Using your dinner silverware to stir, flip, and turn your food while it cooks will only get you so far. Best to get a set of kitchen utensils instead.

While getting the best cooking utensils isn’t as important as getting the right cookware and knife, you can still do better than a flimsy plastic set.

Fortunately, beginners will only need six utensils.

A Wooden Spoon

Perhaps the most iconic utensil in your kitchen, a wooden spoon is ideal for stirring up big batches of cooking stews and soups.

Wood is a poor conductor of heat, so you don’t have to worry about burning yourself. Wood is soft enough that you don’t have to worry about scratching your cookware. And it just feels damn good in your hand.

I really can’t give any good specific recommendations here. Wooden spoons are so basic, old, and cheap that I really can’t tell the difference. Just get one and move on.

I have a set of bamboo spoons I got off Amazon, and get a lot of mileage out of them.

A Metal Spatula

From asparagus to pancakes, if you’re frying anything in your pan you need a spatula to move things around. Specifically, a turner, which is ideal for scraping the flat bottom of your pan.

If you use a cast-iron skillet, you need a metal turner.

Not only will the strong blade allow you to get every last bit of food off the pan, but it actually smooths out the surface of the pan in the meantime, improving its nonstick properties.

I use a Dexter-Russell walnut pancake turner, and highly recommend it.

A Silicone Spatula

Wooden spoons are excellent for stirring large pots of food cooking low and slow, but they can fall short when you are using a saucepan and/or high heat and need to get into every nook and cranny of a pot to prevent burning and get every last bit of food off.

I use a silicone spatula for cooking rice and sauces in my saucepan, where it’s essential.

Any old silicone spatula will do here, but the best one on the market is the GIR Ultimate Spatula. It’s strong yet flexible, ergonomic, and doesn’t have any nooks where food can get stuck.

A Slotted Spoon

Sometimes you cook food in a liquid, then want to get it out.

For beginning cooks, you’ll run into this problem most often with braises such as pot roasts, where you’ll want to remove the meat and veggies to reduce the cooking broth down to a gravy.

In these cases, you’ll need a slotted spoon.

Now, in most cases you’ll find medium-sized plastic or wooden spoons with a few slits or holes in ’em.

In a pinch, these will do the job, but you can do sooooooooo much better if you upgrade to a spider skimmer.

Spiders are essentially massive slotted spoons made of wire and originally used to fish out deep-fried food out of woks. But there’s no reason you can’t use it for things you are cooking in your Dutch oven as well.

I use this spider skimmer and highly recommend it, since it will pay for itself in time saved. But there’s also a slotted spoon in the wooden spoon set I recommend if you aren’t ready to plop down for the real deal just yet.

A Pair of Tongs

Flipping meat on a blazing-hot skillet with a spatula is asking for a grease fire.

The inability to easily and gently move food around with a spatula without splattering grease everywhere (or missing your mark altogether) is enough of a reason to get a pair of tongs.

But wait, there’s more!

Tongs are great for mixing up bowls of salad or sauced vegetables without breaking them up, and they can also be a godsend for reaching those G-D jars on the top shelf you can’t quite reach.

Cheap tongs abound, so grab one if you don’t have one. Otherwise, the Cadillac of tongs is the 12″ Oxo Good Grips, which I’m a big fan of.

A Ladle

The final utensil you’ll need is a ladle, which is critical for all the soups, stews, and braises you’ll be making in your Dutch oven.

Like most of my recommended utensils, cheap plastic ones can be found everywhere, and you likely already have one.

For those of you looking to upgrade, I’d again suggest you get another wok accessory.

Wok ladles are easier to maneuver than the big aluminum beasts you’ll find hanging in restaurant kitchens, and the wooden handles feel oh-so-much-better.

Plus, if you’re going to get a wok one day (which are a good intermediate piece of cookware, and useful for far more than just stir-frys), you’ll need one of these as well.

I have this wok ladle and spatula set, and also use the long spatula for grilling, so that’s a selling point too.

Okay, now you’ve got your cookware, knife, and utensils. Ready to rock right?

Sure, but there’s a few more miscellaneous pieces of gear that will make your life far easier.

More on those in the next article!

Stocking your kitchen with equipment is far easier than you think.

You already have most of what you already need, and the rest can be bought for cheaper than you may realize.

We talked about the only three pieces of cookware you need in the last article. In this one, we’ll look at kitchen knives and see that you only really need one (as well as a couple of simple accessories).

Knives (and Knife Accessories)

Unless you’re buying everything cut up already, you’ll need to harness your inner samurai and use some knife skills.

Most people will tell you that you need three knives. They are wrong.

You need one kitchen knife.

Just one. And a couple of accessories. Save the other two knives for when you’re more advanced, Yojimbo.

A Kitchen Knife

You have three options when it comes to a kitchen knife:

1. A chef’s knife–These are the most common western-knife, and feature a long, slightly-curved blade.
2. A santoku knife–These are the Japanese equivalent of a chef’s knife, but they have a flatter blade and “divots” along the side.
3. A Chinese chef’s knife–Very uncommon in western countries, but this is an underrated knife. Looks like a small meat cleaver.

