"If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world."
- J.R.R. Tolkien
"To me, food is as much about the moment, the occasion, the location and the company as it is about the taste."
- Heston Blumenthal
Who Am I?
Hi! My name is Spencer, and I'm glad you're here! I decided to start The Kitchen Coalition to inspire people to come together and form meaningful connections over delicious food. Welcome!
How I got here
With a professional background in the automotive industry, commercial insurance, and varying positions in corporate America, you might be wondering what I'm doing here talking to you about food. Fair enough!
One constant in my professional experience was an ever-burning curiosity and an intense desire to learn new things. This very much applies to my personal life and surrounds my philosophy around food. If you have to eat three times a day, why not make it as delicious as possible?
Learning how to cook well at home has been a passion of mine for over a decade. Gathering family, friends, and loved ones around a delicious meal always brings me a sense of joy. These recipes and the emotions behind them are the culmination of my food journey, and I cannot wait to share them with you.
Please, pull up a seat and join me!
I am so glad you are here, and I hope sharing my insights will help you on your own cooking journey! All of these tools are important and have made me a better cook - I hope they do the same for you.
#1: Instant Read Thermometer
The tool that had the biggest "overnight" impact on my cooking was an instant-read thermometer. Eliminating all of the guesswork about when meats, breads, desserts, etc., are perfectly done cooking was a clear game changer.
No more using the inaccurate "finger test" to check when your ribeye is done. No more guessing if your water is too hot or too cold when you're making bread (especially sourdough!). The impact on my results was HUGE!
I use the Thermopen One from ThermoWorks. This particular unit is fairly expensive, but worth its weight in gold if you ask me. They have very good sales throughout the year, so keep an eye out for those. They also sell their older models, which don't read quite as fast as the ThermopenOne, but still do a fantastic job.
There are cheaper brands of thermometers that will get the job done, too. In my opinion, having ANY thermometer is always better than not having one. Just be aware that if you purchase a cheaper one, it may not read as fast and/or will likely have a shorter lifespan.
#2: Quality Knives
One thing that makes me want to run from the kitchen screaming is using bad knives. Having quality knives will make cooking and prep work so much more enjoyable.
You might be asking, "What exactly is a 'good' knife then"? This topic could be the subject of an entirely separate blog post, if we're being honest. For simplicity's sake, I will narrow it down to several things you should look for when looking for a good knife:
- Forged Steel vs. Stamped Steel - Forged steel is where the metal has been heated and hammered into shape, compacting the material. Stamped steel knives have been cut out of a large sheet of metal. Forging makes the steel much stronger and will hold an edge for much longer.
- Tang Length - The "tang" on a knife is the piece of the blade that extends into the handle. Look for "full tang" knives. This means that the metal from the blade extends all the way to the bottom of the handle. This will be a more balanced knife and will be sturdier.
- Comfort - Are the knives comfortable in your hand? If they don't feel good, you won't use them. Simple as that. I would recommend putting your hands on several brands to see what suits you best.
I am also of the opinion that you really only need three knives to do most of the jobs in a home kitchen: an 8- or 10-inch chef's knife, a paring knife, and a bread knife.
You can save a TON of money by avoiding the large pre-bundled knife sets. Most of the knives in those kits are "special purpose" but aren't really necessary to accomplish most kitchen tasks.
I use the following Wüsthof knives in their Classic line: an 8-inch Chef's knife, a 3 ½-inch paring knife, and an 8-inch bread knife. They have been workhorses for the past several years, and are fairly easy to sharpen. One thing I am not a fan of on the chef knife is the full bolster (the bolster is the bottom part of the blade where it meets the handle). This makes sharpening the bottom heel of the blade a bit more difficult.
#3: KitchenAid Stand Mixer
This is the most expensive item on this list, but it is also one that I use frequently. If you plan on doing any baking, this is a must-have. My wife and I got the 5-qt Artisan Series mixer as a wedding present back in 2016, and I have used it ever since.
