Equipment

You do not need a kitchen crammed full of pots and pans and gadgets to cook well. In fact, cluttered cupboards and drawers are a distraction rather than an advantage. What matters most is that you should buy the best you can afford. Good quality pans will last for twenty years or more and well-made practical tools will pay for themselves. When you go shopping for pans and roasting tins make sure they are suitable for your hob or will fit in your oven. Handle equipment before buying to be sure that you can work with it comfortably. Think through the purpose of a pan or tool: is it the right thing for the job and do you really need it? It is best to build up your equipment as your cooking develops.

Essentials

Pans

Weight and size are important when choosing pans. Stainless steel is durable and non-reactive with acids, but does not conduct heat well. The best stainless steel pans have a layer of aluminium or copper in the base to conduct heat evenly. Enamelled cast-iron pans, casseroles and oven dishes are very heavy, and best for slow cooking. Non-stick titanium pans are the best quality and very hard wearing as long as you do not scratch the surface. Non-stick coatings are easy to clean and mean the amount of fat needed for frying can be reduced. Lightweight pans burn quickly and do not always maintain a constant temperature; the coating on cheap non-stick pans soon scratches and comes off – a dubious economy.

Three saucepans of different sizes, with lids, form the basic kit. A little food cooked in too large a pan is likely to burn; if the pan is too small, the food may overflow. For cooking pasta or making stock you need a larger, tall pan.

A frying pan, preferably non-stick, a sauté pan with a lid, a wok and a ribbed, coated cast-iron griddle plate will take care of all types of frying and grilling. A roasting tin can be used to roast or braise meat or vegetables in the oven.

Knives

Choose knives that feel sturdy and balanced in the hand. Stainless steel knives are most commonly used in domestic kitchens; unfortunately they blunt quite quickly. Carbon steel knives stay sharp longer, but they rust and discolour when used on acidic foods and must be washed and dried straight after using. The best – and most expensive – are high-carbon stainless steel knives which have the advantages of both. Ceramic blades are very efficient also and stay sharp, but they, too, are expensive.

The essential kit is a small paring knife for peeling vegetables; a cook’s knife with an 18 or 20cm blade for chopping and slicing, crushing garlic or ginger; a serrated knife for bread and cakes and a carving knife with a broad, firm blade. You will also need a knife sharpener or steel. A steel takes practice to use, whereas a sharpener is easy to use, and is effective provided you insert the blade at the correct angle. Keep knives on a rack or in a block. If they rattle around in a drawer the points will soon be damaged.

Other equipment

Durability and practicality are important, but other equipment need not be as expensive as pans and knives. The basic kit consists of:

3 wooden spoons of different sizes	whisk
wooden fork for pasta and rice	pestle and mortar
2 rubber or plastic spatulas	pepper mill
large perforated spoon	colander
large metal spoon	sieve
pair kitchen scissors	salad spinner
potato peeler	1 or 2 wooden or plastic boards
palette knife	large and small mixing bowls
fish slice	measuring jug
pair kitchen tongs	set of scales
potato masher	timer
thin skewer	heat diffuser
4-sided grater	corkscrew

Time- and labour-saving tools

Food processors and blenders range from simple and cheap to highly sophisticated and expensive. They have become invaluable. Some models take up a great deal of space, so think about where one will fit in your kitchen. These are not machines to keep in the cupboard and bring out occasionally; you are likely to find you use a processor most days.

Non-essentials

Some equipment is specific to a particular type of cooking and only worth buying if you develop an interest in that branch of cookery. In this category are cake and tart tins, bread tins and baking sheets, a brush for greasing them, pastry cutters and a rolling pin, a wire cooling rack, an electric hand whisk and even a food mixer; see also the notes on p. 442 and p. 460–1. Regular pasta makers will find a machine for rolling and cutting the dough invaluable. For ice cream making an electric machine that chills and churns saves much time and produces ice cream with a better texture. If you become enthusiastic about preserving, having a preserving pan with sloping sides is an advantage, see also p. 499. An electric deep-fryer with a thermostat is useful if you often deep-fry food, and if you like omelettes it is worth investing in an omelette pan (information on these is given with the omelette recipes on p. 57). A steamer can be electric and expensive, or consist of a small metal basket to fit inside a pan or a stack of Chinese bamboo baskets to fit on a pan or wok.

Damp muslin is used for finely straining sauce when a sieve would let through too many particles. You can buy it from kitchen departments and shops, but if you don’t have any, use a pop sock, cut open, to line the sieve instead. Another alternative is to use a coffee filter but these tend to absorb too much liquid. Small squares of muslin are also used for tying up orange pips in marmalade making, or spices when pickling. A pop sock again makes a good substitute.

There are other non-essentials that are useful in everyday cooking, and not all of these are expensive:

Ceramic or earthenware ovenproof casserole dishes

Gratin dish (ceramic, earthenware or enamelled cast iron)

Soufflé dishes

Small frying pan for dry-roasting spices and nuts

Filleting knife with a flexible blade

Mandoline with adjustable cutting blades for cutting vegetables finely

Soft mushroom brush

Zester for shredding rind from citrus fruit