Modernist Gear Guide

Many peo­ple who have pur­chased Modernist Cuisine and are wait­ing for it to arrive have writ­ten to ask us what new tools they should buy to out­fit their kitchen for Modernist cook­ing. The answer can be found in four help­ful tables at the begin­ning of chap­ter 10 on The Modernist Kitchen, which we pro­vide below, enhanced with links to mod­els rec­om­mended by our culi­nary team. If you’d like to share or gather sug­ges­tions about cook­ing gear, head over to the “Help with Equipment” sec­tion of the Cooks Forum.
 
 
Must-Have Tools for the Modernist Kitchen

Handy Special Purpose Tools

Inexpensive but Invaluable Modernist Tools

Classic Tools for Modernist Cooks

 


Must-Have Tools for the Modernist Kitchen

In mak­ing this book, we had the oppor­tu­nity to work with many dif­fer­ent kinds of equip­ment. Some of the tools we pur­chased; oth­ers were sent on loan or donated to be cut in half. All that expe­ri­ence has left us with some favorite kinds of tools and tech­niques that we feel are must-haves for prac­tic­ing Modernist cook­ing. Below is our top-ten list, ranked so that those items that offer the great­est value for the price appear higher on the list. If used prop­erly, these tools will even­tu­ally pay for them­selves in con­ve­nience and results. Not all avail­able brands are listed; those given are the ones used in our research kitchen, arranged from least to most expen­sive. In most cases there are other man­u­fac­tur­ers who offer sim­i­lar prod­ucts, which may be as good or bet­ter.
RankToolKindBrandRecommended mod­elsNote
1water bathnon­stirredSousVide Supreme10-Liter SousVide Supremethe best tool for cook­ing sous vide or for any cook­ing task that requires pre­cise tem­per­a­ture con­trol; it is use­ful to have sev­eral baths for prepar­ing sev­eral dishes at dif­fer­ent tem­per­a­tures simultaneously
cir­cu­lat­ingPolyScienceConstant-Temperature Viscosity Bath, 17 L, 240 VAC
Standard Immersion Circulator, 120 VAC
2liq­uid nitrogenDewar Flask, Fisher ScientificFisher ScientificFisher Scientific Dry Ice/Liquid Nitrogen Trapuse­ful for myr­iad prep tasks and for pro­duc­ing spe­cial effects
3mod­ern ovencombi ovenRationalthe kitchen’s most ver­sa­tile tool
water-vapor ovenWinston IndustriesCVapeffec­tive for some combi oven tasks or for sous vide with or with­out bags
4sealerimpulse sealerHualianvac­uum seal­ing greatly improves the pre­ci­sion and flex­i­bil­ity of cook­ing water baths and combi ovens, and seal­ers are also use­ful for pre­serv­ing, com­press­ing, and expand­ing foods; cham­ber seal­ers are best
edge vac­uum sealerFoodSaver, SousVide Supreme, RivalFoodSaver V3835 Vacuum Food Sealer with SmartSeal Technology
SousVide Supreme Vacuum Sealer
Rival Vacuum Sealer
FoodSaver FSFRSH0051 FreshSaver Handheld Vacuum-Sealing System
cham­ber vac­uum sealerHenkelman, ARY, Multivac, VacMasterVacMaster VP210C Dry Piston Pump Chamber Machine
5homog­e­nizerrotor-stator homog­e­nizerTorbedo, Omni, IKATorbeo Hand-Held Homogenizer; capac­ity 1 to 200 mL; sta­tor size; 1.3 cm; 230 VAC, 0.6 Aa table­top homog­e­nizer pro­duces the smoothest and most sta­ble sauces, purees, and emulsions
Torbeo Hand-Held Homogenizer; capac­ity, 1 to 200 mL; sta­tor size; 1.3 cm; 110 VAC, 1.2 A
col­loid millIKA, Chinese brands
high-pressure Avestin
6PacojetPacojetthis pow­er­ful grinder makes ice cream, superfine pastes, and purees
7vac­uum pumpfaucet aspi­ra­tor vac­uum pumpNalgene, Bel-ArtBel-Art 329470000 Scienceware High Density Polyethylene Vacuum Aspirator Pump, 11psiuse­ful for fil­ter­ing and des­ic­ca­tion; faucet aspi­ra­tors save on cost but waste water
motor­ized aspi­ra­tor vac­uum pumpBinkmann, Oakton
mem­brane vac­uum pumpBüchi
8mag­netic stir­rer with hotplatelab­o­ra­tory Corning, Cimarec, IKAuse­ful for temperature-controlled heat­ing and stir­ring tasks, such as dis­pers­ing and hydrat­ing hydrocolloids
dig­i­tal
9cen­trifugeBeckman Coulter, Sorvall (now ThermoScientific)Thermo Scientific Sorvall RC-4 General-Purpose Floor Model Centrifuge; 120V, 60Hz, 20Ause­ful for rapidly and thor­oughly clar­i­fy­ing liq­uids and sep­a­rat­ing fats
10auto­claveYamato, Tuttnaueran incred­i­bly use­ful auto­mated pres­sure cooker; comes in many sizes