This significantly cuts the kneading time when making bread, pizza dough, desserts, etc. There are also a myriad of attachments that you can purchase. I have the meat grinder and sausage stuffer attachments, which have been really fun to experiment with!
I also recommend upgrading to the stainless steel mixing attachments vs. the ceramic-coated ones that most mixers come with. The coating started to chip on both my paddle attachment and dough hook several years ago, and I have since upgraded. Just one thing to be aware of.
#4: Dutch Oven
Every kitchen needs a large 6- to 7.5-quart enameled Dutch oven. Period. The versatility is virtually endless. From soups, to stews, to chili, to making sourdough, to braising, overnight confit, etc. There's not a lot that these can't do.
There are a myriad of brands to choose from. The most well-known are Le Creuset and Staub; however, they are fairly expensive. Lodge sells enameled Dutch ovens at a fraction of the price and are fairly sturdy. I don't believe the fit and finish to be quite on the same level as the aforementioned brands, but when you are paying about a third of the cost, that is to be expected.
I have a well-loved (if you couldn't tell by the picture) 7.5-quart Lodge Dutch Oven, and it has taken a hefty beating over the last 7 years and is still going strong! I genuinely love this piece of equipment and would recommend it to others, especially for around $100.
#5: Pizza Steel
After owning (and breaking) several pizza stones over the years, investing in a pizza steel was a definite game-changer. For those unfamiliar with these, this is a ¼-inch-thick, 14 by 16-inch slab of carbon steel designed to bake pizzas at home. Several varieties are sold in varying thicknesses. I only have experience with the original ¼-inch-thick version, but it has served me well.
Not only were my pizzas turning out fantastic, but I didn't have to worry about dropping or breaking anything anymore! Actually, I take that back. I do worry about breaking my floors or my foot if I were to accidentally drop my pizza steel. The opposite is true of traditional, brittle pizza stones.
I use my steel to bake all of my pizzas and sourdough loaves, and I have had consistently amazing results!
#6: In Drawer Spice Rack Organizer
While this may not exactly enhance your cooking "skills", it will make being in the kitchen a whole lot more enjoyable. This has been a surprisingly useful piece of equipment in our house. This is one that I didn't know I needed until I got one.
Being able to open a drawer and see all of your spices clearly organized at a glance has been amazing. I am more likely to use the quality spices that I have on hand compared to a pre-made spice packet (like taco seasoning - for instance). Not having to dig through a cabinet or pull out sixteen or so spice containers just to get to the one that you need has been a fantastic time saver.
We still have a cabinet with some spices in it, but we reserve that for the less frequently used spices (like marjoram, rubbed sage, dill weed, etc.) Without everything jammed into one cabinet, everything stays more organized.
#7: Immersion Blender
Don't enjoy cleaning a blender? Neither do I. Enter the immersion blender. This is another tool that I didn't know how much I needed until I got one.
This works perfectly to blend and emulsify sauces quickly and easily, right in the pan. This is also really handy for throwing together a quick mayonnaise, curry paste, or salsa! The best part is that when you're done, you can just take the blending arm off and throw it in the dishwasher.
I've had the two-speed KitchenAid corded immersion blender for several years now and have had great results with it. They are priced around $50 and can be used pretty much all over the kitchen. The price-to-convenience factor makes this one hard to beat.
#8: Microplane Grater
Last up is a good microplane grater. This is the perfect tool to use to give a dish a quick garnish of grated parmesan, or lemon zest.
You can find a multitude of different brands of microplanes and zesters on places like Amazon. I chose to go with the Microplane brand and haven't had any regrets. They are under $20 and can really help make things more convenient.
Now let's get cooking!
Thank you for taking the time to check out the list of my 8 top kitchen tools to help sharpen your cooking skills. I hope you found these helpful.
I encourage you to take a look through my recipes. If you find something that looks delicious, give it a try and let me know how it turns out in the comments! I genuinely hope they inspire you to get in the kitchen and create a memorable experience for you and your loved ones!
