Top 5 Kitchen Tools you all love!
Hey everyone! Not sure what happened this morning, this post was meant to go out just before 5:00 am like normal and for some reason it did not! Leave it to me to be traveling and not getting a chance to notice until now!
So you all know about the amazing $135 Gift Card Giveaway my friends and I are sponsoring for you all! Since I am away from the kitchen I thought it would be a fun post to tally up all the numbers on your favorite things you’ve bought from Amazon.com using this site! When I write posts I recommend items I love (usually items WAY less expensive than you would think a chef would use! When I recommend them I use a link to Amazon.com *my favorite site ever* and since it is the end of the year I figured it would be a fun trip down memory lane to see which items you all loved most. Mind you there are affiliate links but none of these items are sponsored in any way, so every time I have mentioned them it was because I genuinely loved them.
- Cast Iron Lodge 12″ Skillet $26.95. This should come as no shock as it is basically my favorite item in the kitchen. I use it EVERY SINGLE DAY. I use it so much in fact I don’t even put it away after washing, it goes right back on my stovetop. This is a nod to how special it is to me but also that it is HEAVY and I’m not going to bend down into the bottom cabinet to put it away for all of 2 hours before pulling it back out again. The real kicker? For the amount of use it gets, it is so incredibly inexpensive!! I am not at all shocked that you all loved this best.
- Hamilton Beach 70450 8-Cup Food Processor $26.95 My second favorite kitchen item this one was actually a huge surprise to me when I first got it. Let me say as a chef I bought this to go to client homes in my toolkit because I wanted to baby my Cuisinart at home. Guess what, that Cuisinart sits in the garage now and this one (for 7 years now) is my absolute workhorse! I can not recommend it more highly, I even bought a backup a couple years ago in case this one ever kicks the bucket because it is the only food processor I want to use.
- Pig Tail Food Flipper $21.55 This one actually surprised me a bit because I think I only mentioned it a couple of times on the blog, but it really is one of three essential hand tools I use in the kitchen. The other two are my tongs and my knife. I flip almost everything with this tool and it rocks. No splattering, it makes the smallest pin prick in the food and it is a quick way to flip a whole pan full of items in seconds. Way to go Pig Tail flipper!
- Kitchenaid Stand Mixer $262.50 Yeah so this one doesn’t surprise me a bit. I think everyone I know who has one loves it and everyone who doesn’t covets it!
- Nordicware Half Sheet Pan $14.95 Last but not least is the classic sheet pan. For full disclosure to you guys I DO own this pan, three of them in fact. I do use them probably 1-2 times a week but I mostly use my Goldtouch Pans from Williams-Sonoma. So why do I recommend this one constantly instead? Well, as a chef I get a LOT of gift cards from friends and family to Williams-Sonoma and as a professional chef I get a discount. So I have basically the entire line of Goldtouch cookware that I love. That being said, this sheet pan is *almost* as good for less than half the price. I couldn’t in all good faith tell you to go pay full price at Williams-Sonoma when this pan totally kicks butt.
A couple of other favorites of mine that missed the cut but deserve an honorable mention? My favorite tongs, my favorite all purpose chopping knife *the big rocking knife* (I use this instead of my Shun set almost all the time unless I need a specific knife), and my new favorite kitchen toy I will be introducing to you all next year, the sous vide machine.
Sabrina how do you recommend cleaning the cast iron when you use it so regularly? I’ve shied away from my square one because it seems to never clean well. I’ve resorted to the kosher salt/oil trick which works but I guess it still turns me off from regular use.
I totally buck the trend with the cast iron cleaning but I haven’t suffered for it yet at least. I wash as I would any other pot (as in hot soapy water). Then I dry with a towel I have in the kitchen just for that pot that is really absorbant. Finally I use a paper towel and dip it in some canola oil and wipe it across the whole surface. Then I wipe it back down with my cotton rag. I wash that rag with all my kitchen towels 2 x a week. 🙂
I’ll have to agree, my #1 would be a cast iron skillet. I can rule the world with cast iron lol
Yes!