I’m a bit of a gear geek. My home kitchen is overflowing with just about every tool you can imagine, from superintelligent machines that will cook you dinner from scratch to one-hit wonders like mango pitters and corn kernelers. But unless you have a lot of space (and a supportive sous chef at home), I’d recommend limiting your equipment to the essentials. These are the tools you’ll need to get the most out of the plant kingdom.
MORTAR AND PESTLE
You’ll find the same banana-yellow mortero on every kitchen countertop across Spain, ready for making romesco or picadas—almonds and toasted bread pulverized and used to thicken stews. Whether you opt for the smooth Spanish style or the craggy surface of a Mexican molcajete or Thai mortar (I recommend having one of each), you’ll want this to crush spices, make salsas and pestos, and generally add that extra layer or two of flavor that your neighbor’s food doesn’t have.
MICROPLANE
This one’s a no-brainer—cheap, light, multipurpose. You can grate cheese, garlic, or ginger; strip citrus zest; or shave whispers of nutmeg or other whole spices atop your food.
MANDOLINE
Fancy French stainless steel mandolines have long been part of the professional kitchen, but I think the Japanese versions, such as the Benriner, which cost less than forty bucks, are better for home use. You get a hard-plastic machine with interchangeable blades that will slice and julienne faster than an Iron Chef.
VEGETABLE PEELER
A good Y-peeler can take the skin off fruits and vegetables, make thin curls of hard cheese, and remove beautiful strips of citrus peel without pith for drinks or sauces. All for $4.
PRESSURE COOKER
Nothing concentrates more flavor in less time than a pressure cooker. Instant Pots are all the rage these days, and they definitely get the job done, but I’m old-fashioned. American cooks tend to be intimidated by the heat and the pressure, but every grandma in Spain has one in her kitchen. You can make rice in six minutes and astonishing vegetable broths in half an hour that will blow people away.
IMMERSION BLENDER
This magic wand is worth its weight in saffron. It does all the work of a serious blender—blending mayo and other emulsions, making smoothies, pureeing soups, and finishing sauces—but it is cheaper, portable, and easier to clean.
RICE COOKER
As my friend Ming Tsai likes to say, there’s a reason why a billion people in Asia have rice cookers in their homes—these allow you to make perfect rice while you are cooking other things. But a rice cooker does more than just steam rice: You can also use it to cook stews or soups, poach fruit, and do a dozen other things.
VEGETABLE SHREDDER
The yang to the yin of the peeler. The Thais use these for green papaya salad, and so should you, but you can also use it to make fine ribbons or “pasta” out of anything from apples to zucchini.
JUICER
I know, it costs real money and takes up precious counter space, but a good juicer is an investment worth making. Sure, it’s good for a glass of kale-ginger-whatever in the morning, but more than that, a juicer is good for cooking. Juice is the force multiplier of the plant world. Macerate apples in apple juice, simmer carrots in carrot juice, serve baby peas in a broth made from their shells—this is the type of next-level cooking a good juicer allows you to do. I’m a big fan of all Breville’s products, and especially their juicers.