and butchering cattle, the wife's profession and just us). Collectively, we probably have more than a little bit of exposure to injury, more so than most, and staying safe makes for much better eats!

Best.

Been there; done that. Cut off the end of my finger while working as a cook in a restaurant with a spinning blade used to cut pepperoni. That was fun. Doctor was good and sewed it back on. It's been 50 years and you can still see it, and there's no feeling in that tip, but otherwise worked out okay. At least no one found a finger tip in their pizza.

I have an assortment of pots and pans. A full set of very nice pans and pots. A few non stick pans for eggs, wok, electric skillet, stock pots, three different kinds of cast iron (skillet, griddle, and dutch oven) that were all handed down from grandmothers, a rice cooker, slow cooker, electric roasting oven/pan thingy.

As for knives, I've got a generic set that is kept well sharpened and a couple of ceramic knives. I prefer wooden utensils, but I have some slotted metal, metal ladels, and so on.

I don't do what Alton Brown would have called a 'unitasker' though. No gadgets or things that are meant for only one purpose. No fancy ginger graters or roll thing to take the paper skin off garlic, nothing like that. The only unitasker in my kitchen is the fire extinguisher.

about the only things I don't have are a juicer and a toaster oven. Otherwise, i have gadgets boxed up in the garage. Ill dig them out when needed.

a reply to: MaMaa

FIRE....MAAAAAAAA....BAD!!!!!

FIRE...BAD!!!!

Cast-iron skillet.
Grill.
Marine combat knife.
Eat everything else raw.

Cast Iron all the way.

I don't have fancy knives but i have a fancy knife sharpener and it works great.

originally posted by: ketsuko
You gotta understand. We're poor (in the sense of ready disposable income), so most of what we have in our kitchen is a hodge podge of what we could find or what we were given.

Most of what we do is cooked out of a very few, non-name brand pots, pans and skillets.

We have a cast iron skillet, one copper bottom stock pot (we got it at an outlet on close out, it has been one of our best purchases EVAR), a cheap oval roaster, two 9 x 13 glass cassaroles I got from my grandmother, a deep skillet/pot we use on the stove because I broke the glass lid for it, some random sauce pans (two non-stick), a very beat-up non-stick skillet I like for eggs ... you get the idea.

Our knife block is sort of the same.

Believe me, if we ever come into some ready, disposable cash, the kitchen and cooking utensils are high priority for upgrades because we use them a lot.

I'm also a low budget master chef I like camp cooking so I will spend spare change to increase my collection of cast iron at any opportunity. Also I'm a toxin phobe so I threw out all the nonstick stuff. But everything else is a hodge podge, and I avoid single purpose only items unless someone gives them to me as gifts (like that apple slicer, but I have it so I use it).

I love wooden spoons. I also make a habit of sharpening my knives every time I wash them. Great source of kitchen stuff on a budget is garage sales and resale shops. I recently decided to reduce plastic Tupperware and use the old ceramic stuff instead. People are practically giving it away. You can even pick your favorite old pattern and only collect it (blue daisy corningware for example) and stock your whole kitchen for less than $20.

My kitchen seems so lacking after having read this thread.

I have two ceramic.. things... that I use for cooking up individual servings of a potato bake, or pot pie.
I have one frying pan. A small saucepan, and a large saucepan.
I use throw-away foil baking dishes.
I have one baking tray. (and one muffin tray, and one cake tin.)
My cutlery is $2 stuff from a general purpose retail store.
I have one mixing bowl and one wooden spoon.

That one mixing bowl gets used for many things. At the moment it's in the fridge with fruit chunks and jelly set in it. Sometimes I use my larger saucepan as a mixing bowl when my real mixing bowl is already in use!

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

--Stainless steel sauce pans--a set--heavy duty.

--Bamboo steamer

--Crock pots--an abundance. LOL.

--Cast iron skillets

--Traditional steel wok. Did not bring it home from China. LOL.

--No longer use non-stick surfaces due food pollution from them being as serious as it evidently is.

--have made a lidded bean pot out of a micacious clay--unglazed--that can be used on a burner.

--have many stone-ware vessels that can be used starting with a cold oven or in the micro-wave.

--a set of 'forever sharp' (not really) stainless steel knives bought at SAM's.

--long cooking chopsticks

--Vita-Mix. Love it.

--Cuisinart food processor. Decent machine

--toaster oven

--toaster

--gas range and oven

--Kitchen Aid heavy duty mixer. Good machine.

--bread machine--forget brand--it's over at Dad's or I'd check.

--I guess that's about it of any significance.

--I have a rice cooker--electric--but don't use it because of the aluminum cooking container. May try and find a stainless steel. Actually, a crock pot works well enough.