The Pro Home Cook's 10 ESSENTIAL KITCHEN TOOLS
Let’s be honest there are some useless kitchen tools and gear out there, but what about kitchen essentials? I sat down with Mike G of Pro Home Cooks to give me his 10 Kitchen essentials tools and gear. Here are links to the items if you want to pick up any:
1. Salt Vessel (Homemade)
2. Quality Chef’s Knife (couldn’t find, quality Japanese knife listed): https://amzn.to/39Zceli
3. Microplane: https://amzn.to/2WjE1Jc
4. Kitchen Tongs: https://amzn.to/2J2OpNP
5. Wooden Spoon / Spatula: https://amzn.to/2IStGMt
6. Wood Cutting Board: https://handcraftedbybruce.com/products/brothers-green-cutting-board
7. Kitchen Scale: https://amzn.to/2vu0Izs
8. Mesh Strainer: https://amzn.to/2Wi8nvN & Spider Strainer: https://amzn.to/2Wi8nvN
9. Large Pot (Dutch Oven): https://amzn.to/2U9FUFD
10. Thermometer Gun: https://amzn.to/38Tkwty Probe Thermometer: https://amzn.to/38Tkwty
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MISC. DETAILS
Music: Provided by Epidemic Sound
Filmed on: Sony a6600 & Sony A6400 w/ Sigma 16mm F1.4 & 18-105 mm F4
Voice recorded on Zoom H4n with lav mic
Edited in: Premiere Pro #KitchenGear #KitchenEssentials
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What the hell is a "professional home cook"?
FYI purple heart is toxic and should not be used for cutting boards. Great video. Thanks so much.
How big was the Staub Cocotte in the video? 26 cm or 28cm?
"… I can point it at my hand , and it reads 85 degrees"
It was at this point when we all realized Mike was actually undead.
So right off the bat the guy says these are not essential and procedes to show me a jar with holes in the lid. Im out, .. bye
Yasssss to the dutch oven!! It’s my absolute fave thing in my kitchen. Great video.
That second camera guy was always in the shot. Not a good look.
Meanwhile Chinese chef:
1 cleaver and chopsticks
To replace the 2 knives and tongs
My husband and I just found your YT.
We totally enjoyed watching you, up until you said
“this is so GD good”
Personally it’s very offensive and mean I don’t understand why you felt a need to use that in expressing something because you’re so talented. I think it would be something to please keep in mind because your audience is made up of many backgrounds.
We would love to keep watching you and supporting you with your things that you advertise. We have subscribed. Thank you in advance for your consideration.
PS: We Love your vintage Pyrex Bowls!!! 👍
I didn’t need a video to tell me I need salt and a knife in my kitchen 🙄
Great video….. May I add a good bread knife…. And a good slicer knife…. And a good boning knife?…. ✌️
Very amazing.
Problem with using wooden instruments is they absorb the flavours of what they have been used in before. For a home cook, they’re fine but if you’re wanting to make something to impress someone, then you need to use one for each different flavour profile you will cook, or at least one for savory and one for sweets.
The video is good advice minus the taking “God’s name in vain part.” 😢 (where you talk about the glass cutting board).
I’ve been cooking for 40 years, and I agree with all of those, and I own all of them except the laser thermometer (I have probes). But that one is on my list. Great advice.
Noone uses glass boards for cutting lol. They’re for rolling dough and they do a great job at it thanks to being cold, hard and smooth.
Bro, you look just like that Chris moletesanti from the sopranos lol.
#1 should be a fire extinguisher 🧯
Hard to call a $350 Staub Dutch Oven a gadget.
I cant believe he forgot to mention you can make bread in the Dutch oven too lol. Great list!
I don’t like a microplane, because I don’t have a good sense of how much ingredient I add and, for example with cheese, it flies everywhere around the counter, no matter how big is the bowl I use. I wonder if this is because I have a crappy model, since all chefs and home-cooks seem to love them.
As a homecook who loves having various equipments for my cooking, it made me feel good to have all the 10 options or some variations of those. I would highly recommend all of those specially a wooden board, its life changing!
wood is a no go, DIY no probleemo
I have been doing a lot of pallet grill cooking/smoking meats…during Covid… LOVE MY TEMP probes.. nice list it made me think!
Do Not EVER DAMN the NAME OF GOD!!!!
I use a microplane to unburn bread lmao
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THE "best" knife is a sharp knife.
It’s funny, I love wooden spoons and spatulas, but my wife can’t stand them. She hates the feel of them in her hand.
Here are a couple of things that I think you’re missing:
1. Whisk
2. Stock Pot
In addition to the knives you pointed out, I also have a cleaver and a serrated knife. I like making stock, and a cleaver is necessary for getting through bones and/or cutting up carcasses to throw in the pot.
