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Kitchen Utensils
Some time ago someone told me I needed do a posting about my favorite kitchen utensils. I wanted to, I really did, but somehow I never got around to it. Until my new lens arrived today and I needed a subject and my kid couldn’t even be bribed into posing.
So I figured “Kitchen utensils“, that’s a whole lotta willing photography subjects! Is that killing two birds with one stone or what?
Not that there were any birds harmed in the making of these photos. Not that I know of.
These I cannot live without. My colorful, silicone cooking spoons. Not only do they cheer up my kitchen—stir in some colour—but I can leave them in my pan and forget about them.
They’re heat-resistant up to 400F/200C and won’t get even the slightest bit warm. Too bad I can’t even buy them in NL anymore.
I also prefer to use silicone utensils in my Le Creuset pans. Those pans are crazy expensive here and call me crazy, but every time I see someone use a metal utensil in a LC I have to refrain from smacking them upside the head with a heavy Lodge skillet.
I also use silicone spatulas and slotted spoons.
My garlic king. It cleans up so much easier than a garlic press and works just as fast, if not faster.
Even my whisks have a silicone layer. Colorful, too.
And my tongs. If you’re gonna do it, do it right…. right?
I get a lot questions about these spoons with a hole in them. They’re so easy to use when you store soups or sauces. The hole kinda swirls things as you stir so you end up with smoother sauces.
This doesn’t need an explanation, does it? My Microplanes and I are one. Garlic, nutmeg, cheeses and ginger. I grate everything.
And the piece de resistance: my citrus squeezers. Granted, a real juicer is way more effective in getting that last drop out, but this is perfect for quickly adding juice.
What’s that one (or 10) utensil you cannot live without?
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Proof that you don’t need many kitchen gadgets! Why so much plastic though?
And here I was thinking I explained why I prefer to use silicone utensils :)
I think silicone is more a rubber and not plastic, though. The citrus squeezers are metal.
I loved your post!
I always want to know about kitchen stuff!
Okay, the Garlic King is possibly the best design I’ve seen in a long time. And why oh why have I not known about it prior to this?
I had never even seen or read about this garlic press anywhere before seeing it on your blog.
I was immediately smitten with the idea of no waste, no fiddly cleaning and no lingering smell on the fingers, so I ordered one from Amazon as a birthday present to myself!
As an aside, the most-used tool in my kitchen is my special set of measuring spoons. they are not round, but elongated, so they get right inside those peskily narrow spice-bottle!
What a great, colourful post! I’d noticed your holey spoons before and it’s interesting to see they have a purpose and the hole isn’t just aesthetics!
I am too poor with too little space currently to have a hell of a load of kitchen gadgets (I pretend it’s under the guise that if you do something well the hard way, then you’ll be able to do it awesomely when you have the means to do it the easy way. In reality, lack of gadgets suck) and, due to this lack of anything spectacular my most useful gadget has turned out to be my bbq tongs. Not because I have a load of bbqs but because I’m short; too short to reach window latches and the handles of pans stored on high shelves without extra reach!
I was seriously expecting your measuring cups and spoons collection. I might be just a tad disappointed ;)
They’re not utensils: they’re an extension of my arm :)
Could you share some of the brand names of these? I like the colorful spoons and the spoons with the holes in them especially. I have to admit that I have a bit of a kitchen gadget addiction (ok. maybe a glassware one too)!
The colorful spoons are made by a company named Zeal. The ones with the hole don’t have a brand-name on them.
Yo Kay.. I was watchin Rachel or Giada or one of those hot babes like you and they mentioned lovin ceramic knives. I was wonderin if you own any or have tried them. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceramic_knife .. I looked in Palm Springs and found one shop that had a very small paring knife in ceramic for $15. I didn’t buy it as I wanted something bigger to try for my first one.. your thoughts?
Love the fact that you can leave the spoons in a hot pan and still cool to the touch. I’ll check em out here.
I don’t use silicon at all, so not much gadgetry in my kitchen, I guess. But I’d be in trouble without one of those thin squares of rubber used to grip jar lids. I got one as advertising from my insurance company ages ago, and just tossed it in the back of a drawer. Then a few years back I started having trouble opening jars, and wow! That little item is in use daily!
