There is no corelation between having fancy cooking equipment and cooking well. None. Zilch. In fact, fancy cookware can be a handicap, because it’s intimidating; you feel as if you have to produce something magical and accomplished just to justify its existence, and wind up rarely cooking at all, or do so in a guilt-driven way, since you’ve spent a small fortune on it. (I’ve found a similar phenomenon in notebooks: the crappier and cheaper the notebook, the more I find myself using it — fancy, expensive notebooks seem to require lofty, great thoughts, and thus remain largely empty.)
So many of us in the United States feel that we need to be maximally equipped with the latest and best to do anything properly, and this is especially true with cooking.
I was fortunate to have learned how to cook in Japan, where the typical kitchen is the size of a large US cutting board. No one uses AllClad, just cheap aluminum pots and pans. There are no ovens. (Although I did find a used countertop “oven,” much like a big toaster oven, for about $25, and eventually understood its many quirks well enough to produce tasty meals in it). Thermador, Sub Zero, Wolf, Viking? No one’s ever heard of them. The fridges are slightly bigger than “dorm” fridges — you’re supposed to get everything you need today today, and use it today.
Even worse are the “sets” of cookware that we believe we need. Many of the pans included in these sets are utterly useless, and just take up space. You should buy your cookware as you need it, one piece at a time. Kitchens that have disparate cookware are homier and have more character than a long row of matching cookware.
If I were advising a new cook on just one item to get, I’d start with a cast iron pan, in which one can cook just about anything, and whose virtues I’ll extol in the next post. Meanwhile, I’d love to hear about your most-often-used piece of equipment.
Most often used? Probably our knives and cutting boards. And I’m so glad we got a sharpening steel for the knives; it may make a bigger difference than the quality of the knives. (I don’t have evidence to back that up… my only other experience is with my mother’s knives: inexpensive, 20 years old, never sharpened, always washed in the dishwasher. Any one of those things could have made the difference.)
I also get a lot of use out of my Calphalon 12-inch everyday pan. All of my sautees and all of my roasts happen in it (the Thanksgiving turkey was a tight squeeze, but it was a small one and just fit). It’s a bit expensive, but it takes the place of a roaster and a pan, so I don’t mind. Nice for making gravy and jus.
Yes, cooking equipment has nothing to do with cooking skills. Like in many aspects of life here and thanks to rampant commercialization, too much stress is laid on the hardware and nearly not enough on the software.
What I really use in my daily cooking is the 10″ cast iron skillet and a wok like pot with two O-shaped handles, called “kadhai”. In India “kadhai” is the versatile star of the kitchen.
I had a friend who was a chef. He carried around this fabric thing which, unrolled, displayed about 12 knives. “I do this to convince people I’m serious, but actually I only use two of them, the big one and the small one.” He also, later, discovered a smallish Japanese one that was perfect for finely chopping herbs.
To this day, that’s what I have: a big one (Henckel, French chef’s model), a small one (ditto, like a tinier version), and a Japanese one for when something demands a Samurai sword.
Three frying pans (cast iron, stainless and deep, stickless and big), three small pots (for cooking rice, reheating leftovers, etc) one slighly larger pot, and a big pasta pot. A big saucepan and a little saucepan. A wok.
And that’s just about it.
Amen! I don’t buy sets, but I do believe in investing in good quality cookware. My favorite item in my kitchen is the AllClad Master Chef 12″ skillet that I bought at a kitchen supply store in 1998. I can roast any meat in it and then reduce the pan juices on the stove. It lost its sexy stainless steel shine many years ago, but if there’s such a thing as a culinary BFF, this one is mine.
Great post, Eric! Another great thing to do is buy your cookware secondhand. I recently picked up a beautifully seasoned cast iron skillet at my local thrift store for $5. Shopping at thrift stores is economical, green (keeping stuff out of the landfill), a good way to support a charity and a lot of fun–especially when you score something really wonderful for a fraction of what it costs in the big box stores.
Ed, I have that fabric thing, but a small one, with four knives, that sometimes take with me places. It’s a great little kit.
As Karena says, quality counts, no doubt about it. But I guess what I really meant to say is related to what Dana says: quality stuff need not be expensive. Second hand is a great idea; I’ve scored some real finds at garage sales for a buck or two.
My mother has a wok, a cutting board and a cleaver, and there is nothing she can’t make out of her tiny kitchen. I, on the other hand, own various Calphalon pots and pans, Global knifes and KitchenAid appliances. There is almost nothing that I can’t make either; it just takes me a whole lotta effort, tools and technology.
I just love your ideas–of course most people on the planet don’t have fancy kitchens or fancy cookware, but they manage to cook with love and generosity which are always the best ingredients!
Recently I needed a pot as I had an urge to make soups (I finally had a little time on my hands!) and found a great one by Cristel, made in France, with a glass lid. It cost a small fortune, but I love it! (And I’m using it for pretty much everything — tiny kitchen, one hotplate syndrome.) It is becoming a challenge to find French-made anything here in France and I didn’t want the ubiquitous made in China… I have also had my eyes on Le Creuset’s line of black no-stick enameled iron pots… which are also pricey but made in France (until further notice!). The key will be to find the one or two pieces that will be the most useful. How would you compare “Le Creuset” to grandma’s ironware?