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If you are lucky, you may have inherited some of those deep, round-bellied cooking pots that graced the kitchens of old. Even so, from time to time you will need to buy new cooking utensils, whether you are setting up house, buying a wedding present or replenishing your own stock of cookware.
Tips for Choosing Cookware
The pots you buy will have to last for a long while, choose carefully and make sure you select pots and pans with guarantees, so that if they are faulty they can be replaced.
# Pots should be of good quality, but not necessarily heavy; a fairly lightweight pan is suited to oven-top gas cooking.
# Pots should be well balanced, with no tendency to tip.
# Lids should fit tightly or cooking efficiency will be lowered.
# Handles should not conduct heat, and should be designed so that the pot can be comfortably and safely moved about.
# Straight-sided pans with flat bottoms that completely cover the heating unit are the most economical, as they use less fuel.
Which Material?
There will always be controversy about the best material for pots and pans. All materials have their advantages.
Aluminium is light and conducts heat well, but thin aluminium pans will quickly lose their shape, burn food and waste fuel because they do not retain heat.
Iron is durable, conducts heat well and is easy to clean. But iron pots need a breaking-in period, are heavy and will rust if they are not kept dry and greased. Heat new cast-iron cookware gradually the first time it is used to prevent warping and cracking. You should baptize a new ironware frying pan by boiling vinegar in it and then rinsing it thoroughly.
Enamelware absorbs heat rapidly but does not conduct it evenly, so food may burn before it is thoroughly cooked. Make sure the base is heavy enough so that the utensil will not warp and crack the enamel coating.
Glass, earthenware and stoneware oven dishes conduct heat slowly but evenly. They can be taken straight from the oven to the table, and are easy to clean. But sudden temperature changes may cause them to crack.
TIP: To clean burnt aluminium saucepans, rub them with rotten apples and then use a scouring powder.
Knives have existed ever since humans needed to first kill then carve up their prey, but even as late as medieval times most men owned only one knife, which hung at their belt, ready to cut throats or cut meat. Only the wealthy could afford special knives for table use. Forks arrived much later in history, being in general use in Europe in the 17th century, but even after they caught on, many people continued to use a combination of their fingers and an all-purpose knife to eat their food. A knife and fork made a prestigious wedding present for a bride, who would wear them on her belt in a decorated sheath.
Choosing Your Knives
Sharp-edged, well made knives made every kitchen job much easier. The quality of a knife depends on the quality and temper of the steel, the shape of the blade, the quality of the handle, and the way the blade and handle are joined.
Don't economize on knives; buy the best you can afford, making sure that the handle is durable and firmly attached to the shank of the blade. A handle shaped to fit your hand is best. The shank of the blade should extend the full length of the handle, and should be secured with large, firm rivets. Do not buy cheap knives with shanks that taper to a point and are anchored to the handle with a brad or a metal collar; the handle will work lose and the knife will be difficult to use.
Knives For All Reasons
Different kitchen knives are designed for different purposes, and using the right knive will lead to quicker and better work. The number of knives you need will depend on how much cooking you do and at what level. For most people, the following set of knives will meet all needs.
Cook's knife: The most versatile and indispensable of kitchen knives - if you can afford only one good kitchen knife, make it a cook's knife. It should have a 20-cm blade that tapers to a point, and can be used to cut and chop about every foodstuff, from raw meat to herbs. Choose a good carbon steel blade with a handle roomy enough to prevent your fingers being cramped.
Paring knife: A small, pointed knife with a 10-cm blade, used to peel and slice vegetables and fruits. Some type of paring knives have serrated edges, which are particularly useful for slicing fruit.
Bread knife: A long-bladed knife (26-cm) with a serrated or saw edge. Bread knives will scalloped edges will not cut as well. The blade of a bread knife should be stiff rather than flexible.
Carving knife: A well tempered carbon steel knife with a narrow, flexible blade about 20-cm long.
Palette knife: This knife is not used for cutting, but has a flexible blade for lifting and turning food and scraping out mixing bowls.
Kitchen shears: A useful accessory for jointing chickens, ducks and rabbits, and for preparing fish. Some types of poultry shears can be dismantled for easier cleaning and sharpening.
Caring For Knives
Keep your kitchen knives sharp; they will be easier to use and also less dangerous, since you do not need to exert so much pressure when cutting. Give them a few strokes with a steel or a sharpening stone before and after use - yes, every time! - and have them professionally sharpened at regular intervals.
Avoid patent knife sharpeners with two sets of concentric steel discs; they will ruin your knives.
Wash kitchen knives individually by hand, using cold or lukewarm water, dry them thoroughly and store them in a wooden knife block or with the blades sheathed. Never heat a knife blade in a flame, since this will destroy the temper of the steel.
Rusty knives: Soak rusty knives in a raw linseed oil for a few hours and you will be able to wipe off the rust and polish the knives with emery paper. Rub the rusty steel in one direction with emery paper sprinkled with paraffin, and finish with an old cloth.
Stained blades: Clean stained knife blades with emery paper rubbed with a slice of raw potato.
