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Basic Kitchen Equipment
Prep Utensils * Set of mixing bowls
* Pancake turner
Range Top Cookware * 1 qt. covered saucepan
* Dutch oven or kettle
Bakeware * Baking sheet
* Cooking sheet
Food Storage Products
* Asst. fridge dishes (with lids)
* Moisture proof freezer containers
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Equipment Tips
Blenders:
When using a blender, here are some helpful hints.
* Cut fresh fruits and veggies, cooked meats, or seafood into 1/2 inch
pieces before chopping them in your blender
* Stop the blender often and check the size of the food pieces. Blenders
work fast and can very easily overblend your food.
* Cube and soften cream cheese before blending it with liquid ingredients.
* When blending thick mixtures, stop your blender ofter and use
a rubber spatula to scrape the sides of your container.
* For better control over the chopping fineness, and to avoid over working your
blender motor, blend large quanities of foods in several small intervals.
Kitchen Thermometers:
Meat thermometers are important, because they will determine when the
meat reaches
a safe temperature, or doneness. For an accurate reading make
sure that the tip of the
thermometer isn't touching or resting on bone,
fat grissle or the bottom of the pan.
Food Processor:
A food processor is much like a blender, but it does more.
It also slices and shreds. Some processors even mixes batter and dough,
and will
knead your bread and pastry.
* For even slices, fit the food into the feeding tube as tightly as
possible. If the food
pieces lean, the slices will be uneven.
* When slicing food with rinds, put the pieces in the feeding tube so
that the rinds face
the center of the bowl. This way, the rinds will be
sliced first and cut trough it, rather than
scraping the rinds.
* Be sure to keep sharp processor blades and utensits out of the reach of children.
Make Do Cookware:
Sometimes you'll start a recipe, and discover you don't have the proper
cooking utensils :-(
In a pinch, you can substitute the following:
* Make a covered casserole by using a baking dish covered with aluminum foil.
* Cook pizza on a regular baking sheet instead of a pizza pan. Just be sure to build up the
edges of crust to hold the sauce.
* You can substitute any straight sided casserole dish for a souffle dish as long as the volumes
are the same.
* Steam veggies without a steamer by putting them in a metal colander over a saucepan
of boiling water.