Transcription
In today's world, there are thousands of cooking tools and gadgets to choose from. The irony is that the vast majority of them are either overpriced or borderline useless. So, how can one navigate which is worth even buying if you're not a professional or you've never used these tools? So today, I've put together the top 50 kitchen gadgets that will change the way you cook forever. We're going to go through these one by one, going up a five-level pyramid of usefulness, which means each level of gadget or tool will become more useful as we go along.
Starting with level one. These are nice-to-have tools that I think have unlimited value and are sure to upgrade your cooking game, even with an already strong arsenal of tools.
Number one, a Smoking Gun. The beauty of it is this works instantly. You put a little wood chips in here, you light it with a lighter, and you smoke up whatever it is that you want with completely cold smoke. That means it won't cook it, but it will flavor it. Works great for smoking cocktails, sashimi-grade fish, butter, oil, anything you want smoky flavored without cooking. This will do.
Number Two, spring-loaded scoops. If you want to portion things very quickly, pretty accurately, and get them out of a spoon shape quickly, this will do it. You would use this for things like frying hush puppies or getting cookies, right? This is literally called a cookie scoop. Aside from just ice cream, you can do many other things: portioning, baking, etc.
Number three, the potato ricer. Look, I'm not a huge fan of single-use tools. This one isn't 100% single-use. I guess arguably you could put it on a coarser setting and maybe push hard-boiled eggs through this. If you really like making mashed potatoes, this is for you, and that's honestly my primary use for this. I don't really use it for much else, which is why it's in level one, but still worth it if you don't have one.
Number four, thermometer gun. Look, this is a step up from a traditional instant-read thermometer. This is really only useful if you plan on baking or if you need to know the surface temperature of something. You want to know the surface temperature of your pan? Cool. You want to know the surface temperature of a baking steel? Perfect. This will do that. Not a necessity, but if you're a seasoned cook and you don't have one, it might be time to add one to your arsenal.
Number five, the pizza oven. To me, if you cook a lot and you have budget, this will always be a good purchase, and they make more affordable models now. Shout out to Ooni, by the way. I use mine way more than I thought I would. Obviously, if you're going to make pizza, this will be the best pizza you ever make in your life, period. And by the way, the pizzas cook in like, literally 60 seconds. But it's not just for pizza. You can use this as a hearth oven. You can use it for making bread, flatbreads, charring vegetables for salsa, roasting vegetables. This is a multi-purpose tool.
Number six, the induction cooktop. It does everything a stove can do. The only downside is you need an induction-safe pot, pan, etc. If you, for some reason, don't have a stove but you want to cook something, this will do it for you. They are a little expensive. This is one of my favorite brands. I also really like the Brava brand. I will say it's really helpful if you need to whip out an extra burner if, for some reason, your stovetop is getting totally clapped during a family dinner or a party, etc.
Number seven, an ice cream maker, ideally with a condenser. But why, Josh? Why does that matter? The condenser is an important note because the condenser will instantly freeze your ice cream. If you want to make ice cream, you're kind of going to need an ice cream maker. If you don't care that much about ice cream, you probably won't need one. Can you make ice cream without an ice cream maker? Yes, but the benefit of an ice cream maker is the mechanical arm that's constantly moving. You get small ice crystals, your ice cream will be smooth and creamy like the commercial ice cream that you love. Any other method will not be the same.
Number eight, baking steel or baking stone. I actually think anybody who wants to get into cooking should have one of these on hand. You can live without it, but if you want to bake bread or make pizza at any point in time that's at least halfway decent, you're probably going to end up using one of these. It's not just for pizza, though. It helps keep your oven warmer, better heat retention because this is holding heat and distributing it. But you can also make other things like non-flatbreads, etc. This is the cheapest and single-handedly the best alternative to a pizza oven if you don't have one.
Number nine, cast iron pot. On a scale of 1 to 10, how likely do you think you'd survive if this was dropped on your head? I'd give myself a solid eight. This is an all-around amazing pot. But why is it in level one? Well, first of all, it is slightly limited in comparison to other styles of pots, such as like an enameled or a stainless steel pot, because it's cast iron. Great for braises. It is arguably the best for baking bread or deep-frying stuff like french fries. This is a multi-purpose tool. You can also drop it on someone's head.
