Kitchen items—practical and sentimental—you can’t live without.

Anyone who likes to cook has their favorite gadget, tool, or appliance in the kitchen. Some have a basic function, like a set of good quality pots and pans, and others have more of a sentimental connection.  Sometimes these latter items are related to a person you love, a nod to your heritage, or a special moment in time which made a strong impression on you as a home cook.

This week I asked some food-loving pals two questions: Which kitchen tool can you not live without; and which one brings back fond memories of people, place, or time?

Shall I start?  My favorite kitchen tool is a Microplane zester/grater. This isn’t the first time I’ve praised its attiubutes. I love how easy it is to use plus the amount of control it provides when grating cheese, garlic, or lemon rind.  Unlike my mother’s box grater, the risk of hurting yourself is minimized with a Microplane. It’s definitely a knuckle saver.

The most highly coveted item in my kitchen, which never fails to provide a mood lift, is something I wear daily: a 50-year-old, green, cotton apron decorated with tiny penguins sporting red winter scarves.  My favorite cousin Norma hand-stitched it for me as a wedding present.  After so many years of washing, it’s as soft and comforting as a baby diaper.  When I tie the apron around my waist, I think fondly of Norma. To be honest, she wasn’t much of a cook. However, her free spirited, charismatic Auntie Mame demeanor and raucous laughter made everyone around her happy.

Dr. Michael Apstein, physician, wine writer, and serious home cook, sites his Cuisinart food processor as his favorite go-to when cooking. “I make a lot of aioli and other flavored mayonnaise, which are foolproof and easy in a Cuisinart.”

Not so for me as my mayonnaise often breaks when I use my Cuisinart. (The issue is my inability to pour in the olive oil slowly enough to create an emulsification.) Michael’s trick, he divulged, couldn’t be easier. “My daughter Stephanie taught me to add the oil though the small white tube inside Cuisinart’s large pusher. Have a look. It has a tiny hole in the bottom which controls a steady drip for your oil. Try it.” And I did and it worked like a charm.

Michael’s favorite cooking utensil, which produces moments of nostalgia, is his mother’s old-fashioned, 11-cup enamel pot. “It has cup markings on the inside—don’t ask me why it’s that size. I have many beautiful and more functional copper pots, but I still like using this one from time to time.”

Nancy Jessup, executive chef and container “farmer,” can’t live without a digital scale. “As for kitchen tools, I'm obsessed with making sourdough bread, so I use a digital scale almost daily for accurate ingredient measurement. My favorite bread is a rye sourdough made with a mix of kalamata and cracked green olives.”

Nancy isn’t the only one who’s in love with their digital scale. 

Anthony Giglio, wine guru, entrepreneur, and creator of American Express Centurion Global Lounge Network, is infatuated with his digital scale as well. “What's funny is that I am, for the most part, an instinctual cook who more often uses my eyes and hands to measure ingredients (like my grandmothers!). Unlike a baker—which my wife Toni is! —I don't like to bother with measuring spoons and cups (more to wash!). With a kitchen scale you can place a pot or bowl on it and keep zeroing out as you add ingredients.

“For example, I'll place the metal bowl of my InstaPot (another tool I use weekly for soups, stocks, beans, and rice!), on the scale, zero out the weight, pour in 16 ounces of rice, then rinse the rice, drain thoroughly, add it back to the scale, zero out the weight, add 16 ounces of broth or water, a sprinkle of my Side Gig SuperSalt, a dash of olive oil, then cook for 12 minutes in the Instapot. No measuring cups or spoons needed. All I have to do is rinse the colander used to drain the rice, and wash the pot after we eat the rice, of course.”  Anthony uses an OXO scale at home but also mentioned that Wirecutter, NY Times’ product testing site, recommends one called Escali Primo (here).

 In terms of an old-fashioned kitchen tool, the one Anthony likes best hearkens back to his Italian heritage: a spremipomodoro or electric tomato press which removes the skins and seeds from raw tomatoes. “The machine we use to pureé tomatoes every August is just the latest version (12-years-old now) of a lifetime of using various styles of these powerful food mills.” The model the Giglios currently use is made by Fabio Leonardi, a family-owned, Italian manufacturer which prides itself in designing equipment to be passed down from generation to generation.  As shown in this post’s photo, the spremipomodoro has already captured three generations of users: Anthony, far right, with his son, Marco, and aunt, Zia Nunzia.

 Janeen Sarlin, cooking school teacher, author, and former private chef for The Wine Spectator’s publisher, Marvin Shanken, singles out her small paring knife as her favorite tool. “I keep it very sharp, it feels good in my hand, and I travel with it as most people don’t have sharp knives!   A bit of history: In the 80’s I purchased a dozen of these knives from the Seafood Shop in Wainscot, Long Island. I am now down to the VERY LAST ONE!  You can almost imagine all the parties I’ve catered, corporate lunches I’ve cooked, and classes I’ve taught. It’s quite amazing this one is still in existence!”

