Kitchen Equipment

Batterie de cuisine is the French for a set of cooking utensils, and it has a proud ring to it. It sounds like getting suited up for a major encounter with a solid roast or ragout—not just a minor skirmish with a TV dinner tray. People who feed off convenience foods hardly need any equipment at all, but this book is devoted to good, sound, money-saving, real food. It has to be cut, trussed, sometimes boned, molded, simmered, stirred, and cared for. Without at least the nucleus of a well-stocked batterie de cuisine, cooking is all pain and frustration and seldom successful.