Number 10, a salad spinner. What does it do? It spins. Again, this is to make something faster, make something easier, not make something possible. If you have wet herbs, greens, or really anything kind of dainty that's wet that needs to be dried, sure, you could use a paper towel or some regular dish towels and pat them dry, but you risk bruising them and also just takes longer. It's kind of annoying. This, you can just wash them in here, drain the water, and then salad spin, and then they're dry. It's useful. So if you have the extra $20 to $30, grab one.
That concludes level one. Moving on to level two. These are a step up in usefulness, and anyone who already has kitchen equipment will find this incredibly useful to add to their repertoire.
Number 11, my cookbook, which is also a New York Times bestseller. It's also not number 11. I'm sorry, I was joking, but you should get it. The link is in the description. Thank you so much. Actually, number 11, the bench scraper. This was a very hard choice for me because this is one of my most utilized tools in the entire kitchen. Do I think everyone can benefit from it? Yes. Do I think everyone will actually remember to use it? Probably not. Despite the actual purpose, like baking, cutting dough, shaping dough, or scooping dough out of the bowl, it does far more than that. You can use this for many, many, many things. One of my favorite uses is cleaning my work surface as I go. You can scrape off debris really quickly and then wipe it down. You can also use it to pick things up. It will do many things for you.
Number 12, a Rondo. A lot of people have no idea what this is. Anyone who's worked in a restaurant knows how beautiful, I mean, just perfect this pot is. This has the surface area of a large pot, but it's not super, super, super deep. So that means it's great for searing a lot of meat. It's great for making braises. It's also just ideal if you have a large batch of sauce that you want to reduce quickly. Again, surface area, faster cook time, better sears. Not a necessity, but if you cook a lot, you might just want to kiss this thing behind closed doors.
Number 13, I think a lot of people would probably say, Josh, this should be in level one, not level two. Tweezers. It's nice to have precision tools like this to grab small things. Think about all the times you get like, pinch something out of something like an eggshell, or you need to put herbs on something, it's not quite landing where you want it to land, or you want to flip something that you don't really want to touch. You don't want to dirty up a spatula, but you want something that you could easily just grab it and flip it. They're not that expensive, and they're so worth it, and they're practically going to last you forever.
Number 14, the mandolin. Look, it doesn't matter how good you are. This will make precise cuts more quickly than just about anything else out there, but it is also more dangerous. But for some reason, you want specifically very thin or specifically very precise cuts on any type of vegetable or maybe even a frozen meat, this will do the job for you. Very useful. I love to have it, but if you're not a seasoned cook, you probably don't need it.
Number 15, the countertop scrap bin. You probably already have this. This is just a plastic container. If you're chopping onions or anything that's going to create a lot of vegetable scraps, maybe you're scraping the cartilage off of something, you can just toss it in there and not have to go back and forth and back and forth and back and forth and back and forth from your workstation to your trash can. Then, when this fills up, then you walk to the trash can, dump this out, and it's ready to be used again.
Number 16, the casserole dish. You don't need it right away, but anytime that you find yourself making a casserole, at some point, it could be one of those mac and cheese bake-it casseroles. This is obviously a necessity if you're going to ever make lasagna. It's great if you're making a big batch of brownies. So, if you think you'll ever make something like that, you should probably add this to your cart. If not, maybe it can wait.
Number 17, mason jars. I'm sure we've all gotten used to these at this point, right? We're using them all the time. You could drink out of them, you can use them for storage, you can use them to make pickles. They're heat-proof. You can pour boiling liquid in them. Here's another example: holding spices because they can make airtight seals. This is a great multi-purpose tool. I don't even know why we put it in level two. Maybe it should be even higher, but you don't need them, so I guess that's why.
Moving on. Number 18, silicone baking mats. Obviously, anything parchment can do, this can do. But the benefit of the silicone baking mat is it's reusable, so it's better for the environment, first of all. The other thing is most things will never stick to this, so it is very useful to have. But again, like if you have parchment, you could also just stick with that.
