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words LORI McLORN    images STEVE UHRANEY “What is your favourite kitchen tool that you just can’t do without?” I asked prominent local chefs. I wanted to reveal their personal creature comforts with the equipment in their kitchens. Of course, their first response to my question is always “my chef’s knife,” but when given time to think about it, some interesting revelations usually occur. We have all prepared food in the kitchen at some point in our life - even if our gourmet talents only extend as far as making a sandwich, warming up a tin of soup or stabbing a gallon of ice cream with a spoon.  By opening the cutlery drawer in any household kitchen, it would reveal many basic cooking gadgets that have typically accumulated throughout the years. Some of these have helped us to prepare our meals (elaborate or not) while other objects usually just take up precious space. But guaranteed there is one handy dandy favourite utensil or piece of equipment we keep returning to that helps us get the job done. While creating a gourmet dinner for friends a few years back, one of my guests questioned why I was using a steak knife instead of a chef’s knife to cut my vegetables. It never occurred to me until that moment that I have always used a common household steak knife for everything I chopped, sliced or diced in my own kitchen – while leaving my professional set to collect dust. I was a little embarrassed since my guests knew my culinary background. They were assuming I would have been wielding an expensive, flashy, sharp blade to show off my cooking talents. Naturally, when I am in a commercial kitchen I use an industry-grade chef’s knife without hesitation, but at home the small, jagged, antiquated wooden-handled steak knife somehow just continues to feel right. Now that I was acutely aware of my culinary faux pas I began to study other chefs in the business to find out what their genuine favourite tools might be.  GL

ABOVE from LEFT to RIGHT: Chef Nicola Iatomasi Mondello Ristorante “I love my knife, my tongs and my towel. That’s all I need. I am not big on machinery or gadgets –it throws away your skill.”   Pastry Chef: Kat Kokosarevic Cake Royale “I would have to say my dish cloth. I am constantly cleaning the counters off and my spatula.” Teppanyaki Chef: Bon Du Iron Chef “Definitely my metal spatula. It is my balance for the show I perform while cooking on the grill.” BELOW from LEFT to RIGHT: Executive Chef: Dirk Noort The Breakwater Restaurant “Wow - now that’s a tough question. I would have to say my peeler. I seem to always be using it.” Corporate Chef: Michael Levins Walkers Fish Market “I would have to say my Japanese Chef knife. I use it for everything and, of course, a pair of tongs.” Executive Chef: Pascal Gendron Tu Casa “A very interesting question. I use my paring knife all the time.”