Different Types of Cooking Utensils and Their Uses

To be able to cook different meals and bake different pastries, you need to have a good number of tools that are handy. This means that your kitchen needs to be well-prepared if you want to spend time cooking a lot of food. A well-prepared kitchen is one that has a good stock of utensils that are ready to be used for whatever recipe you want to cook. But what are these cooking utensils, and what do they do?

If you are thinking of giving your kitchen a makeover or organizing it to be able to cook more dishes for your family, then adding useful kitchen utensils can be helpful, too. When you go to stores or browse online, you’ll be able to find many different kinds of kitchen utensils. Sometimes, they can also be bought by set. One example we can recommend is the Silicone Cooking Utensil Set by AILUKI, which is made of high-quality, non-stick, and heat-resistant silicone. You can use these utensils without worry, as they will not scratch your expensive non-stick cookware pots and pans.

With the many options available, it’s kind of challenging to choose the best types of utensils you need. To help you out, we are going to give you a list of the different types of cooking utensils and their uses. This way, you’ll be able to tell which of them are the best to have in your kitchen.

Spoons and Ladles

Spoons and ladles are used to stir food when cooking them. Here are the different kinds of spoons and ladles that you can have in your kitchen

• Standard Kitchen Spoon: The standard kitchen spoon is an oversized spoon that is useful when dealing with food and liquids in big pots. You can use it to scoop, move, stir, and hold food in place while cooking. There are two kinds of this utensil, which are the solid and the slotted. The slotted one is used to drain liquid from underneath while controlling the solid foods in the basin of the spoon.

• Soup Ladle: The soup ladle is a big spoon that is curved and has a long stick handle. It is used for removing soup and stews from larger pots to transfer them to smaller ones or when serving individual bowls.

• Pasta Ladle: The pasta ladle features an edge with teeth and a hole in the middle of its basin. The teeth enable you to grab pasta from hot water quickly, while the holes allow the water to drain out. It is best used to serve pasta from the main cooking container or an electric pasta maker. 

• Spatula: The spatula is a flat utensil that is commonly used when frying food. It allows you to slide under food and pick it up to serve. You can also use it to flip food to cook its other side. They also come in different sizes depending on how large your frying pans are.

Knives and Cutting Utensils

These are the utensils that you use to cut and chop ingredients before cooking them

• Basic Kitchen Knife: The basic kitchen knife can come in a half foot blade or even larger. It is used to cut large and medium-sized pieces of food that are needed to be sliced or diced. This type of knife is commonly found in most kitchens and you can buy one from the best online knife store. It is the do-all knife for any cook, making it a basic essential in the kitchen.

• Paring Knife: The paring knife features a small blade about the size of a finger. It is best for cutting smaller pieces of food, and as well as for paring fruit, gouging, and singular piece removals. However, this knife does not work well in larger food portions. But you can use it for delicate cutting work.

• Bread Knife: The bread knife features a serrated edge. It looks rough and vicious. Its serrated edge is important to be able to cut bread quickly. It’s because when you try to cut bread using a solid blade, the bread will just be squished unless the blade is very sharp.

• Serrated Knife: If you are looking for high-quality serrated knives and other premium cutlery supplies, you can actually purchase them online.  A serrated knife has a longer blade than a bread knife. It is best for cutting large pieces of meat quickly, especially cooked ones. You can use this type of knife for cutting large roasts, such as chicken, turkey, and more.

• Boning Knife: The boning knife features a long and thin blade. It is used in separating meat from the bone, just like in fish. You can also use it to make specialized meat cuts like filets.

• Knife Sharpener: A knife sharpener is a long metal rod that has a handle. Knives are worked against its surface in a cutting, friction manner to sharpen the edge of the blade. It can keep your knives’ blades in top shape.

• Kitchen Scissors: You can use kitchen scissors to cut things apart. But most importantly, you can use it to cut through bones, tendons, and harder parts of food quickly. This helps in preparing food faster and more efficiently.

• Cutting Board: The cutting board is used to provide a safe place to cut food. Using a plastic board is better than using wood boards that absorb food juices as it can be a breeding ground for bacteria. Plastic cutting boards are also easier to wash and clean.

Unsharpened Kitchen Utensils

These cooking utensils are not sharp, but are very useful when handling foods

• Kitchen Mallet: The kitchen mallet features a flat side and a bumped or pointed side. It is used to hammer food, usually frozen meats, to break them apart or soften them. The bumped side is used to tenderize meat, allowing the juices and marinades to penetrate them easier before cooking.

• Nut Cracker: Nuts are indeed very difficult to open. But a nutcracker can do the job for you. It is usually used in opening walnuts and other similar nuts that you want to use as ingredients.

• Garlic Press: Slicing garlic cloves into small pieces can take a lot of time. But when you use a garlic press, all you need is to place the garlic clove in it and then squeeze out the innards into your food.

Other Useful Kitchen Utensils

Here are some of the other useful kitchen utensils that you might want to consider to have in your kitchen:

• Mortar and Pestle: The mortar and pestle are a great tool to use in grinding food into small powders. It is great for breaking down larger, hard foods into small parts.

• Measuring Cups: If you are into baking, then measuring cups are very important to have. They come in different sizes with the exact measurement size and containment. They are perfect to have for those who always want to follow exact amounts of ingredients when cooking.

• Whisk: The whisk is a manual mixer. It comes in small or larger sizes and will allow you to mix ingredients quickly. It is best used for beating eggs to prepare them for cooking or baking.

• Can Opener: A can opener is also an important kitchen utensil to be able to open canned foods quickly.

• Grater: A grater is used to shred cheese and as well as for lemon peel curling. It is used to quickly turn a large piece of an ingredient into much smaller pieces for cooking.

• Peeler: A peeler is used to peel fruits and vegetables quickly. It is also much safer to use compared to peeling fruits and vegetables using a knife.

• Tongs: Tongs are perfect for grabbing food when they are got. They are usually used when barbecuing or cooking on an open flame. It will allow you to flip food, move it around, and place it on a plate without burning your hands. This also helps in avoiding food contamination by keeping your hands off of the food in the cooking process.

• Cream Dispenser – A wonderfully useful tool if you regularly dispense whipped creams.  Be sure to check out nangsta for great options.

These are the different types of cooking utensils and their uses. We hope that this list will be able to help you determine which cooking utensils you need in your kitchen. If you are still not sure what to get, then you can always opt to buy a set of kitchen tools that has everything you need to start cooking and baking.