Stained knife handles: Old-fashioned ivory handles can be restored by rubbing them with salt moistened with lemon juice
Emergency Corkscrews
If you have mislaid the corkscrew, stick two forks vertically into the cork on opposite sides of it, not too near the edge. Run the blade of a stout knife through the prongs of the forks and twist as you would an ordinary corkscrew. Another emergency method is to tie a string to an ordinary large screw and screw it well into the cork; provided the cork is sound, a steady, gentle pull on the string should dislodge all but the most stubborn cork.
Mrs. Beeton's famous Book of Cookery and Household Management, published in 1861, included in its list of important equipment a toasting fork, a bottle jack, a candle box, a cinder-sifter, four iron stew-pans, a dripping pan, two fish kettles, a pepper box, a pair of bellows and three jelly molds. Fifty years later, a typical list of essential kitchen equipment published in a home management handbook included a rolling pin (glass if possible). an egg whisk, a meat safe and meat cover, a millet broom, a hair broom, a Turk's head broom, a polishing mop and vacuum cleaner or carpet sweeper, and a scrubbing brush and kneeling pad, as well as soup plates, dinner plates, dessert plates, bread and butter plates, sauce boats and jam dishes, egg spoons and a mustard pot - and noted that "this provides for bare necessities"!
The amount of equipment you need will depend on your living space, your lifestyle and your budget - but remember that it is perfectly possible to cook delicious family meals with the bare minimum of equipment, provided you buy sensible in the first place.
Traditional Equipment for a Modern Kitchen
Nowadays a microwave oven and a dishwasher are likely to take priority over three different brooms, but there are some kitchen items that are as useful now as they have been for decades. Electric kettles have been on the market since 1923, pop-up toasters since 1927 and electric food processors since 1936.
As well as these not-so-modern automated aids, your kitchen should contain a basic inventory of traditional equipment, such as mixing bowls, wooden spoons, a rolling pin, a potato masher, an egg beater, a flour sieve, a colander, a rubber spatula and a set of kitchen knives - the best you can afford.
Measuring Devices: Measuring jugs, cups and spoons and a reliable srt of kitchen scales take the guesswork out of cooking. The old advice was to use metal measuring containers for hot liquids and glass containers for other ingredients, but modern heatproof glass will withstand most hot liquids except boiling fat or oil. Glass has the further advantage of being see-through, permitting accurate measurement by eye.
Graters: Properly designed graters will grate your ingredients without grating your fingers. Regardless of its shape, make sure your grater is of metal strong enough to keep it rigid at all times. If you are a keen cook, you may want to provide yourself with a large grater for cheese and vegetables and a small one for lemon and orange zest and spices such as nutmeg.
Cleaning Equipment
Kitchen floors need frequent and thorough cleaning. The best tools are still an old-fashioned broom, brush and dustpan for dry fragments and a floor mop and bucket for liquid spills. For benches, have cloths that can be disinfected by boiling or bleaching. For washing up you will need dish cloths, a dish mop and a pot scrubber.
Tea Towels: Pure linen tea towels or glass towels are the best buy. It is false economy to buy cheap tea towels - there is nothing more frustrating than trying to dry glass with a cloth that will not absorb moisture, or one that deposits lint on the glass.
Hand Towels: If you use a roller towel for drying your hands in the kitchen, Turkish towelling is a good choice because it will stand up to hard wear and washing.
Serving Equipment
From time to time in the past, tableware has become very elaborate in design and consequently hard to clean, but both taste and common sense tend to ensure that simple, easy-care designs will always reassert their popularity.
China and Glass: Choose a simple pattern and a practical design: for instance, make sure that the cups sit steadily in their saucers and that the handles are easy for a normal hand to grasp. Serving dishes should not have awkward knobs and handles. Jugs and carafes should be easy to lift and manipulate, with lips that pour well.
Coffee Pots and Teapots: Make sure they have handles that do not become too hot to hold, spouts that pour properly and do not dribble, and smooth inner surfaces that are easy to clean. Keep coffee pots and teapots scrupulously clean; coffee and tea can leave deposits of oil or tannin that will contaminate the next brew that you make.
'Labour-Saving' Gadgets
According to Mrs. C. S. Peel. "The greatest labour-saving Apparatus which we possess is the brain; it has not been worn out by too much use" (The Labour-Saving House, published in 1917). This advice is as sensible now as it was 80 years ago; give some thought to what equipment you really need in the kitchen, bearing in mind the space constraints in a modern kitchen and the time constraints of modern life.
Getting rid of useless gadgets: From time to time, everybody buys kitchen gadgets that are never used and that merely occupy valuable space and collect grime. Take the time to make a clean sweep of everything that is cluttering up your kitchen. Get out all your kitchen gadgets and get rid of anything that you never use or that is broken or duplicated. Have the strength of mind not to hang onto something 'in case it comes in useful'. Well placed hooks and shelving will keep your kitchen benchers clear and let you put your essential gadgets where you can easily reach them.
We have come a long way from the huge, gloomy kitchens of the Victorian era, which used to be separated from the rest of the house in case they caught fire, and from the resolutely bright kitchens of the 1950s. But the principles of working in an organized and cheerful environment have not changed.
Where Should The Kitchen Be?
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