Number 19, a pressure cooker. I've heard these have somehow become more useful because most pressure cookers come as multi-cookers. But this increases the speed in which things cook using pressure. You want to make a braise in half the time? You want to make rice in like 10 minutes? You want to make ramen broth in literally a fraction of the time? It's really just a time saver. But you can also do anything this can do just by being patient.
Number 20, a cheap charcoal grill. I feel like everybody has a relatively easy time grilling, and anyone who cooks probably eventually will want to grill. If you don't already have a gas grill, it's great to have this. And if you already have a gas grill, it's still great to have this because if you need more grill space or you're doing a big party, these store easily, they're not that expensive, and you can pull it out and light it really quickly and have an auxiliary grill ready to go at all times. But again, do you need it? Probably not, but you won't regret having it.
Level three. Obviously more important than the level before, but even if you only have a few pieces of equipment, adding any of these will absolutely level up your cooking game.
Number 21, kitchen shears. I really think everyone should have one of these. You can cut anything with this. Even if, for some reason, your chef's knife is dirty or whatever, you probably just whip this out and you can cut vegetables, open packaging. Trust me, you're going to find a use for this. You can even use this for butchery. If you have raw meat and you want to separate it from the bone, you don't want to scrape up your knife, you can use this. And if you have heavy ones, you can use these to crack bones, like if you're doing animal butchery. That's all I'm saying.
Moving on. Number 22, fine mesh strainers. These are going to revolutionize your life. This is obviously a really big one. This is called a chinois, and then this is a smaller, you know, just standard home strainer. These are really expensive. These are a lot cheaper. Anytime you want to remove solids from a liquid, these will do it. You pour the liquid through this, boom, done. Because it's so fine, you can smooth out sauces. So anything you want to smooth out, anything you want to remove solids from, you pour it through this guy. You can rinse rice in this. You can sift cocoa powder through it.
Moving on. Number 23, the pastry brush. If you're going to be baking, you should probably get one of these. You can brush egg wash on top of a Wellington, on top of burger buns. Basically brushing anything on top of something before it gets baked, you're going to need a brush. There's not much of an alternative. I guess you could use your fingers, it's not going to be as useful as this. You also would use this for brushing barbecue sauce while it's on the grill or a teriyaki sauce on some ribs. I also sometimes use this for brushing excess flour off of dough. So if I overflow my dough, I just like I'm out there sweeping.
Number 24, an external griddle, either cast iron or carbon steel. Obviously, this does what a pan does. But let's be real, if you want to make perfect pancakes, these for some reason tend to make the best pancakes. I don't know why, they just do. But these are also great for cooking large portions of bacon. It's also just nice to have if you have a big stove. It's also an ideal cooking apparatus if you're making a ton of smash burgers because, let's be honest, do you want to use two or three pans, or do you want to just have one big cooking surface? This is the only way to solve that problem.
Number 25, the food processor. These do a lot of things. You can make mayos in them. You can blend things together like you would have a blender. It won't get as fine, but like making a pesto, for example, is really fast inside of this. You can blend solids with solids, for example, like a compound butter. If you want to whip a bunch of herbs into butter, you put them all in here, you press the button, and that will happen. The benefit of these is that they don't generate too much heat like a blender does, so it is a little bit lighter. It's also really fast at making certain types of doughs, like pie dough. You can cut butter into flour in this. I mean, the list goes on and on. This is a really good example of a nicely made multi-purpose tool.
Number 26, wire racks. They come in many sizes: half sheet tray, quarter sheet tray. Sometimes they have little feet on them so they stand up. The ones with feet are ideal for, well, cooling stuff on it. You got a roast that you want to rest, cool. Put this down, rest the roast on this, it'll allow air to circulate around it. But the same thing applies to cookies, pies, tarts, anything you want to cool. You can use these for. But it's also great for if you're going to be charring a bunch of chilies, for example. You don't want them to touch the grates. Cool. You have a separate external layer of grates. You can also put fish on this and put it on the grill and move it around the grill more easily without tearing the flesh. It's also great for if you're frying stuff and you want to dump that fried food on on the wire rack set over, say, a baking sheet, so that the oil drains but air can still circulate around it so it doesn't go soggy while still draining excess oil. There are a million ways you can use these.
Number 27, the Sous Vide. This is the one device that I seem to think fancier home cooks like to use. But there's a lot of benefit to this. You can cook batch things really easily using a Sous Vide. You can cook batch chicken breast, batch steaks, meal prep, so on and so forth. They are a little on the pricier side, but it is the easiest way for hyper-precise cooking. Something like the juiciest chicken rest of your life will probably come from this machine right here.
But that brings me to number 28, the Sous Vide container. The benefit of having a dedicated Sous Vide container is you know exactly what to grab when you pull your Sous Vide out. It's just nice to know, hey, this is just for the Sous Vide. We don't use it for anything else. I know it seems weird for this to take up a placeholder, but I'm telling you, just that decision made me use my Sous Vide more often.
Moving on. Number 29, vacuum sealer. I had to put this in this category because if you're going to do Sous Vide, you kind of need a vac sealer. This is my favorite way to store raw ingredients or to marinate things or to quick pickle things. If you put, for example, cucumbers and a flavorful liquid in a bag and you vacuum seal that bag, that liquid will then be forced into the pores of the sliced cucumber, and you essentially have instant pickles or instantly flavored pickles. You can do that with melons, you can do that with fish, you can do that with mushrooms. The biggest benefit is storing and freezing meats. If you have a lot of expensive proteins that you bought, don't you want to like store them free of air and for long periods of time so they don't go bad as quickly? This investment will save you money over the long term.
Number 30, electric beaters. You probably know what these are. Maybe your grandma or your mom has them. If all you want is to say, make cookie dough or whip egg whites or make really quick whipped cream, you don't want to be whisking all day long, then this is your best friend. This is a cheaper alternative, and it does all of those things really easily. Stores easily. These, you can buy really cheap. Yeah, it might crap out in a couple of years, but it will still work pretty much with the same effect. If you cook and you don't have one of these, please just get one and keep it in your kitchen because one day you'll find a use for it, and you'll be glad that you bought it.
We've made it to level four. These are some of the most important tools. I would argue that most people, if not everyone, would find these incredibly helpful to have in your kitchen. For a warning, some of them are expensive, but they are life-changing.
Number 31, slotted spoon. Obviously, these come in many sizes. I have small, medium, and large ones. Anything you need to pull out of liquid very easily and quickly, this will do. A very basic example is if you have a jar of chili crisp, maybe you don't want the oil, maybe you just want the solids. You could just scoop it out, and you're going to get only solids because of the holes in the bottom. If you got holes in your spoon, you want the solid out of liquid, pull pickles out of pickle liquid. If you're stirring beans and you don't want the bean liquid, you just want the beans on your taco, chances are, even if you cook once a week, you will find a use for this, and they're not expensive.
Which brings me to a more expensive one. Number 32, the stand mixer, more specifically, the industry standard KitchenAid. If you cook a lot or bake a lot, this machine will change your life. They are expensive. There is no way around that, and I am sorry. Make sure you get the right size. I personally would recommend going bigger because once you go small, you can't make it bigger, but you can use a big one for small quantities. You can use it for mixing anything: doughs, cookies, batters, etc. Right? You're whipping egg whites, you're making marshmallow fluff, whatever. The whisk attachment will do it. You have all the other hands for doughs and batters. But the biggest reason why it's so useful is this thing right here, this little hole. This machine has so many attachments: like a meat grinder, a pasta extruder, a pasta sheeter. This isn't just a stand mixer, this is like dozens of tools in one. So the expense you're putting towards this is really saving you money over time. These last so long. I've had this stand mixer for probably six years, and it's not even close to crapping out, and I beat the heck out of this thing. If you buy this, you will not regret it.