Honestly, it doesn’t matter which of these you buy. You will use a slightly different technique for either one, but they are all built to get done all your basic cutting tasks in the kitchen.

Since chef’s knives are by far the most common in western countries, it’s probably the one you’ll use. But don’t discount the Chinese cleaver. Since they aren’t very well-known you can get a good one for pretty cheap.

Santokus are pretty trendy right now, and the prices reflect that, with cheaper ones hard to find.

Also, there are more knives on the market than anything else on this list, and it’s therefore impossible for me to test every one. What’s important is that a knife is two things:

1. Sharp
2. Comfortable

This will allow you to keep control of the knife more easily. The last thing you want to do is chop a finger off.

Here are my suggestions for chef’s knives, FWIW:

• Top of the Line–The Wusthof Classic 8-Inch Cook’s Knife. German knives are considered by most to be the best. They’re also more expensive. This one’s a classic, and loved by many.
• Best Value–The Global G–2 is a Japanese knife that Anthony Bourdain sang the praise of in his classic book Kitchen Confidential. It’s lightweight and nimble, but gets the heavy work done. It’s what I usually use.
• Good Enough–The Victorinox Fibrox gets high praise for a cheap knife.

A Honer

A dull knife is a dangerous knife.

I really can’t stress this enough. You really, really, really need your knife to be as sharp as possible. A dull knife is hard to control, and more likely to hurt you.

I’m sure you’re familiar with the stereotype–big French chef breaks out a big honing rod to sharpen his kitchen knife before going to town on a big pile of onions.

Well, you should be doing the same thing.

Honing your knife before every use ensures that the knife is as sharp as possible for every use, and is highly recommended.

Basic sharpening rods are cheap and available everywhere. Not the sort of thing I’d imagine there’s a lot of variability in, so just get whatever you can.

The model I use is the 12-inch Winco Sharpening Steel, and it does the trick just fine.

A Peeler

Yeah, I know. A peeler’s not technically a knife, but it does a similar job. So it’s here.

A lot of people will tell you that you need to have a paring knife. These people are wrong.

If you’re starting out, the only knife task you need to know that you can’t carry out with a big chef’s knife is peeling, and a dedicated peeler is the way to go.

Fortunately, peelers are one of those rare categories where the best product on the market is also one of the cheapest, so don’t hesitate to pick up my favorite, the Kuhn-Rikon peeler.

A Cutting Board

A dedicated cutting board is essential. There’s no better way to dull your knife than cutting on a surface that isn’t designed for it.

First off, check if you have a wooded cutting board built into your kitchen. Everywhere I’ve ever lived has had one, so, score.

If not, you’ll want to pick up a wooden or plastic cutting board. Plastic is cheaper and can go in the dishwasher, though it can slip around more easily and won’t last forever.

Never go for glass, as it will dull your knife.

I’ve always used the built-in cutting board in my kitchen, but if you don’t have one, this one gets solid reviews.

Just like you don’t need to buy big sets of pots and pans, you also don’t need to buy huge knife sets.

Best to put that money towards one good knife and chopping board (if you need it), as well as a cheap peeler and honer.

In the next article we’ll look at the six kitchen utensils you need to have (and ignore all the rest).

Think you need eleventy bajillion pots and pans in your house to make a meal?

Hardly.

For most people, three pots and pans are all you need if you’re learning to cook, and will allow you to prepare 95% of the meals you’ll ever need.

Last time we took a look at what it takes to stock your kitchen, and how few things you really need.

Today we’ll take a look at the backbone of your kitchen: cookware.

As we’ll see, you only need a total of three pots and pans for the vast majority of your cooking needs.

A Dutch Oven

Without a doubt, the most important piece of cookware you can have is a big-ass pot, aka a Dutch oven.

Why?

Not only can a pot serve as a pan in a pinch, frying up meat and veggies, but the things that you make in a pot–soups, stews, braises–are exactly the types of meals you should be making if you’re first learning how to cook.

For the most part, you’ll be using this pot for low-and-slow cooking, so quality isn’t as big a concern if you’re strapped for cash.

The most important thing you’re looking for here is a size of between 6–8 quarts (6–8 L). Smaller and you’ll have a tough time making more than a couple servings, bigger and you’ll make more food than you can eat in a week.

If you got a set of cookware from Target or Ikea when you first started living on your own, you probably have one of these already.

But if you’re in the market for a big-ass pot, I suggest you skip the nonstick ones and go for the mack daddy of them all: the enameled cast-iron Dutch oven.

Dutch ovens (no, not that kind) are made of iron, which makes them hold heat really well and evenly.

The enameled coating allows you to slow cook acidic ingredients like tomatoes, and makes cleanup much easier as well.

