Food Mills & Ricers

In the quest to equip a kitchen with all the best gadgets and utensils, food mills and ricers are an important essential. A cook with a harvest of tomatoes can expertly process them with a food mill to prepare tomato puree or delicious spaghetti sauce. A Williams-Sonoma ricer makes short work of potatoes, turning them into rich and creamy mashed potatoes. When preparing desserts, a food mill will shave chocolate for garnish or chop nuts as a crunchy topping.

Preparing fresh produce gives dishes inviting colors and flavors, as well as supplying beneficial nutrients to the diet. A number of gadgets make easy work of fruits. These fruit and citrus tools give you helpful shortcuts when preparing fruits such as cherries and lemons. Quickly remove the pits from cherries and olives with a pitting tool. A citrus juicer presses the juice out of limes, lemons and oranges for beverages or to add the juice to recipes. An apple peeler/corer holds each apple firmly while you crank the handle to peel away the skin. Even fresh pineapple is a breeze when you use a slicer and dicer that cuts slices into bite-sized wedges.

Adding fresh herbs to foods can set your cooking apart from the rest. Virtually any cook would appreciate having garlic and herb tools available to use for food preparation. A hand-held garlic press allows you to insert a whole, unpeeled clove into the tool. With an effortless squeeze, the pulp and juices emerge from the sieve while the skins remain in the tool for discarding. An herb mill has a small container, just large enough to hold several sprigs of parsley, basil or dill. With a few twists of the handle, the scissor blades mince the greens quickly and effectively without tearing.

Strainers and colanders have a variety of uses in the kitchen. A colander is the go-to tool for washing produce and draining pasta. A strainer helps with making gravy and creamy sauces. When choosing colanders and strainers, cooks have many choices in design and size. Stainless-steel colanders promise durable construction and sleek contours. You’ll notice handles just where you want them, ensuring that the colander works well. Strainers are smaller in size, ideal for more precise tasks. For example, a spider skimmer is the perfect tool for deep frying, stir-frying and sautéing. A stainless-steel mesh skimmer lets you easily remove the lumps from gravies and sauces. Add strainers in various sizes to a kitchen collection to give you just the right tool when you need it.

Opening cans and jars requires a precision can opener. Perusing the many can openers available makes it clear that this can be a weighty decision. A standard model operates manually, allowing you to turn the handle to remove can lids. You might opt for a special can opener that leaves a smooth edge for safety. The nonslip handles work easily to remove the lid, while the wheel never touches the food. The cook that prefers electric power for opening cans won’t be disappointed with the electric model that sits on the counter. There’s even a few gadgets designed to easily remove jar lids.

Cooks delving into the finer points of flavor cannot be without a mortar and pestle. Mortars and pestles are a specialized tool, but very simple in nature. Just fill the mortar bowl with fresh herbs, garlic or nuts and use the pestle to crush the ingredients for peak flavor. Mortar and pestle materials include marble, porcelain, volcanic rock and more, ensuring just the right surface for bringing out the best flavors in the ingredients.

Main dishes, side dishes and desserts can be a delectable success with the right cooking tools.