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.
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Norpro Stainless Steel Scoops-1 TbspOne of my favorite hors d’oeuvre to make when I have company is gougères: those airy, cheesy puffs that melt in your mouth. The hardest thing about gougères is dealing with...
Joseph Joseph TriScale - J21Why It's Cool: Fully functional scale with tare capability using very little spaceHere’s the dilemma: you know that weighing your ingredients is a much more reliable practice than than any other form of measurement (see this week's Cool Tip, and even when...
Norpro Silicone Pastry Mat - N13Why It's Cool: Sticks to the counter but releases your foodThe “baking season” is upon us: cookies, pies, and everything in between …. And one of the most difficult parts of making a pie has been getting the crust “right” -...
Gefu Asparagus Peeler - G12Why It's Cool: Curved blade and contoured holder assure even, easy peeling (and peeled asparagus just tastes better!)Why peel asparagus? If you have white asparagus, it’s almost required, because the peel can be very tough. But what about our standard green asparagus? If it’s less than...
OXO V-Blade Mandoline SlicerA mandoline is both awesome and scary. Awesome, because it really can do things a knife can’t (at least not when wielded by a mere amateur), like julienning a couple of pounds...
Gefu Flexicut Vegetable Splitter (Cutter) - G30Why It's Cool: Easily cuts round things (fruits or vegetables) into quarters or eigths, without risk to life or limbOne of the most difficult categories of things to cut a lot of are round things. Think about it: Brussels sprouts, carrots, small potatoes, cherry tomatoes, radishes, cucumbers,...
Olipac Stainless Steel Olive Oil Bottles by IPAC - I10Why It's Cool: Strikingly beautiful olive oil bottles for kitchen or dining tableWe always look for kitchen tools that are high design, high functionality, but sometimes we see something that blows us away. When we were walking the show in Chicago last month,...
Norpro Stainless Steel Herb and Kale Stripper and Chopper - N12Why It's Cool: Not only does this strip all different kinds of herbs and kale, it has a blade to chop them as well.OK - you know you love the special flavors that herbs can add to a variety of dishes. But the ‘dried’ stuff in bottles doesn’t deliver the punch you want, and the effort of...
Trudeau Dripless Oil Spout-GreenWhy It's Cool: Truly dripless pouring from any bottle.We all buy - or receive - bottles of olive oil or vinegar that we store for another day … they come either corked or with a screwtop that has to be removed and/or replaced every...
The Cheese Knife (Large Size)-Black - T21Why It's Cool: Cuts cheese cleanly without sticking, especially in large block formatsThe original Cheese Knife was a great surprise for us … a very Cool Tool: beautiful mid-20th Century American industrial design, with a clean functional purpose, that performs...
