The One that Gets Used

After my chef’s knife, the tool in my kitchen that gets the most use is my Cuisinart Mini-Prep. I honestly don’t think I would do without it.

For example, when I prepared Shrimp Ceviche last Saturday, I used it to:

• Chop the shrimp
• Chop the celery
• Mince the red onion
• Mince the garlic

Tool Junkie Rule Number 1: Half the job is having the right tool.

Yes, I could have done all those tasks by hand. The act of manually chopping, mincing, or grinding does not give me pleasure. Cooking is a hobby. It is supposed to give me pleasure. If a tool will turn a booring, aggravating, or frustrating job into a quick, easy, and pleasurable one then that tool is a must have in my opinion.

Tool Junkie Rule 2: A high quality tool plus a little knowledge gives the neophyte a fighting chance.

Next weekend I am going to serve rainbow trout, and I am going to buy the whole trout and fillet it myself. I have never actually filleted a fish before. I have read very detailed instructions about how it is done (thank you Mark Bittman) but next weekend will be a first. Today I visited my favorite gourmet kitchen tools store here in Glendale, AZ and bought a Messermeister 6″ flexible boning knife. I know now that the filleting task will go well because not only will the tool not be fighting me, it will actually compensate for some of the ineptitude of the operator.

Tags: Kitchen Tools