Advertisement
Equipment
Appears in
Published 2001
To cook from this book, you don’t have to run around acquiring special equipment that you’ll never use for any other purpose. Any kitchen stocked with an array of well-made saucepans, skillets, knives, mixing bowls, and ordinary implements can handle the recipes in this book. These are the most important for day-in, day-out use:
- A small, a medium, and a large heavy skillet.
- A griddle or griddle substitute, like a large cast-iron skillet, for roasting vegetables.
- Heavy-gauge pots and Dutch ovens in several sizes. (My favorite are the inexpensive cast-aluminum Dutch ovens sold here in Latin American markets.)
- Pyrex baking dishes in several sizes (square or rectangular are most useful).
- Wooden spoons (several).
- A large heavy mortar and pestle (not absolutely necessary for most things, but this gives the best texture for some kinds of grinding and pureeing; the ideal kind is a Mexican volcanic stone molcajete).
- A heavy-duty blender as well as a food processor; in the recipes, you will see that these have different, complementary uses. A mini-processor is also useful.
- One or two medium-mesh sieves, for refining blended or processed sauce mixtures.
- An electric coffee or spice grinder.
- A heavy-duty electric mixer.
- An inexpensive cast-aluminum tortilla press (sold in Latin markets or through mail-order).