4 Essential National Culinary Tools you need in your kitchen

Although cooking is not always necessarily done by the book, having the right tools gives you a massive edge over others in your field that have to make the ingredients or recipe from scratch. Across the world various cultures have built and cultivated their own methods of creating fantastic feasts using the ingredients and the tools they have to hand.

By researching these cultures and seeing how they manage to create such wonderful meals with different tools and different methods, we begin to look at the deeper layers of cooking and how it can be a passion shared by people of any age, race, religion or gender.

We’ll take a look at four amazing tools you should have in your kitchen if you want to branch out into more culinary dishes from across the world.

Rice Cooker

Rice is a real staple part of the Japanese diet, often combined with fish and strips of meat as meat such as cow and chicken is often in short supply. Sushi is incredibly popular in Japan and rice can even be used as part of a balanced breakfast! Just think of a plain bowl of white rice, as part of breakfast!

It provides a lot of nutrition for the average Japanese diet and can be combined with many foods to create a variety of delicious meals. A rice cooker is the perfect addition to any kitchen as it will always perfectly cook rice, and it keeps the rice nice and hot which is great for parties!

Deep Fryer

Now for something a little more American. While a deep fat fryer can often be found in many fast food restaurants, it can be used for frying almost every type of food imaginable. It can be used to make deep fried chicken, fried mushrooms, tempura and even sweet dishes such as doughnuts and churros!

Perhaps the strangest thing about a deep fryer is that it retains the level of flavour the more you use it. You know that rich taste you get from old style fish and chip shops? Well that is most likely because their deep fat fryers have retained a level of flavour from all the food that they fry! It’s a rather odd thought.

Tangia

A beautifully styled terra cotta cooking pot, you may see these being sold on the outdoor markets of Marrakech. A Tangia is used in a lot of Asian cooking and can be used to create rich, flavoursome stews. Because of the urn-like shape of the Tangia, the stew cooks and softens inside the pot, making it extra delicious and still retaining its gorgeous flavour and spices.

Pasta Maker

While every born and bred Italian knows how to make pasta from scratch without necessarily using a pasta maker, for all us beginners out there a pasta maker makes a perfect addition to any home kitchen. Normally available in a variety of settings, this useful tool can make linguinie or sheets for lasagne. Perfect for any budding Italian chef!

While these handy dandy tools are not everything you need to create a delicious meal from the far corners of the world, they are certainly staple tools that should belong in every first class kitchen. Many countries will have their own specific tools to recreate various recipes, so the tools we have listed here are a great way of introducing yourself to the crafts of their respective countries.

As with any budding chef, you’ll want to make the most out of the tools you have, but with items such as a pasta maker, or a Tangia, you can make first class authentic pasta and stew dishes that taste like you’ve just hopped onto a plane on holiday. This is part of what cooking is all about, and one part of cooking authentic traditional meals from across the globe is to use authentic tools.

It may take a little while to get used to, but it adds that extra personal touch you will miss from pot boiled rice, store bought pasta, canned stew or even pan fried meats and vegetables! So what are you waiting for? Get your chef’s whites on and get cooking!

Article provided by Tom Stephens, an online marketer for www.pricekitchens.co.uk – a high quality, bespoke kitchen supplier and installer in Surrey celebrating their 35^th year of service in 2015.