Besides the bare essentials like pots, pans and wooden spoons etc. what other kitchen utensils can you not live without? The team at South African Foodies have put their thinking caps on once again to come up with a list of utensils that bring the proverbial tears of joy to the eyes of many a cook. We were looking for items that save time and items that miraculously transform menial, possibly challenging tasks into a fun and easy culinary experience.
Hand Blenders
Hand blenders, or immersion blenders, are a handy gadget to have in your kitchen for small chores where a large blender would be an inconvenience. Hand blenders do many of the same tasks as full-sized blenders, with greater convenience and time saving benefits. You can cook and puree food in the same pot, therefore avoiding the hassle of having to pour hot liquids into a full size blender. You don’t need to disassemble big bulky parts that need to be washed and scrubbed clean; you can simply remove the blending shaft on a hand blender and place it in the dishwasher - what could be simpler! Many hand blenders come with attachments such as whisks, choppers, food processors, spice grinders and bottle washers making many kitchen chores easy and fun to do…such a handy utensil.
Here are some useful ways in which to include your blender into your daily kitchen routine-
- Smoothies: Put all your ingredients into a glass or plastic cup and blend away.
- Sauces: Blend sauces right in the pot. If you are like most people and always end up with lumps in the sauce, simply blend them away.
- Baby Food: Turn your dinner into dinner for your toddler by blending, chopping and mashing the meal to a smooth puree for easy ingestion.
- Mashed Potatoes: Do you like smooth mashed potatoes, but hate all the effort? Use your blender to mash potatoes in the pot.
- Mixing Salad Dressing: Oil and vinegar based salad dressings easily separate when stored. Use an immersion blender to quickly blend your homemade salad dressing up again before serving.
- Puree Soup: Puree soup directly in the pot.
- Whip Cream: Whipping cream with a bit of sugar is an easy task for a hand blender especially if you only want to whip a little bit of cream
Garlic Crusher
A garlic crusher or press is a kitchen utensil that crushes fresh garlic cloves by forcing them through a grid of small holes. Some garlic presses also have a device with a matching grid of blunt pins to clean out the holes.
You may ask; why does one need a garlic crusher, when garlic can either be chopped manually or you could simply buy it in a container already crushed? Well, you can manually mince or chop garlic if you so wish, but garlic crushed by a press is generally believed to have a different flavour from minced garlic as more cell walls are broken, the garlic's strong flavour compounds are released and the overall flavour is more delicate because the press excludes the bitter center stem during the crushing process. And besides, using a garlic crusher also leaves your hands free from that overpowering garlic smell, as cloves can be passed through a sturdy press without even removing its peel! Purists believe that buying a tub of already crushed garlic is not the same as using fresh garlic, you can inevitably taste the difference in your dishes between fresh and shop bought crushed garlic.
Pestle and Mortar
A pestle and mortar is a utensil used to crush, grind, and mix food items such as seeds and spices as well as mashing and releasing naturally fragrant aromas of herbs to make pesto’s and dips. The pestle is a heavy bat-shaped tool, the end of which is used for crushing and grinding. The mortar is a bowl, typically made of hard wood, marble, clay, or stone. The items to be broken down are placed in the mortar and ground, crushed or mixed with the pestle.
Having a pestle and mortar in your kitchen will definitely encourage you to grind up more fresh spices and ingredients. If you have ever cooked with freshly ground spices, then you know just how much better food can taste when added to your favourite dish.
Electronic scale and measuring utensils
Measuring accurately is probably the most important cooking skill in the kitchen. An electronic scale over a standard scale is by far the most accurate way of measuring the weight of your ingredients.
When first learning how to cook, you tend to follow the recipe down to the last meticulously weighed ingredient. Spend a little extra and go for the digital or electronic scale, so you are able to weigh your ingredients accurately and efficiently.
Scales measure ingredients in grams and kilograms. For alternative measuring utensils you will need a set of measuring cups, measuring spoons and a measuring jug, as not all ingredients in recipes are measured in weight. Liquid ingredients are normally measured in millilitres or cups. Solid or dry ingredients are usually measured in grams; kilograms for the heavier ingredients like meat and cups and spoons for the lighter ingredients like flour and sugar.
Remember, have the right utensils for the job, a dessert or soup spoon is not the same as a measuring tablespoon, a glass mug that you make your morning tea in, is not the same as a measuring cup. Substituting utensils could have disastrous consequences.
Meat Tenderiser
Take out your frustration with a meat tenderiser or meat mallet. A hand-powered tool used to tenderise slabs of meat in preparation for cooking. Generally, it looks like a hammer made of metal or wood, with a short handle and typically a square head. It has rows of small pyramid spikes on the ends. The process of tenderising involves hitting the meat several times with the mallet until the desired texture is created. Tenderising meat with the mallet softens the fibres making the meat easier to chew, and easier to digest. It is useful when preparing particularly tough cuts of steak, and works well when broiling or frying the meat. It is also used to "pound out" dishes such as schnitzel to be wider and thinner.
So now you know some of the elements that make our kitchens tick. Stay tuned as we will be adding to the list in our next installment in the series ‘Kitchen Utensils that you just can’t live without’.