• Top of the Line–The Le Creuset French oven (ooh la la!) is the highest-quality big-ass pot on the market, but at $300 or more, this is really only an option for the serious gangstas.
• Best Value–The Lodge Dutch oven is nearly as good as the Le Creuset, but waaaaaaay cheaper. It’s the one I use.
• Good Enough–The Oster Telford Dutch oven is about as cheap as they get. Should do the trick as long as you don’t put it in an oven above 350°F.

A Skillet

A pan is the yang to the pot’s yin.

Where the pot is great for slow-cooking meats and veggies over low heat for long periods of time, melding all the flavors together, the pan is great for giving short blasts of heat and bringing out new flavors altogether.

Whether you’re frying onions and peppers or searing a pork chop, a pan is an essential piece of cookware in any cook’s arsenal.

The most important consideration here is size. You don’t want one of those dinky pans, but rather something in the 10“–12” (25–30 cm) range.

Again, you probably have something like this from that el cheapo cookware set, but this is one time when I suggest that no matter what, you should upgrade your pan and buy a cast-iron skillet.

Simply put, nothing sears like a skillet. Like a Dutch oven, a cast-iron skillet holds a tremendous amount of heat.

The chemical reactions of caramelization and the Maillard reaction are just way too difficult to pull off without a cast-iron skillet, and these are just the types of easy tricks that will allow you to become a kitchen hacking master.

Oh, and there’s another reason. Cast-iron skillets are ridiculously cheap.

I use (and recommend) the 10″ (25 cm) Lodge cast-iron skillet, and you can find it for about $20.

• Top of the Line–For the truly geeky, you may like to know that the best cast-iron skillets were made by companies that have long gone out of business. Fortunately, since they last forever, you can still find quality Griswold or Wagner cast iron skillets on eBay. Look for size 8–10. Happy hunting!
• Best Value–Lodge’s 10″ cast-iron skillet is the pan I use. And since it’s so cheap and gives a much better sear than nonstick ever will, I highly recommend you pick one up.
• Good Enough–None. Most new nonstick skillets cost the same as a Lodge cast-iron skillet. Get that one instead.

A Saucepan

The big-ass pot and pan will do most of the heavy lifting in your kitchen, but I’d still suggest you get a little pot to play a backup role.

You’ll use this mostly for boiling smaller amounts of veggies, beans, and grains at first, but as you level up your kitchen skills you’ll find it’s great for more than just that.

Making sauces is what a saucepan was born to do, baby! And since I like to make stock in bulk and freeze it, a small pot is great for melting small amounts at a time.

Quality is even less important for a saucepan than with a big-ass pot or pan, so your old el cheapo saucepan will do just fine here.

But, if you’d like to get something that will cook more evenly and last for decades, you’ll want something made of stainless steel with a solid aluminum core.

Something in the ~1.5 quart (1.5 L) range will give you the most flexibility. And you’re gonna want a lid.

• Top of the Line–All Clad’s 1.5 quart saucepan is the best on the market, but might be a little pricey.
• Best Value–Cuisinart’s MultiClad Pro 1.5 quart saucepan is nearly as good, but much cheaper. It’s the one I use.
• Good Enough–Cuisinart makes a lower-level Chef’s Classic 1-1/2 quart saucepan.

If you are worried you don’t have enough cookware, go through the list above and buy one of each of the three listed pieces. For 95% of your needs, it’s all that’s necessary.

In the next article, we’ll go over the necessary knife and accessories. (Spoiler alert: you should never buy a full knife set.)

“I don’t know where to start with stocking my kitchen!”

“I don’t have enough money to stock my kitchen!”

“I have a crappy set of equipment from college, is that good enough to get started?”

If you think stocking your kitchen is overwhelming, I have good news.

It takes far less money or equipment to properly equip your kitchen than you realize.

For starters, there are very few things you need at first. And you probably have most of them already. You probably just need a couple more additions to be ready to cook 95% of the dishes you’ll ever need.

All the massive lists I see on how to stock your kitchen make me want to bang my head through a wall. You don’t need a bread knife. You don’t need a blender. And you certainly don’t need a mandoline.

The amount of tools you need in your kitchen are remarkably small, and can be broken down as follows:

• Three pieces of cookware
• One knife (and three knife “accessories”)
• Six utensils
• Seven “miscellaneous” items

Do You Have to Buy a Whole New Kitchen?

Throughout this article, I’m going to make specific recommendations, but don’t feel like you have to go out and buy all of them.

In all likelihood, you already have most of what you need on hand.

Even the poorest post-grad has picked up a cheap set of nonstick cookware and plastic utensils somewhere along the line. And while I’d certainly suggest you upgrade when these things wear out, I don’t want you using “I don’t have the right equipment” as an excuse for not cooking.

The recommendations for cookware and knives I will make in this article fall into the following three categories:

1. Top of the Line–The best tool on the market, regardless of price.
2. Best Value–A lower-cost alternative that will give you the best bang for your buck.
3. Good Enough–If funds are tight, I’ll suggest the cheapest reasonable option out there.

Of course, if you are looking for rock-bottom prices and are starting from scratch, you’ll be tempted to buy the cheap stuff from Target or Ikea.

