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 Graphic Designer Liz Klein shares her top kitchen must-haves. Liz is married to a chef, who she met during her line cooking days. She’s a vegetarian whose diet centers on eggs, beans, vegetables and good butter.
10” Carbon Steel Frying Pan
This pan essentially lives out on my stovetop, partly because I’m lazy and partly because it’s endlessly versatile. We’ve owned this pan since 2019 so it’s very nicely seasoned and non stick at this point. As a vegetarian, I eat a lot of eggs and fry an egg in here almost daily. My key to building up seasoning is that instead of washing the pan out between uses, I simply wipe it out with a paper towel, using coarse salt if any residue is extra stubborn.
Butter Warmer
I’m addicted to stovetop popcorn, and I use our butter warmer to melt popcorn butter (Kerrygold or Plugra, always). I used to use an 8QT Stainless Steel Stock Pot for popping until my husband got me Whirlipop as a gift.
Mandoline
I used to be terrified of mandolines (finger death traps) until I started line cooking and realized how useful they are for shaving vegetables for a salad, or shaving cloves of garlic for a pasta sauce. Now I can’t imagine not having one. On my husband’s nights off we love eating out, and to balance that out we make a lot of what we call Big Salads at home. We use the mandoline to shave cabbage, radishes, and fennel.
Slotted Ladle
An underrated and surprisingly hard to find tool —but ideal for ladling beans. We found this one at Maison Empereur in Marseille, France because (Made In Founder) Jake Kalick didn’t want to make us one (if you’d also like one, feel free to let Jake know).
Nakiri Knife
When I’m not shaving vegetables with a mandoline, I’m chopping them with a Nakiri. I find this knife shape to be incredibly neat and efficient for vegetable prep.
3QT Saucier
My favorite meal for when we don’t have a lot of time or ingredients on hand is Spaghetti a Limone, which only needs pasta and its water, butter, lemon, and Parmesan. The key to making a good one is stirring everything enthusiastically to emulsify the sauce and release the lemon’s flavor and oils, so the high, curved walls of the Saucier are perfect for achieving this.
8-Piece Wine Glass Set
I’m proud to report that I have not broken a single one of our Made In Wine Glasses (the same cannot be said for every wine glass that came before them).
Navy Rim Entreé Bowls
Once you start eating out of Entree Bowls, you’ll never go back. These are the best for Big Salads, saucy pastas, escarole and beans, and all my favorite foods. I can’t imagine eating salad off a flat plate again.
Ready to Shop?
I hope you enjoyed taking a peek inside my kitchen routines, and that it gives you an idea of everyday ways to use certain pieces. If you’re an avid meat eater or don’t share my love for butter, tune in for future installments of My Kitchen Essentials!
