Equipping a Bachelor Pad - Beyond the Butter Knife

by Sarah J. Gim, Posted Dec 1st 2005 @ 10:05AM

I went over to John's apartment the other day to make dinner for him. I went to the market to buy all the ingredients, and even went so far as to buy basic pantry items like oil and vinegar because John lives the bachelor life, and I was pretty sure that the only edible things in his kitchen were ketchup and beer.

Though John has a little more than just ketchup and beer (he also has hot sauce), I was a smart cookie to buy basic ingredients like olive oil and red wine vinegar for salad dressing. However, I was NOT smart enough to think that a bachelor's kitchen would have basic equipment with which to cook. I made a Greek salad with a butter knife. Tearing the Romaine lettuce was fine, but do you know how hard it is to slice onions and chop tomatoes with a butter knife?!?!

After I got over all my swearing and cursing when tomatoes squirted their slimy seeds all over the counter top (no cutting board) and I had a pile of chopped onions that ranged in size from minced to large dice, I decided to make a list of the most basic things John needs for his kitchen. If you have nothing but ketchup and beer in the fridge, at the very least, you must have these three tools to make...ketchup beer soup:

1. Good, sharp knife. It doesn't have to be a $1500 knife hand-crafted by a Samurai in Japan, but a good knife should be sharp enough to cut normal foods without excess pressure. Okay, pretty much anything is better than a butter knife.

2. Can opener. I know this sounds stupid, but the thing is, it doesn't have to be a fancy electric can opener. A manual can opener is good enough, and a bonus - some of them have a small bottle-opening implement at the end of the handle for your beer.

3. Medium-sized pot. If you only want to have ONE stove-top item, it should be a medium-sized pot. A pot can also pretend to be a frying pan if it's absolutely necessary. It might be tough to get your butter knife down in the pot to flip your omelette, but you can do it. However, the converse is not true. A frying pan can never pretend to be a pot. Unless of course, you plan to boil your soup a half cup at a time.

A knife, a can opener, and a pot. That should do it. Obviously, there are a few other things that could be added to this list, but I am talking about the bare minimum here. You can always toast bread in your pot on the stove.

Filed Under: Food Gadgets, How To
Tags: Gadgets

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

12-01-2005 @11:15AM benedict murray said... Just on the subject of bachelor cooking a month or so back there was the funniest article about cooking by Giles Coren, restaurant reviewer of the Sunday Times

It's here.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,1147-1825987,00.html

made me laugh out loud.
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12-01-2005 @11:36AM Jonathan Harford said... I am a big fan of the 99� plastic-handled knife because you can misuse it all you want and then buy another. And if this person does not know how to cook, he'll undoubtedly want to abuse his knives when he does.
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12-01-2005 @12:42PM Wing said... I agree with Jonathan. However, I have found that the best cheap knives are "set of 4 steak knives" from dollar stores. 25 cents per knife! And since they're "steak" knives, they can cut through more than butter!

When I spent several weeks broke, with no car and stuck with a kitchen with nothing in it, I found that a non-stick skillet works better than a pot. Partially because it's easier to clean, and partially because things that are cooked in skillets are usually easier than those cooked in pots. But then again, I also had access to a microwave---another essential of a bachelor pad.
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12-01-2005 @1:47PM Myron said... You limited your list to three and obviously could add more. As a former bachelor who likes to cook and did so for many years with minimal equipment here's what I would add:

- A medium sized bowl, or if you're feeling flush get two.
- A cutting board.
- A non stick pan.
- A wooden spoon.
- Some dish rags.
- Two baking pans, one 8x8, one 9x13 (or thereabouts). The junk at the grocery store is sufficient. The smaller one's for cornbread, brownies etc. The larger one can do these as well but also serves as a roasting pan.
- You already mentioned a knife. I got by with just a chef's knife for years and it's still my primary weapon. Have someone show you how to dice an onion and mince garlic. A bread knife is also quite handy.
- A basic cookbook. Try Fannie Farmer, Joy of Cooking, or Best Recipe.
- I didn't used to have them, but I now find half-sheet pans incredibly useful, and they're cheap.

The trouble I found with just one bowl, one knife, one pot, etc, was that you had to wash and reuse each one several times in the course of cooking a meal with any complexity. Having a few of each is more conveinent.
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12-06-2005 @11:22AM David said... I thought when I saw the titel of this I might learn something. Now I feel I'm the Pampered Chef. Guys, get your act together and set a kitchen up. I don't cook very often (that doesn't require something frozen and a microwave) but when I do I like to have everything I need. Trust me on this...nothing beats using a good, sharp knife when cutting anything and having all the tools at hand you need at the time you need them. Not to mention it seems to impress any lady friend you have over when it appears you know what you are doing in a kitchen. Key word there, appears. Any of the Naked Chef books have a great list of must have items for any kitchen.
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