Tooling Around
Favorite kitchen gadgets make chefs’ jobs easier and menus sing.
By Erin J. Shea, Associate Editor -- Restaurants & Institutions, 12/1/2005
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Asking a chef to choose a favorite tool is almost like asking a parent to name a favorite child: Arriving at a decision is nearly impossible.
“My paring knife is my baby,” says Renatto Medranda, chef de cuisine of Seattle’s Coldwater Bar and Grill. “I would be lost without it.”
His sentiment is not uncommon. Although ingredient quality plays a critical role in any meal, chefs are highly dependent upon the tools they use to prepare those foods.
For Medranda, his paring knife is not only his favorite tool, it’s a constant companion.
“I don’t go anywhere without it,” he says. “I use it at home too.”
So serious is Medranda about his knife that when he left it behind as he made his way to the airport for a trip to Boston, he turned the car around to retrieve it.
“I was like a little kid the minute I realized that I didn’t have my knife with me,” he says. “I ended up missing my flight.”
Medranda uses his knife for everything—from boning fish to peeling potatoes. “It’s the versatility of the tool,” he says, explaining his preference. “And the paring knife fits right in your hand so it lets you use your skills as a chef.”
Aw, Shucks
Jeremy Anderson is no stranger to oysters. The executive chef of Elliott’s Oyster House in Seattle started shucking bivalves when he was 16 and continued the practice when he joined Elliott’s as a cook. His oyster knife has been a sidekick throughout his career, whether to shuck oysters or remove barnacles.
“I’ve always had an oyster knife in my kit,” Anderson explains. “When I look at all the other tools that float around my kitchen, the knife is the one I always go back to.”
Sentimental attachments aside, Anderson lauds his oyster knife—a relatively compact French tool—for a variety of reasons.
“The knife is built for speed and to make a good clean cut,” he says. “We go through nearly 500 dozen oysters a week and the knife helps give us a beautiful presentation at the end. My knife literally works from the beach to the dining table.”
Sweet Relief
Balance is important to Kevin Morrison. The chef-founder of Spicy Pickle, a chain of 10 fast-casual sandwich shops headquartered in Denver, uses a double-handled, twin-blade mezzaluna to prepare condiments for some of the concept’s most popular sandwiches.
“We use fresh basil for basil mayonnaise and it looks more rustic when we cut the herbs with a mezzaluna,” Morrison says. “You get a rougher chop and it appears to be homemade.”
In addition to the cut the mezzaluna produces, there are other fringe benefits. The combination of the tool’s smooth rocking motion plus a double blade covers twice the area of a standard knife, he says. Plus, Morrison adds, it’s easier on the body.
“The way you handle the mezzaluna means you don’t have to compromise your stance when cutting,” he says. “For a chef who is on his feet all day and has lower back problems, that’s a welcome relief.”
Fine Idea
With its compact body and adjustable blades, the mandoline is an important tool in Celestino Jimenez’s arsenal.
“The mandoline is critical in terms of timing and labor,” says Jimenez, executive chef for Seattle’s Union Square Grill. “Plus they give you a nice, consistent slice every time.”
Using a Japanese-made mandoline, Jimenez slices vegetables for everything from Vietnamese spring rolls to wok-seared yellowfin tuna. Favoring the tool over a chef’s knife, Jimenez appreciates the mandoline’s contribution to the flavor of these dishes.
“The vegetables aren’t as easily bruised so they keep their integrity better,” he says.
Soulful Strains
Henry Salgado has used a chinois nearly every day since graduating from culinary school.
“A demi-glace isn’t worth a damn if you don’t put it through a chinois,” says the chef and co-owner of Spanish River Grill in New Smyrna Beach, Fla. “A chinois is a beautiful thing.”
Salgado’s chinois is used for veal stock and demi-glace for the clarity the instrument provides. His love for the tool was reinforced when he did without one during the restaurant’s first two years, hoping to make do with a less-costly china cap strainer.
“I went out and bought a chinois,” Salgado says. “It’s expensive for a strainer but in the end it’s a beautiful thing. Using it is one of the most soulful things a chef can do.”
Back to Basics
The more functional the tool, the better it is, says Mark Hipkiss, executive chef of the Metropolitan Grill in Seattle.
“My favorite piece of equipment is the food processor,” he explains. “It’s straightforward, but does anything I need it to.”
While primarily used for pesto, sauces and rubs for the steakhouse, Hipkiss also uses the processor to prepare saffron-roasted red pepper aioli for calamari as well as grated cheese for Parmesan-crusted halibut.
“It’s about ensuring quality and saving time,” he says of using the processor. “For pestos and rubs, you can get the product the way you want, when you need it.”
“Chefs are introduced to new equipment all the time,” he says. “But certain tools are the things that always go with you—and that just doesn’t change.”
Heavy Hitters
Fixing daily meals for an audience that can number in the thousands is no easy task.
For noncommercial chefs, fancy gadgets and tools are nice, but when it comes to preparing menu items in mass quantities, the clear favorites are big players.
“The most useful thing we have is our tilt skillet,” says Ben Southard, auxiliary services coordinator for Radford University in Radford, Va. “The one we use is eight gallons and it can do almost anything.”
From scrambling eggs to searing meats, Southard says the tilt pan is valued for its size and for the quality foods it produces.
“The pan allows us to caramelize meat to give stews flavor,” he says. “It adds dimensions to our food.”
Versatility is the name of the game when it comes to equipment for Greg Gefroh (shown), executive chef for the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks.
“We can do virtually anything with a combi-oven,” he says. “Bake, broil and steam: It can do all the work for you.”
Gefroh says cutting costs is an attractive extra to using the combi-oven. “It gives us the ability to take cheaper cuts of meat, sear them and turn out a good pot roast. It’s an incredible piece of equipment.”
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