Lifestyle

Sixteen of the world's greatest kitchen gadgets – chosen by chefs


Given an unlimited budget, a keen cook could drop tens of thousands of pounds on the kitchen of their dreams. Yet often, even in the most smoothly finished set-up, it is tried-and-trusted, bashed-up equipment that we rely on the most. We asked some of our leading chefs and cookery writers to share which old gizmos and gadgets they cherish.

The ice-cream maker

Diana Henry, food writer and author of How to Eat a Peach
“I’m not into gadgets. Equipment has to earn its space. My brothers gave me an ice-cream machine 26 years ago, when I got married. The marriage is long gone, but the Gaggia Gelatiera is as good as ever. Its white body is yellowed with age and, annoyingly, chunks of caramel and nuts get lodged around the dials, but it’s a workhorse. No parts have ever been replaced. It’s solidly reliable and it allows you to be wholly creative. That is a lot to offer a cook. It’s a bit bulky to hug, but occasionally I pat it and talk to it, willing it on when an ice-cream looks as if it may not freeze (pink grapefruit and basil, and tahini and lime, lately). It cost £240, a fortune then, but it was worth every penny. I will be heartbroken if it gives up the ghost.”

The mortar and pestle

Vivek Singh, founder and head chef, Cinnamon Collection, London
“My lucky charm is a small, battered, beautiful brass mortar and pestle I’ve used since before we opened the Cinnamon Club in 2001. I use it to grind all spices during service. You don’t need tonnes of shop-bought ground spices. Grind what you need from whole and the flavours are much better. Brass is great: inert and easy to clean.”

The heat diffuser

Yotam Ottolenghi, food writer, restaurateur and author of Simple
“It’s not glamorous, but I use my heat diffuser [a flat metal disc punctured with tiny holes] every time I make rice. I’ve had it for 10 years – I think I got it in a Clapham kitchen and hardware store for about £3 – and its wooden handle is long gone, but it’s really useful when cooking on a low simmer on a small ring, which is ideal for rice. A small-diameter ring doesn’t spread heat evenly to the pan’s sides, which is where the diffuser helps.”

Vivek Singh in his kitchen



Vivek Singh: ‘My lucky charm is a mortar and pestle.’ Photograph: Suki Dhanda/The Observer

The tea strainer

Masha Rener, chef, Lina Stores, London
“I can’t be without my tea strainer [a spherical mesh infuser], which was among old equipment I got from my grandmother’s bakery in Trieste. My daily tea fix aside, it’s handy when I want to infuse pasta water with spices, such as summery marjoram, thyme and lemon zest.”

The roasting fork

Sat Bains, chef-owner, Restaurant Sat Bains, Nottingham
“About 30 years ago, I nicked a Sabatier roasting fork from Hotel Ristorante La Gondola in Derby, where I was working. It was a phenomenal place, which later became notorious after it featured on Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares. I loved that fork – I felt like Marco Pierre White holding it. It was quite a magical tool, but I was skint so I appropriated it. At home, I use it to cook steaks on the barbecue and for carving roast joints. It has a dirty wooden handle now and a kink from dropping it, but it’s history. I’ve also got a Dennis the Menace mug the team at La Gondola gave me when I left. Things don’t last 30 years any more.”

The multi-tool

Ivan Tisdall-Downes, chef at Native, London
“My Leatherman Wave+ [a multi-tool implement similar to a Swiss army knife] has kept our kitchen together, as a knife, a bone saw, a tin opener and a screwdriver. My dad is a carpenter. He bought me one for Christmas 10 years ago and it’s still going strong. It’s a useful foraging tool, too.”

The sterling butter knife

James Cross, chef-owner, Lake Road Kitchen, Cumbria
“When I was at Simpson’s in Birmingham my good friend Paul Insley gave me an old sterling silver butter knife he used for opening scallops. It’s long, flat, incredibly strong and, unlike a scallop knife, its rounded end never tears the scallop. Between us, it’s opened about 110,000.”

The sev sancha

Ravinder Bhogal, chef-founder, Jikoni, London
“Growing up in Nairobi, visitors regularly dropped in and the kitchen was always full of women preparing chai and snacks. “Our guests are our gods,” was my grandmother’s mantra. These snacks included sev: spiced chickpea-flour noodles piped out of a brass sev sancha into scorching oil and fried to an off-the-Richter crunch. The batter sits in a main cylinder, to which you fit discs with various shapes punched into them, then squeeze the dough out using a manual lever. As a child, I coveted it like a toy and as an adult I first pilfered, then inherited it. I rarely use it, but I treasure it. In its patina is my grandmother’s coconut oil scent, her wit, her stories with a million digressions and her lesson in generosity: if you can share your snacks, you can share anything.”

