"I will be heartbroken if it gives up the ghost."

June 27, 2019 12:22 PM

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. (Tony Naylor, Guardian)
posted by Johnny Wallflower (48 comments total)

What, no avocado pitter??????? /s
posted by Melismata at 12:26 PM on June 27, 2019 [1 favorite]

I love my vintage Zyliss Susi garlic press! It is annoying to clean, especially if you let the garlic dry, but it never fails to press that garlic right, and looks cool to boot.
posted by grumpybear69 at 12:28 PM on June 27, 2019 [2 favorites]

A fun read. I like the parathentical definitions.

I can’t be without my tea strainer [a spherical mesh infuser]
posted by readinghippo at 12:33 PM on June 27, 2019 [1 favorite]

I have a Dutch oven-sized pot with a lid. The interior coating was originally no-stick, but it's gradually lost its no-stickiness over the decades; my sister gave it to me when she got married and got better cooking stuff. I've started using the Instant Pot for things such as chili, but I still use the old pot for making hardboiled eggs, and when civilization falls and the power grid goes down, I believe that I will take the old pot with me into the wastelands.
posted by Halloween Jack at 12:37 PM on June 27, 2019 [2 favorites]

What a lovely collection of items -- prized for not only for their functionality but their connection to family, to tradition, to memory. It's the thing I love most about making and sharing food - it's a way to wrap someone in a deeply personal expression of care.

I have a few wooden spoons my grandmother bought me, they're really nothing special, but I think of her every single time I grab one.
posted by missmary6 at 12:40 PM on June 27, 2019 [3 favorites]

This is a specialty item irrelevant to anyone who isn't south Indian, probably, but I treasure my Ultra-Dura stone grinder for making idli and dosa batter. Without it, I would lose the #1 thing that keeps me connected to my childhood and home country: not just *eating* idlis and dosas but *the act of making them from scratch*.
posted by MiraK at 12:46 PM on June 27, 2019 [9 favorites]

The Leatherman Wave is really one of the best tools ever invented. The saw and blades is amazingly sharp on mine even after 14 years of constant use. I once had to scour a beach in Wales with my toes in the sand to find where it had been buried during the previous night's drunken beach bbq. Of course no one had thought to bring cooking implements so the pliers were used to turn the meat.
posted by nestor_makhno at 12:46 PM on June 27, 2019 [5 favorites]

Came to snark but the first two are on my list now, been thinking of going the mortar and pestle route for a while but the stone things in stores just meh, brass now. Heavy solid brass is a great material! Did not know small gelato machines were a thing, that'll be a hunt but so worth it. Now a sterling silver butter knife, well maybe, if a hand me down.
posted by sammyo at 12:51 PM on June 27, 2019

I have this battered old saucepot that's in an odd size that I inherited from my grandmother -- it's nothing fancy, probably came from Woolworth's or somewhere -- but it is the EXACT right size to do a pound of dry pasta without having to get out the giant pasta pot. My kitchen production rhythm will fall COMPLETELY apart if this pot ever gives out on me. I also use it for boiling and mashing potatoes, boiling or steaming vegetables, and any other task that requires a pot a little bigger than my big saucepan but not quite so big as my stockpot. (Plus it's already beat the fuck up so I drain the potatoes and throw them right back in the pot and mash them by hand, because THIS POT IS PROBABLY 70 YEARS OLD, IT DOESN'T GIVE A FUCK.)

It's not heavy (actually, part of its charm is that since it's cheap crap, it's hella light to haul around) and doesn't have fancy sandwiched lawyers of metals or whatever, so it's best for tasks where you're cooking something in water and the water can provide all the thermal mass necessary. But it is a GREAT pot.

(Once upon a time it had a lid but I haven't seen it in at least 10 years.)
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 12:57 PM on June 27, 2019 [12 favorites]

My KitchenAid mixer was a wedding present to my parents 7 years before I was born. It's still going strong (although I do need to haul it into the appliance maintenance place for a tune-up some time).
posted by Lexica at 1:09 PM on June 27, 2019 [1 favorite]

I was indeed heartbroken when my vintage Zyliss Susi garlic press exploded in my hands one day and put a gash in my thumb.

Despite having been bit, I've not loved another garlic press nearly as much as I loved that Susi.
posted by porpoise at 1:13 PM on June 27, 2019 [1 favorite]

What, no avocado pitter???????

