5 Most Valuable Kitchen Tools To Elevate Your Cooking

Which kitchen gadgets are worth investing in?

There are an endless amount of kitchen gadgets available to help make cooking easier, faster, and more enjoyable. Having the right tools can make all the difference. However, with so many options on the market, it can be hard to know which ones are worth your investment. In this blog post, we’ll share with you our most valuable kitchen tools that will elevate your cooking game. These are the items that every home cook needs in their arsenal. If you’re looking to upgrade your kitchen gadgets and take your cooking to the next level, read on for our top picks!

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1. Miyabi Chef’s Knife

A high quality chef’s knife is essential in the kitchen when preparing food. It is on the top of this list because it is something you will most likely use every single day.  You would rather have one really good knife than have a mediocre set of knives.

A chef knife is a versatile tool that can be used for chopping, slicing, dicing, and mincing a variety of ingredients. Not only should it be comfortable in your hand, and well balanced, but it is also important to get one that is SHARP! It might be counterintuitive, but it is safer to use a sharp knife than a dull one.  Cutting will be effortless since you would not need to fight the food with your knife, which could end up in an accident.

I have used the chef’s knife for years and would highly recommend the Miyabi Birchwood SG2 Chef’s Knives. It comes in 2 lengths, the 6-inch and 8-inch versions. I use the 8-inch since I know it would truly be used in all the cutting that I would do. The 6-inch would be great to have for smaller hands. I don’t have that yet, so I’m just waiting for the right time to splurge. This knife came sharp and stays sharp. It is lightweight so it is effortless to use. It’s elegant when working with this compared to other knives I’ve used before.

I use this chef’s knife exclusively when cutting meat this thin slices. Here is an article with more detail on how.

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2. Instant Pot

The pressure cooker is MAGICAL. I wholeheartedly recommend the Instant Pot, which is the most popular brand on the market. It is a pressure cooker, slow cooker, rice cooker, yogurt maker, and more.  I have had my 6-quart since July 2015 and it is still going strong.  It is so versatile that I used mine at least once a week, sometimes more frequently than that.  I do have to say, as an Asian, I have a dedicated rice cooker that I love, but from an everyday cook perspective, Instant Pot could do the job.

Another great use of the instant pot is to reheat leftovers. See our blog post on batch cooking.

Some of the dishes I will ONLY cook in an instant pot are:

1. Congee – I used to dread making congee.  I will need to babysit the pot for an hour or two, making sure it won’t boil over or it doesn’t stick at the bottom.  With the pressure cooker, it’s fast, boiling over or sticking at the bottom is a thing of past, and it always comes out to the right consistency.
2. Beef stew and tendon – Pressure cooking cuts the cooking time of stews to a fraction of the usual time on the stovetop.  Stew always comes out fork tender which is how my son loves it.  Even something as tough as beef tendon, which is what I love and it’s good for your health, will take a fraction of the time.  If you’ve ever cooked tendons before, you know exactly what I mean. If you enjoy slow cook method, you could use this pot’s slow cooker function.
3. Pot Roast – This is the way to go when I don’t have hours and hours to prepare ribs for dinner (and I never have).  Cook pot roast until fork tender and you could enjoy this meat in a variety of different ways. If you enjoy the slow cook method, you could use this pot’s slow cooker function.
4. Yogurt – It is super easy to make a batch of yogurt with this pressure cooker.  It requires only need 2 ingredients.  Add some of your favorite flavors and make some frozen yogurt after.  You’ll never need to buy yogurt from the grocery store ever again.

Anything that requires a long cooking time will benefit from this method of cooking. Best of all, you just set it and forget it. When the pressure cooking time is up, it will naturally come down in pressure (or you could do a quick release to speed it up), and then it will keep the food warm until it is dinner time!

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3. Hot Water Boiler

This is something that I use many many times a day.  This is the kitchen gadget that I’ve used all my life and wouldn’t imagine a home without it. It is worth every penny and the counter space needed!  It gives you instant hot (almost boiling water) for your need.

This model comes with different temperature settings and dispensing speeds, a locking mechanism so hot water doesn’t accidentally get dispensed for safety, especially for the kiddos in your life, and a re-boil option.  It also comes with a timer, but I normally just keep water hot at all time so it’s not a function I find useful in my life, but you could put in water at night and set it to boil your water before you get up in the morning.  It is super easy to set up and use.

Some of the ways I use this during the day:

1. Making drinks like tea, coffee, or hot cocoa in the morning.
2. Prepare instant oatmeal.
3. Preparing cup noodles (when you have only 5 minutes to eat in between zoom meetings while working from home).
4. During cooking, when you realized you need to add some hot water in right away to thin out your sauce, life-saver!!
5. Speed up cooking time by starting with hot water instead of waiting for water to boil, so you could start cooking right away.

