3 Underrated Kitchen Essentials to Elevate Your Cooking!

Written by Joseph Holevinski, Converge multimedia journalism intern and Senior at Gwinnett School of Math, Science & Technology (GSMST)

For many, cooking in the kitchen can be a difficult, even frightening task. With so many cooking gadgets and gizmos out there, which ones are the best for making day-to-day meals easier? In this article, I am going to tell you three of the best kitchen tools to simplify cooking.

The first cooking utensil that I believe is one of the most underrated for how great it is is the microplane. The microplane is not only versatile but can also be easily stored away in a drawer and doesn’t take up a lot of space. Microplanes are essentially handheld graters, but they are much easier to use.

They have a variety of sizes for the holes ranging from very fine for zesting to semi-large for grating cheese. Some of them even come with two different sized holes on the top and bottom for a range of grating purposes. I use it all the time to add a little lemon zest to chicken dishes or to grate some parmesan cheese on top of pasta.

The second cooking gadget I recommend is electric salt and pepper grinders. This may seem like an expense because regular salt and pepper shakers work just fine, but the amount of control and simplicity electronic salt and pepper grinders bring to the table (pun intended) is definitely worth it.

The best kind of electronic salt and pepper grinders are tilt activated so they start grinding when they are flipped upside down and then stopped by turning them right-side-up again. This allows you to easily add salt and pepper with one hand to a dish, which is especially useful when you have to keep stirring a dish while adding in seasonings. Additionally, you don’t have to wear your arm out cranking a grinder whenever a recipe calls for ground pepper in measurable amounts.

The last kitchen utensil I recommend is an electronic scale. It may seem like an unusual item to have in your kitchen, but it is essential for making recipes by weight. A lot of measurements in traditional cups or tablespoons tend to be inaccurate because of the different densities of the substances you are measuring. With an electronic scale, you can get the perfect measurement every time, which reduces the likelihood for something to come out wrong.

It also is great for portioning, whether it’s serving sizes or just dividing food equally. I use it all the time when portioning out cookie dough so that all of the cookies cook the same and I don’t have some cookies that are too big or too small.

Overall, these three kitchen tools will help elevate your cooking and allow for ease and comfort in making food.