- Category
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- Prep 100
- Cooking 69
- Serving 46
- Entertaining 17
- Storage 24
- Miscellaneous 15
The Essential Kitchen
We thought it might be helpful to group our Cool Tools in categories that reflect their role in the meal creation process. So here is our attempt to be helpful:
- Prep: These are the tools that are your workhorses, and the ones that most take the place of a sous-chef. These Cool Tools help you prepare your ingredients to be cooked. In finding Cool Tools for food prep, functionality, time saving and ease of use are the most important things we look for. Each and every one of these does its job particularly well and takes your food prep from drudgery to fun (well, almost!) When we finally carry knives, they will fit in this section.
- Cooking: These are the Cool Tools that you actually use during the cooking process; that means they have to be easy to use, handy to pick up, and work well without thinking about it, because your focus should be on the food--these Cool Tools take a supporting role.
- Serving: These are the Cool Tools that take your meal from the kitchen to the table, and make it easy and beautiful to serve your food.
- Entertaining: These are all the Cool Tools that are part of your entertaining repertoire and make the event easy for you and memorable for your guests.
- Storage: When the meal is over, what do you do with all those leftover bits? These Cool Tools will help.
- Miscellaneous: These are some more Cool Tools that we love, but they didn't fit neatly into one of the other categories.
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Tovolo Silicone SpatulaWhy It's Cool: Heat resistant, sturdy, but flexible, great shape, comfortable to use--it has it all!Every spatula has two parts: a business end (the head) and a gripping end (the handle); both are important in choosing a spatula. But first let’s start with why you need a...
OXO Silicone Garlic Peeler - O31Why It's Cool: Makes easy work of the tough job of peeling garlic; shape keeps garlic cloves inside and plastic box keeps peeler clean between usesGarlic...is there any other single flavor that adds more to so many dishes? We love garlic, whether it’s crispy bits in a stir fry or paper thin slices that almost disappear...
The Cheese Knife - T20Why It's Cool: Cuts cheese cleanly without stickingWhat’s wrong with this picture? It says it’s a knife, but it’s made of plastic. And real knives are made of steel (and ceramics), right? Can this really be ‘THE’...
Camerons Fasta Pasta - C91Why It's Cool: Cooks pasta faster and easier with great results, using less energy and water, and with a bonus of starchier water to add to pasta sauce.Over the years we’ve become fans of microwave cookery … it’s fast, it’s convenient, it takes less energy, and it uses less-expensive energy. And, with experience, it can...
Lékué Egg Poacher (Set of 2) - L11Why It's Cool: Poaches your egg in water, mimicking the traditional egg poaching method, while assuring consistent results with a minimum of fuss!Poached eggs are a true treat! When done right, they have a firm, but yielding, white around a molten rich yolk, with lots of protein and no extra fat, other than that which the...
Charles Viancin All Silicone Cutting Boards - CV11Why It's Cool: Flexible to deliver cut food to pan or bowl, doesn't move on counter as you cut, dishwasher safeWhen we reviewed the original Charles Viancin Lilypad Cutting Board, we talked about the many choices of cutting boards, including the fact that we all probably have several, in...
Charles Viancin Silicone Measuring Cups - CV10Why It's Cool: Space-saving, flexible and eye-catching measuring cups that are easy to use.Measuring ingredients is just a necessary fact of life in the kitchen and there are a lot of different measuring vessels that you can use. What you want in a good measuring vessel...
OXO Poultry Shears - O36Why It's Cool: Micro-serrated blades cut equally well through skin and bones, and the blades come apart for easy cleaning.Poultry shears have two basic functions: be strong enough to cut through joints and bones, and be sharp enough to cut through slippery chicken skin. It is surprising how few...
OXO Silicone Roasting Rack - Set of 2 - O35Why It's Cool: Flexible and convenient solution to elevate your food.A roasting rack is an essential component to good cooking of so many delicious dishes … usually these racks ‘come with’ your roasting pan, but often those that ‘come...
Colbrook Kitchen QuickMix Mixing Jar (Egg, corn starch, ... everything mixer!) - C22Why It's Cool: Great for beating one or two eggs or mixing cornstarch and water--it truly is a quick mix!So how can an inexpensive piece of plastic be a Cool Tool? I have to tell you...I love this thing. It’s called a QuickMix, and that’s exactly what is does. I use it at...