Having the right tools in the kitchen will improve both your experience of cooking as well as the resulting meals. It makes a huge difference to have certain items at your fingertips and will take so much unnecessary time and stress out of cooking. I’ve compiled my five favorite tools that I have in my own kitchen that make a huge difference with preparing meat (as well as other items). Sometimes the little things make a huge difference, and this list includes small items as well as larger appliances that will make meals a breeze from weeknight dinners to special occasions. Maybe you already have all of these items, or perhaps you don’t have any at all. Either way, these kitchen tools have a lot to offer and I’m constantly discovering new ways that I love to use them.
Also Read: How To Cook Delicious Steak Using Only An Instant Pot
Most of you probably already know how much you love your cast iron skillet. Why are they so great for meat in particular? Well, the main reason is that once they get hot, they stay hot- making these skillets ideal for searing meat. They’ll give your steaks that dark, flavorful crust like you get at a steakhouse. The truth is, they’re great for cooking anything. They’re economical in that they’ll last for generations, and they only get better with time as they’re seasoned each time you use them to cook. They also add a small amount of iron to anything cooked in them, making your food more nutritious. Last but not least, cast iron skillets give a rustic and appealing look to whatever you cook in them.
The Instant Pot has been steadily gaining popularity for the past few years, and for good reason. It’s pretty much magic when it comes to making cooking quicker and easier. It’s especially impressive when it comes to cutting down time on slow cook items like short ribs and osso buco. This is the method I used for making our famous Wild Boar Banh Mi sandwiches… if you haven’t tried them, you need to. I made them months ago for co-founder JP Bulow’s birthday and our team still talks about them regularly (I should make them again ASAP). The wild boar tenderloin takes a mere 8 minutes to cook in the Instant Pot.
Also Read: Instant Pot Wild Boar Banh Mi Sandwiches
Kitchen scissors might be one of the most underrated tools in your kitchen. I’ll be honest, before I started learning how to cook, I thought kitchen scissors were basically just for opening difficult packages. Maybe it just seemed like the kitchen was the logical place to store an often sought after household tool. The truth is, these babies are actually exactly what you want to make many aspects of preparing food easier. They’re useful for cutting up raw bacon, separating short ribs, breaking down poultry, removing fat, and more. They often don’t require the use of a cutting board and keep your fingers out of harm’s way.
If you don’t have a meat thermometer, it’s time to get one. It’s the only way to really be sure that your meat is cooked the way you want, and saves so much time and guesswork. If you’re an expert chef, maybe you don’t need one - but for the rest of us, they really help. And for certain meats like chicken that need to be cooked to a certain temperature to be safe for consumption, they’re invaluable. Sure, you can check if the juices run clear as a safety precaution, but that involves cutting into the meat. Not something you want to do until the meat has rested and is ready for serving.
Also Read: Delicious Caribbean Chicken Curry: Instant Pot Recipe
Kitchen tongs are one of those indispensable tools that can be easy to overlook. You’ll thank yourself when you need to remove a large bone from a pot of bone broth or flip chicken thighs that have been baking in the oven. They do things that a spatula just cannot do, and will save your fingers from getting burned time and time again. They’re like an extension of your hands and I like to have a couple of pairs in my kitchen at all times. Tongs offer some extra space between you and the pan when frying with oil, saving you from splatters. Use two pairs at the same time to shred meat. Their uses are varied and seemingly infinite. You’ll wonder how you ever got along without them.