Number 33, the microplane. This is not just a grater. I'm tired when people are like, "Oh yeah, can I use your grater?" This is not a grater. This is a microplane. Big difference. You're going to get an artisanal grating from this, but not only that, you get better diffusion of the flavor. So if you're using Parmigiano or you need to get lemon zest, this grates the most beautiful threads of cheese for visual and texture appeal. But it's also the ideal tool for zesting citrus and really grating anything, finally, even something hard like a chunk of bonito, like a chunk of katsuobushi, cured egg yolks. This does it all.
Number 34, rubber spatulas. These both do two different things. This is what's called a turning spatula. Right? Your pancakes. It's good to have a silicone one specifically just because if you're working with a nonstick, you don't want to take a metal spat and delicate flipping. To me, this is like a non-negotiable. You absolutely need one of these. This is a Rubbermaid spatula, super basic. This will do a number of things. It stirs. They're super heat-safe. You can use them in a pot if you're making caramel or you're reducing a sauce, you want to scrape the walls down, you need to scoop something out of a bowl. This does everything. These can come so inexpensive. If you plan on cooking, you should just go and put this in your kitchen now. Which, by the way, if you're in the market for a good one, there is this one which I developed with Williams Sonoma on the No Kid Hungry project. Every single one we sell, 30% goes to No Kid Hungry. So if you want one, the link's in the description.
On to the next. Number 35, the mini offset spatula. This is the world's most versatile yet underappreciated tool, period. I use this for almost everything. I use it as a little turner for flipping small things or delicate things like fish. I use it to pick things up and move them from one pan to a sheet tray. I use this to pick brownies up out of a brownie pan. Spreading butter on toast. You can use it for spreading peanut butter on a pancake. It does everything. This might be one of the cheapest tools in the entire list. Might as well just grab one, and if you end up using it, you'll thank me.
Number 36, an obvious one, an apron. I'm surprised by the number of people who don't have an apron. What, do you think you look silly? I think you look nice. I think you look sharp. I think you look professional. But that's not why we use an apron. We use it to keep ourselves from getting stains on our clothes and our pants. But it does more than that. It protects you. You are less likely to burn yourself and get an injury. It protects you from fire. If something catches on fire and it shoots flames at you, this will add an extra protective layer. And a lot of aprons are built with fire-retardant material. Can you cook with that one? Absolutely, but I would recommend it for everyone.
Number 37, parchment paper. There are very few recipes I feel like as soon as you pull out a baking sheet, you're going to see this probably in the recipe. Parchment paper is not that expensive. It's really nice to have this in the kitchen at all times. But aside from baking, you can use it for a number of other things. If you need to bundle up a bunch of fresh herbs, you can put them in parchment paper. You can also use it to gift wrap a nice loaf of bread, or use it the old-fashioned way as the French would and make a *cartouche* to have a more efficient cooking process in your braises without losing too much liquid. That also replaces the purpose of having a lid. But of course, this main purpose is to keep your baked goods from sticking to your sheet tray or at the bottom of your brownie pan or at the bottom of your cake pan. You'll have a use for these.
Number 38, a peeler. But wait, not just any peeler, specifically a Y-peeler. This peeler right here is the greatest peeler in human existence. Not only are they ridiculously cheap, but they're really sharp and they peel perfectly. They're made out of plastic. If you drop one or lose it or throw it away, guess what? They usually come in packs of like four or five or a million. I don't even know anymore. It's been a while since I bought them because they last so goddamn long. Obviously, use it to peel potatoes, peel vegetables, do shavings of chocolate, do shavings of cheese. The point I'm trying to make is not just you need to have a peeler, you need to have this peeler.
Number 39, the blender, specifically a Vitamix. What is this? The Vitamix 5200. They're expensive, I know, I know. You're going to go look this up and you're going to go, "Josh, what the heck?" Out of any machine that I use in the kitchen, aside from like the basics like a stove, I use this machine probably more than anything I own. This is like the one problem that I think every home cook has: "Oh, I need to make this smoother." "Oh, I need to make an emulsion, but I don't want to get the whisk out." "The food processor doesn't make it like I want to." "And I don't have a hand blender, or I wish the hand blender got it smoother." Like, there's so many problems that you have when you cook that this machine solves. If you have a broken emulsion, this will force that to be an emulsion because of the horsepower that's in the engine in it. This eliminates the necessity to have great technique in sauce making because this will just make a good sauce. There's no machine that will make a smoothie as good as this. Do I think it's a necessity for a beginner cook? Probably not. But there's absolutely no way you spend money on this and you don't use it over, over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over again. Just like the stand mixer, these things last forever.
