Home & Living All about food and cooking Get the right equipment to cook up a good life after divorce: Part One Get the right equipment to cook up a good life after divorce: Part One
You can tell how serious someone is about cooking by the quality of their knives.
When buying knives avoid buying sets, however much of a bargain they may appear to be. You will probably find that you only use one or two of them on a regular basis and the rest sit in their block gathering dust and grease at the side of the cooker.
The most expensive branded knives are made from stainless steel with a high carbon content. Cheaper stainless steel knives are fine as long as they are sharpened regularly. Despite what it may say on the packaging do not put knives in the dishwasher as this tends to blunt them.
Keep it sharp
The cookware departments of major department stores are fine and John Lewis have good selections of knives including two good quality own brands. In general the more you pay the better the knife will serve you. Remember that whichever knife you use it needs to be kept sharp and the more often it is used the more often it will need to be sharpened.
Electric sharpeners are very effective and simple to use. They are good for bringing an edge back to a knife that has become completely blunt but they are on the expensive side.
Never store knives loose in a drawer. Not only do you run the risk of someone cutting themselves as they rummage about but blades can get damaged knocking against each other or other cutlery. Wooden knife blocks or magnetic rack are the answer.
Chopping boards
It’s no use having decent knives if you don’t have anything to chop on. Never ever chop on marble or granite. The best chopping board is a big, chunky wooden one. Thick ones are best and you can use both sides, one for meat and poultry, the other for fruit and vegetables. On thinking about it you might also need another one for fish.
Pots and pans
It is better to have three or four really good quality pans than seven or eight cheap ones. Don't buy large sets that come with lots of different items that you may rarely if ever use. Cheap pans will have thin walls and bases that will warp and then burn your food and handles that will quickly work loose. Dont forget if you are using electricity you must have pans with a perfectly flat milled base.
What to make them out of
Stainless steel is the all round favourite but anodised aluminium pans also come with non stick interiors and are popular and durable but should not be put into the dishwasher. There are some good quality ranges around anodised aluminium is an excellent conductor of heat and is much harder than stainless steel.
If you want to combine weight lifting with cooking then invest in some cast iron pans. Cast iron has the advantage of excellent heat retention so that once it is brought to the necessary temperature it can be kept on a very low heat. When it comes to casseroles cast iron is the business. One small and one larger cast iron casserole (with lids) will be fine for any eventuality including that all important first chicken casserole for two.
Size isn't everything
You can get by with just two or three saucepans as long as they are not too small. They mostly come in standard sizes and it is always better to have a pan that is on the large side rather than one that is too small. This gives plenty of room for stirring to move the ingredients around.
Non-stick
A small/medium sized saucepan for making porridge or scrambled eggs is useful although it is pretty pointless using a non-stick pan for simply boiling potatoes or pasta.
A medium sized and a large non stick frying pan are handy as is a sauté pan with a lid, but again buy the best quality you can afford and treat them with respect. Never whack a frying or a sauté pan on with the heat turned up to maximum, let it heat up more slowly.
Griddle pans
Invaluable in the kitchen are those ridged cast iron grills (also known as griddle) pans used for cooking meat, fish and vegetables. The best are plain cast iron and very inexpensive but they do come in other materials with various finishes. These are great for healthy cooking and avoid haqving to buy an electric thing made by a champion heavy weight boxer!
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