What’s your favourite cooking tool?

I don’t know about you, but I enjoy exploring other people’s kitchens. It’s always interesting and, unwittingly, offers a small glimpse into the sort of person that they are.

I love playing with their gadgets, discovering what the most-used piece of equipment is, or making my way through their stack of dog-eared cookbooks. With this in mind, I thought it would be a great idea to ask some of SA’s well-known food personalities – those you ‘think’ you know in the kitchen, to tell you what they most like to use.

What’s your favourite cooking tool?

Justine Drake – food editor @Justine_Drake
‘My microplane – it makes grating everything – from a parmesan and lemon zest to ginger and garlic – effortless’.

Tracey and Paul Raphaely of Nomu @NoMUChirps
‘An Il de pain Rolling Pin’.

Sarah Graham – blogger and cookbook author @foodieliveshere ‘The Wusthof classic mini super slicer’.

Margot Janse – head chef at Le Quartier Français @margotjanse
‘A minute little Solingen knife I bought in Holland many years ago. It has
a wooden handle and a very short and narrow blade. It is the perfect
little scraper’.

Peter Tempelhoff – head chef at The Greenhouse @PeterTempelhoff
‘My sashimi knife which legendary Japanese chef, Kiyomi Mikuni, picked out for me at the Tsukji Fish Market in Tokyo‘.

Vanessa Marx – head chef at Dear Me Foodworld @vanessajaynem
‘My sushi knife that my boss, Ilze, gave me from Japan – with my name on it in Japanese‘.

Linda Harding – social media strategist @squashed_tom
‘A strong pair of kitchen scissors which I use for pretty much any cutting work in the kitchen‘.

Andy Fenner – entrepreneur and cookbook author @JamieWhoSA 
‘A Stanley knife! The retractable blade means you can set it before you start scoring meat’.

Franck Dangereux – head chef at The Foodbarn @foodbarn
‘A small tin of tomato purée whose both lids have been removed. I use it all the time to mold and shape things’.

Sam Linsell – food stylist, blogger and cookbook author @drizzleanddip
‘A good wide, flat, flexible spatula. I Iove to scrape everything effortlessly off the side of a bowl‘.

Janice Tripepi – Food24 blogger @JaniceTripepi
‘I simply could not live without a whisk. Those little darlings can get
one out of most lumpy spots and make emulsifying two liquids childs play‘.

Cheyne Morrisby – head chef at Franschhoek Kitchen @CheyneReaction
‘I have to say my favourite cooking tool has to be my Kasumi knives’.

Nina Timm – blogger @ninatimm
‘The butcher’s block my father built for me about two years ago, It is made from solid Saligna wood’.

Stefan Marais – head chef at Societi Bistro, Societi Brasserie and Josephine’s Cookhouse @stefanmarais  ‘A pestle and mortar’.

Shane Dryden of Yuppiechef @yuppiechef
‘An ice blue KitchenAid Mixer’.

Carey Boucher-Erasmus – food consultant and blogger @bitsofcarey
‘I can’t live without a microplane grater/zester’.

Richard Carstens head chef at Tokara @richardcarstens
‘A thermomix for creating smooth purees and emulsions’.

Alida Ryder – blogger @SimplyDelishSA
‘Good tongs are what I use on a daily basis’.

Ishay Govender – blogger @Foodandthefab
‘My favourite tools are my Global knives’.

Jules Mercer – food stylist @thejulesmercer
‘A Le Creuset pot – any shape or size’.

Luke Dale-Roberts – head chef at The Test Kitchen @ldrchef
‘I love the kitchen aid. We use it for mincing as well as the usual‘.