Over the last year, I have spent way too much money on kitchen gadgets, cookbooks, and cooking classes. However, in reality, for a beginner chef, a few kitchen essentials are all you need to cook delicious meals at home. I thought I would take the opportunity to put the money spent to good use by summarizing my favorite recipe resources and what I consider essential kitchen tools. With the exception of the cookbooks, the links are for the most part random links just to show you a visual of what I am talking about. Do some research (and read the reviews!) to find what works for you and places that offer the best prices.
Recipe Resources
Essential Cookbooks
On my shelf I have a TON of cookbooks I rarely open and I have bookmarked a ton of websites I never use. In the past year, I have found myself turning to the following cookbooks/websites time after time. The cookbooks are really focused on the "why" behind the recipe which is essential in learning & becoming confident in the kitchen. The books are truly worth every penny (and are great prices for the value).
America's Test Kitchen is my newest obsession. I can't believe it took me so long to discover it. Here is their description from their website:
"America's Test Kitchen is a real 2,500 square foot test kitchen located just outside of Boston that is home to more than three dozen full-time cooks and product testers. Our mission is simple: to develop the absolute best recipes for all of your favorite foods. To do this, we test each recipe 30, 40, sometimes as many as 70 times, until we arrive at the combination of ingredients, technique, temperature, cooking time, and equipment that yields the best, most-foolproof recipe.
Our recipes, equipment reviews, ingredient taste tests results, and kitchen tips are made available through our magazines, our websites, our television series; America's Test Kitchen and Cook's Country from America's Test Kitchen, and our cookbooks."
I had heard of them through various websites, but never really checked them out until recently. There is a fee to view their full recipe archive & equipment reviews (which I have yet to do) but they have a decent number of free recipes. They have two cooking shows on PBS, America's Test Kitchen (catch all), and Cook's Country (down home cooking) that until recently I had never seen (but am now watching as many as I can get my hands on). For the recipes online (free for the current season), they also typically have the full video from the episode which is really useful to watch before making a recipe to pick up on tips and tricks. My one issue with them is they tend to spam you with their cookbooks/products but they also send good free recipes so I don't automatically delete them.
For my birthday this year, after being sent about 20 e-mails for it, I asked my brother for the TV show cookbook, not really knowing what to expect. For $30ish or so, I was BLOWN AWAY with what I received. This cookbook is over 800 pages (and came with DVDs of Season 13), and has a recipe for pretty much anything you could ever ask for, and in several different ways (i.e. mushroom risotto, butternut squash risotto both cooked using different techniques). I have been cooking from it pretty much nonstop in the last 2 months and I have barely made a dent. My favorite part is that each recipe starts with a "why this works" that gives you insight into what they were trying to do, the missteps they took, and the essentials of the recipe (so when I read "the brandy is essential" right before starting dinner late for friends on a Friday I found myself driving to mom and dad's to steal their brandy). I have never been disappointed by any of these recipes. They also have detailed steps accompanying each recipe if any of the above has scared you.
While I still have a long way to go before I am done with the above cookbook, I will say as they try to achieve the best version of each recipe, some of the recipes are heavy on the heavy cream (with over 1,000 recipes, there are still more than plenty that are not). There are definitely times I am willing to indulge in those recipes (that's what dinner parties & long runs are for), for everyday cooking I was searching for something else and noticed in another spam e-mail the next cookbook I couldn't help but purchase.
I just got this book January 2nd, but I can already tell that this will be my go-to cookbook for years to come (and also only $30ish!). It has the same level of obsessive test cook, but a focus on making the healthiest, best tasting versions of recipes. They preface the cookbook with saying they are not trying to be a diet cookbook. They will use butter/cream, but only if it truly enhances the recipes (and they test to make sure it truly does). They also don't mess with portion sizes to bring down calorie count, their servings are meant to be fully satisfying. What this means is you will find recipes that are as low as 100 calories, and as high as 550 (my guess), and plenty within each part of the range. This really aligns with my own philosophy in the kitchen. I love using healthy ingredients to create amazing taste, but I am also not afraid of a little butter. Plus, as I train for an Ironman, if all my recipes were 200-300 calories I would need to eat several additional meals during the day to get the amount of calories I need and to feel full.
I have a post I will do soon with one of my recent experiments. As I mentioned, it has over 800 recipes, and everything looks pretty amazing. They are also easy to follow. If you come to my house for dinner in the near future, chances are your meal will be from one of the two cookbooks above.
One last plug - if you are really interested in cooking/reading more about their processes, consider subscribing to their magazines (Cook's Illustrated and Cook's Country). They have articles to accompany their recipes that really describe their process and useful tips, etc. They also have a ton of other cookbooks to check out (i.e. soups/stews/chilis, slow cooker, etc.). I can't imagine buying a non-America's Test Kitchen cookbook anytime soon.
Other Useful Cookbooks
If you are interested in learning the "how tos" of cooking (i.e. how to chop an onion, how to boil water, etc.) without the expensive cooking classes, then How to Cook Everything The Basics: All You Need to Make Great Food--With 1,000 Photos is a great resource. I bought this for my dad for his birthday (hint?) because it was really useful to me the first half of the year. It has several basic recipes (basic grilled chicken, basic lasagna, basic white bread), and then offers variations to each of the recipes & tons of photos explaining how to do a bunch of different things. The recipes themselves are not always amazing, but I think they are a great start. The cookbook then gives you the tools/confidence to begin to experiment a bit and opens your mind to the possibilities.
