We"ve all been there. You"re blasting your Neil Diamond and getting into your cooking zone, but the d.a.m.n onion keeps getting away from you because the cutting board is sliding across the counter like Brian Boitano. Veganomicon to the rescue! Lay out a damp kitchen towel and place your cutting board on top of it; this will give you the traction you need to keep your workstation is place. Wet paper towels work for this, too.
Vegetable Peelers
The truly sadom.a.s.o.c.h.i.s.tic chef (or Isa"s grandma) loves to peel vegetables with a paring knife. Even our copy editor says she does it with those two for one dollar knives she"s had for eons. For everyone else, there are a plethora of peelers to choose from. We"re partial to the Y-shaped rather than the old-fashioned straight variety, but do what makes you happy. Get the sharpest, st.u.r.diest one you can, with a large, comfortable handle. If you are only going to purchase one, make it the serrated kind. If you skipped the opening paragraph we"ll say it again: it"s a good idea to spend just a little extra on these, since nothing sucks more than a dull vegetable peeler (with a teeny, miserable handle) when you"ve got eight pounds of apples to skin.
Food Processor
Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles! Saver of time, conservator of energy! So easy! So convenient! How did I ever survive without you? Every well-equipped kitchen has a food processor in it. You can"t live without one, right? Sort of. You can do without, but when you are staring at the latkes recipe with a tear in your eye, wondering how in the world you will fit shredding five pounds of potatoes into your busy day of video games and knitting circles, you need to get yourself a food processor. If you can"t afford one right now, then get married simply so you can put this on your wedding registry.
Not only will the proper attachments shred and slice everything for you, but nothing can really replace a food processor in the kitchen when it comes to transforming tofu, vegetables, beans, and so on into smooth and silky purees. The quality is rather flexible when it comes to choosing a food processor, so go for whatever fits in your budget and literally fits on your countertop. Those combination blender/food processor gadgets are kinda small but work great.
Blender
Speaking of blenders, it"s not absolutely necessary to have a standing one for the recipes in this book, but it"s pretty awesome for the occasional peanut b.u.t.ter-banana smoothie or to puree soups and sauces.
Immersion Blender
This little gadget is worth every penny, which is not a lot of pennies since they"re surprisingly inexpensive. Often in this book we give you two choices: you can wait for your stew or soup or whatever to cool a bit and then puree half of it in a blender or food processor, then add it back to the pot, or the much-more-appealing second choice-simply whip out your immersion blender and puree. If you want to dabble even further in immersion blender magic, look for ones that come with a selection of attachments for whisking and grinding spices or coffee.
Graters
Box graters are a kitchen staple that attack carrots, celery, and jicama with ease. We suppose that you could also grate vegetables with that food processor, but it seems more work than necessary to clean it if you"re grating just one carrot to toss into a salad. The zester on those things is mostly useless, though, which is why we recommend you get yourself a microplane grater. Then finely shredded mounds of citrus zest and freshly grated nutmeg shall be yours!
Mandoline
Just a note about these-mandolines are ominous, human-powered contraptions that can transform a pile of carrots or pound of potatoes into slender, completely uniform shreds in mere minutes. They are also the kind of medieval instrument one might encounter should one have the terrifying experience of going to a Renaissance fair. With a mandoline it"s possible to quickly grate, slice, shred, sliver (and julienne!) any firm vegetable or fruit into a plethora of perfect shapes that would take you hours of tedious work with a knife. Careful please, because they are armed with a deadly serious blade that does all that work for you. Absolutely not necessary for cooking, but something to consider should you want to live off of hash browns and shredded salads.
Enough prep work. It"s time to move on to the fun stuff.
POTS AND PANS AND OTHER FOOD COOKING VEHICLES.
When we were starving artists we cooked with a found rusty wok and ate off of upside down Frisbees. Times have changed.
Skillets
A.k.a. saute pans, a.k.a. frying pans. We"re big fans of good old cast-iron for skillet cooking, not to mention that cast iron has the added benefit of being able to be popped into the oven for additional browning, making a potpie or the best corn bread you"ll ever eat. A 10- or 12-inch cast-iron skillet is all you really need, but it"s mighty heavy and requires proper seasoning, so you might want something lighter around, too. It"s hard to beat stainless-steel pans for bombproof functionality; no matter what you burn in "em, you can get it off with a little elbow grease, and none the worse for wear (except possibly your elbow). Nonstick pans are great for their nonstickiness. They cost just a little more than stainless steel, but only buy one if you can buy a nice one-and treat it gently! A good nonstick pan has a very smooth, nearly shiny surface. No metal should ever touch that pan, so while you"re shopping, get a few good-quality silicone or wood utensils to use with it. If you scratch Teflon or another nonstick coating it"s useless (and possibly toxic), and if you get it too hot (like 500F hot, which is really easy to do if you"re forgetful) it gives off toxic fumes.
The Great Big Soup Pot
The name says it all. Look for a large 6- to 8-quart pot that"s preferably stainless steel with a good stout bottom. Accessories (like a steamer basket) are nice. The Great Big Pot and a skillet are the bare essentials, but if you"ve got the scratch (and s.p.a.ce) you"ll find that it"s great to have a . . .
Cast-Iron Grill Pan
For grilling! Nothing can beat it. Unless you have a Weber in your kitchen, which is a really bad idea. So go get a grill pan, they"re cheap! Since you"re on a shopping spree, you might as well get a . . .
Crepe Pan
But only if you"re going to make crepes. And you will make crepes (you just don"t know it yet). See page 77 about our recommendations, but in general stick to steel or cast-iron varieties. Run away from any goofy, infomercial-style gadgets that expect you to dip an electrical object into runny crepe batter.
Ca.s.serole Dish
Is it for cooking? Is it for serving? You can have it both ways! You can use a cast-iron skillet instead if it"s all you got, but you"ll love having a deep, enameled, cast-iron ca.s.serole dish that you can saute your ingredients in first, top with some dough, and then shove into the oven to finish. Yeah, you can ca.s.serole your heart out with a gla.s.s or (gasp!) metal one, but the cast-iron ones are really fun to use and look pretty, too. Also good for lasagne!
The Spray Bottle
Our good friend the spray bottle of oil can help you use less oil when cooking, so he makes a few cameo appearances throughout recipes in the book. We"re not talking about that aerosol stuff that you buy in the supermarket, but an actual bottle that you fill with the oil of your choice. You can buy the pump kind, such as a Misto, where you have to pump the top with air (kind of like how a Super Soaker works), but you can also just buy a plastic spray bottle, usually available in housewares stores in the gardening section.
More Pots and Pans!
Okay, we lied in our introductory paragraph. You can never have enough of these. If you"re getting a food processor on the wedding registry plan, go ahead and throw a set of pots and pans on the list. Or just buy "em when they go on sale. More is more! Lots of discount stores carry good-quality pots and dishes that will last you the rest of your life with little care. Make sure you get the heavy-bottomed variety-give"em a knock on the bottom to make sure they"re thick and solid. If they sound like a gong and feel thin, skip them. Light-bottomed pans will burn your onions and cook unevenly. We"re big fans of pots that come with a few steamer baskets of a.s.sorted sizes.
BAKING TOOLS.
You can resist that castle shaped Bundt pan for as long as you like, but if you want cookies and cupcakes, you"ll need a few essentials. Not that castle shaped Bundt cakes aren"t essential for all you Renaissance Fair enthusiasts.
Baking Sheets