Equipment

What cook doesn’t love a new piece of kit?

I suppose here I’m talking about manual items, rather than electrical; the sort of things that we use on a daily basis.

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These darling little measuring spoons came from Marks and Spenser

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Truthfully, I only use one of these little wooden scoops, but I live in hope of finding a permanent home for the others. I got them in a National Trust shop

We all have a favourite knife; a rolling pin that really works for us, or something that has proven its worth many times over the years. On the downside, we also have drawers full of items bought at ideal home fairs and specialist cookery shops – gadgets for separating eggs; a grapefruit knife, multiple items for peeling garlic, the novelty Disney pasta server…we’ve all been hooked by these white elephants of the kitchen.

 

 

Don’t be ashamed; it’s all part of learning what works for you, and I have multiple dusty boxes marked ‘Kitchen stuff’ to prove it!

The best thing to do with stuff that doesn’t work for you:

  1. Give them to the local charity shop, or
  2. Take them to a car-boot sale in the hopes that some younger version of yourself will throw 50p your way, or
  3. Do what I do, and put them out in the garage – where they live out their lives being a thorn in your side every time you go out there to put a load of washing into the tumbler dryer..

Below is my list of stuff that I have and use on a regular basis. I’m not saying that all this stuff is essential, or that you should rush out and buy up the entire list. This is merely the items that I use most often, with pointers towards the ones that work best.

You’ll notice that I don’t go much for brand names. Looking around my (tiny) kitchen, I see that most of my favourite bits have been bought in those shopping greats – TK Maxx and Ikea. However, the boxes in my garage are also full of items from the same shops, so beware!

Graters:

For: Cheddar, nutmeg, parmesan, lemon zest

The grater below, from Ikea, has proved its worth many times – it has a fine side for grating lemon and orange zest, as shown in the picture below. It also has a coarse side for cheese, such as cheddar. The fine side grates Parmesan beautifully too.

The magical thing is that it has a plastic collection tray which sits inside the grater. This means that you can collect your zest, or your cheese, in one tidy spot, ready for use. I absolutely love this piece, and I’d say I use it virtually every second day, for one reason or another.

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The tiny grater below, has been in my kitchen forever. I can’t remember where or when I bought it, and really, in my life, it’s main purpose is for grating nutmeg. It’s such a cute little piece that I’d hate to be without it.

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