Saiphin Moore with a handmade bamboo steamer



Saiphin Moore: ‘In Thailand, parents hand down handmade bamboo pots and steamers to their daughters.’ Photograph: PR

The 100-year-old rolling pin

Stosie Madi, chef, Parkers Arms, Lancashire
“We have a wooden rolling pin that is more than 100 years old. It belonged to Grandma Nolan, my business partner Kathy Smith’s gran. It’s totally smooth and, because we are constantly using it and polish rather than wash it, has an almost natural nonstick surface. No new rolling pin would create such even layers for a cheese and onion pie. We fight as to who gets to use it, but if Kathy is around she gets first dibs. It is irreplaceable.”

The gyotu

James Lowe, chef-founder, Lyle’s and Flor, London
“Japanese knives are elegant and built to last. When I was the head chef at St John Bread & Wine, I heard about the Kyoto manufacturer Aritsugu and asked our Japanese pastry chef, Kenta, to buy me a handmade gyuto [a thinner, sharper equivalent of a western chef’s knife, with an angled tip] on a visit home. Eleven years on, it’s my main knife, from vegetable prep to slicing fish. It’s beautifully weighted and very practical and the handle has come to feel like it’s shaped to my hand. I paid about £200, not a huge amount, but at that time a lot compared with European knives.”

The wok

Sai Deethwa, chef-owner, Buddha Belly, Birmingham
“My mum runs a stall at Stroud and Gloucester farmers’ markets and I used to love her noodle wok, which was warped like the top of a heart from being lifted so often full of stir-fried noodles. The handle snapped recently and it’s funny how sad we were. I started out six years ago and my parents bought me a wok – a simple one from a Chinese supermarket; I would recommend the chain Wing Yip. Now, after feeding thousands of people, it’s warped like Mum’s. It’s basic, but I cherish mine.”

The flambadou

Josh Overington, chef-owner, Le Cochon Aveugle, York
“During our research into traditional French cooking, we came across flamboir à lard, where you use a flambadou – a cast iron cone with a long handle heated to a glowing red – to quickly ignite and melt fat. Historically, it was used to sear joints of meat, but they are extremely rare now. We had one made and use it to render lamb fat as we cook oysters and langoustines. The flaming fat gives shellfish a distinct flavour most people haven’t tasted before.”

The microplane

Tom Kitchin, chef-owner, The Kitchin, Edinburgh
“I first came across Microplanes when I was working for Alain Ducasse in Monte Carlo in 2003 and I’ve used them ever since. They grate impossibly finely and not only are they precise (they zest lemons much more efficiently than standard graters) but they are also much smaller than the old-fashioned box grater – and space is premium in any kitchen.”

The hand-built oven

Nieves Barragán Mohacho, chef, Sabor, London
“Jumaco & Maestro is a Spanish family business that has hand-built ovens since 1890. I’ve loved them since I saw one in Segovia years ago, but it wasn’t until Sabor that I could treat myself. Ours is a tall, stone, wood-fired cylinder in which food slowly rotates. For our suckling pigs, there is no other oven that treats meat so gently whilst achieving that crispiness you want on the skin. It’s the jewel of our kitchen.”

Sai Deethwa frying noodles in a wok



Sai Deethwa: ‘After feeding thousands of people, my wok is warped like Mum’s.’ Photograph: PR

The food processor

Tom Kerridge, chef-owner, Hand and Flowers, Marlow
“When we first started, everything was second-hand and battered and our kitchen was that small we couldn’t fit an ice-cream machine in. Instead we bought a Pacojet [a high-end food processor that can puree frozen ingredients] that fits on a shelf but cost three times the price of our stove. We own four now and use them to create not just ice-creams, but purees, herb oils and a very smooth chicken liver parfait. After 15 years, the original is in semi-retirement in a padded box. But now and then she has to come out to play when the others break down.”

The bamboo steamer

Saiphin Moore, co-owner and head of food at Rosa’s Thai Cafe, nationwide, and Hoh Sek and Lao Cafe, London
“In Thailand, parents hand down handmade bamboo pots and steamers to their daughters and my dad made loads of different sizes, which I brought to England. I’ve got some at home and the bigger ones at Lao Café. As a little girl, I remember eating sticky rice cooked in similar pots my mum had, but I also use the steamer to cook vegetables, chicken and fish. It’s a little taste of home. I love the subtle bamboo flavour and smell you get from steamers. They make everything more fragrant.”

This article contains affiliate links, which means we may earn a small commission if a reader clicks through and makes a purchase. All our journalism is independent and is in no way influenced by any advertiser or commercial initiative. By clicking on an affiliate link, you accept that third-party cookies will be set. More information.



READ SOURCE

Leave a Reply

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you accept our use of cookies.