By the way, the “holey” spoons are designed to reduce the amount of “wave” generated when you stir a pot. Cuts down on clean-ups!
It also reduces the splashing, but the main reason the hole is there is that it creates a a motion that makes the food you use it for smoother, for instance when you use it to make risotto, porridge etc. Even my grandmother used them, but she had wooden ones.
Even though the spoon-with-the-hole was used allready by my grand mother, (they are called ‘risotto spoons’ ) she has never know risotto. Risotto became popular in the netherlands in the 80′s …
I remember my grandmother stirring porridge with it… and soup. Lots of soup.
I can’t live without my old-fashioned wooden spoons! Like silicone spoons, they’re gentle on pots and pans, and they don’t heat up.
I have tons of those as well. Some also specifically for photography purposes because they’re so darn pretty :)
I love my silicon coated metal spoons by Tovolo. And I have some spoons that I have had for years and can’t find them anywhere here in the US anymore. They are like the stirring spoons with the holes in them that you photographed. Mine are made from a melmac material which is like a hard plastic made by a company called Rosti. They actually look very similar to your blue one. I prefer using them in all of my cooking, not just because they don’t scratch but because they are so strong. The Rosti spoons are especially nice in sauces and soups or anything with a lot of liquids. They do a great job of stirring with out so much liquid getting displaced and splashing out or going over the sides. Who makes the blue one with the hole in it. Do they still sell them in Holland? My son is going to school in Amsterdam and I can get him to find them for me and get me a couple and bring them back for me when he returns in August.
Rosti mepal? We have that brand here as well. Tovolo is unfamiliar to me.
Just checked and there’s no brand name on it. I buy the ones with holes in a store called Xenos.
Thanks for getting back to me. I will get my son to to go to Xenos for me. Looking closer at the handle (with a magnifier – I wear glasses), I can see this “Rosti -Danish design -melamine – 2520“. I have had these for 10 to 25 years so they very well could be the same company that may have merged with another. If anything it is a testament to how durable they are. They are one of my favorites! Tovolo, may be a Swedish company because the first “O” has a slash through it. My keyboard won’t make that letter.
I missed your New West knife!
Love your colourful range, getting inspired to have more.
That one is gorgeous, isn’t it? But I haven’t been using it as much lately since I won a professional Sabatier knife block a couple weeks ago. So many knives in there I still have to get to know.
My favorite spoons are a small, wooden, black-burned spoon (yes, from my grand mother) and a white silicone risotto spoon (allthough, now after 10+ yeras it starts to becomes a browninisch color) end a thin, Indonesian, wooden spatula I use when (stir)frying.
My most used knife is a Molenaars/aardappelmes 9kind of paring knife), a bit rusted, but very sharp.
Love your photography, they’re company-commercial quality !
You’ve inspired me to go out and get a spoon with a hole in it. I find myself looking at them and wondering if i really needed one (not knowing the intended function), and the state of my range after cooking sauces is screaming that I do.
Thank you :)
You can get all sorts of Zeal-utensils on Amazon.co.uk. The’re pretty indeed! ;-)
As far as I know you can’t find the Zeal 30cm spoons anywhere in NL or on amazon anymore!
I didn’t see them on Amazon USA, either. But I did find them on
Amazon.co.uk site. So I guess you can only buy them in the UK. I’m
not sure how that works from Holland as I have never tried to
purchase from the US on the UK site. I can with eBay, but I have never done it with Amazon. At least they are still around. :)
Ah! I’ve been so busy with work and school that I just got around to clearing out my e-mail and going through subscription posts. Just throwing this out there, but I was the one who suggested the post! :D And I’m so glad I did. I love your colors. For some reason I stick to stainless steel and have yet to really pick a kitchen theme. Everything is white or chrome toned. It’s very modern and blah-esque. I think I may go invest in one of those garlic king mincers though.. I so do love kitchen toys. I have entirely too many. Oh well! :D Thanks again!