Nor a turnip twaddler. Pfft.
posted by Greg_Ace at 1:23 PM on June 27, 2019 [8 favorites]

sammyo: been thinking of going the mortar and pestle route for a while but the stone things in stores just meh, brass now. Heavy solid brass is a great material

Eh...? The little brass ones aren't as good as you might think. They're okay for crushing up a tablespoon of dry spices (although I think small ceramic laboratory mortars are better for this) but they pretty much suck at all the other cool uses to which you can put a mortar and pestle.
posted by slkinsey at 1:27 PM on June 27, 2019 [2 favorites]

Once, 25 years ago, there was a Danish comedy show where one of the jokes was that they spoke a weird mix of Danish and English, and part of that joke was that one of the protagonists wanted a food processor for Christmas. For some reason, my stepmother and dad thought it would be hilarious to give me and both of my sisters a food processor for Christmas, and it was, kind of. Mostly because they usually didn't do jokey stuff like that. Anyway, I loved that food processor, even after the lock on the lid broke, and I had to hold a chopstick into the locking device to make it work. I told the kids it was a magic wand that only I could use. And they believed it.
Its juicer was better than any dedicated juicer I've ever owned. It was strong enough for bread dough, and fast enough to make lovely smooth pureed soups in a minute. It made the best fishcakes. And it lasted far longer than my sisters' (we got three different brands).
When someone gifted me a KitchenAid stand mixer for Christmas, the lovely food processor had to go. I don't have room for two big appliances on my countertop. It was a sad day, and I still miss it. I don't think I have another favorite thing on that level now. Maybe my baby-blue Le Creuset pot that I inherited from my grandmother which is all brown inside, but a perfect color (out of production) and a perfect size for our little family of three.
posted by mumimor at 1:27 PM on June 27, 2019

I can't speak to a larger brass mortar and pestle set, but the big heavy granite one we were given as a wedding present a few years ago is an amazing tool. We actually have two - the monster one I've just mentioned, and the smallest ceramic one I could find on Amazon, for doing small quantities of spices, particularly saffron. Both hugely useful.
posted by Making You Bored For Science at 1:29 PM on June 27, 2019 [2 favorites]

On my father's side of the family I had two great aunts, W & E, who lived pretty unconventional lives for their time. Though born in the very early years of the 20th century neither married and both worked as teachers. With their salaries they maintained a modest home together in Chicago and saved the rest to travel in style -- we still have mementos from them such as the dining menus from their sailing on the Queen Mary (from back in the day when two unmarried teachers from Chicago would not have been your typical passengers on such a voyage.)

When they passed away they left their household to my sisters and, following the passing of my eldest sister some of their items made their way to me. There is one in particular that I treasure -- a thin, springy steel spatula/turner that is superior (for my preferences) to any other I have found. I use it every day and am rather careful in my cleaning and storage of it, and nobody else gets to use it if they are cooking in my kitchen, they can use its lesser relatives.

Part of its appeal is that I think of W & E when I use it but it also really is much better, in my opinion, than any other turner I have been able to find. It's a good shape and has just the right amount of flexibility.
posted by Nerd of the North at 2:02 PM on June 27, 2019 [6 favorites]

I considered, for this discussion, another item: the olive wood mortar and pestle set that came from a family trip to Greece. I had resigned myself to not having any souvenir mementos of that trip, as I lost my wallet to Athens pickpockets early in the trip and had to carefully husband the remaining cash that I had held in reserve, but one of my sisters, realizing this, bought the mortar and pestle when I was not with her, kept it secret, and gave it to me on my birthday, half a year after we had returned home. I think I have to disqualify it, however, because its value to me is sentimental and aesthetic (it's quite a beautiful shape and has a lovely grain to it) rather than related to any special practical virtue in the kitchen.
posted by Nerd of the North at 2:10 PM on June 27, 2019

I have a spatula/turner that we got from ms scruss's grandmother. I think it must be very old. The handle looks like it has been replaced with what might be lignum vitae: it's wood, but absurdly dense. It's a thing of beauty.

Not so sure about the brass mortar and pestles. Some brass can have an alarming lead content
posted by scruss at 2:14 PM on June 27, 2019 [2 favorites]

My 39-year-old Braun food processor. I think it was a wedding present. Happily, both marriage and processor are still humming right along.

Although...I inherited from my mom an ancient set of pyrex mixing bowls. I’m pretty sure she had them since the early 60s. The big one was especially precious because it was just the right size to do almost everything in. Not too large to be unweildy, but not so small as to cramp your work. It was my go-to in most situations. It was a partner in my kitchen.