In my pots and pans, I also have a stock pot as I mentioned, two cast iron frying pans, sheet pans, two heavy duty Dutch ovens (for stew, chili, soup, and bread), loaf pans, and a couple of saucepans. I have more wooden cutting boards and charcuterie boards than God ever intended one person to have (and I regret nothing), and I think that’s about it. Not a professional in the kitchen by any stretch of the imagination, but I love having stuff that I can use. Besides my grandmother being a caterer, I loved watching Julia Child when I was a child. 😊
A consistently accurate scale down to the gram is definitely essential if you get into baking. My aunt’s recipe books had her tried-and-perfected measures in grams written in the margins. She always had the most delicious pastries!
As someone who’s taken a liking to the culinary arts lately, I feel like obligated to list my personal favorite tools to use
– Bench scraper
– Rolling pin
– Whisk
– Wooden spoon
– Pastry blender
– Chef’s knife
– KitchenAid mixer
Thanks for the video!
The video says essential. He says not essential. Who wrote this shit ?
What woods are in your cutting board? Wenge or walnut?
$300 for a cooking pot??? lololol Surely, ye jest…
3:20 i have some bigger wooden ones that feels great, thinner metal ones can get pretty hot if you lean them on the frying pan or something
He didn’t mention food, seems essential.
I wish the music was louder and more annoying
Infrared thermometer is useless for stainless pans, basically anything that is not covered with black paint like black baking tray will skew results highly.
I have most of these items, so probably on my way to pro home cook status! LOL. The difference is I get most of my gear at the thrift store. I 💘 to find quality stuff and am well equipped. Of course, nothing matches, but so what? Better a charity gets my money than Amazon!
Number 1 essential cooking tool. A bottle opener to open a beer to drink while cooking.
With decades of experience I can tell you that #10 is incorrect, you want a probe thermometer before a non-contact (laser) thermometer because people do care about getting their steak medium rare and not well done, plus people care even more about not serving raw chicken to anyone.
I use my probe thermometer (buy a good one, don’t get cheap on this) every day to two times a day, I use my non-contact thermometer once or twice a month.
And yes You use a probe thermometer when baking because baking requires a lot of precision so if you want your beloved sourdough bread or you birthday cake to come out with a raw center then use a probe thermometer.
My rankings of the items:
Knife all-purpose
Salt
10-inch pot
Wooden cutting board
Mesh strainer
Wooden spoon/spatula
Tongs
Microplane/grater
Kitchen scale
Thermometer/probe/laser
Great recommendations. But why, oh why, do videos need background music? It is very annoying.
The WORST descriptions ever. The "big pot" is a Dutch over and should be all metal so it can go in the oven, no plastic handles.
Laser thermometer tells you how hot your pan is.
You NEED a meat thermometer to make sure meat is cooked enough to be safe, but not overcooked.
Who the hell is so into fermentation that they need to have basic tools for it?
Terrible.
Decent list, from my perspective. I have two variations:
— I have a wood spatula, but I use a good silicone spatula *far* more ("good" in part means the handle and head are one piece).
— I have both a contactless thermometer and a Thermapen probe thermometer, and I use the latter far more often.
Knives: a sharp one. I can’t stand watching people try and cut with a dull knife. And it’s ridiculous to watch a man with a paring knife trying to cut up a large yellow onion. GET A BIGGER KNIFE! OMG. I was a guest at someone’s home recently and it was painful to watch but of course I was a good guest and kept my lips zipped!
Cutting board: I have multiple cutting boards but never buy a glass cutting board. (Oh good we totally agree about glass cutting boards). Yikes! Oil wood cutting boards with plain food-grade mineral oil from the grocery store or drug store for $3. I use mineral oil on all of my wood cooking utensils from cutting boards to wood pizza peel to wooden spoons / wooden scrapers. For the thick plastic cutting boards I tend to use those to cut up raw meat and they can be soaked in bleach water to decontaminate them. 1 TBSP bleach to 1 GAL water is the norm in any commercial kitchen. Cross-contamination is a thing so be safe when handling raw meat! USE BLEACH.
I finally broke down and bought a kitchen scale, dammit.
My strainer handle broke off but I still use it because space in my 30-foot RV is super tight.
Oh hell yeah I love my laser thermometer! Way cheaper than you think. I have the other lil probe thermometer, too, to check the temp of meat or oil.
Labels / sharpie pen and get in the habit of labeling everything you make otherwise you will forget. I use painter’s tape because it’s easy to remove or Ziploc baggies but I have trained myself to label everything even store bought jars so I know when the f–k I opened that container / jar / spice, etc. I keep the sharpie pen in my silverware bin / drawer so it’s I know where it’s at and easy to grab / use.
Happy cooking everyone!
Lol. Overboard.
Cool vid but bgm was obnoxious at times
For those trying to set up a kitchen on a budget, don’t forget to raid Mom’s, Grandma’s or your friends "disposables". Even look at your own. I’ve bought 2 squeeze bottles during Covid to use oil at the stove. Both are junk. But my Sriracha bottle is close to empty and work great – no leakage – guess what my oil is going to live in.
If you know anyone that shops Costco regularly, their containers are wonderful for storage. You just need some lemon or orange oil (for furniture) to clean the label glue off. Before you toss a large plastic snap on lid, see if it fits any of your dishware. Makes for easy leftover storage quick and safe to reheat in microwave (with the lid off!)