- Category
-
- Prep 99
- Cooking 62
- Serving 48
- Entertaining 15
- Storage 23
- Miscellaneous 12
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.
-
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...
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...
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...
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’...
Erik Bagger Appetizer KnifeWhy It's Cool: Pure Scandinavian design: embodying both form and function in an elegant, simple pieceWhen you’re serving appetizers, there is a special niche of tool - between a sharp paring knife and a blunt spatula - that makes the tasks of portioning and spreading...
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...
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...
RSVP Endurance Stainless Steel Scrubbie (Package of 2) - R41Why It's Cool: Cleans like a champ and doesn't rustOK, so clean-up is definitely not the most exciting part of cooking. But, alas, it is always a necessary set of tasks. So when you find something clever, effective, and reasonably...
ChicWrap - C27Why It's Cool: Takes the frustration out of using kitchen wraps: plastic wrap, foil and parchment.OK, I’ve already admitted that I’m a klutz when it comes to plastic wrap; that’s one of the reasons that we love the Charles Viancin Lids. But there are times when plastic...
fusionbrands PopMeasure - F50Why It's Cool: 2 microwave safe measure cups in one, with easy clean-up in the dishwasherHas this ever happened to you? You have your measuring cup out and you’ve just measured your liquid, and now you have to measure something dry. So what do you do? Do you wash...