Last summer, though, while loading the dishwasher, I dropped the old brown bowl on the floor and it shattered. I was genuinely upset. For one, it was my mom’s bowl. But mostly because I had just lost my favorite tool. An old friend.

I went online to find a replacement, but I could only find more recent versions. They just weren’t the same. They didn’t have that peculiar brown allover pattern that would match with the remainer of the original set. But, mostly they just weren’t my beloved bowl.

Flash forward to xmas. I’d adjusted to no longer having the bowl in my life. I wasn’t happy with the pretenders, but I made due. I had pretty much moved on and the bowl was fading away. My daughter plopped a huge wrapped box on my lap with a cheery “Merry christmas, daddy!” I tore the paper off to reveal a plain old shipping box. I opened it. There, sitting comfortably in some protective packing was...my bowl! My daughter had found a place online that handles old discontinued pyrex cookware and managed to snag my exact bowl. I actually teared up.
posted by Thorzdad at 2:19 PM on June 27, 2019 [44 favorites]

I had a Braun 1.5 cup mini processor that I just loved. It was a powerhouse and would puree all kinds of things to a very smooth consistency unlike any other mini chopper I've ever found. It lasted 30 years (5 with a broken plastic part that I could jury-rig by using a toothpick) and finally the motor died. They no longer make it and I've had no luck finding it used. I've tried at least 5 different things and nothing has replaced it. God I miss that thing.
posted by Plafield at 2:29 PM on June 27, 2019 [3 favorites]

The first time my parents went to Italy they asked me if they could bring me back anything. I was kind of at a loss so I just went with the first potentially useful thing that popped into my head - a mezzaluna cutter. They did bring me one, and even had the chance to test it out when Dad took a one-day cooking course and was tapped to chop the herbs using one ("it really worked! And it was fun!" Dad happily raved when they told me about it).

I didn't start using it right away because I thought I needed a bowl or otherwise walled thing to use for cutting, to contain all the stuff I was cutting and save it from flying all over the place. But I've started reaching for it more and more - it's fabulous for chopping herbs or a big pile of leafy greens quickly - just lay the stuff on a cutting board, grab both handles and rock it around across the pile over and over.

It's also perfect for cutting pizza.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 2:29 PM on June 27, 2019 [1 favorite]

Oh god my fish spatula. It gets used for everything in a pan that needs turning. I would throw out every other turning employment before I got rid of that spatula.
posted by not_the_water at 2:29 PM on June 27, 2019

Flint spatulas are the absolute best.

I have a need for small silicone spatulas (the other kind), and I find one that I like maybe every third or fourth attempt, because no company makes a size or profile for more than a couple of years, and stores will rotate them out of stock on the merest inspiration. So, the one I had two small spatulas ago was the one I can't do without, but I'm going to have to wait to not live without it for a while longer. Good thing silicone spatulas are guaranteed to wear out at around 500 uses.

I've recently learned that there are 1/2 Tablespoon measuring spoons, which is the perfect amount of sugar for my tea (1.5t). So I'll be owning at least one of those for the rest of my life.
posted by rhizome at 2:54 PM on June 27, 2019

I had to look up what a heat diffuser was. How have I never seen one before?

Mine would be my Nutribullet mini food processor.
posted by tofu_crouton at 3:18 PM on June 27, 2019

rhizome, how did you know I had a Flint? Our looks like it might be a 1940s model.

Back to the article: microplanes are amazing, but they'll also lacerate skin faster than even a mandoline.
posted by scruss at 3:20 PM on June 27, 2019 [1 favorite]

I have my grandmother's rolling pin. I would guess that it's close to 100 years old by now. Of course I still use it.
posted by Splunge at 3:24 PM on June 27, 2019

Here's a flambadou in action. Every photo is the same; the cone of fat is on fire while you're pouring it onto the meet. That seems so.. rustic! Also delicious.

Too modern for this article but I live and die by my Thermapen. Precise measurements of food temperature in under a second. These days there's several good thermacouple designs, some much more elegant and cheaper than the Thermapen. But the old chemical workhorse still has pride of place in the kitchen.
posted by Nelson at 4:02 PM on June 27, 2019

turnip twaddler

I googled this and still can't figure out if it's a real thing. (I mean, goddamn, I could use some help with my fucking turnips, what.)
posted by MiraK at 4:23 PM on June 27, 2019

turnip twaddler
I googled this and still can't figure out if it's a real thing.

