aren’t obvious until you start using it regularly. I keep one
on my cutting board whenever I’m doing prep work. It
quickly transfers chopped mirepoix to my saucepan or
carrot peels to the trash. I use it to divide dough when
making pizzas, or ground beef when making burgers. For
cleanup, a bench scraper makes short work of dough scraps
that have dried onto the work surface, and it efficiently
picks up tiny bits of chopped herbs and other debris. (By the
way, you should never use the blade of your knife to pick
this stuff up off your board. It’s dangerous, and it will
rapidly dull the edge of your knife.) A bench scraper also
makes removing stickers from glass bottles or labels from
plastic containers a snap.
With its comfortable handle, sturdy construction,
convenient built-in 6-inch ruler, and an edge sharp enough
to rough-chop vegetables, the OXO Good Grips Pastry
Scraper ($8.99) is the first choice for home kitchens. In my
knife kit, however, I keep a lightweight plastic C. R.
Manufacturing scraper (50 cents), which performs most of
those functions at a fraction of the cost, in a much more
compact package.
- Saltcellar and Pepper Mill
Why would anyone need a saltcellar? Underseasoning food
is the most common culinary blunder. Ask me why your
food tastes blander than you’d like it to, and 90 percent of
the time, all it needs is a little pinch of salt. Having a
container of a salt in a prominent spot by your prep station
or stove serves as a constant reminder to season, taste,
season, and taste again until you get it exactly right. I