Behind Closed Drawers -- Tools in My Kitchen

I like to think of kitchen gadgets as real "tools of the trade." They make life easier and remind you to expand your repertoire of cooking techniques.

Here are some of my favorites:

I got these fish tweezers for about $7.95 a few years ago, and I see that they are still a bargain all over the web (Here's one site). Prior to that, I struggled for years to pick out bones from salmon and halibut and on the few times we have it, trout. I suppose I might have gone down to the basement and brought up a pair of regular pliers or gone upstairs and found an extra set of regular tweezers. But I am so glad that I didn't do either of those things. These tweezers are sturdy, small and perfect.

I use my garlic press at least every other day. I do have to admit that I'm really bad with changes and when Don bought me this I was initially skeptical, because I was doing just fine with my old garlic press, thank you very much. (For a picture of  Don, click on this post and scroll to the bottom.) My problem was that this press has moving parts that are a little tricky to maneuver. Ultimately,  I discovered that it's worth getting used to -- it's easy to clean and fits lots of garlic chunks in its little basket.

My kitchen was a one-pyrex kitchen for many years (the small one-cup version) until I just recently figured out that I really wanted/needed bigger containers. So, in one fell-swoop I bought two more sizes! (I know -- quite an impulse buy for me!). I use the medium size for saving left-over coffee in case I don't feel like making fresh on the mornings when Don goes in to his office. The big one is great for heating stock when I make risotto. The 2-cup version is handy for mixing the wet ingredients in recipes before adding to the dry ingredients.

Thanks Jenny for this small, hand-held mixer! I had gone many years without a mixer after mine broke about 10 years ago. I was actually beating egg whites for waffles and meringues with a hand-held egg beater I inherited from my mother when I went off to college! I don't use this all that often, but it takes up so little space that it is well worth having it around.

Do you use about 20 paring knives every time you cook dinner? Or maybe just 5? Of course I switch them out if I need to cut a bit of fat off a piece of chicken, but for some reason it is easier to grab a new knife out of this little container next to the stove than it is to look around and see where I set down the previous knife. Don't ask me why.

If I need to measure lemon or orange juice, I use a small, hand  juicer, but if I don't care about measuring, this juicer is the most effective tool -- so simple, so effective, so red and easy to find in the drawer.

If you drink any amount of wine at all, you need to get one of these rabbit-ear cork screws. Ours is from the Chefs catalogue.

The microplane. It fits easily in the drawer, it does a perfect job and it allows you to add lemon or orange zest really quickly and easily. Did the first-users buy them at the hardware store instead of the kitchen store?  

I'm adding this apple corer not because I like it ( I don't) but because Don uses it a lot. I prefer my apples cut and cored by hand (using a handy accessible paring knife, see above). Don says "It's quick. But there's a lot of spray back. When I do it, I always look up so I don't get spray in my glasses."