Want to be a better home chef? 5 kitchen tools could boost your culinary skills
(BPT) - If you love cooking and are always working toward improving your skills as well as your creations, you may want to review the tools you use in your kitchen each day. Having chef-quality equipment makes it easier to expand your culinary repertoire and achieve high-level, consistent results, from family meals to dinner parties.
Here are tools that can improve your efforts, from start to finish:
Chill out
For all the times you've planned large holiday meals and despaired at having no room in your fridge to hold all your ingredients - much less keep everything at the correct temperatures - you're probably ready for an upgrade. To help you prepare for any size dinner party or a week's worth of culinary adventures, the Signature Kitchen Suite 48-inch Built-In French Door Refrigerator will give you the space you need, especially during the busy holiday season.
While you may be happy to know this fridge is ENERGY STAR certified, you'll probably be even more impressed with its convertible drawer, letting you choose from five preset temperatures suitable for chilled wine, fridge/deli, meats and seafood, beverages - or even letting you turn it into a freezer. On top of that, you'll have two freezer drawers with plenty of space for frozen items, plus a Dual Ice Maker that creates both trapezoidal-shaped ice and slow-melting spherical Craft Ice, perfect for enhancing your festive holiday cocktails and mocktails.
Be a cut above
Every good chef needs high-quality knives, along with the ability to keep them honed. While a professional chef needs a full set and doubtless uses them all, home chefs may only need a small assortment of the most essential knives. Top picks would include a paring knife, chef's knife, serrated knife and boning knife. You'll also want a good peeler, and perhaps a slicing/carving knife or a cleaver, if you anticipate needing them. To keep your knives sharp, invest in a quality honing steel, whetstone or knife sharpener - and learn how to use it properly.
While the best quality cooking knives are costly, the good news is that they last a lifetime. Start with the most essential knives for your purposes, then grow your collection as you gain more experience.
Blend right in
If you commonly use a whisk for combining dressings and vinaigrettes and rely on your blender for creaming soups, you'll appreciate the versatility and effectiveness of an immersion stick blender. You can use it for blending small amounts of dressing and vinaigrettes, as they fit conveniently in a cup or small bowl. While making a cream soup, you can blend right inside the pot, saving you the mess and hassle of pouring soup in and out of the blender - and you don't need to wait for soup to cool before using it.
Cook like a chef
Ready to take your cooking to the next level? Consider updating your current range to one of Signature Kitchen Suite's Dual-Fuel Pro Ranges. These top-of-the-line ranges offer both induction and gas cooking, plus the industry's first built-in sous vide right on the cooktop, making it easier than ever to explore this professional-level cooking technique.
If you've heard of sous vide, you probably want to try it. In sous vide cooking, vacuum-sealed foods are cooked in water at a regulated temperature to achieve an even cook throughout. This method helps retain the flavor and nutrients of foods without overcooking, drying out or burning.
Plate like a pro
So you've mastered the sauce shmear on the bottom of the plate and always wipe the rims of your plates before serving, but do you struggle with applying final touches like beautiful, delicate garnishes? Sounds like you're ready for a good pair of 10-inch heavy-duty tweezer tongs. Whether you're applying edible flowers atop a cake or setting a pile of exquisite microgreens on your latest entree, you'll appreciate the precision of this tool to make your plate worthy of a chef's kiss.
A good pair of tweezer tongs also helps you perform tricky tasks like peeling skin off hot tomatoes or other delicate maneuvers where standard tongs are too big and clunky and chopsticks are too slippery.
With any of these tools on hand, you'll be able to create better culinary masterpieces with ease. Explore all the possibilities for your dream kitchen at SignatureKitchenSuite.com.
November 27, 2023