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4. Joule Sous Vide

Precision cooking is never been easier and more affordable.  Joule is one of the most popular leading brands on the market in this category of electronic gadgets.  It also comes with a mobile app that gives you visual doneness of your desired result.  Sous vide is a method of cooking food in a precisely controlled water bath with a vacuum-sealed bag.  It is widely used in restaurants to cook a variety of food.  The beauty of it is to take out the guesswork of cooking temperature and allows you to cook food to perfection.

Cooking food at a lower temperature for a longer period with sous vide can also help retain more of the food’s nutrients, flavor, and texture, compared to other cooking methods.

In contrast, sous vide cooking sets your temperature control at the desired target and never goes above it, hence eliminating the risk of overcooking your food.  Since the temperate stays constant at the target, cook time will be a lot more forgiving, meaning you could leave your food in the water bath for longer than the required cook time and it will not overcook the food.  (PS: Cook time is forgiving but still can’t leave the food in for way too long since that could eventually change the texture of the food.)

Conventional cooking methods like stove tops and ovens carry the risk of temperature going higher or lower than what you needed, and also timing control is vital to your success.

Some of the dishes I now ONLY cook with the sous vide method are:

1. Soy Sauce Chicken – Making whole chicken is made extremely easy with sous vide cooking.  The chicken came out super moist, and the breast meat, and I’m not one to ever eat chicken breast cooked any other way.  Soy sauce is my favorite, but it works beautifully for any whole chicken recipe.
2. Starbucks-inspired egg bites  – Back a couple of years there was this Starbucks egg bites craze that was all over the internet and social media.  Everyone is trying to mimic what product with many different ways of cooking.  I tried making it with other cooking methods, like steaming, baking, etc. but never had the result that I wanted.  You know what, Starbucks made it with the sous vide method and that’s what I’m going with.  You could make a big batch of it with any add-ins to have for breakfast and lunch throughout the week!
3. Steak – Meat is expensive, especially nowadays.  If I were to cook steaks, I wouldn’t want to ruin them.  Sous vide is the best way to cook your steak to the desired doneness and just finish it up on the stovetop 

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5. Dutch Oven

As an experienced home cook, I cannot stress enough the importance of having a Dutch oven in your kitchen. This versatile tool has a myriad of uses, including stewing, slow cooking on the stove or in the oven, baking bread, braising, and roasting. With a Dutch oven, the possibilities are truly endless.

In my kitchen, I have found that the Le Creuset Dutch oven is the perfect choice. This brand offers a wide range of sizes and shapes to choose from, ensuring that you can find the right fit for your cooking needs. 

Additionally, Le Creuset Dutch ovens are made with high-quality materials that are built to last, ensuring that your investment will pay off for years to come.

One of the standout features of the Le Creuset Dutch oven is the tightly fitted lid. This ensures that moisture is trapped inside the pot, resulting in tender and flavorful dishes every time. The lid also helps to regulate the temperature of the food, ensuring that it cooks evenly throughout.

But functionality isn’t the only reason why I love Le Creuset Dutch ovens. They also come in a wide range of vibrant colors and patterns that add a pop of style to any kitchen. I must admit that I have collected quite a few Le Creuset Dutch ovens over the years, but I have no regrets. They are not only functional but also beautiful pieces that will last a lifetime.

I recommend getting one that’s around 7 quarts, which should be big enough to cook 99% of all your dishes.  They have a higher price tag and is an expensive kitchen gadget, but it is one of the essential tools you will want to have in your kitchen.

There are some dishes that you might want to use in an instant pot instead, like a stew of any kind.  However,  a Dutch oven will shine with some short time braising, baking, and roasting, it will make a huge difference in the flavor profile.  If you don’t own an instant pot or a rice cooker, this will do the trick as well

Some of my favorite dishes to make with a Le Creuset Dutch oven:

1. Baking artisan bread – Bread baked with a Le Creuset Dutch oven will have crispy outside and fluffy inside.  The crispy crust is EVERYTHING!!  This is made possible because the Le Creuset Dutch oven has an extremely well-made tight lid.  It essentially turns the pot into a steam oven that mimics what French bakeries are all using for their bread baking.
2. Braised chicken drumsticks – You could make a big batch of braised and slow cook chicken drumsticks with veggies. Serve it with some rice or over noodles (or pasta).  It takes only about half an hour to make.
3. Roasting a whole chicken – You could use a Dutch oven as your roasting pan (pot) for your everyday roasting need.  Put some root vegetables at the bottom of the pot, then put in your whole seasoned chicken (thigh side up).  The side of the pot will cook the breast side without drying it up while cooking the dark meat thoroughly.  Once the whole chicken is cooked to temperature, turn the breast side up to crisp up the breast as well.  Dinner is served!

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These are the 5 most valuable kitchen gadgets that will elevate your cooking at home. They are a worthwhile investment and worthy of your countertop real estate. They are my go-to tools used every day, and sometimes more often as a home cook. These will take your home cooking to another whole new level and make your life easier than ever!

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