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.
- Sirius Chef Muffin Splitter - S10Why It's Cool: Maintains all the wonderful nooks and crannies in your English muffins, biscuits and sconesEverybody loves a breakfast centered around a freshly-toasted English Muffin (OK: if you don’t, then skip to the next article!). And one of the endearing (and delicious)...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...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...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...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...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...RSVP Endurance Pepper Corer - R39Why It's Cool: Effectively cleans out the innards of a pepper to make it ready for stuffing or dicing...and de-seeds other fruits and vegetables as wellPeppers (chilis) of all kinds and heat levels add a lot of flavor and punch to almost any dish. In the summer, we devote an entire 16’ X 8’ bed (and more!) in our garden to...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...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...fusionbrands HerbZipperWhy It's Cool: Compact but powerful Cool Tool that takes the work out of stripping herbs off their stems.Love herbs? Of course: they are nature’s gift to cooks everywhere! But hate picking the little leaves off the stems? Yes … well, do we have a Cool Tool for...