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BOWLS

Collect various sizes from large to small—and various shapes (deep and shallow) for marinating, tossing, beating, combining, and serving. Nesting sets are nice for space-saving. And in general, when it comes to bowls, between holding ingredients, mixing, and serving, you can’t have too many.

COLANDER

Your colander should be large enough to drain a batch of pasta. You might also want to have a smaller one for washing and draining small amounts of vegetables, fruit, herbs, or other ingredients—or use a strainer for this purpose.

STRAINER

A medium-mesh strainer is useful for everything from sifting powdered sugar over foods to draining and rinsing a can of beans.

WOODEN SPOON SETS

These are very inexpensive and effective. Usually these sets come with several wooden spoons and a few wooden spatulas. I use them all the time. It’s handy to keep them in a pitcher or vase by the stove for easy grabbing. Keep some whisks, tongs, and other frequently used items in there as well.

RUBBER SPATULAS

They’re cheap, so get a few of various dimensions. Invest in heatproof ones, which cost a bit more but won’t melt into your scrambled eggs.

THIN-BLADED METAL SPATULA

This tool is indispensable for when you want to loosen and then flip a burger or other skillet food and don’t want to leave any of the crisp parts in the pan.

WHISKS

Get yourself a set of whisks—small, medium, and large—and you’ll be able to handle anything from whipping cream to whipping up a salad dressing.

TONGS

Spring-loaded tongs that you can use with one hand are indispensable. Watch any professional cook in action, and you’ll see why.

SCISSORS

Buy a pair to use just for food and keep them in your kitchen drawer. You will be surprised at how much these will get used—from snipping chives and other herbs to cutting fish and poultry. Like your knives, your kitchen scissors will last longer and perform better if you have them professionally sharpened from time to time.

LADLE

Get a 4-to 6-ounce ladle for soups and stews and for ladling pasta water from the pot into a sauce.

GARLIC PRESS

When you see a recipe that calls for minced garlic in this book, you can either mince it with a knife or press it through a garlic press, which saves time.

BOX GRATER

A good, heavy-duty box grater is indispensable for grating everything from vegetables and potatoes to cheese.

MICROPLANE GRATER

These ultrasharp graters, sold in cookware stores, are fabulous for fine-grating citrus zest and ginger, hard cheeses like Parmesan, and chocolate (for sprinkling on desserts or drinks as a garnish).

PASTRY BRUSH

Useful for spreading olive oil on baking trays or brushing food with oil or melted butter.

VEGETABLE PEELER

Look for a good, sturdy one, either Y-shaped or straight. A cheap, flimsy peeler will slow you down and won’t do as thorough a job.

INSTANT-READ THERMOMETER

If you will be cooking meat or chicken, this is your “when is it done?” insurance policy (see Chapter 6: Chicken, Fish, and Meat).

MEASURING SPOONS

Treat yourself to a nice, heavy-duty set. Actually, treat yourself to two. I find that having two sets really helps when you are measuring both dry and wet ingredients in one go-round and you want to keep them separate.

DRY MEASURING CUPS

These are used to measure dry ingredients, such as flour, and have flat edges, so that you can fill them and then scrape the excess off with the back of a knife blade. This gives you a more accurate measure for dry ingredients than a liquid measuring cup (see below).

LIQUID MEASURING CUPS

These are usually made of glass with measurement lines on the side. Get two heatproof glass ones with spouts for pouring—one 2-cup and one 4-cup capacity. These can be used both for measuring and for heating/melting ingredients (like milk or butter) in the microwave.

OTHER HELPFUL TOOLS AND GADGETS

Salad spinner

Dish towels

A heavy-duty apron or two

Citrus juicer