Food Crush: Hand Tools

My favorite knife, a 6" Sabatier utility knife

There’s an old cook’s adage “Hands are the original tools.” Professional cooks, (usually men back then), used their hands for everything that a knife can’t do – mixing, folding, stirring, turning foods in the fry pan, and scraping out bowls. This was as much a matter of speed as it was pride: a testament to testosterone.

As a cook, I followed suit to keep up with the boys and as a result, boast an array of scars. Since I left the kitchen, in addition to my knife habit, I’ve become a hand tool aficionado. Seven years ago, I started spending about $500 a year at the annual sale held by City Kitchens, a downtown Seattle cookware store. In addition to knives, I’ve accumulated over other 45 tools.

Quality kitchen tools should feel good in your hand and efficiently do the job for which they were designed. Aesthetic appeal is important, too, and many designers are creating beautiful kitchen pieces. Collecting them is addictive, and I can’t stop.

When I started cooking in the 1970’s, I didn’t have easy access to good hand tools. Midwesterners like me used simple, cheap spoons from the hardware or grocery store, uncomfortable, awkward, dull knives, whisks whose wire loops sprang out of the handle and flimsy cookie cutters which only lasted one holiday baking season.
When I was 19, I took a cooking class at a local community college where we had a guest speaker who traveled to Germany four times a year on knife buying expeditions. I still remember the excitement my classmates and I felt as we tested his samples.

 These Wüsthof and Henckles knives were the Ferraris of cutting utensils. Sleek, aerodynamic, with a good heft and balance, they fit well in my hand and improved my performance in the kitchen.  They made me realize the difference between badly made, cheap knives and carefully designed and crafted ones.  I ordered seven in varying sizes and styles. I still have all of these knives today.

I’ve added to them, and now have 18 knives. Yes, that’s too many; the average home cook only needs four (10” chef’s knife, 6” utility knife, 3” paring knife and a 12” slicer for roasts). But I enjoy every one of my knives, and it’s easy to keep cooking when I don’t have to stop to wash one to switch from cutting meat to chopping vegetables.
My favorite is the 6″ Sabatier utility knife I bought at a small shop in London. It fits so well that it’s like an extension of my own hand.

But knives aren’t always the proper cutting utensil. At age 18, I realized the importance of using the right tool for the job when I landed in the emergency room after coring an apple with a paring knife. As he stitched my finger, the doctor laughed and said “Next time, use an apple corer.” The next weekend, I bought one. Other specialized tools in my cupboard include zesters, melon ballers, icing spatulas, tweezers for pulling pin bones from salmon and several corkscrews.

Spatulas are the opposite of knives – they don’t cut, they gather and blend. I became addicted to silicone spatulas five years ago. I was suspicious at first, having used plastic spatulas that degraded over time and disintegrated in the mixing bowl, leaving me to scoop pieces of plastic out of the batter. But there they were, Le Creuset silicone spatulas: green, yellow, red, blue, pink, clear, and patterned –   lined up in crocks at City Kitchens like oversized lollipops. Cautiously, I bought a blue one to try out.  Designed to resist heat up to 800 ° it didn’t melt or fall apart. I was a convert, and bought five more the next week. Now I’m cheered each morning as I select a brightly colored spatula to stir my scrambled eggs. 

Spoon designs never thrilled me; they were just implements to do a job. The handles were too narrow even for my small hands, dowel thin, and they shattered when mixing stiff batters, spewing splinters across the counter. My new spoons of choice are handmade Italian olive wood spoons. They’re spendy at ten dollars each, but I adore the satin smooth wood, each one a little bit different from the rest. When wet, their grain shimmers like tiger’s eye, and they’re strong enough to take on the stiffest batter or dig out the crustiest pan. They require special care, a rubdown with mineral oil twice a year, but it’s worth the time to maintain such beautiful tools.

I was plagued by dull graters, then five years ago, I discovered Microplane graters. These super sharp graters started life as woodworking tools to finely shape the wood, until someone had the bright idea to use them in the kitchen for making perfect lemon zest. The grater holes are narrow, so you only get the tasty zest, not the bitter white pith just beneath.

 They’re also employed to make fine chocolate shavings and flurries of grated cheese. I’ve thrown away my dull, useless graters and have two Microplane graters, one superfine, one moderately fine. They’re so fun to use, I find myself looking for things to grate – though I often make my sacrifice to the “Grater Gods” with a little shaving off my knuckle.

The most addition to my collection is spring loaded tongs. Held shut by a lock when not in use, these brushed stainless steel beauties spring open every time I remove the lock, yet tenderly close around any food. They’re so sensitive to touch that I can press the ends into a frying steak and still feel the texture to tell if they’re soft (rare) or firm (well done).

I should be set at 45 tools and 18 knives, but kitchen tools are always being improved, which leads to my dilemma. I really don’t need any more tools, the drawers and crocks are full, but I’m still tempted by the store displays. I sigh over knives with Granton edges – straight edged like normal knives, but with scallops along the side of the blade. The indentations reduce surface tension, so food like cheese and roasted meats don’t stick. My potato masher works well, but I want one of the new stainless ones that are as much art as function. And there’s always a new color of silicone spatula.

Well designed, aesthetically pleasing hand tools increase the pleasure I get from cooking. My hands wrap easily around each handle, I slow down and enjoy stirring, chopping and grating.  As a home cook, I no longer have to be macho to keep up with the boys. And I don’t have any new scars.

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For those of you in Seattle, City Kitchens is having their annual sale until September 30.  I am in no way affiliated with City Kitchens, and they did not pay me for this post. I just love this store and recommend it to anyone interested in high quality kitchen equipment. http://citykitchensseattle.com/

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