8 must-have utensils for a home chef’s kitchen!
Few things are more essential than food in the kitchen. Utensils, however, are some of the very few that might just be as important as the food itself since they are crucial for cooking, eating, and preparing meals. Having the proper cooking equipment is critical to cooking excellence and minimizing frustration since this equipment allows for precise and fast-paced food preparation.
Kitchenware is quite useful in keeping the kitchen clean and orderly. Some of this equipment may assist the cook in chopping, slicing, and mincing raw materials precisely, and most of it is meant to be mess-free. As a favor to you guys, we have compiled 8 of the most crucial utensils that every home chef’s kitchen requires!
1. Wok (Karahi)
The basic design of the Wok, one of the most adaptable cooking pans in the world, originated in China and is now used all over the world. These spherical frying pans come in a range of materials and shapes, but their characteristic look is as functional as it is iconic. It is one of the most frequently utilized cooking equipment, used to prepare fiery and sizzling foods, often named after the utensil itself, such as Chicken Karahi or Mutton Karahi.
Woks come in many different sizes and have a wide range of applications. One of these applications, dry frying, is unique to Sichuan cuisine, but the others, steaming, smoking, stir-frying, braising, and deep-frying, are universal. You could discover that a wok serves most of your needs better than other cooking utensils you’d normally use for everyday duties.
2. Frying Pan
This utensil may be found in almost every other household in Pakistan. A frying pan is a component of important home cooking equipment that is used to fry and prepare a variety of foods. It has many purposes in the kitchen, whether it’s for a delicious breakfast of sunny-side-up eggs or pan-fried noodles. Frying pans come in a multitude of base coatings, and chefs may choose the one that best suits their needs.
This is one of the most practical cooking equipment since it can be used to sauté vegetables, sear meat, make an omelet, stir-fry veggies, and much more. A cast-iron frying pan is ideal for finishing foods in the oven or on a grill. A good-quality nonstick pan with a hefty bottom is simple to use and uniformly distributes heat.
3. Pressure Cooker
In South Asian kitchens, a traditional pressure cooker is a must-have piece of equipment. It is used at least once or twice a day to prepare diverse recipes irrespective of whether the recipe includes boiling chickpeas or making mutton or beef meals. To prepare food, pressure cooking uses steam pressure in a securely sealed pot. Most foods can be cooked in a pressure cooker, most people, however, utilize it to cook meals that would take a long time to cook using traditional techniques. A pressure cooker can be used to steam, brown, braise, boil, poach, steam roast, stew, or roast food. You can even bake in a pressure cooker these days!
4. Cooking Pots
A cooking pot is a versatile piece of kitchen equipment that comes in several sizes. The capacity of the cooking pot you select is determined by the number of guests you are cooking for. They can have a variety of bottoms, ranging from steel to copper, and are even induction friendly. The bottom is always straight (unlike the wok). One thing to keep in mind is that it is possible to ‘catch’ food on the bottom and scorch it, so use caution. These pots may be used to boil vegetables, cook curries, prepare dal, heat milk for chai, and even serve as beautiful serving dishes.
5. Knives
Knives are one of the most important pieces of kitchenware to have in your home kitchen. Every home cook needs a chef’s knife and a butter knife in their kitchen. Knives are required by the cook whenever fruits, vegetables, or other culinary products need to be chopped. Even though most Pakistani kitchen knives are basic vegetable knives, if you enjoy cooking, you may be aware of the wide range of kitchen knives available. There is a wide variety of knives specialized for specific tasks such as cutting fish, peeling round vegetables, and even slicing toast.
6. Tongs
There’s a reason why restaurant chefs conceive tongs as an extra pair of hands. Tongs should feel secure, firm, and precise, just like your hands, but without the mind-numbing anguish of severely burned fingers that come with gripping hot pans. A good set of tongs ought to be able to grab, pull, flip, shake, and move most items, with the exception of those that are extremely fragile, such as fish. They may even be used to pick up hot cooking utensils and pots. Many typical culinary tasks, from precise ones like flipping shrimp to strenuous ones like hauling a brisket out of the oven, become an ease with a decent set of tongs.
7. Whisk
A whisk is a culinary tool made of a succession of thin metal wires twisted into loops, with both ends attached to a handle. The loops, which are arranged in slightly different orientations, make a circular bulb structure. Whisks are used to swiftly combine materials or to introduce air into substances like egg whites or whipped cream to enhance the volume of the combination – thus the phrase “to whisk.” Whisks are must-have equipment in every kitchen, whether you’re making sweet delicacies for your bakery display case or making homemade dressings in your high-end café.
8. Saucepan
Saucepans are cylindrical, vertical-walled pots with a long handle. They are typically used for simmering and boiling. They are also used to produce sauces, as the name implies. A saucepan with a cover will be your most utilized go-to pan because you can cook most of your foods in it, such as boiling rice or pasta, preparing soups, making curries, steaming veggies, and so on. Also, because you’ll be using this pot more frequently, it’s a good idea to invest a little and acquire a decent nonstick pan, which will spread equal heating, require less oil, and uniformly cook your meals.
