Wondering how to start your cookware collection from scratch? Or how to pare down what you have to just the cookware that is worthwhile and necessary? The answer is a little different for everyone. Welcome to My Kitchen Essentials, a column by Made In staff detailing, well, their kitchen essentials.
Today, Made In co-founder and President Jake Kalick shares his kitchen must-haves for cooking at home for his family, including a young toddler. He loves pasta, bright salads, charred vegetables, and a good steak.
Butter Warmer
This is my go-to gift for anyone with a kid. It’s the perfect size for individual portions, warming milk, or any of the other various small tasks you do when feeding a little one. We have a few Butter Warmers that permanently live on our stovetop.
Sizzle Platters
A trick I picked up from spending so much time in restaurants and with chefs is using sizzle platters, which can be bought in bulk at any restaurant supply store. We have stacks of these and use them all the time for oven tasks like oven-finishing a dish or roasting vegetables. I find them much easier to navigate than a sheet tray.
Unfinished Cast Iron Skillet
My kitchen is practically a museum of old Made In prototypes, limited drops, and other products that never made it to market. One of the ones I reach for the most is a limited-edition cast iron skillet we made in collaboration with Chef Nancy Silverton, with only 300 produced. We use this for toasting bread, searing steaks, and other high-heat cooking techniques.
Entrée Bowls
Every house should have these. The perfect combination of a bowl and a plate, featuring our English-made, fully-glazed high alumina vitrified china.
ProCoat Non Stick Frying Pan
A good non stick pan should be able to last. Case in point, my 12” ProCoat Non Stick Pan that I’ve had for about eight years. I’m not over-the-top careful with it, so just goes to show the lifespan you can (and should!) expect out of a quality non stick pan.
Yanagi
My knife drawer also features a ton of our limited-edition blade shapes. One of my favorites is the Yanagi, a traditional Japanese knife used for slicing sushi and sashimi. I don’t get to use it as much as I’d like, but I love to break it out when we can get some sushi-grade fish to have sashimi for dinner.
Tasting Spoons
We use these all the time and find them incredibly versatile for tasting and everything in between. Some of the ones featured in my kitchen tour might even be Made In prototypes…
Ready to Shop?
Hope you enjoyed a peek behind the curtain of my kitchen, and that it gave you some inspiration for kitchen tools to add to your own collection (or ones to reach for more often). Be sure to tune into future installments of My Kitchen Essentials to see what other products are loved by Made In staff.