Weight Watchers: Take Out Tonight is the first cookbook I ever purchased (Weight Watchers is what led me to first discover cooking in high school). Several years later, it is still one of my favorites (so much so I bought it again when the first one fell apart). If you are like me and love chinese/mexican/thai food but are also trying to each healthy, this is the cookbook for you. It has a ton of stir fry recipes. My go-to recipes are pretty much any of the stir fry (beef with broccoli, chicken with cashew nuts), Chili con Carne, and Shrimp Pad Thai (my friend even wrote about that recipe in my senior yearbook). These are typically lower calorie meals but are still full of flavor. Your family/friends won't know they are "light."
Blogs
Skinny Taste - my go-to website for healthy, delicious recipes with new posts daily during the week and a large archive.
Brown Eyed Baker - my go-to website for baked goods with new posts daily during the week and a large archive (the baked goods are always a crowd pleaser)
Kitchen Essentials (see note above, not endorsements of specific products!)
A 12-inch stainless steel skillet w/ lid
This is the essential cooking tool for pan-searing, braising, and according to ATK stir frying. You can basically use this pan for all non-stew type recipes, and really it's the only one you can use for pan-searing (don't cook scallops without it). They are also great for things that start cooking on the stove, and then finish cooking in the oven because you don't need to transfer the food. Things to look for are to make sure the handle is stainless steel (so you can put it in the oven) and that it has a lid (so you can cover it for braising or simmering). If you can only get one pan and are choosing between this & non-stick, I would go for this. I have found that there are very few things that I can't make in the stainless steel one, but a lot of things that I wouldn't be able to make in the non-stick (searing, transferring to oven). Plus, non-stick skillets have to be replaced more often as the lining wears down.
You can make stews/soups/chilis in a variety of large pots, but I would highly recommend purchasing a Dutch Oven in lieu of any other large pot. Dutch Ovens are designed to heat evenly and can be used on the stove, in the oven, or on the grill. Many recipes specify cooking in a dutch oven, and dutch ovens can be used for ones that don't. It would also be good to have another large pot for things like spaghetti etc., but if you can only pick one, pick this one.
9x13 Baking Dish
Essential for the casserole/lasagna lover in you. Also good for baking.
Chef's Knife
Essential for dicing/slicing your favorite vegetables. A good one can be expensive, but I have yet to invest in a super fancy one and have done fine. I would recommend having at least a second sharp knife to deal w/ meat.
Cutting Boards
Essential for all your cutting needs - have at least two (one for veggies, one for meat).
Can opener
Kind of a joke, but I do have one friend who moved & discovered she didn't have one two months later while trying to make my favorite easy recipe that requires quite a few cans. I believe the story ends w/ her boyfriend, a hammer, and quite a mess.
Cheese grater
Who doesn't love cheese? No pasta is complete without some freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Also good for carrots, etc.
Colander
Must have for pasta & useful for washing vegetables.
Mixing Bowls
Must have for baking, and useful when chopping a ton of vegetables you need to get off your cutting board. Stainless steel ones can be nice for when you use a double boiler (basically boiling water in a pan, setting a bowl on top, and cooking your ingredients that would burn if placed directly on the heat in the bowl (i.e. melting chocolate, making a lemon curd or other sauce).
Other Favorite Kitchen Tools (not essential, but really nice to have - think gift list)
Food Processor
Great for recipes that call for teeny tiny vegetables, pestos, salsa, etc. I have also found it quite handy in several baking recipes (pie & pasta dough specifically). Make sure to get one that has a grating option as well - I love to just grate a sweet potato & then cook it in the skillet w/ a couple of teaspoons of olive oil (don't stir the first 4-5 minutes in the pan), salt, and garlic powder for an easy quick sweet potato hash.
Immersion Blender
If you are a big fan of soups that require pureeing of the cooked ingredients (i.e. lentil, split pea, butternut squash, etc.) an immersion blender is a great investment (and only ~$30?). Rather than having to transfer the soup in batches to a blender (which in my experience can be VERY messy), you just blend it in the pot you cooked it in.
Immersion Blender
If you are a big fan of soups that require pureeing of the cooked ingredients (i.e. lentil, split pea, butternut squash, etc.) an immersion blender is a great investment (and only ~$30?). Rather than having to transfer the soup in batches to a blender (which in my experience can be VERY messy), you just blend it in the pot you cooked it in.
Kitchenaid Stand Mixer
I used to think I was not a baker. Then I bought one of these at the end of June and now proudly embrace the title. I decided I had to bake something about once a week to justify the expense, and it makes baking super easy. At the very least, if you want to bake it would be a good idea to invest in a good hand-mixer for creaming butter.
The end
There you have it. Cooking can be expensive to start, but if you invest in good quality tools you will use them for a long time. I hope you find this useful & it inspires you to embark on your own culinary adventures!
I used to think I was not a baker. Then I bought one of these at the end of June and now proudly embrace the title. I decided I had to bake something about once a week to justify the expense, and it makes baking super easy. At the very least, if you want to bake it would be a good idea to invest in a good hand-mixer for creaming butter.
The end
There you have it. Cooking can be expensive to start, but if you invest in good quality tools you will use them for a long time. I hope you find this useful & it inspires you to embark on your own culinary adventures!
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