Coming in with number 40, something that blurs the lines between level four and level five: baking sheets. God, I love these things. They do everything. You can even use these as a cooking surface if you wanted to. I don't recommend them because they do get warped when you do that, but it does work. If I could make *mise en place* at its most basic, you can use it to organize the measured-out ingredients of a recipe on a half sheet tray or a quarter sheet tray or whatever. Plastic wrap it and leave it in the fridge, and then the next day, you just pull it out and use your stuff. Take it a step further, if you have cooked proteins or something you're frying, you can then transfer them from the cooking process to then cool off or to rest on a sheet tray. It's not directly on your counter, it's on something you can easily clean. You need these to bake things like cookies. You probably already have this. I know we call these baking sheets. This is technically a half sheet tray, also called a jelly roll tray, but they also come in quarter sheets, which is just a step smaller. This is really useful for proteins. You could also just leave it on your counter and hold a bunch of ingredients like different oils and vinegar. They also make them in eighth sheet trays. This is good for holding something like sliced proteins. If you have sheet trays, use your imagination. They can be used for so much. There's a reason why people who work in restaurants use the heck out of these. By the way, they're also pretty cheap.
Ladies and gentlemen, we've made it to level five. Every kitchen in the world should have these 10 items.
Number 41, the 8-quart stock pot. This is the Holy Grail of stock pots. If you're making chicken stock, obviously. If you're making a soup, obviously. If you're making a braise, obviously, or cooking a typical size batch of pasta, you're going to need a pot like this. Assuming it comes with the lid. I always lose my lid. Josh, where do your lids go? I don't know. But if you have your lid, you can also make bread in it. You can also use it for deep frying, holding oil. You fill this thing halfway up, you can deep fry. You could also use it for a Sous Vide container too. Brother, God, I love this thing. Ideally stainless steel or enameled cast iron.
Number 42, measuring cups and measuring spoons. This seems pretty obvious. If you're going to follow any recipe, you're going to find recipes that use cups and tablespoons and teaspoons. Make it easy on yourself. This is especially important for those who are learning how to cook. It is of grave importance that you just follow the recipe exactly. Find a recipe that seems easy to you or a recipe that you feel comfortable making, and just follow the ingredient measurements, please.
Number 43, the cutting board. This seems also very obvious, but a lot of people don't have them. Anytime you need to cut anything, you're going to run into an issue if you don't have one of these. But it has more uses than just cutting stuff on top of it. If you want to use it as an additional work surface. So, for example, if I want to put this right here next to the stove while I'm cooking something, maybe over here I'm shaping dough, and this is now a work surface. I can pick up and move around. You can do that. I'm a big advocate for wood cutting boards. Yeah, there's conversations of like, "Well, should you have a raw meat board, etc.?" You can if you have the extra cash, but also maybe just wash your board thoroughly. Make sure you choose your material carefully because certain materials will ruin and dull your knives, such as bamboo. Please, dear God, do not use bamboo cutting boards. Maple, great oak should be okay. Cutting boards come in many shapes, sizes, and prices, so find the one that works for you.
Number 44, the 1 to 2-quart saucepan. There will be moments that you are going to need to make a small batch of sauce, that you're going to need to melt butter, that you're going to need to make a quick roux or a small batch of cheese sauce. This will serve its purpose. It also works for frying a really small item, like maybe if you're frying some herbs that you want to add on top of something. This is a really good auxiliary pot/saucepan to have. Same as the stock pot, either stainless steel or enameled cast iron. You can also use other materials, but those are my preferences.
