Pestle and Mortar
KitchenAid Mixer
Hand Blender
Pressure cooker
Knife set
kit
T H E
Tools of the Trade
Pestle and Mortar
Top chefs are obsessive about tasting , prodding and touching their ingredients . A heavy pestle and mortar in either marble or ceramics allow you to grind your spices or pesto , extracting maximum flavour and texture . At Hilton Bournemouth , the tandoor-oven mackerel starts with a handground spice rub .
KitchenAid Mixer
When your 12-hour day revolves around working dough for pizza and flatbreads , a little help is certainly welcome . The KitchenAid will deliver a wonderfully soft , pliable dough while you get on with prepping the other ingredients .
Hand Blender
Those velvety sauces and purees that come with your signature dish ? They were probably finished with a short burst of a hand blender . Matt recommends one with a quiet motor if you ’ re in a busy kitchen . Some come with a spice grinder too .
Kitchen Craft Square Heavy Duty Mortar and Pestle
This authentic Far Eastern solid granite mortar and pestle is suitable for pounding and grinding a variety of different herbs and spices for adding to sauces and recipes . Hopefully its heft would stop it being borrowed too often , meaning it ’ s always ready for duty . Hart ’ s Price £ 29.95
KitchenAid Artisan Medallion Silver 6.9L Bowl Lift Food Mixer
KitchenAid ’ s most powerful 1.3HP motor is designed to run longer with less heat so ideal for the steamy pro kitchen . The 6.9 litre bowl can handle 2.2kg of flour , 19 egg whites , 1.9 litres of whipped cream and 4.5 kg of mix . That is one hell of a cake . Harts Price : £ 699.95
The Control Grip All in One from Sage by Heston Blumenthal
Known as the Swiss army knife of the kitchen , this food mixer can blend , mash , chop and slice all at the touch of a button . All in one anti-suction blending allows you to keep control of the mix with up to 80 % less suction than other stick mixers . Crushes ice too . Harts Price : £ 129
Pressure cooker
“ We use them to make stock ,” Matt confesses . “ You can make it in 20 minutes , chill it then remove the fat from the top the next day .” Much more efficient than having to skim a stock pot constantly for 12 hours . Along with peeling garlic , one of those jobs that chefs hate doing . “ It ’ s why we have commis chefs !” says Matt .
Knife set
“ You only need about five knives ,” says Matt . “ At home , I use 2 or 3 .” Look for ergonomic handles , high quality steel , and something that feels nice and heavy in your palm . You don ’ t have to buy a set to start with . “ Look in most chef ’ s knife roll ,” says Matt , “ and you ’ ll see all different brands .”
Kuhn Rikon Duromatic Hotel Side Grips 12.0L Pressure Cooker
Chefs cook under pressure any way so their pressure cooker needs to be failsafe like this commercial sized beast from Kuhn Rikon of Switzerland . It will take 12 litres of delicous , unctuous , sealed-in stew and even comes with an app for your phone to calculate cooking time , pressure and liquid . Harts Price : £ 189.95
Global NI 6 Piece Knife Block Set Black
You don ’ t have to buy a set to be a chef but Globals ’ s razor sharp , sand balanced , smooth seamless knives are hard for we aspiring chefs to resist , particularly as they feature the longer handle requested by pros . This set comprises bread , paring , Santoku , 16cm and 20cm oriental cooks knives . Harts Price : £ 299.99
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