Favourite Kitchen Pieces

Much about how we cook and what we use to cook with comes with a story and a history.   I have not met anyone who doesn’t have some piece of kitchen equipment that they just can’t live without.   There are a number of favourites for me that make cooking such a pleasure.

The big red cast iron dutch oven that I have (a Le Crueset look alike) is one of my favourite kitchen items.   As I write a stew is bubbling away  in the oven and the aroma of the leaks, carrots, celery, beef and red wine are mingling and hunger is awakening within me in anticipation of our dinner tonight.      While this particular pot is a very heavy piece, and when it is full of food it is even more difficult to lift, there is something about the weight that makes it so durable and sturdy and I hope I am still able to use it to cook in when I am much older!   When I got married I discovered that my husband already had two Le Crueset pots, smaller than mine, and so now there is a wonderful choice depending on how many I am cooking for.  These cast iron pots last forever.

Cooking, for me, is very much about feel - the feel of the food as I prepare it, the feel of salt sifting through my fingers into the food, the feel of fresh vegetables as I peel and dice them, the feel of the fresh herbs as my hands run over them in the garden looking for the right pieces to cut, or the feel and weight of a piece of meat that is ready to be seasoned and cooked.   But it is more than the feel of the food.  It is about the way a pan feels in my hands, the weight of it and knowing at what temperature it is just right to sear the meat or sweat the vegetables.   Trying to cook at another place with unfamiliar utensils is difficult because there is no way to know the feel of the equipment you are working with.  It doesn’t feel like a nice flowing dance but rather a stilted unfamiliar gait and finding the right rhythm in a different kitchen can throw me off a bit.   There is very much a flow to cooking, an ease that has come with time and practice and yet, right from the very beginning, I knew the rhythm, and answered the drawing into this room that so opens my heart to sharing. 

This beautiful large, heavy, red cooking vessel is indeed a familiar friend.  Yesterday it held spare ribs that simmered slowly, with the smoked paprika, lemon, soy, maple syrup and whiskey, fresh tomatoes, garlic and green onions all coming together and giving us some lovely tender tasty meat for dinner.  This pot is made for things that ask for long slow cooking.  With autumn here and winter approaching there will be a lot of slow cooked dishes on our menu at home.

Just like old books that are rich treasures you hold with a sense of awe, those tried and true, well tested kitchen pieces are good friends to have within easy reach in the kitchen.   I love that my kitchen is full of wonderful pieces that come with stories and are used in my kitchen where ever I live.   They are part of what makes this home for us.