What are your favourite pieces of kitchen gear?

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This Chef'n citrus press has really grown on me. Works extremely well and makes juicing quick and effortless.
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A rescued Boos butcher block I found at a flea market. Every meal is prepared on it and it's mobile like a moving island.
 
Vintage Ekco spatulas found at the thrift store. Just a piece of thin flat steel riveted to a stick, but it's the right kind and thickness of steel for convenient use, with decent rivets that don't get loose.
 
24”X36”X2” end grain black walnut cutting board (with feet) from BoardSmith. 10 or 11 years ago I had David Smith (BoardSmith) make this board for me. Best investment I’ve made. Right after I got the board I saturated it with food grade mineral oil, took about a week, then finished with several coats of his Board Butter (mineral oil and beeswax). What a beautiful and functional work of art! I use it every day. One thing strikes me as unusual is that the board is “self healing”. I can chop or cut anything and immediately after I’m done I can see the knife cut marks but a day later I can’t see the marks. Anybody know what’s going on here?
 
Like Michi, I would rate my cutting board scraper close to the top (I know it's supposed to be a bread dough divider, but I refuse to be bound by convention). I only use it occasionally for scooping food, because I'm mostly using Chinese cleavers, which do that just fine. But I don't know how anyone scrapes the crap off of a wooden cutting board without one.

One of my most essential pieces of kitchen gear is this humble piece of extremely low-quality metal:

Shrimp peeler.JPG


It's for peeling shrimp. Pre-peeled shrimp are not worth eating. Those shrimp with cuts already made down the back are OK, but not the real deal. What you want for the full flavor is shrimp in shell, and this ugly little thing will do the job efficiently, splitting the shell and, most times, getting that faeces-packed intestine out of there, or at least to where it's easy to remove. I've tried the plastic ones, and they don't work for me. This does. Ever try to peel 100 shrimps with curving scissors? Or a knife? If you have, you might appreciate this bit of metal as much as I do.

I bought one decades ago, and decided I wanted a backup, because it was so essential to my food happiness. I could not find one anywhere. Finally an Amazon search yielded something, super cheap, something like 2 for 5 dollars. They were shiny, which seemed wrong, but the shape seemed right, so I ordered them. I was relieved when the chrome coating came off the first time I ran them through the dishwasher, to reveal exactly the crappy little tool I use. Happiness.
 
Like Michi, I would rate my cutting board scraper close to the top (I know it's supposed to be a bread dough divider, but I refuse to be bound by convention). I only use it occasionally for scooping food, because I'm mostly using Chinese cleavers, which do that just fine. But I don't know how anyone scrapes the crap off of a wooden cutting board without one.

One of my most essential pieces of kitchen gear is this humble piece of extremely low-quality metal:

View attachment 116084

It's for peeling shrimp. Pre-peeled shrimp are not worth eating. Those shrimp with cuts already made down the back are OK, but not the real deal. What you want for the full flavor is shrimp in shell, and this ugly little thing will do the job efficiently, splitting the shell and, most times, getting that faeces-packed intestine out of there, or at least to where it's easy to remove. I've tried the plastic ones, and they don't work for me. This does. Ever try to peel 100 shrimps with curving scissors? Or a knife? If you have, you might appreciate this bit of metal as much as I do.

I bought one decades ago, and decided I wanted a backup, because it was so essential to my food happiness. I could not find one anywhere. Finally an Amazon search yielded something, super cheap, something like 2 for 5 dollars. They were shiny, which seemed wrong, but the shape seemed right, so I ordered them. I was relieved when the chrome coating came off the first time I ran them through the dishwasher, to reveal exactly the crappy little tool I use. Happiness.
Link?
Thanks!
 
Never seen one. Usually if going too cook shrimp just slice the back remove any veins.
Agree esp. if have good marinade or sauce best to leave shell on. Most 16-20 bought lately has shell on sliced already.

Just ordered one a useful tool, cheap too.
 
I tend to buy whole prawns, mainly because the heads and shell make excellent stock.

I tried one of the these prawn deveiners in the past and wasn't too happy. Too much damage to the flesh. With really large ones, I can see it working though. (But then, really large prawns are easier to peel by hand, too.)
 
24”X36”X2” end grain black walnut cutting board (with feet) from BoardSmith. 10 or 11 years ago I had David Smith (BoardSmith) make this board for me. Best investment I’ve made. Right after I got the board I saturated it with food grade mineral oil, took about a week, then finished with several coats of his Board Butter (mineral oil and beeswax). What a beautiful and functional work of art! I use it every day. One thing strikes me as unusual is that the board is “self healing”. I can chop or cut anything and immediately after I’m done I can see the knife cut marks but a day later I can’t see the marks. Anybody know what’s going on here?

that’s a big one! I have a 16x22x2.5” maple (Carolina slab… I think that’s the name he used for that size?) I got shortly after Dave handed things off to John.

I’ve heard a lot of the self healing thing with end grain boards; intuitively it makes sense, but I don’t really understand the details of it.
 
that’s a big one! I have a 16x22x2.5” maple (Carolina slab… I think that’s the name he used for that size?) I got shortly after Dave handed things off to John.

I’ve heard a lot of the self healing thing with end grain boards; intuitively it makes sense, but I don’t really understand the details of it.

Since you're not creating deformations across the grains, a well oiled board will just sorta close back up. Kinda like sticking a comb in a hairbrush and then pulling it back out. Nothing actually split, the bristles just move a little and then go back into position.

If you were to crush the ends somehow, then they won't be able to recover. This is why many people don't pound things out on their nice boards.

That's my understanding of it.
 
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