Number 45, the 12-inch stainless steel frying pan. This does everything that a 10-inch frying pan can do, but with more space. Guess what? You don't have to fill the entire surface if you don't want to. There will be times where you pull out that 10-inch pan and it's not big enough. That won't happen with this. If you have the money to get the extra one, that's fine, but this is a necessity because it solves the majority of issues. I'm specifying stainless. We'll get to the non-stick in a second. In my opinion, it's the most cost-effective for searing your proteins because it does multiple things. It's not insanely heavy, so anyone can handle it. You can reduce sauces in it. You can also do a really shallow braise. You can make chicken tikka masala in this by itself. I don't want any rubber handles on this. This should be solid stainless steel because this can also go in the oven. If you're searing a really thick steak, guess what? Throw that thing in the oven. It literally cooks everything.
Number 46, whisks. Whether you're a beginner or advanced, it doesn't really matter. There's going to be a point in time where you're going to see something you're going to go, "Uh-oh, I need a whisk." They make them in all sorts of sizes: small, medium, and well, large. This is pretty self-explanatory. Obviously, whisking your scrambled eggs. It also is great for making soft scrambled eggs where you need to constant stirring. You can use the spatula, but this will break up the curd as you stir. Making pancake batter, making any batter, for that matter, making an ideal roux. These things do everything. You can also make mayo. If you don't want to spend the money on a food processor or a blender to make an emulsion, guess what? This will make an emulsion using just manpower.
And our next contender, which is number 47, a set of mixing bowls. Ideally stainless steel because they can get hot if you need to put them in the oven to keep them warm. Great. I highly recommend you get a set of at least one small, one medium, and one large. There will be a lot of situations where you need mixing bowls. You don't just have to use them for mixing, you can use them for storing stuff. If you finish making a really nice chicken stock, you put your mesh strainer over this, strain your chicken stock through it, throw your bones away, and you got chicken stock in here to cool down, which you can then store. There is almost no situation where you're going to be cooking or baking where you won't need one of these.
Number 48, the 10-inch non-stick frying pan. But Josh, you said earlier than the 12-inch. Hang on. There's a reason why I feel like most people need a non-stick pan, primarily for things like scrambled eggs or an omelet, so on and so forth. 10 inches is the ideal size for something like an omelet. When you make an omelet, the easiest and best way to make it is in a pan. You're going to use the full surface area, so if you have a 12-inch one, your omelet's going to end up way too big. In my opinion, so I think this is a better starter item. The non-stick is a specialty thing for things that really stick a lot.
Number 49, metal spoons. Not just wooden, metal. Why metal? Obviously for stirring, mixing, scooping, basting. There's going to be more situations where you're going to need a metal spoon that's a little bit more easy to articulate your wrist with. Those big wooden ones are less than ideal in my opinion. Find a cheap stainless steel one and buy a slew of them because you should be tasting your sauces, your soups as you make them so that you season them properly for your guests or whoever you're cooking for. Even if you're cooking for yourself, these are optimizers. But also size matters because you need serving spoons for, well, serving. Small, medium, large.
We've made it to number 50. Is this the most important cooking tool in the kitchen? I sure think it is. My favorite tool of all time. It is the chef's knife. I feel like this is the first purchase people make when they go on their culinary adventure, but a lot of the time they kind of skimp out and they don't take the time to figure out which one is the most ideal one for them. Do you need to spend a ton of money on a chef's knife to have a great time cooking? No, you don't. Just buy a cheap one if you're really scared and you don't know yet. But what I would recommend is do your research, learn about types of steel, find a guide. I have a guide on choosing a chef's knife, you should go watch and pick a knife that is best for you. If you don't have the money for it right now, again, go cheap first and save up for a nicer one later. This should last your whole lifetime if you choose a good one. And not only that, this knife will replace some of the tools that we explained to you today. It will replace the purpose of a food processor. It will replace the purpose of a peeler. It will replace the purpose of a mandolin. Does it do it perfectly? No. Does it require more effort? Of course. But the point is, how beautiful is it that one of the most simple tools on the entire list is arguably the most useful, the most powerful tool you'll ever use in the kitchen? And that is what cooking is all about. It's not about the tool, it's about the brain that's doing the cooking. Think outside the box, be a little playful and creative with how you're doing things, and I promise you, you'll find ways to cook that make things easier for you and also just generally make cooking more fun.
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