Equipment Category

This is a ceramic slab that you preheat in the oven. A pizza baked on one will cook more evenly and develop a crisper crust.

Plastic wrap is terrific for covering foods to be stored in the refrigerator or cooked in the microwave. It clings especially well to glass, ceramic, and china dishes. You can also use it to wrap foods for short-term freezer storage, though you should use aluminum foil if you're storing something in the freezer for a long time since foil is better at preventing moisture loss.

This pot seals and allows for cooking at temperatures greater than the boiling point. It allows for faster cooking.

Ramekins are small round straight sided bowls used for baking or serving sauces. Crème brûlée, soufflés, French onion soup and dipping sauces are often served in ramekins.

Trendy cooks fill this gadget with expensive sea salt crystals so that they season their food with freshly ground salt. It's not clear why they do this, since salt is an inorganic mineral and, unlike pepper and other spices, doesn't become stale once ground.

These can be either steel or ceramic rods.

These are heavy duty scissors used to cut through chicken bones and other difficult items.

An off center lid can reduce splatter.

These pans are great for baking delicate desserts that are prone to falling apart when removed from the pan. The rim loosens from the bottom when the clamp is opened. This pan has two bottoms, so that it can serve as both a tube pan (pictured) and a layer cake pan.

Warning: aluminum, copper, and iron cookware can react with acids in foods and alter their flavor and color.

This fits inside pots of different sizes, and the petals open to accommodate vegetables, seafood, or whatever else you want to steam.

These are made of bamboo and used to make sushi rolls.

These often have removable bottoms.

Wine, once exposed to air, turns vinegary. This stopper has a pump that removes much of the air from the bottle and allows you to keep opened bottles of wine a bit longer.