And I’ve got some thoughts on that…

Don’t Buy Cookware Sets (Unless…)

You don’t need three sizes of pots and two sizes of pans. It’s overkill. It’s the type of thing that overwhelms people and makes them say they “can’t cook” before they even try.

In a perfect world, I’d suggest you pick up your cooking tools separately. It’s the only way to get high-quality stuff that will last forever and make cooking easier and more enjoyable.

That being said, I know we don’t live in a perfect world.

If you do have a lightweight, nonstick cookware set with plastic utensils (which you probably do), don’t worry. I’m not going to send you out to completely restock your kitchen.

You can put most of that stuff to good use, but be aware that it won’t last too terribly long if you start cooking a lot.

For most people, your best bet is to start with what you have, buy what you’re lacking, and upgrade over time as things wear out.

If you are severely cash-strapped and not interested in geeking out too much on cookware, the best way to get started cooking is just outfit yourself as cheaply as possible and move forward.

A Look Ahead…

Over the next few days, I’ll be publishing several articles on how to painlessly stock your kitchen with equipment, with specific recommendations.

If you aren’t yet a subscriber, be sure to do so right now!

If I could only use one type of barbecue sauce the rest of my life, I would choose Piedmont Dip without hesitation.

While East Carolina Sauce may be the original, I think it gets far better with the addition of just one ingredient.

You’ve still got the basic foundation of hot peppers immersed in sour vinegar, but the addition of tomatoes adds sweetness to balance it out, without becoming too overwhelming on its own.

Serving Piedmont Dip at a cookout will immediately make you stand out from the rest of the masses, without alienating them with a sauce that’s too different from what they are used to.

And it’s a perfect addition to the ribs and pulled pork I’m making with the Whole Hog Project!

History

The further you go West in the Carolinas, the more you are going to start finding tomatoes in your barbecue sauce. (At least, that’s what I’ve read. I haven’t yet had the pleasure of doing a barbecue road trip of the Carolinas!)

Everyone’s favorite vegetable-that’s-actually-a-fruit was likely a later addition to the standard East Carolina Sauce, but once people tasted the sweeter concoction, they didn’t look back.

Now, you’ve got three choices of tomato products to put in your barbecue sauce:

1. Ketchup
2. Tomato sauce
3. Tomato paste

As a general rule, ketchup is used in the north, tomato sauce in the middle, and tomato paste in the south. So, the further south you go, the thicker the Piedmont Dip you’re likely to find.

I’d suggest you try tomato sauce first. If you decide you want something thicker or thinner, use tomato paste or ketchup next time.

The Ingredients

At its heart, Piedmont Dip is simply East Carolina Sauce with tomatoes added.

As such, you’ll simply need to add a tomato product of your choice to the classic combination of apple cider vinegar, crushed red pepper, and black pepper.

• 1 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup tomato sauce / 2 Tablespoons ketchup / 1 Tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 Tablespoon crushed red pepper
• 1 teaspoon black pepper

The Recipe

1. Into a bowl (or squeeze bottle), add:
   • 1 cup apple cider vinegar
   • 1/4 cup tomato sauce
   • 1 T crushed red pepper
   • 1 t black pepper
2. Shake and serve!

This recipe can be scaled up or down as needed, and you’ve got plenty of flexibility with the ratio of these ingredients.

Have fun with it, and don’t say I didn’t warn you how good it was!

What’s barbecue without the sauce?

Sure, I’ve mentioned that dry rub is more important than sauce for great barbecue, but who says you can’t have both?

For what it’s worth, I never barbecue without the two of ’em, and I also used barbecue sauce extensively for the whole hog project.

While there’s a vast array of barbecue sauce styles out there, only one comes to most people’s minds: Kansas-City style.

I certainly have nothing against this sweet, thick sauce, but it’s worth exploring other styles if you really want to make unique barbecue sauces.

I’ll be walking you through five main types of barbecue sauce and how you can make them at home over the next few articles.

First up, let’s look at what is perhaps the oldest barbecue sauce of them all: East Carolina Sauce!

The History of Barbecue Sauce

While cultures around the world have used barbecuing as a way to prepare their food, in the United States we have created our own unique spin on it.

Few places are so synonymous with barbecue in the States as the Carolinas, and it’s here we need to go to trace barbecue sauce to its roots.

The first pitmaster who decided he wanted a little extra spice with his smoked pork created our first classic barbecue sauce by adding crushed peppers to vinegar and mixing it all together.

The vinegar adds a lot of punch to the flavor, but it also balances out the fattiness of the pork. The watery consistency of these sauces also help it to penetrate the meat rather than sitting right on the surface.

While most people might think it overly simplistic today, basic sauces of vinegar and pepper are still used widely across the Eastern part of the Carolinas.

And with all things cooking-related, the simplest things are often the tastiest.

The Ingredients

The beauty of East Carolina sauce is its simplicity: hot and spicy pepper (of both the red and black variety) suspended in a solution of apple cider vinegar that will cut through the fat of the barbecue and give it extra flavor.

