Veganomicon_ The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook - Isa Chandra Moskowitz [13]
Blender
Speaking of blenders, it’s not absolutely necessary to have a standing one for the recipes in this book, but it’s pretty awesome for the occasional peanut butter-banana smoothie or to puree soups and sauces.
Immersion Blender
This little gadget is worth every penny, which is not a lot of pennies since they’re surprisingly inexpensive. Often in this book we give you two choices: you can wait for your stew or soup or whatever to cool a bit and then puree half of it in a blender or food processor, then add it back to the pot, or the much-more-appealing second choice—simply whip out your immersion blender and puree. If you want to dabble even further in immersion blender magic, look for ones that come with a selection of attachments for whisking and grinding spices or coffee.
Graters
Box graters are a kitchen staple that attack carrots, celery, and jicama with ease. We suppose that you could also grate vegetables with that food processor, but it seems more work than necessary to clean it if you’re grating just one carrot to toss into a salad. The zester on those things is mostly useless, though, which is why we recommend you get yourself a microplane grater. Then finely shredded mounds of citrus zest and freshly grated nutmeg shall be yours!
Mandoline
Just a note about these—mandolines are ominous, human-powered contraptions that can transform a pile of carrots or pound of potatoes into slender, completely uniform shreds in mere minutes. They are also the kind of medieval instrument one might encounter should one have the terrifying experience of going to a Renaissance fair. With a mandoline it’s possible to quickly grate, slice, shred, sliver (and julienne!) any firm vegetable or fruit into a plethora of perfect shapes that would take you hours of tedious work with a knife. Careful please, because they are armed with a deadly serious blade that does all that work for you. Absolutely not necessary for cooking, but something to consider should you want to live off of hash browns and shredded salads.
Enough prep work. It’s time to move on to the fun stuff.
POTS AND PANS AND OTHER FOOD COOKING VEHICLES
When we were starving artists we cooked with a found rusty wok and ate off of upside down Frisbees. Times have changed.
Skillets
A.k.a. sauté pans, a.k.a. frying pans. We’re big fans of good old cast-iron for skillet cooking, not to mention that cast iron has the added benefit of being able to be popped into the oven for additional browning, making a potpie or the best corn bread you’ll ever eat. A 10- or 12-inch cast-iron skillet is all you really need, but it’s mighty heavy and requires proper seasoning, so you might want something lighter around, too. It’s hard to beat stainless-steel pans for bombproof functionality; no matter what you burn in ’em, you can get it off with a little elbow grease, and none the worse for wear (except possibly your elbow). Nonstick pans are great for their nonstickiness. They cost just a little more than stainless steel, but only buy one if you can buy a nice one—and treat it gently! A good nonstick pan has a very smooth, nearly shiny surface. No metal should ever touch that pan, so while you’re shopping, get a few good-quality silicone or wood utensils to use with it. If you scratch Teflon or another nonstick coating it’s useless (and possibly toxic), and if you get it too hot (like 500°F hot, which is really easy to do if you’re forgetful) it gives off toxic fumes.
The Great Big Soup Pot
The name says it all. Look for a large 6- to 8-quart pot that’s preferably stainless steel with a good stout bottom. Accessories (like a steamer basket) are nice. The Great Big Pot and a skillet are the bare essentials, but