cooking is harder than ordering takeout
or microwaving frozen entrees were
having your parents couldn't for you
it takes a financial investment lots of
practice time and patience why do it
well first off and this is gonna sound
simple-minded but stick with me cooking
is attractive like playing guitar it
demonstrates your prowess with your
hands your sophisticated knowledge of an
art form and is a demonstrate value to
look for an apartment but it goes deeper
than that cooking is a shared experience
a way to express yourself to someone you
care about that someone can even be
yourself cooking is a physically and
mentally healthy outlet hobby just like
learning guitar you're not gonna be a
rock star right out of the gate you need
to learn the how and why of what makes a
great meal why one flavor works when
another fails why food behaves the way
it does the basics
welcome to basics with babish a new
series designed to help grow your
confidence in the kitchen with a
collection of strategically chosen
recipes every other week I'll be
examining a different category of food
and showing you a few ways that you can
master that food at home
then each following week all induct a
live cook along on Twitch where you can
make last week's episode right alongside
me you can ask me questions shoot the
breeze and make some delicious meals
with one of your favorite beards on the
internet then you can take a picture of
your creation and post it on Instagram
Facebook or Twitter for a chance to win
prizes every episode it's a new kind of
interactive cooking experience one that
I hope will help ratchet up your skills
whether it's your first time in the
kitchen or your 50th I'm very honored to
be in your kitchen today and can't wait
to start making such delicious meals
with you now let's get down to basics
[Music]
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Squarespace okay guys before we get
cooking I want to walk you through a few
essential tools that are gonna make
cooking in any kitchen a whole lot
easier the first and most important tool
you should outfit your kitchen with is a
good chef's knife this is an 8-inch
Wisthoff icon classic the brand in price
matter less than how the knife feels in
your hand you want something that's
comfortable well-balanced something that
feels natural and when you see how
balanced a knife feels you need to hold
it correctly want to wrap your finger
around one side of the knife and grip it
on the other side with your thumb now
often your first instinct is
understandably to grip it by the handle
I mean why else would there be a handle
there but look at how much effort it
takes in my wrist and how little
accuracy I have but if I grip it by the
heel like this you can see I have a lot
more control and I'm using a lot less
effort the bust off icon classic is very
expensive or at 140 dollars this is a
much more reasonable starting point to
list off proline this is a new line that
is razor sharp well balanced and it has
this great shaped handle that actually
guides your hand where it should go it's
not going to be as durable or as
long-lasting as a forged high-end blade
like the icon but it's a great place to
start I also want to point out that I'm
not unlike a paid spokesperson these are
the tools that I use in my kitchen and
that I wholeheartedly recommend to you
next up we have the pan that strikes
fear into the hearts of many burgeoning
young Chefs the stainless steel saute
pan why because it is universally known
as the pan that food sticks to but
that's actually what you want we'll
touch on that later but when you're
shopping for one of these pans you want
something that's heavy 1810 stainless
steel something that feels balanced and
comfortable in your hand all clad is
sort of the gold standard for home chefs
but it is very expensive ranging between
$6.99 to $1200 for a 10 piece set a less
expensive but high-quality alternative
is Tremonti a-- which will run you more
like $60 a pan
I know stainless steel cookware is a
little bit scary but trust me it's an
essential
to your kitchen Arsenal and you're gonna
make some really delicious food with it
but of course we can't only cook on
stainless we also need nonstick this is
the t-fal professional 12-inch nonstick
skillet it is oven safe to 400°
Fahrenheit and is so slippery that you
can practically cook eggs in it without
any butter or oil it's also got a great
built-in feature if you're just starting
out in the kitchen this little thermo
spot indicator you can see some letters
and symbols in there but it turns solid
red when it's been properly preheated so
it's a great way to learn about the
subtleties of your stove and in no time
you will have a sixth sense for knowing
when your pan is preheated and now maybe
the most underappreciated tool in the
modern kitchen today the instant-read
thermometer this is a thermapen which is
expensive it's about a hundred dollars
but it reads very very quickly and like
the red indicator in the pan is going to
help teach you to know and understand
when your steak is done when your
chicken is done there are plenty of
inexpensive alternatives like this one
just make sure that it has a read time
of under four seconds
forget all the poking your palm with
your finger tricks this is the best way
to get consistently cooked steaks when
you're shopping for oven mitts look for
something that has individual fingers
not only so you can better manipulate
hot pots and pans but so you can do this
every time you put them on your of
course going to need a saucepan for
sauces nonstick has its place but
generally stainless steel is the way to
go you can see that this is a very high
walled saucepan this can be very handy
when you're cooking something that you
don't want to reduce too much there's
less surface area and therefore less
evaporation for thick sauces and
reductions we'll go with something wider
sturdy dishwasher safe mixing bowls with
a pouring spout obviously have a wide
variety of uses these bowls are by oXXO
good grips and they might be the oldest
thing that I have in the kitchen they've
given me ten years of reliable service
now for it's got to be the most
misunderstood kitchen utensil known to
man the cutting board I know you got a
great deal on three of these from Ikea
but these are absolute garbage an
undersized cutting surface is one of the
most frustrating inadequacies that you
can have the displeasure to experience
they're unstable foods like carrots just
roll off and get lodged under the
refrigerator attracts a family of mice a
mouse bites you in the night and the
next thing you know you're responsible
for the second bubonic plague get rid of
this thing and get as large a cutting
surface as you're
and can handle this is a 15 by 21 inch
carving and utility board Vioxx oh good
grips at around $25 it's just about the
least expensive major life upgrade that
you can find in a cruel and indifferent
world for basic seasoning you cannot
substitute a pinch bowl of kosher salt
and a pepper mill why kosher salt well
because it is pinchable you can feel and
see how much seasoning is going into
your food and because it's coarser it is
more forgiving than table salt and why
does every recipe always call for fresh
cracked pepper well it just tastes
better smells better it looks better and
with an adjustable grinder like this one
you can control the size of the grounds
from coarse to very very fine so if
you're just getting started
those are some essential tools to help
change your kitchen game next week we're
gonna put these tools to good use trying
our hand at sauces then the week after
that the first live stream on Twitch
where you can cook along with me happy
cooking and I'll see you guys next week
hey guys so I just want to talk a little
bit about designing my new website with
Squarespace they have this really
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who's never done web design ever they
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happy with the way mine came out if you
want to try it for yourself you can
start your free trial today at
squarespace.com and enter offer code
babish to get 10% off your first
purchase thanks for listening guys I
hope you liked the new site the new show
and I can't wait to cook with you next
week