You can gussy it up with extra ingredients once you’ve made a few batches of the simple stuff, which only requires the following:

• 1 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 T crushed red pepper
• 1 t black pepper

The Recipe

1. Into a bowl (or squeeze bottle), add:
   • 1 cup apple cider vinegar
   • 1 T crushed red pepper
   • 1 t black pepper
2. Shake and serve!

East Carolina Sauce may look simple, but it’s oh-so-tasty. Moreover, this basic recipe will lay the foundation for the other classic sauces to come.

Is there any kitchen duo more fundamental than salt and pepper?

Even in the most destitute of college houses, you’ll find disposable plastic bottles of salt and pepper (right next to the Easy Mac).

But would you be surprised to learn that your salt and pepper might be reason why that one dish you tried to make turned out tasting terrible?

Unfortunately, most of the salt and pepper in homes across the world is inferior, and upgrading them will lead to a surprising increase in the deliciousness of the food you create.

Why Salt and Pepper Are So Important

Although we tend to think of salt and pepper as two sides of the same coin, they play very different roles.

As I’ve mentioned before, humans started salting their food in order to allow it to go longer without rotting (what, you don’t like to eat food that’s been sitting out on the table a few days?). It was simply a convenient surprise that salt also made the food taste better than before!

Contrary to popular belief, salt’s main culinary role is not to make your food saltier, but to enhance it’s natural flavors.

So, if you can taste the salt in your food, you’ve oversalted it.

(Incidentally, this is why it’s so important to choose high quality foods when cooking, so that something as simple as a little salt can make otherwise plain meals taste amazing.)

Think of salt as an electric guitar amplifier. It takes whatever you’ve already got and brings it up to 11.

But where salt is an essential component to any dish, pepper is optional.

Where salt amplifies the natural flavor of foods, pepper adds new layers of flavor altogether. While you can still make a meal without pepper and have it taste delicious, one without salt would taste like cardboard.

The advantage of pepper lies in its flexibility.

It goes well with most foods, and since most people are accustomed to using it anyways, it can be a much simpler solution to make a delicious meal without having to resort to fancier (and more labor-intensive) sauces, or more confusing blends of herbs and spices.

Level Up Your Salt

If you could only have one type of salt in your kitchen, make it kosher salt.

The advantage over table salt lies mostly in its ease of handling.

If you’ve watched any cooking shows, you’ll notice that the chefs rarely shake salt out of a shaker, but rather grab pinches from a container.

One of the biggest mistakes people make when learning how to cook is not adding enough salt (or adding too much), and it’s likely because they are shaking it out rather than adding large pinches and tasting as they go.

Due to kosher salt’s grain shape and size, it’s easy to pick up and use like this. Try doing the same with table salt and you’ll find it slips right out from between your fingers.

You can get large boxes of kosher salt and just transfer small amounts to a jar to keep at the ready in your kitchen. I’m a big fan of Diamond Kosher Salt, though Morton’s Kosher Salt is another easy-to-find alternative.

(Fortunately, kosher salt doesn’t cost much more than table salt, and can even be cheaper if you buy in bulk rather than getting disposable table salt shakers.)

Okay, now for the extra credit.

Sea salt is all the rage these days. It’s far from essential, but if you want a simple way to make your home cooking more like restaurant food, sea salt is a great way to go about it.

Sea salt is more expensive than kosher salt, and molecularly, it’s about the same composition, so why bother? In a word: impurities.

The trace impurities in sea salt give it characteristic flavor, and the larger grain size can give it a “crunch” as well.

Sea salt should be used as “finishing salt” only. That is, you sprinkle it on top of food that is about to be served. If you dissolve a bunch of sea salt in liquid then the terrorists have won.

To enjoy the taste of sea salt, it needs to be “intact,” and not dissolved.

This is the one place where “you shouldn’t taste the salt” is null and void. You should be able to taste sea salt and enjoy its texture, but this only works if the food you put it on is undersalted to balance it out. Otherwise it’ll be like eating a salt lick.

(Think of how many Asian dishes often pair a spicy dish with plain rice to balance each other out.)

Maldon is the sea salt that I use, but feel free to experiment. I went to a salt tasting (yes, really) in Portland last year, and can verify that there’s a whole wide world of salt out there to experiment with if you so desire!

So You Think You Know Pepper?

If you’re just getting started learning how to cook, the last thing you want is to start getting too overwhelmed by the plethora of herbs, spices, and sauces that people use to add extra flavor.

But most of us think of pepper as an essential spice, and getting a good one will allow you to focus on learning the basics of cooking while still making a delicious meal.

Most pepper you buy is pretty bland, and the pre-ground stuff especially so.

Spices taste their best when freshly ground, after which time they slowly start to grow more and more stale.

The solution is to buy a high-quality pepper and grind it yourself.

It might seem like a pain, but simply getting a pepper grinder and grinding your own peppercorns takes 7 seconds, and when you taste the difference, you’ll never go back.