It is not, sorry...
posted by Greg_Ace at 4:27 PM on June 27, 2019 [5 favorites]

Many years ago I helped a new best friend clear out her deceased mother's home, during which I was given a small enamel cast iron skillet. It's still badly burnt on the outside, so I doubt I'll ever know if it's Very Old Le Creuset, nor do I actually want to. Every time I use it I can scrub a bit more from the inside, it works just fine. I've worked in restaurants for years and have lots of favorite tools, but I love using the little skillet and revealing a bit more each time. My friend died in 2017 and now I have my dead friend's dead mother's little skillet, and whoever gets it after me can keep scrubbing.

And thank you, Nelson, for the flambadou in action-- I'll definitely be frightening the neighbors with that someday!
posted by twentyfeetof tacos at 4:33 PM on June 27, 2019 [2 favorites]

I impulse-bought this inexpensive bowl scraper umpteen years ago in a kitchen store. I told myself it was because I didn't want to leave empty-handed and have it be a wasted trip, but in truth I was buying myself a consolation prize because I couldn't afford any of the Cool Stuff that I really wanted. Nevertheless, it has gained a prominent place in my kitchen because it is unbelievably handy and easy to use! It's got a hard nylon "backbone" that's exposed on one edge, and the other edge is flexible silicone. I use the flexible side whenever I've tossed ingredients along with olive oil and herbs/spices in a big mixing bowl, which happens often, and it makes short work of scraping out all the little left-behind bits (waste not want not!) when I pour everything out onto a baking pan. I'm having a hard time finding a direct replacement for it, sadly, so when it goes it'll be truly gone. I've got a few other kitchen items I've inherited from my mom or grandmother; but while they're great and I enjoy using them, if they were all to disappear it would be that stupid cheap-ass scraper I'd miss the most.
posted by Greg_Ace at 4:53 PM on June 27, 2019

I use my cast iron pans more frequently than I had anticipated. They were the subject of an AskMe last year; basically my parents live where the Griswold ironworks were (there are still various public spaces there named after members of the Griswold family), and my mother began collecting Griswold pans in the 80s for a couple bucks a pop when they were ubiquitous at local garage sales, before there was much collectors' interest in them, simply because she'd been intrigued by their role in local history. They spent most of their time with my parents hanging in the kitchen as decorations, so I don't have memories of dinners and breakfasts cooked in them. Still and all, they're hundred-year-old antiques but also working tools, and they were Mom's, so they feel special.

And also, basically, they're badass cookware. They seasoned much more easily and effectively than any Lodge pans I've had. This morning I cooked down a half-pound of diced bacon in one, and for dinner a hefty cut of London Broil got a perfect sear by putting it in the #9 pan and setting the #6 on top as a weight. The #6 and #9 are the workhorses and it shows; they've gotten much darker than the others in the time I've been using them. I think a lot of cast iron love is contingent on thinking about cooking in the way they're designed to cook. Since I spent most of my life having to cook on electric ranges, I'd long ago adapted to working with the slow ramp-up and ramp-down of heat, and now that I have a gas stove I can use that momentum to better effect (and more effective heat distribution) than I ever could. This also means they're not do-everything tools, because eggs still cook best in a thin, cheap Teflon pan, and different styles of cooking need different pans anyway.
posted by ardgedee at 5:03 PM on June 27, 2019 [3 favorites]

MetaFilter: Came to snark but
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 5:16 PM on June 27, 2019 [3 favorites]

Odd to see a Pacojet referred to as a "food processor".

If I had a Pacojet, I'd be fond of it too.
posted by Surely This at 6:31 PM on June 27, 2019 [1 favorite]

My favorite cooking tool is a simple, paddle-shaped bamboo stirrer. My dad always used one when he cooked, and I picked up the habit of leaving it in whatever I was making, rather than taking it out and setting it across the top of the pot or pan I happen to be using.

Over time it has blackened and carbonized, and developed a beautiful fade up towards the handle. I like to think that it has taken on a bit of character and flavor from every meal I have cooked with it.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 7:08 PM on June 27, 2019

My father was a theatrical carpenter, which means that in addition to being a craftsman he was well practiced in the arts of scrounging and/or outright theft when the need arose. Anyway, he made sets of kitchen tools from Kevizingo wood for my mother and sister. The wood itself is awesome, but the unique part is that it was reclaimed from armrests from seats in Lincoln Center after they did a renovation. They're not the greatest tools in the world....they're more useful looking than they are useful, made by someone who didn't really cook, so the angles are kind of off and the handles not too practical, but they're so fully amazing and packed with nostalgia and memory and affection for me that they're among my most prized possessions.
posted by nevercalm at 10:07 PM on June 27, 2019 [4 favorites]

Is it wrong that I'm missing my childhood cheese grater? It probably should have been thrown away before I ever met it.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 10:15 PM on June 27, 2019 [1 favorite]

Also I'm not sure how anyone can get through life *without* having a favorite garlic press.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 10:26 PM on June 27, 2019

There are other ways to prep garlic without resorting to a unitasker. Chacun à son goût.
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:31 PM on June 27, 2019 [1 favorite]

What, no avocado pitter???????

