Kit, A Cooking Epiphany

“ There is a lot of precious twaddle talked about kit: the right pan for this, the correct knife for that. The fact is that if it feels comfortable in your hand and it does the job you need it for, then it is the right pan or the correct knife.” I had an extraordinary moment of kinship with author Nigel Slater when I read this line from his piece “Kit” in Best Food Writing 203. I thought, “this man gets me”. 

I have a large mish-mash collections of kitchen equipment, from pots and pans to kitchen gadgets. I have most of the whirly gigs to do this and that. But I find I cook over and over in the same pots, my dutch oven and a small stainless steel two handled pot. I use the same three cooking spoons over and over. I have a couple pyrex pans that make there rotations in the oven. I have a cutting board I like, and one knife a 7” Santoku, I believe it’s meant for veggies, that I use for everything. And then that’s about it. Other items rarely make an appearance. And when I use them I always wish I was using my dutch oven instead. 

These is a wooden spoon in my jar I hate and will never use, yet there it sits. I have a drawer full of knives I will never touch. I have three really cheap frying pans that I don’t like but use because I have no others. Yet, An excessive amount of white corning-ware takes up an entire cabinet. (I always think I can cook in this and serve in it, so I have to have a piece in every size under the sun.) Why do I keep all this stuff? Why don’t I buy some decent frying pans?

I think I’m a hoarder. Not one of those keep so much stuff that it fils every room in my house type of hoarder. But a like to have at least one of everything for any eventuality. And I hate getting rid of things that COULD be used. Even if they aren’t. I have a tendency to take things other people are getting rid of if they are in good condition. 

I also wonder if perhaps I’m an insecure cook? Nigel says, “Ruthlessly edit what you are offered in shops; it is amazing what you can do without. Clutter is the refuge of an insecure cook.” 

If I have been an insecure cook, no longer! Cooking for this blog has certainly shown me that I know my around the kitchen well enough, and that what I don’t know I can certainly figure out. Nigel’s kitchen minimalism speaks to me. My cooking epiphany? It’s seriously time to clean out my kitchen cabinets and buy a decent frying pan. 

BTW here is how I ended up with Best Food Writing 2003… I was out and about with the husband and kids. We passed by a new store occupying what was formerly a Borders bookstore, Second and Charles. Much to my pleasant surprise there were baskets of books outside the store labeled FREE! I figured they might just be getting rid of junky books that nobody wanted…but you never know. Indeed there was a gem buried in the rubble. Best Food Writing 2003, from editor Holly Hughes. About a month or two prior I had purchased 2013 and had thoroughly enjoyed it. So of course my treasure got tucked safely in my purse and we trotted off to dinner