In the Spirit of Food and Cooking

The cooking class post got quite the response and got me thinking of some of my favorite dishes to make and eat. However, many of those dishes couldn't be made (or at least as easily) without some of my favorite kitchen hardware. So here is my list of favorite kitchen gadgets and tools. And I'm not talking basic chef knife or cutting board. That goes without saying.

1. Food processor: My number one. I use this for my enchilada fillings, dehydrated tomatoes for sauce, pastry doughs, making peanut butter, bread crumbs. I would be a different cook without it (read: messy and tired).
2. Immersion blender: A strange choice for number 2 perhaps, but this and my food processor go hand in hand. Especially in the winter. Making a butternut squash soup? I reach for this. Tomato sauce too chunky? I reach for this. I broke our blender last summer and realized I don't really miss it. Between food processor and an immersion blender, I can blend pretty much everything.
3. Digital Thermometer with External Read: If you are interested in roasting a chicken/turkey that stays juicy without much work, this is your golden ticket. Insert the probe into the bird, let the wire hang out of the oven and connect it to the external display. Set the buzzer to go off when the internal temperature hits your desired temperature. No poking around. No wondering when. It also has a timer, so set the buzzer based on time or temperature. (My favorite: roast small chickens to 168 degrees, which gives you juicy breast meat for dinner that night. The dark meat is still a little pink, which I pull off and either cook the next day or freeze. Then I put the carcass in my:
4. Crock Pot: I don't have the time to make stock on the stove. I don't want to watch it. Stir it. So instead I put the cleaned bird carcass in the crockpot with an onion, celery & bay leaf and cover the thing with water. Cook on low for 12-18 hours while I sleep or am at work. Then I have perfect chicken stock ready to freeze, or preserve in my:
5. Pressure Canner: This thing has changed my life. I no longer have gallons of chicken stock clogging my freezer. It is sitting all pretty on shelves in the basement. Ready to be opened whenever needed with no thawing. And for pennies rather than the $1/can. In addition to the stock, I have soups. Thick gorgeous soups like butternut and potato-leek. I have tomato sauce. Making a quick dinner from previously made food has never been so easy (and sterile).
6. Cast iron skillet: Of all the pans I own, I reach for this one 95% of the time. I sear chicken. I cook eggs. I make quesadillas. Nothing, nothing cooks better than this thing.
7. Electric beater: I don't care if it's a hand beater or a fancy stand mixer, I just want something that will whip cream, egg whites or potatoes. And I don't want to do it by hand.
8. Chinois/China Cap/Restaurant-style Colander: I'm not talking about the big-holed colander we all own. I'm talking about conical-with-a-long-handle-sit-on-a-stockpot-to-strain-everything chinois. Chicken stock, apple pectin, toddy coffee, even pasta. I love this thing. Buy it at a restaurant supply store though since $100 for this is retarded.
9. Food Dehydrator: Nothing takes down a glut of tomatoes quite like a food dehydrator. A giant bowl of tomatoes, sliced and dehydrated on low overnight will produce a half to 3/4-filled sandwich sized baggie of tomato sauce (chopped down in the food processor, see #1 above). Sound like a waste? Taste it and tell me it's not gold. Red gold. Pure concentrated tomato flavor.
10. Mandoline: I rarely use this but when I do, it's worth every penny. Slicing 10 onions super fine takes about 2 minutes. Ditto for when I want to make a potato gratin. Or bread and butter pickles out of cucumbers. The mandolin is my friend. I don't see her that often, but I love that she's always there for me when I need her.