For the kitchen gadget which evokes an emotional response, Janeen zeroed in on her grandmother’s nutmeg grater.  She claims that “It’s still good after all these years!” Janeen—who was raised on a dairy farm in Minnesota—oved to cook alongside her grandmother as a small child and still recalls seeing her carefully grate nutmeg into a favorite cookie recipe using the compact tool.

Joan Brower, former travel and wine marketing expert, hold’s one object in particularly high regard which has both a practical and emotive significance: a handsome, antique brass samovar. This piece represents her Jewish Polish-Lithuanian heritage. And instead of hidden away inside a kitchen cabinet, it sits proudly in her living room as a decorative memento alongside other cherished pieces gathered from years of travel to exotic places such as Bhutan, China, and Easter Island.  

As she explained, “The samovar, I was told, had a very practical purpose.  It was used for household needs requiring hot water, and especially for boiling water to make tea.  As a Russian invention of the mid-18th century, it spread through Russian culture to other parts of Eastern Europe including Poland and Latvia, where much of my family came from.” 

Joan can only speculate how the samovar found its way to America. “There are many branches of my family, of course, and I know the histories of some.  However, as there is no further way to investigate the actual travel itinerary of my samovar over the miles and through the centuries, I can only conclude that it belongs to ALL of my past, present and future family members who will continue to guard and protect it as our treasured family talisman.”

Blanca Aldaco, Mexican-born, chef-owner of Aldaco’s Mexican Cuisine, one of San Antonio’s top restaurants, has two important kitchen tools she loves using. Both are from her infancy. Just by looking them, as she explains, “emits wonderful memories not to mention the aromas that they bring out with each use. The two items go hand in hand and should never be separated. An immortal love story.”

Given Blanca’s heritage, you may have guessed that she’s referring to her metal tortilla maker and molcajete—an authentic mortar and pestle dating back to the Aztecs—made of volcanic stone used for grinding spices and chiles and for preparing salsas and guacamole.   

Blanca explained that her molcajete gets better with age as it absorbs flavors which it then adds back to whatever she’s making next in it. “I love making salsas for that wonderful, truly homemade texture. There are innumerable types of salsas but here is my all-time favorite: Salsa picosa de chile piguin. I begin my process by grinding rock salt in my molcajete, then the dry peppers, typically pequin (piquin in Spanish!), drizzle with some olive oil and end with fresh lime juice. That is the zestiest salsa you can  have. You may finish by adding perfectly cut up small avocado cubes.”  What Blanca doesn’t divulge is that these tiny pequin peppers pack a powerful punch, often five to eight times hotter than jalapeños! 

 Blanca enjoys using her tortilla maker for producing fluffy, aromatic and delicious corn tortillas. “I like to play with the tortilla masa (dough made from ground corn) and sometimes I add color to the masa or add crisp bacon bit (OMG) for the most savory tacos, of course, finished with a Salsa de Molcajete. 

Silvia Baldini, classically trained, Italian-born chef, food entrepreneur, and “Chopped” champion, checks both boxes with her response to our query. She is passionate about one specific kitchen item which not only performs a function to perfection but also delights her whenever she uses it. Her choice? An untreated wooden pastry board!   

We learn from Silvia that ”there are many workhorse tools to make pasta. Fancy pasta machines, cutters and molds are often included in kitchen arsenals. I keep it basic: My hands, a long rolling pin and my Bolognese mother-in-law’s large and untreated wooden pastry board. This board is my favorite ‘cannot-live-without-it’ kitchen tool. Although marble and granite countertops make for gorgeous pasta pics—especially on Instagram—those kinds of surfaces aren’t ideal for making fresh pasta.”

 Silva tells us why a large untreated wooden pastry board is a better choice. “Number one reason is convenience. It’s perfect for big and messy projects like rolling out pie crusts and pizza dough, working with pastry, kneading bread dough, and of course, making pasta.”

Then, she explains how to choose the right one. “Whether you are shopping for a premade pasta board, or building your own, be sure to choose a quality, dense, and sturdy hardwood that won’t splinter over time or transfer any wood flavors to your dough. Ideal hardwoods include walnut, maple, cherry, and oak. All are popular choices for pasta boards and will hold up well for years of use. 

 “Mine was a gift from Betta, my Italian mother-in-law. She’s an inspiration to me inside the kitchen and outside. Every time I use my board, I think of her and her beautiful kitchen in the hills of Bologna, a place where our family always feels at home.”

 Before closing out this post, a quick shout out to Anthony Giglio who has contributed multiple times to TarteTatinTales always providing us with a wickedly witty but also authoritative perspective on the given topic.  He has just added “food creator/importer” to his list of talents having recently launched a line of imported food products. Called “Side Gig” (get it?), everything will be sourced from the finest artisanal producers, farmers, and foragers in Italy. His first item—which I’ve been using and loving in my kitchen—is a Sicilian sea salt enhanced fresh herbs and garlic. Called “Supersalt,” it really is!  Check it out here.