10 Culinary Professionals's Favorite Tools & Tricks

We asked a group of chefs, a cheesemonger, a baker, and a bartender to reveal some of the tools of the trade they love to use. For the most part, their choices are quite basic and some may surprise you.

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An Unlikely Zester

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Who: Bartender/ Co-Owner Jill Schulster (JoeDoe in New York)

What: PedEgg

Why: "I’m a dancer and my mother gave me a PedEgg for my feet and it turns out to be an excellent zester for lemons and limes. Of course, the one behind the bar isn’t the same one I use on my feet!"

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Who: Bartender/ Co-Owner Jill Schulster (JoeDoe in New York)

What: PedEgg

Why: "I’m a dancer and my mother gave me a PedEgg for my feet and it turns out to be an excellent zester for lemons and limes. Of course, the one behind the bar isn’t the same one I use on my feet!"

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Rambling Ruminations said on 26 Thursday 2010 pm31 3:02 pm: Food and interesting conversation are two of my greatest passions in life..... I wish to be an awesome cook some day and I feel proud validation that I already use 5 out of 10( coriander, cinnamon,spatula, pasta water, Microplane grater) in the kitchen regularly. :D Old Bay seasoning is the first in the list I am gonna try.

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10 Basic Tips and Tools from Culinary Professional

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Comments

[DavidMG]

05:37 PM on 09/10/2010

I am a cookbook author. I would like to recommend the excellent utensil is the Donvier Deluxe Yogurt Cheese Maker. Yogurt cheese, "laban" (as it is known in the mid-East) or "YoChee" as we call it has excellent cooking and nutritional benefits (see “Eat Well the YoChee Way”). Yogurt cheese tradidionally has limited applications in Mid-east cooking but we have found hundred of recipies from soup to dessert. This ingredient “is a contradiction in terms” as it is low or no fat and CREAMY (plus high in protein and calcium.)

The Yogurt Cheese Maker is a self-contained unit including a stainless steel mesh strainer, a box to catch the liquid and a lid. Traditionally many people use cheesecloth, but that is messy and with this device you can easily and cleanly have a supply on hand. more at yochee.com

[raker]

04:28 PM on 09/10/2010

Hellmann's is to mayo as Heinz is to ketchup. There's nothing else. I discovered coriander when I started cooking Asian food. It's fantastic. And when I had crabs in Maryland, the best part was sucking the Old Bay off the crab shells. I'm trying it on my fries next time.

[arigatokyle]

08:44 AM on 09/09/2010

The Ped Egg makes a lot of sense. Some of these though, don't make since. Obviously a spatula is a must need accessory.

[Dr Juan]

01:18 PM on 09/04/2010

Here's my contribution: a spoonula -- it probably isn't easy to find, but I found some and it is very valuable. It's a combination spoon and spatula --big as in serving spoon-size, or small as in teaspoon size. By spatula I mean the rubbery bendable type. It takes out the last of the mayonnaise in the jar, or serves up the delicious sauce down to the last bit in the pot.

[darthlapin]

07:55 PM on 09/03/2010

The picture used for cinnamon, is not cinnamon, its cassia. Very often passed as cinnamon. Many people may have never tasted real cinnamon and not know it.

[Absolon]

06:55 PM on 09/01/2010

The Microplane people are the progenitors of the Pedi-Egg.

[dbmetzger]

12:23 PM on 08/30/2010

here's a real trick
Raw Video: World's Longest Pizza Attempted
Residents of Krakow, Poland attempted to break the record for the world's longest pizza by making one that's more than 1000 meters in length. The Guinness Book of World Records hasn't yet announced if their effort was successful. (Aug. 29
http://www.newslook.com/videos/245707-raw-video-world-s-longest-pizza-attempted?autoplay=true

[kelleyajones]

10:45 AM on 08/30/2010

Lemon improves everything. I squeeze it on buffalo wings, add a drop or two to cake frosting and always used on fire-grilled meats. I've never made a sauce or dressing without more or less to taste.Try a squeeze with a drop or two of your favorite hot sauce into NE Clam Chowder. Salt and lemon freshens a wood cutting board; shake salt, lemon and ice to remove stains from your coffeepot. Don't waste lemon in the compost pile, run the unused rinds through the garbage disposal to remove gunk and rank.

[suemj]

05:15 PM on 08/30/2010

Thank you, wow!

[Absolon]

06:54 PM on 09/01/2010

I can attest to the truth of what Kelly Jones has to say. Try these, too:
-Rub fresh lemons on your hands/fingers to remove the stench of the garlic and onions you chop.
-Rub your face with lemons to lighten freckles or age spots naturally. Also a great pore cleanser for your face. Just rub it on after a good scrub, let it dry, then wash it off. Pineapple is a good facial pore cleanser as well.
I am a big fan of the garbage disposal trick. Really works! Makes the sink actually smell good for days.
My favorite is just a lemony chicken broth with thin German noodles. Makes me smile just thinking about it.

[bodaciousboomer]

11:53 AM on 08/28/2010

I've never thought of the PedEgg for a zester, but it makes a lot of sense. We've had the same cast iron dutch oven in our family for over 50 years now. My sibs and I will be fighting over it one day, for sure.

[Absolon]

06:57 PM on 09/01/2010

Please, do draw from a hat regarding the DO. Boomers fighting is what has the country in such turmoil right now.

[c-tom]

08:55 PM on 08/27/2010

An old -fashioned steel bladed table knife. It is great for slicing bread and tomatoes and the like. The drawback is they are not stainless you have to hand wash and dry them.

And you can use them to eat your peas because they're flexible.

[yappnmutt]

05:18 PM on 08/27/2010

a set of commercial kitchen tongs and a wok.

[cyoohoos]

05:29 PM on 08/29/2010

Tongs for sure. You never realize how useful they are when you don't have any

[blinkthink]

09:41 PM on 09/11/2010

Ordered new tongs yesterday-handy as all get out.

[Absolon]

07:00 PM on 09/01/2010

If Martians/Pleiadeans came down and said they were taking me away but that I could bring five things with me, tongs would be on my fiver-list.

[larmarch5]

04:43 PM on 08/27/2010

I would add a really good well-seasoned cast iron skillet and wok, basic measuring spoons and cups (baking is chemistry and measurments matter), good wooden spoons, a couple sizes of rubber scrapers, a salad spinner, a veggie scrap container for mulching.

[WDB]

12:27 PM on 08/27/2010

It's really a stretch to call most of these 'secrets.' Most people that cook even occasionally know all this. OK - I'll give you the ped-egg thing - but I already have a grater - so don't really need that 'secret.'

[Ozark Homesteader]

09:01 AM on 08/27/2010

Discovering the microplane changed my culinary life. I think every kitchen ought to have one--and a lot of cast iron.
http://ozarkhomesteader.wordpress.com/

[McDaniel]

04:31 AM on 08/29/2010

I agree if the cast iron is enameled.

[Absolon]

07:01 PM on 09/01/2010

No enamel needed....just "season" it.

[All About ItalianFood]

04:15 AM on 08/27/2010

There are some things that really become our favorite accessories in the kitchen. Mine is a Flat Spatula too! I am jealous of it, pay attention not to wash it with the dishwater as it has a wood piece. I use it for so many things that I can't even give a specific use for it.

I would add another thing that became really important: kitchen pincers! Use them to grill meat, to serve spaghetti, to quite anything!

Cooking becomes a pleasure when you begin to have fun with it, notconsidering it a family duty anymore.

Buon appetito!
http://www.all-about-italian-food.com