Equipment

You can spend tens of thousands of dollars on kitchen equipment, or you can spend a couple of hundred bucks and be done with it. If you're lucky enough to inherit hand-me-downs from your parents or other friends or relatives, you probably have most of what you need already. This is not to say that some modern appliances are not worth having--if you're going to cook regularly, you will want a blender, a food processor, and an electric mixer. With the exception of an electric ice cream maker--which is a wonderful luxury--other appliances take up more room than they're worth for most people.

I recommend that you cook for a while with minimal equipment so that you can discover your preferences and therefore your priorities. Perhaps you need three or four skillets, a huge stockpot, and a spring-form pan, but have no use for cookie cutters or a pizza peel; it depends on what it is you want to eat. Here, then, is a list--with highly personal comments--about what you ought to start with and what you might want to wait for. Items that I consider essential are in red.

The Basics of Knives

First of all, don't buy them from late-night TV. Go to a good department store or a kitchen supply store and look at those with high carbon-steel alloy blades. (The old-fashioned non-alloy blades take a wonderful edge but require more frequent sharpening and discolor immediately. Everyone--from master chefs to cookbook authors to experienced home cooks--uses high carbon-steel now.) The handles may be wood or plastic, although plastic handles are somewhat more durable and dishwasher-safe (nevertheless, you're always better off washing a good knife by hand, since its blade may get nicked in the dishwasher), so I'd go with these. These knives are easily sharpened, and will last a lifetime if you don't whack too many chicken bones with them. A good eight-inch chef's knife, essentially an all-purpose blade that you will use for chopping and slicing, should set you back no more than thirty dollars, although you can spend many times that if you like; you may want a ten-inch one as well. Buy one that feels good in your hand.

Hold off, too, on a carving, or slicing knife--a long, thin blade that is not something you will use every day. In a pinch, you can carve or slice with your chef's knife, although not as precisely.

You also need two or three paring knives, for peeling, trimming, and other precise tasks--three or four inches long. Again, buy those that feel good in your hand, and don't spend more than five or six dollars on each. A thin-bladed boning knife is very useful, not only for boning but for piercing meat as it cooks to judge doneness; but you can wait for this. Serrated blades are best for cutting bread--unless you only eat presliced bread, buy a long, sturdy bread knife; this is a good place to economize, since even the ten-dollar models work fine.

You should consider buying a sharpening steel, which you use by drawing each side of the knife across it several times, holding the blade at a fifteen- to twenty-degree angle until the knife will cut the edge of a piece of paper held loosely in your hand. But many home cooks (including myself) have trouble maintaining a good edge with a steel.

The best and easiest (and unfortunately most expensive) way to keep knives sharp is with a good electric knife sharpener, which will set you back fifty to one hundred dollars, but is a worthwhile investment. Your other alternatives are to sharpen knives with a whetstone, which takes even more skill than a steel (ask a handy friend, or an uncle, or the guy at the hardware store), or to bring knives to the local kitchen supply store or a good hardware store and get them sharpened professionally. Should you choose either of the latter options, you need a steel to maintain that edge in between sharpenings. (Steels do not sharpen knives, but they do keep the edge fine and straight.)

Remember this about all knives: Dull ones are dangerous. They slip off the food you're cutting and right onto the closest surface, which may be your finger. Although you must be extremely careful with sharp knives--casual contact will lead to a real cut--at least they go where you want them to. Respect your knives: Start with good ones, keep them sharp, and they will become your friends.