In a small kitchen, you don’t need a lot of equipment to cook great food. Still, you do need some pots, pans, utensils, and dishes–obviously. In the BGSK book, you’ll find a bare bones list of necessary equipment, but I’ve long wanted to bring you a similar resource on the web.
So we’re going one by one, stocking up our virtual pantries and maybe our real ones too.
For a long time, I had no mesh strainer. When the item needing straining was smaller than the openings in my colander, I’d use the lid. Sometimes, this worked. Sometimes, I ended up with rice all over my sink. Eventually, I got my hands on an OXO 8-inch fine mesh strainer, and I use it so much more often than I would have dreamed.
I wash my white rice before I cook it, draining in the strainer. I empty a pot of Israeli couscous into it without worrying that the little grains will escape. I use it to strain my chai and my cocktails. If you want to make labneh, ricotta, or coconut milk at home, you’ll definitely need to own a strainer.
Note that you’ll want your strainer’s mesh to be made of metal. If the mesh is plastic, it’ll melt when you go to drain hot pasta and you’ll be limited to cold uses only.
Here’s exactly how handy the tool will come in-without it, you couldn’t make any of these three delicious dishes without some serious improvisation:
