When Good Eating printed “Culinary Tool Kit: Baker’s Helpers” on Feb. 13, we asked readers to nominate their favorite baking tools. Here are some of the responses. (All of these tools can be found in kitchenware stores and online cooking-supply sites.)
Give him a second
One of my favorite baking tools is a second mixing bowl for my stand mixer. It allows me to mix a second batch of ingredients quickly without having to stop to wash out the first mixing bowl. This is very important with my lemon squares recipe when I have to pour the liquid mixture over the shortbread base immediately after the base has finished baking.
Mitchell Nagorsky via e-mail
Dibs on the diffuser
My favorite tool, I think, is the heat diffuser. It’s similar to a burner ring but it has a handle. I have been cooking for a long time, but I think that a diffuser, by slowing down cooking time, can give a beginning cook greater control over the cooking process, preventing overcooking and related disasters.
Because it covers the whole ring, you can save energy by putting two small pots or pans on the same burner if you need to reheat food or keep it warm. It’s great for making sauces and custards where heat has to be kept low, and also for heating milk for cafe au lait or hot chocolate without the milk sticking to the pot.
If I have guests, I can cook in advance and keep foods warm by setting them on top of the diffuser on low heat. If something needs to be heated before being served, I can easily remove the diffuser (since it has a handle).
Diffusers are good when you need to start one dish and work on another dish at the same time. The dish you’ve started will cook slowly enough that you can work on the second dish without the first one burning or getting overdone.
Susan Pezzino, Chicago
Short and sweet
No. 1, hands down: KitchenAid mixer!
Jean Hackbert, Round Lake Beach
So much to love
A few of my favorites:
A square hot pad/pot holder I got from Pampered Chef. It’s big enough to rest a cookie sheet on the counter without fear of burning the countertop.
A rack for cooling cookies, cakes, or just about anything (also from Pampered Chef). It’s not very tall when in use, so it easily stores on its side with cookie sheets.
A heat-resistant spatula that I use daily to cook scrambled eggs; it never melts, nothing sticks to it and it makes terrific eggs.
Jennifer Polizzi, Chicago
Plane applause
Did you overlook the Microplane? [This rasp] produces the finest, most delicate and pungent zest: lemons, limes, grapefruit, even the thin Meyer lemon yields peel without pith easily.
Darlene Gaglione via e-mail
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