You can usually find whole peppercorns at the supermarket, and these are much better than pre-ground.

But if you really want to step it up, start thinking of pepper more like wine, and buy the stuff that is named after the part of the world it came from.

There are plenty of excellent varietals, but the best one to start with is probably Tellicherry peppercorns.

Okay, so you’ve got your black pepper, now it’s time to get a grinder.

There’s a bewildering amount of pepper mills out there, but the most important feature is having an adjustable grind size. You can get a pretty good one for cheap, and if you’re really geeky, the Unicorn line of pepper mills always get rave reviews.

But, if you want to go low-tech, you can also use a mortar and pestle. This is what I do, since I also use it for grinding other spices and making some sauces. Just one less thing to find a place for in the kitchen!

Back to Basics

Most people don’t think twice about the salt and pepper in their kitchen. It’s treated as a commodity in our society, so why pay attention to them?

Well, salt is essential for bringing out a food’s natural flavors, and pepper is an extremely versatile spice that you’ll likely use in most of the meals you make.

So why not upgrade your salt and pepper?

It’s one of the quick wins you can change to instantly make a dramatic effect in the way you cook, and the flavor of the meals you create. You’ll never look back.

In France, stock is known as “fond du cuisine,” (or the foundation of all cuisine, for those of you who ne parlez pas français).

Stock is used to create the many sauces that epitomize French cuisine, but it’s uses go far beyond frilly frou-frou meals that take all day prepare.

And while you can use a Dutch oven or slow cooker to make stock, a stockpot is a useful tool to have on hand for any intermediate cook.

If you could only have five pieces of cookware in your kitchen, a stockpot would certainly be one of them.

Why Get a Stockpot?

As I mentioned, stock is an incredibly versatile “ingredient” to have on hand (which, incidentally, you make from the scraps and bits that you’d usually throw away).

Stock is an excellent addition to soups, stews, braises, or anything else that you’d usually use water to cook with.

(You can also use stock to make a drink. The bull shot is a relative of the Bloody Mary, and is about the manliest thing you can drink in the world.)

In addition to making stocks, stockpots are also great for boiling large amounts of pasta or green vegetables. In a pinch, it can stand in for your Dutch oven if it’s already in use.

They have a large capacity, though they don’t cook quite as evenly as a Dutch oven, which should be fine as long as you’re not using it over high heat or cooking for long periods without stirring.

Stockpot Buyer’s Guide

The most important thing to remember when buying a stock pot is not spending too much.

This piece of cookware isn’t going to go the rigorous and precise cooking that you’ll otherwise use a skillet or wok for, so there’s no real reason to break the bank here.

Here’s a few things to keep in mind:

1. Get a stainless steel pot. Ideally with an aluminum core. This is the same material as I suggest for a saucepan. No weird nonstick materials to worry about, and it’s sturdy.
2. Go with a 12 quart pot. To a certain extent, bigger is better. You can make more stock at once, and you can add your veggies to boiling water without dropping the temperature too much. But you don’t want it too big that you can’t move it once it’s full. 12 quarts is about right.

I’m rocking an old Chefmate made of stainless steel that I got from Target, but this Cuisinart model is probably the best value on the market these days.

Although stock is one of the best secret weapons that a home cook can have, it is by no means the only thing you can do with a stock pot.

This piece of cookware is far more useful that its name suggests, and I would highly recommend picking one up if you are an intermediate home cook.

To most people, a wok is a kitchen unitasker.

You’ll drag it out one every year (or five) for a Chinese meal, before putting back in the cabinet, right next to the ice cream maker and Sodastream… right?

Nope.

The wok is one of the most underrated pieces of kitchen cookware, and is one that I’d suggest most “intermediate” kitchen hackers add into their repertoire.

Yes, woks are essential for stir-frying, but they can do so much more.

Here’s a few of the many reasons I think a wok is a great kitchen tool, and a guide for how to buy (and care for) a new wok.

Stir-Frying (and Beyond)–The Ultimate Wok Technique

Let’s get the most obvious one out of the way first.

Woks are used across Eastern- and Southeast Asia as a primary kitchen tool, where they are generally heated to scorching temperatures before quickly cooking up small pieces of meat and veggies in delicious sauces.

Traditionally, woks were completely round on the bottom, and fit in Asian stovetops (which usually didn’t have the flat surface that we Westerners are used to).

What this effectively did was create a small area of extremely high heat on the bottom of the wok, with the temperature dramatically decreasing as you go up the sides.

The constant stirring is necessary to both keep the food on the bottom from burning, but to also ensure the stuff on the sides gets cooked all the way through.

Now for the unfortunate part…

There’s a common belief that woks are completely useless in Western kitchens, and that we should just do our stir-frying in large pans.

I disagree with this for a few reasons.

First, there’s an issue with capacity. A big skillet just isn’t going to have the space that a wok will, and you have to either stir-fry several small batches or end up flipping half your food out of the pan.

Pain in the ass.

