In all honesty I can’t even call these tools. Well, I guess the kitchen shears count but the gloves are really stretching the point.
It’s true though. My life in the kitchen changed dramatically when I realized how these simple items could make such a big difference.
The kitchen shears: I very rarely use a knife to trim meat anymore; it’s much easier to trim fat from chicken breasts or silverskin from a tenderloin with the shears. Sometimes I’ll use them to segment a large piece of meat or fish into smaller portions. I also use the shears to mince chives and other herbs, to chop dried fruit, plus a million other uses.
It’s true though. My life in the kitchen changed dramatically when I realized how these simple items could make such a big difference.
The kitchen shears: I very rarely use a knife to trim meat anymore; it’s much easier to trim fat from chicken breasts or silverskin from a tenderloin with the shears. Sometimes I’ll use them to segment a large piece of meat or fish into smaller portions. I also use the shears to mince chives and other herbs, to chop dried fruit, plus a million other uses.
The gloves: Handy (!) when working with hot peppers or handling meat and fish. I have mastered the one-glove technique where the bare/clean hand sprinkles on salt and pepper while the gloved hand turns the meat/fish in its dish. With a boxful of gloves on standby (they’re cheap!) I’ve become more likely to glove up and take a real hands-on approach to my cooking. Things like meatloaf, you’ve gotta get your hands in there to mix it up. Even in baking I’ve found that – with a stiff batter, for example – it’s sometimes easier to put on gloves and use my hands to do the final mixing. (I get a little pain in my hands that makes hardcore stirring a challenge but that’s a story for never, let’s stay positive.) Many things that used to involve a spoon I now do by hand.
I’ve said before that I’m a bit reluctant to share so-called Kitchen Tips – everyone else has probably been using and/or doing these things forever and I’m the one late to the party. But on the off-chance that this might provide an aha moment for another home cook, leading to saved minutes and more fun in the kitchen, it’ll be worth it.
I’ve said before that I’m a bit reluctant to share so-called Kitchen Tips – everyone else has probably been using and/or doing these things forever and I’m the one late to the party. But on the off-chance that this might provide an aha moment for another home cook, leading to saved minutes and more fun in the kitchen, it’ll be worth it.
RSS Feed