Kitchen essentials
What I reach for every night, why, and a sensible version of each. Buy these slowly, buy them once, and ignore most of the rest of the aisle.
I've cooked on ranges that cost more than a car and on a two-burner stove in a studio apartment, and the tools that actually mattered were the same dozen. None of them are gadgets. Most of them are cheaper than the gadget you were about to buy instead.
Each item below has a sensible pick, which is what I'd tell a friend to get, and where it's worth it, a buy-it-once pick. If a tool isn't on this list, you can probably cook without it.
Fully clad (tri-ply), so heat spreads evenly and the bottom builds fond instead of scorching. This is the pan for every class and most dinners.
What to buy: Sensible: a tri-ply skillet from Tramontina or Cuisinart. Buy-it-once: Made In or All-Clad D3.
One good knife, kept sharp, does more than a block of dull ones. Pick the handle that feels right in your hand; that matters more than steel pedigree.
What to buy: Sensible: Victorinox Fibrox 8-inch. Buy-it-once: a Japanese gyuto from Tojiro or MAC.
Bigger than you think you need. A small board is why your counter is covered in onion. Wood is kinder to the knife edge than plastic or bamboo.
What to buy: Sensible: a 15 by 20-inch maple edge-grain board. Buy-it-once: Boos Block end-grain.
The most useful spatula in the kitchen and almost nobody owns one. Thin, flexible, slotted. It slides under chicken skin, flips fish without tearing, and lifts cookies.
What to buy: Any thin slotted stainless turner. The Wusthof and OXO versions are both good.
Spring-loaded, stainless, no silicone tips (they're clumsy and melt). Twelve inches keeps your hand out of the splatter.
What to buy: Sensible: OXO or Winco 12-inch. Get two.
Rimmed, heavy aluminum, 13 by 18 inches. Roasting vegetables, drying chicken skin in the fridge, catching drips. Buy two or three; they nest.
What to buy: Nordic Ware Naturals are the standard and cost about what a pizza does.
Takes the guessing out of chicken, pork, steak, and bread. A fast one changes how you cook; a slow one gets left in the drawer.
What to buy: Sensible: ThermoPro TP19 or Lavatools Javelin. Buy-it-once: Thermapen ONE.
Weighing instead of measuring is the single biggest upgrade for baking and the quiet one for everything else. Grams, tare button, flat top.
What to buy: Sensible: Escali Primo. Buy-it-once: OXO with the pull-out display.
Citrus zest, garlic into paste, parmesan into snow, nutmeg. Nothing else does this job.
What to buy: The original Microplane Premium Classic. Don't buy the knockoff.
Braises, soups, bread, a big pot of beans. Heavy lid, light-colored interior so you can watch the fond.
What to buy: Sensible: Lodge enameled 6-quart. Buy-it-once: Le Creuset or Staub, often on sale in odd colors.
Moves chopped things from board to pan in one motion, cleans the board, portions dough. Costs less than a coffee.
What to buy: Any stainless scraper with a measured edge. Dexter-Russell makes the one most kitchens use.
A flat-edged spoon scrapes the pan bottom while you deglaze, which is the whole trick to a pan sauce. Beech or olive wood; hand wash.
What to buy: Any flat-edged wooden spoon or spatula. Buy a couple.
A nonstick pan (fine for eggs, useless for anything that should brown; buy a cheap one and replace it yearly). A garlic press. A knife block full of knives you won't use. A stand mixer, unless you bake weekly. Any single-purpose electric anything. A "chef's" anything with a celebrity name on it.
What's missing on purpose but worth it later: a good saucepan, a carbon steel pan once you've learned the stainless one, a mandoline when you've stopped being afraid of it.
Free guide
A short, opinionated guide to outfitting a home kitchen the way a cook would: what to spend on, what to skip, and the one pan that does most of the work. You'll also hear from me when a class opens, about once a week at most.
The guide is on its way. While you wait, the Essentials page walks through everything in it.