Tools of the trade

Since I’ve been in my kitchen a lot more lately, I realized im seriously lacking in tools. While I have most of the basics, and can truly appreciate the little things that make my life a lot easier like my food processor, ceramic peeler  and even my Zeroll ice cream scoop (it has heat conductive liquid inside)  🙂 Lets just say im due for an upgrade or at least additions onto my already existing collection.

Heres what I’ve had my eye on:

Top of the list! My very own Le Creuset dutch oven. It can be used on the stove top and in the oven, for soups, braises, casseroles, boiling pasta,  pretty much everything! I don’t know how I’ve survived in my kitchen without one, if even just for the Beef Bourguignon I could make with this! Sigh…

A cast-iron skillet. The perfect non-stick multitasking tool. Who doesn’t love a multi-tasking tool? Just like the cast-iron dutch oven, It can be used on the stove top or in the oven for frying, baking, browning… again, pretty much anything.  It’s so durable I could even take it camping!

A large roasting pan. I can make something small in a big pan, but I can’t make something big in a small one; right? I guess the disposable roasting pans could work for now or my bundt pan 🙂

A KitchenAid mixer. It’s probably the reason I don’t bake much. And in my tiny kitchen, I would have to clear out a lot of space for it but it would be sooo worth it, if even for all the pasta and bread I could make!  I think its safe to say most people get one of these babies when they get married, but why wait till then?

BOWLS!! I’m seriously lacking in mixing bowls. I think I have 1. That’s it. Preferably, a set of both Stainless-Steel and glass would be nice; but there are so many options. I’d be happy with just more bowls, period.

A BIG HUGE butchers block cutting board. It becomes your workstation, essentially.

Oven mitts. We have zero at the moment, and usually a dishtowel would work just fine. But there have been accidents in the past due to not having a steady grip and a simple oven mitt would easily fix that.

A wok. (or at least a much larger frying pan) I looooove asian food. Chinese and Thai especially! After using a wok in my first ever Chinese cooking class, It’s way easier to just get a wok instead of trying to fit all the ingredients that go into the frying pan I have at home. It can be done, but it’s not very easy. I should probably note that if you have an electric stove (like I do) then you need a flat bottom wok since the traditional round bottom ones wouldn’t fully contact the stove’s heat.

A Steamer. I guess this goes hand-in-hand with my love for asian foods and im limited with the tools I already own. A small stock pot can only make so many dumplings with that metal-flower-steamer and the  mini rice cooker I had in my college dorm room can probably hold 5 or 6 dumplings, max. I’ll just have to spring for something bigger.

That’s my list thus far. I’m sure there will be more tools to covet later…