A chef's knife is one of my most useful kitchen gizmos!
posted by aubilenon at 10:40 PM on June 27, 2019 [1 favorite]

I have a little 1.5L slow cooker with a slightly miss-sized lid, the low setting still burns everything, the timer doesn't work anymore, but I can't imagine living without it.

Also an ancient knife of my grandmother's, sharpened to the point of being just a sliver left, still my best knife, a story I hear quite a bit from others too.
posted by AnhydrousLove at 3:12 AM on June 28, 2019 [1 favorite]

I have a large slotted spoon that looks like this, except mine is bent, scratched, rusted and nearly busted, with melted spots on the plastic handle where it's become too cozy with the stove top over time. Etched on the back of it, baaaarely legibly now, is "LIFTS WHIPS MIXES MASHES CRUSHES STRAINS." It is, conservatively, at least 40 years old, and I use it every day. I dread the day it finally catastrophically fails, because I've been unable to replace it. I got mine in the US at some point in the long ago, probably from a thrift shop, and occasionally come across the same or similar items online, but with crazy shipping costs to Greece, where I am now. Apparently, this and its similar cousins were known as "Kitchenmagigs" or "Kitchenmajigs" (I've seen both spellings).

Here's a blog post about one these nifty little numbers.
posted by taz at 5:36 AM on June 28, 2019

I own a waffle iron and corn popper, which originally belonged to my great grandmother. I am fascinated by that. Don't use the corn popper anymore.

I have a stainless griddle that was in a house I bought in 1989. Need to find a new cord for it. No one makes electric griddles like that now. (the ceramic ones aren't too bad though).

All this stuff has moved internationally with me. 3 continents!
posted by Goofyy at 5:46 AM on June 28, 2019

My wife has a steel spatula and a milk pan that belonged to her mother. I've not got anything like that (both parents being still alive) but my thing is copper saute pans, like this one.

A couple of mine are nearly a century old, and I often think of where they've been and what they've been doing all that time. It's a bit of a hassle when they need to be re-tinned, but I haven't found anything I like more.
posted by 43rdAnd9th at 6:33 AM on June 28, 2019

AnhydrousLove, you have my permission to buy a new 1.5 quart slow cooker with a lid that fits. You'll come to love it too.
posted by Nelson at 8:56 AM on June 28, 2019 [1 favorite]

About 15 years ago, two of my closest friends (who were a couple at the time) bought me a large cast iron frying pan for my birthday, after I had complained that I'd like to be able to make more than two people's worth of food in my frying pan at once. It has moved with me repeatedly and I use it at least a few times a week.

I was crushed last year when my spatula broke, after a mere 20 years of hard use on my part and who knows what before that, since they got it at a yard sale. I still haven't found a new one that I like and should really get on that.

I used to have this really great Black & Decker rice cooker / steamer, where the rice cooker was a bowl that sat inside the steamer. The first one I had lasted easily 10 years, and when it broke a friend replaced it for me, and then that one broke and I just have a regular cheapass Aroma rice cooker now, which is fine and cooks rice or grits or whatever just fine but I still don't steam veggies the way I used to.
posted by bile and syntax at 9:22 AM on June 28, 2019 [1 favorite]

Garlic press as a unitasker - well, yes, but pressed garlic has a different feel/ flavour profile to chopped garlic.

mezzaluna - convergent evolution! I had an ulu that had soo many uses. Lost it during a move.

paddle-shaped bamboo stirrer - heh, I have a cheap wooden spatula that came with a very cheap frying pan I got in college (web 1.0 online shopping "deals") almost 20 years ago. I threw out the pan before the year was out, but I still have that spatula.
posted by porpoise at 10:11 AM on June 28, 2019 [1 favorite]

pressed garlic has a different feel/ flavour profile to chopped garlic.

True, however I use a Knife-crush/purée method that's roughly equivalent and the tool cleanup is much easier.
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:37 AM on June 28, 2019