Essential Cooking Tools For Valentine’s Day

Some like to stay in to celebrate Valentine’s Day. As a veteran of front-of-the-house restaurant jobs, as well as the kitchen, I can promise you few places are up to par on one of the busiest nights of the year. For those who prefer to sit home and simmer their feast on their own stove, I have a solid lineup of great pots, pans and knives to knock your meal prep out of the ballpark.

Viking Knives

These sleek Viking knives cover all the bases. The 17-piece set has everything from bread to carving knives as well as scissors and a sharpening steel and wood block. The ergonomic knives fit easily into your hands—even if they are small—and they are dishwasher safe. It’s a great starter set for the budding home chef. The wood block is a great storage unit as well.

Eater Hertiage Steel

The restaurant website Eater has long covered the country’s best restaurants and chefs and has just launched its shingles in the cookware business. One of the company’s first offerings is a set of stainless stain cookware. The 5-piece Hertiage Steel set includes a 10.5-inch fry pan, 3-quart saucepan with lid, and 4-quart sauté pan with lid.

Historia Pans

Historia’s Italian pans have a classic rustic look. They are made from elegant hammered copper and tin lined by hand over fire. Afterwards they are finished with knobs that are hand-cast in bronze. The Ruffoni family has been making them in Italy for close to a century.

Cote Steak Knives by Schmidt Brothers

This is a curated collection of Cote steak knives is made by Schmidt Brothers Cutlery and COTE, a Korean steakhouse with several East Coast locations. It features a set of knives and chopsticks. The blades are smooth and easy to handle.

The Schmidts made them in collaboration with Korean-American restauranteur Simon Kim, who owns and operates COTE Korean Steakhouse, a restaurant with locations in New York and Miami. Korean chefs are known for their expertise in preparing diverse, and delicious, cuts of steak so these knives are a welcome addition to any kitchen.

Meyer Corporation

Stateside-produced Meyer pans are flexible in terms of the kinds of stoves they can be used with: everything from gas to electric and induction. They are easy to clean: which saves time. The pans also allow you get a good brown on vegetables you want to eat crispy and your favorite proteins. For me the crisp and crunch is the best part of every bite. The company also makes a great roasting pan with a fitted rack to catch those cooking juices so they don’t hit the bottom of your oven.

Le Creuset

Le Creuset’s pots and braisers have long been classics with home cooks and that is part of what is fun about them. You inherit them from your family and friends. I have always loved the range of warm colors that they come in which look as great hung from the kitchen ceiling or on your shelves. They are super multitaskers for searing, braising and baking.

Anova

Sous vide cooking used to be solely the provenance of chefs. Mere mortals didn’t know what to do with those plastic bags and fancy machines. However, recently many of us have had a chance to play with these fun cooking apparatuses. They are incredibly easy to use and never fail to cook meat at the right temperature. They also, amazingly, leave it more tender than any other cooking method might render it. If you are planning a party you can sous vide the meat at night and give it a good sear the day of the gathering. Anova is a leader in the field and has the added convenience of being insertable in different cooking pans, as opposed to taking up space on your counter.

Stargazer Cast Iron

These non-stick pots are made in the USA and have a micro-textured surface. Stargazer Cast Iron also has a drip-free, flared rim and stays cool to the touch on the stove. Each of the pans is hand-seasoned with a blend of canola, grapeseed and sunflower oil that gives the skillets a trademark bronze color.