The Three Kitchen Tools That I Didn't Know I Needed

A few years ago, I didn't use any of these in my kitchen. Now, they are among the tools that I can't live without.

Tongs

I never really thought about tongs as a tool for anything other than barbecue until recently. I think it was Alton Brown's Gear For Your Kitchen(a great book) that really sold me on the idea of tongs as extenders of your hands. You need to manipulate something hot? something covered in a sauce? something in the bottom of a pot? Tongs give you far more control than a spoon or spatula, and they do it without piercing the food like a fork. Good deal.

Brown suggests getting the kind that don't lock closed, pointing out that you can keep them closed with a rubber band. I don't really see the point. The locking mechanism doesn't get in the way for me. I've seen some with silicone tips, also, but I've stayed away from those for fear that they'd be harder to use and more difficult to clean. I don't know if either of those are justified concerns, though.

Kitchen Shears

I've posted about my love of shears in the kitchen before. Until a couple of years ago, I never knew the joy of them. I hated chopping fresh, leafy herbs. A knife rarely did the job as well as I wanted. Now that shears have entered my life, I don't hesitate to use fresh herbs, and my life is better for it. In the meantime, there are a ton of things that I've found shears handy for. They are great for pizza (you don't get cheese sliding around). They can be used to cut things decoratively. I've even used them to cut strips of meat (they are good for dealing with stringy sinews and such). I admit that I was skeptical at first, but I find myself reaching for my shears all the time.

If you're worried about cleaning the shears, get some that come apart into two pieces for easy cleaning.

Microplane
Ah. The Microplane grater. I hate box graters. I always have. They take up too much room. They are hard to clean. You can't hold on to them effectively without cutting wee bits of skin off of your hand. That last one might be just me.

The microplane, though, is wonderful. It's really sharp. It is easy to use. I works amazingly well. You can clean it quickly and easily. It used to be that I would limit myself to pre-grated parmesan. It is a slippery slope from there to the dreaded green can (which isn't really a can, since it is made of plastic). Instead, I now use real Parmesan-Reggiano. The difference is amazing. Is it more expensive? Maybe. I don't think it is notably so, though. You don't usually need as much of the good stuff, and it keeps well for a long time. With the microplane, I can turn a rock-hard piece of aged cheese into a delicious, light snow-like consistency in seconds. Seconds later, my microplane can be clean.

The other thing that the microplane has freed me from is my fear of citrus zest. Well, "fear" is perhaps the wrong word, but for a long time I just didn't thing that zest was worth the bother. This was largely due to my lack of success with those five hole zesters. Maybe the ones I tried haven't been sharp enough. Regardless, I was not really privy to the wonderful world of citrus zest. I've moved toward using fresh fruit rather than juices. Not only is it tastier, but it is more efficient as I use both the juice (and/or flesh) and the zest.

OK. I could live without any of these, but they have made my life better.