General

This catch-all category takes account of the basic utensils required for preparing and handling both raw and cooked ingredients. Among their many uses are lifting, draining, shaping, stoning, grating and mashing.

• Timers - ranging from simple sand-in-glass vial devices to battery-operated bell ringers, these help keep track of important preparation and cooking stages.
• Thermometers - there are three different types: deep-fat, meat and sugar. They are essential to ensure that the safe and desired internal temperatures of meat and poultry are achieved and that fat and sugar reach their required temperatures.
• Kitchen Scissors - choose sturdy all-purpose scissors with a comfortable grip. They should be made of stainless steel for easy cleaning. Poultry shears are designed to cut poultry bones easily.
• Vegetable Peelers - several varieties are available: those with swivel blades are especially good; some have a bean slicer in the handle and a pointed tip for coring.
• Cutting Boards - use either wood or polypropylene; these do not blunt sharp knives. Keep different boards for different purposes, those for raw meats and strong-smelling items, such as garlic, should be kept separate from general purpose boards. Clean boards thoroughly after use.
• Tongs - a “V”-shaped piece of stainless steel that comes together when squeezed. Used for picking up and transferring delicate foods.
• Ladles - come with various capacity bowls attached to a long handle. Used for serving liquids, some ladles have a lip on one side to make pouring more accurate.
• Slotted Spoons - wide flat spoons with holes pierced through the surface and with slightly pointed tips. Used for lifting and draining foods out of hot liquid or oil; also for skimming.
• Stoner or Pitter - use to remove cherry arid olive stones. Made of stainless steel or aluminium, it consists of two arms hinged together in the centre. One has a holder for the fruit, the other a prong that pushes out the stone.
• Candle Knife - has a short rounded stainless steel head with a small “V”-shaped blade running horizontally across it. Use to peel fine strips of zest from citrus fruits or vegetables, such as cucumber. When sliced, the fruit or vegetable has an attractive ridged edge.
• Zester - the stainless steel rectangular head has five holes along the top edge, designed to remove fine shavings of citrus zest, leaving behind the bitter white pith.
• Graters - the most common type is a hollow box with various cutting perforations on each side. Rotary graters with different blades are also available, and specialist single-sided graters for citrus zest and Parmesan cheese. For nutmeg, there is a concave version with a compartment for the whole spice.
• Mouli-légumes - a stainless steel or plastic hopper that clamps over a bowl and is used for puréeing soft fruits and vegetables. It comes with a selection of fine and coarse discs, one of which is placed in the hopper. A crank is used to turn the chosen disc and push the food through the Mouli into the bowl below.
• Skimming Spoon - large flat round head with a series of very fine holes or mesh in the centre. Used for removing scum and fat from the surface of hot liquids, such as stock.
• Fish Slice - a large square or rectangular blade that will slide easily under delicate flat foods, such as fish fillets. It has holes to let fat or liquid drain through and is available in metal or plastic; it can have a non-stick coating.
• Palette Knife - available in various sizes. The blade is thin, flat and flexible with a rounded end. Use for turning and transferring flat items such as fish fillets or biscuits and for spreading decorative icings.
• Angled Spatula - sometimes called a cookie spatula, the long flexible rectangular blade is angled to help lift food from edged pans and dishes.
• Bulb Baster - A giant syringe-like object, used to suck up fat from meat juices and gravy.
• Tweezers - Small pincers, usually about 8 cm long, useful for removing fish bones and placing delicate garnishes and decorations in position.
• Scrubbing Brush - rectangular brush with hard bristles. Designed for scrubbing seafood shells and vegetables.
• Wooden Cocktail Sticks - about 10 cm long, for holding small pieces of food and for securing cut openings.
• Apple Corer - a cylindrical blade that fits neatly around the core of an apple, on the end of a shaft long enough to go through the fruit and remove the core in one piece.
• Melon Bailer - two bowl-shaped blades, one slightly larger than the other, fixed either side of a central handle. Make the balls by rotating the blade.
• Ice-cream Scoop - comprised of a hollow handle through which body heat is conducted and a large bowl-shaped scoop at one end, usually made of stainless steel or aluminium. The and releasing the ice cream easier Trigger scoops are also available - the ice cream is released from the scoop by activating a lever which pushes it cleanly out.
• Lemon Squeezers - most popular type is made of glass or plastic and has a ridged, pointed cone in the centre for squeezing the juice from halved citrus fruit. The wooden variety, called a reamer, has a similar-shaped cone attached to a handle; the juice is extracted by holding the cut fruit over a bowl and inserting the squeezer.
• Potato Masher - a perforated disc attached to two prongs which are shaped and connected to a handle. Used to pulp down cooked potato and other root vegetables, such as carrots and parsnips.
• Potato Ricer - two hinged arms, one has a basket with a fine mesh base that holds the food, the other has a flat disc that pushes the food through the holes. Produces very finely mashed, almost puréed results.
• Cake Slice - a flat triangular metal blade, shaped to a rounded point to fit easily under a wedge of cake or pie.