Tools to Enable Your Parsimony

A reader gently chided me for not having started off this blog with what foodies (including myself) refer to as the batterie de cuisine, or, in the plain language I sometimes eschew, tools for cooking. She's right - I should have provided this list the day we started, so let me rectify this omission now.

I've mentioned a few of these already, but I'll elaborate.

Immersion Stick Blender
This falls under the heading of "what did I ever do before I had this?" Yes, you could use the food processor that you got as a wedding gift, but that involves transferring stuff from one container to another, which involves more cleaning up; I urge you to avoid unnecessary work and save your energy for important matters, like opening a nice bottle of wine to keep you company while you get dinner on the table and help you block out the sound of your kids asking for homework help or your S.O. asking when dinner will be ready. But I digress. Buy yourself one of these indispensible gadgets; Cuisinarts makes a basic model as well as one with many highly useful additions for chopping small amounts and whipping stuff. Using the immersion blender transforms the soup you're making into something really professional looking in no time, right in the pot you were using to cook it in, anyhow.

Very large Pyrex measuring bowl
Pyrex makes a 2 quart (that's 8 cups) size measuring cup that's actually a bowl and is far more useful as a bowl than for measuring. Plus, it has a spout, making pouring what's in it into serving bowls or Ziploc containers spill proof. You'll use it in the microwave to get food on the table fast. You've seen me use it for making soup in NO TIME. I also scrape the roasted apples into it so I can beat them into applesauce and add cinnamon and sweetner (if I think it needs to be sweeter, although it rarely does. But that's a matter of personal taste). It's great for making pancake or cake batter, too, because of the pouring spout.

Parchment Paper
Use this, and washing up becomes a thing of the past, most of the time. Just line cookie sheets or roasting pans with it and you toss it out and rarely have to wash. Things don't stick to it, which is why professional bakers line their cake pans and sheets with it.

Chinese Grocery Store Skimmer

I've bought the larger one for a couple of my friends (comments about how great these are from you guys would be useful to the others) and they both found it highly useful. You can find it in a grocery store in all Chinatowns, even though it says "made in japan" on the handle. You can make chicken or beef stock in large amounts and use the large one to effortlessly clean the broth of all impurities. The mesh is so fine that even liquid fat doesnt get through. Since it's stainless steel, it cleans very easily.
In another posting, I'll discuss the importance of having containers of stock on hand, and this particular tool will be a featured, time-saving player.

Ziploc containers
No, I don't get a kickback from S.C. Johnson (yet), but these are great to have. They're not expensive, like Rubbermaid or Tupperware, but they let you freeze any overabundance from your kitchen, allowing you to take full advantage of market bargains. Or maybe you got lucky and went produce picking and have more peaches or zucchini than you can eat this week. I buy some extra before every holiday as I love sending my kids and friends home with leftovers because 1) I love them and, 2) I have been known to eat leftovers standing in front of the fridge at 3:15 AM, so giving food away is a form of self protection.

Please do comment - remember my intention was to create a community of cooks, not just to blather on and on. I'll keep blathering, but someone write back!