Second, there’s a lot of other uses that woks excel at, and can fill in for both your Dutch oven and your skillet if they’re in use.

So woks aren’t only necessary for good stir-frying, but they can take the place of your Dutch oven, skillet, and even saucepan if they are in use.

The key to proper stir-frying is to use high heat.

If you can use the burner on your stove, that’s great. But another way to turbocharge this process is to cook over a chimney starter full of white-hot coals. You may need to cut a few holes in the starter to ensure good airflow, but it fits perfectly (and keeps the house from getting smokey).

But don’t think that you can only fry over high heat with a wok. You can easily use less heat and fry up greens and other veggies as well.

Think of it as a backup skillet if your main tool is in use.

Steaming–Forget About the “Health Benefits,” It’s Just Faster

I’ve slowly given up on steaming.

I think the purported health benefits are blown out of proportion, and you need to add a bunch of butter or olive oil to steamed foods anyways to make them palatable.

That said, steaming will do practically the same job as boiling, but since there’s less water you need to heat up, you can theoretically do it faster.

Plus you get to use bamboo steamers with your wok! Awesome!

Yeah, I know they’re big and bulky, but they hold a lot more than those small collapsible steamers. You can even stack them on top of one another to get a whole lotta steamin’ done.

One thing I like about steaming is that it’s ideal for reheating foods you’re afraid would dry out if you reheated them in the oven, such as rice or green veggies.

(One word of advice if you’re going to use bamboo steamers, though. Line the bottom with a handkerchief before adding food to reduce cleanup, then just throw the hankie in with the rest of the laundry.)

Boiling and Braising–The Lesser-Known Wok Technique

Did you know that many people use woks for braising as well?

Their high sides make them perfect for holding a lot of liquid. Although I still use my Dutch oven for most braises, I find a wok to be great for boiling vegetables and rice.

You should be able to make soups, stews, and braises on the stovetop if you keep the lid on, but I admit I haven’t tried this yet.

The Bamboo Steamer–The Secret to a Perfect Steak?

Some of the best things about having a wok come not from the cookware itself, but from the tools that go with it.

The big spatula is awesome for grilling big hunks of meat, where you want to keep a safe distance from the heat and also have something that can take a lot of weight.

The ladle is better than most of the Western ladles you’ll usually find as well.

And the steamer basket, as I mentioned above, is a godsend.

Not only is it great for steaming, but it is the ideal vessel for the initial slow-cooking step you do when making steaks or pork chops.

You see, the metal that most people put their meat on when cooking is an excellent conductor of heat, which means that the underside is going to get overcooked relative to the upper side.

But wood, on the other hand, is a poor conductor. So when you use the bamboo steamer to hold your meat, you are ensuring an even doneness throughout the meat, with no parts overdone.

(Safety alert: yes, I am telling you to put your bamboo steamer in the oven. But as long as you keep the temperature to our desired level of 225°F (105°C), you won’t be at risk of starting a campfire in your house.)

Wok Buyer’s Guide

Have I persuaded you to buy a wok yet?

Awesome. The good news is that a good wok shouldn’t set you back much. Here’s a few things you want to look for:

1. Flat bottom–Some woks on the market are still made with a completely round bottom. Make sure you don’t get one of these, or it won’t be able to stand up on your stovetop.
2. Carbon steel–Woks are made from all sorts of different materials, but carbon steel is best. It’s strong, lightweight, and heats up quickly.
3. Get a lid–While you don’t need a lid for stir-frying, it will come in handy when you want to boil greens and your other pots are full.

This is the wok that I use, and personally recommend. The bad reviews on Amazon all seem to be coming from people who didn’t season properly, but I will show you how to do this.

Additionally, there’s a few accessories you’ll want to get:

1. A bamboo steamer is extremely versatile, as I mentioned above.
2. A spider skimmer is amazing. Even if you don’t have a wok, you’ll want one of these. Necessary for getting food out of liquids, its the most perfectest slotted spoon ever.
3. A wok spatula and ladle are essential for stir-frying and braising, as well as many other tasks.
4. Some handkerchiefs for the steamer basket, if you don’t have any. They’re more economical and versatile than any steamer liners you might find.

How to Take Care of Your Wok

A new carbon steel wok is going to need to be seasoned first thing. Do not skip this step for any reason! You will potentially ruin your wok forever. (I’m stealing this from Cody Prime’s Amazon review, since it worked so well for me and others.)

1. Assemble the wok handles, if necessary.
2. Fill wok most of the way up with water and bring to a boil. Boil five minutes and carefully pour out water.
3. Scrub all over (inside and out) with soapy water and steel wool or some other abrasive material. Really go at it here. This removes any lacquer, which can’t be present for the actual seasoning.
4. Give the pan a rinse with clean water and put on stovetop over medium heat.
5. Once any water has evaporated, the bottom will slowly turn a dark color.
6. Move the pan all over the burner, developing the dark color over the entire pan. You’ll have to hold it at some weird angles, but you want that deep brown color over the entire surface.
7. Once the wok is dark all over, pour in some peanut oil (recommended, but you can also use canola or vegetable oil if that’s what you have on hand) and rub all over the inside surface with a paper towel.
8. Put the wok back on the medium burner and heat for 5–10 minutes. Turn on your oven’s exhaust fan if you have one!

Your wok is now perfectly seasoned! To maintain it, just remember these few things:

1. Clean with water only (no soap) and a soft sponge or washcloth (no heavy-duty scrubbers).
2. After cleaning, put the wok on a burner to evaporate any remaining water, then rub in a little peanut oil with a paper towel. This will help prevent rusting.

Lastly, those bamboo steamers, as cool as they look, can take a little patience to clean. Just remember these rules:

1. Line the basket with plain handkerchiefs before putting food on. It’s easier to wash these than the steamer itself.
2. Clean the steamer all over with plain water (no soap!).
3. Dry the basket for a few minutes in a 225°F (105°C) oven to prevent mold.

The Gimmick That Isn’t

It’s too bad that most Westerners think of woks as a niche item, something to be given as gifts and only used once in a blue moon.

A wok is the main piece of cookware for literally billions of people, and has been in use for thousands of years.

Learning how to cook Eastern- and Southeast Asian food is certainly a huge selling point of owning a wok, but it needn’t stop there.

A wok (and its accompanying utensils) can be of great use in preparing many “Western” meals as well, and can stand in for both your Dutch oven and skillet if they are in use.

What’s the most essential ingredient for barbecue?

Did you say “the sauce?” Think again pal. Barbecue in many places (most notably Memphis) is served sans sauce, to no ill effect.

Dry rub is the thing that no self-respecting backyard pitmaster would leave out of his BBQ.

Dry rub performs to essential functions in barbecue:

1. It brings new flavors to the party. Obviously.
2. It creates “bark” on the outside of the meat. This is critical. It’s the thing that separates outstanding barbecue from food-court meat. More on it in a moment.

Dry rub is a crucial ingredient in excellent barbecue, but it doesn’t have to be a choice between blasé store-bought stuff and complicated concoctions you make on your own.

In fact, there is a secret blueprint for dry rub that will allow you to get a killer bark every time, while allowing you to come up with your own signature flavor.

Dry Rub Basics

Dry rubs impart a delicious flavor no matter what, but where they really shine is their ability to form bark.

No, I’m not talking about dry, bitter tree bark. I’m talking about the delicious, caramelized outer part of barbecued pork that only looks like it’s rock-hard and burned… but tastes like a little piece of heaven.

Bark is the result of two chemical reactions that occur together during low-and-slow cooking:

1. Our old friend the Maillard reaction, where the outer edges of the meat undergo browning, creating all-new flavors.
2. Polymerization of proteins underneath the surface of the dry rub, which creates what is known as a pellicle.

To achieve this dry rub perfection, you’ll need only three components:

1. Salt
2. Sugar
3. Red pepper

As I’ve said before, salt is less of a flavor in and of itself, but more a means of bringing out the other natural flavors. They also play a crucial role in creating the pellicle when the salt pulls moisture out of the meat.

The sugar dissolves in this moisture and helps contribute to the bark. (Plus, a little sweetness goes great with pork!)

The red pepper brings the heat that we like in our barbecue, but is perhaps just as important in contributing the red color most people desire as well.

That makes for a bare-bones dry rub, but you shouldn’t stop there. A little extra somethin’ somethin’ in your dry rub will make it unique and memorable.

The Dry Rub Blueprint

Alton Brown (one of my personal heroes) breaks down dry rub into a formula as perfect as a haiku:

• 8 parts sugar
• 3 parts salt
• 1 part red pepper
• 1 part anything else

The parts should be measured by volume with measuring spoons and cups. (This ain’t baking, so no need to be crazy exact here.)

The formula is flexible enough to allow you to create your own unique rubs without straying too far from their original essence. Think of this as the Choose Your Own Adventure guide to creating your own signature dry rub!

For the sugar, you can use:

• White sugar
• Brown sugar
• Turbinado sugar
• Molasses
• Maple syrup
• Honey

Note that the last three will technically turn your dry rub into a wet rub, but no worries. It’ll work just the same.

For the salt, our old friend Kosher salt is the only reasonable way to go.

For the red pepper, you’ve got a few options as well:

• Cayenne pepper
• Paprika
• Chili powder

Lastly, for the “wild card” part, feel free to let your freak flag fly, but some of my favorite additions include:

• Black pepper
• Cumin
• Coriander
• Ginger powder
• Garlic powder
• Onion powder

Basic Dry Rub Recipe

The following recipe will give you enough dry rub for a rack of ribs or a pork shoulder, both classic BBQ preparations that we’ll be making in the next few articles.

Combine the following ingredients:

• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon coriander

That’s it.

If you’re going to be hitting the grill a lot, scale everything up (remember that 4 tablespoons = 1/4 cup) and keep it in a jar.

It’ll go faster than you think it will!