Handy Special-Purpose Tools

Although we would suf­fer with­out a good smoker, and we love our peri­staltic pump, they don’t get used as often as our must-have tools do. Not every kitchen needs the kinds of tools listed below, but they ful­fill their spe­cial roles with excel­lent usabil­ity and per­for­mance. Brands listed are those we have used in our research kitchen.
RankToolKindBrandRecommended ModelNotes
1ultra­sonic bathBransoncleans small items, extracts locked-in flavors
2vac­uum tumbleranyaccel­er­ates brin­ing, cur­ing, and mar­i­nat­ing of meats
3blast chilleranychills large amounts of food; use­ful for quickly chill­ing items cooked sous vide
4smokerSawdust puck smokerBradleyBradley Digital 4-Rack Smokeruses a hop­per and saw­dust pucks; elec­tri­cally heated
Bradley BCOLD Smoker Cold Smoke Adapter
Pellet hot smokerTraegar, CookshackTraeger Lil’ Tex Smokeruses wood pel­lets; gen­er­ates a par­tic­u­lar kind of smoke and tem­per­a­ture performance
Computer con­troller for cus­tom smokerBBQ Gurucon­verts an exist­ing smoker into one with dig­i­tal control
Digital smoke oven with humid­ity con­trol and cold-smoking capabilityEnviro-Pakfea­tures full dig­i­tal con­trol of tem­per­a­ture and humidity
5freeze dryerTaxidermy or florist gradeFreeze Dry Co.freeze-dries foods for extended stor­age or to enhance fla­vors in unique ways
Pharmaceutical gradeVirTis
6rotary evap­o­ra­torBüchi, YamatoRotary Evaporator, Safety-Coated Vertical Condenser, 115Vmakes essen­tial oils, extracts, and alcohols
Yamato Basic Rotary Evaporator System
7chill­ing water bathPolySciencecools foods to pre­cise tem­per­a­tures; use­ful when cook­ing sous vide
8vac­uum ovenFisher ScientificFisher Isotemp Model 281A Vacuum Oven, Standard Capacity 281A, 120Vbakes the light­est meringue imaginable
9meat band sawHobart, GrizzlyGrizzly H6246 Heavy-Duty Meat Saw w/ Sliding Tableuse­ful for butcher­ing whole ani­mals and meat cuts for stockmaking
10peri­staltic pumpMasterflexuse­ful for mak­ing long gel noodles
11spray dryerYamatomakes fine pow­ders from any liquid
12vac­uum concentratorGenevac Rocket Evaporatorreduces sauce and stock; very low heat yields bright flavors


Inexpensive but Invaluable Modernist Tools

Gadgets? Not exactly. These are items that we have come to rely on for effi­ciency and con­sis­tent results. Scales, sil­i­cone molds, siphons, blow­torches, and lav sieves; we can’t imag­ine cook­ing with­out them.
RankToolKindBrandRecommended ModelNotes
1dig­i­tal scaleOhaus, American Weigh, GrobetAmerican Weigh Signature Series Black Digital Pocket Scale, 1000 by 0.1 gramsa must-have; every recipe in Modernist Cuisine requires accu­rate weighing
DIGITAL POCKET SCALE 100 GRAM CAPACITY X 0.01 GRAM SENSITIVITY
DIGITAL BENCH SCALE 1000 GRAM CAPACITY X 0.1 GRAM SENSITIVITY
2ther­mome­terdig­i­tal thermometerThermapen, Fluke, ExTechExtech EA10 EasyView –200 Degrees to 1999 Degrees Farenheit and –200 Degree to 1360 Degree Celsius Dual Input Thermometer with 2 Type K Probesa must-have; pre­cise tem­per­a­ture con­trol is cru­cial in Modernist cooking
Fluke 52–2 Dual Input Digital Thermometer, 50 Series II
Taylor Professional 9306 Dual Temp IR/Thermocouple Thermometer
Splash-Proof Super-Fast Thermapen
infrared ther­mome­terFlukeFluke 62 Mini Infrared Thermometer
Fluke 561,IR Thermometer, With Contact Thermometer, To 1022F
3pres­sure cookerKuhn Rikon, FagorKuhn Rikon 2 1/2-Liter Stainless Steel Pressure Cookera must-have; essen­tial for stocks, ten­der­iz­ing tough grains and seeds
Kuhn Rikon 3344 7.4-Quart Stainless-Steel Pressure Cooker
Fagor Splendid 6-Quart Pressure Cooker
Kuhn Rikon 12-Quart Duromatic Professional Stockpot Pressure Cooker
Kuhn Rikon Duromatic 8–1/2-Quart Stockpot
4blow­torchMAPP gas or propaneTurboTorch, BernzomaticBernzomatic TS4000 Trigger Start TorchMAPP gas makes it eas­ier to avoid taint­ing food with com­bus­tion products.
Bernzomatic BZ8250HT Trigger-Start Hose Torch
oxy­acety­leneLenox, Campbell HausfeldCampbell Hausfeld WT400000AV Oxy-Acetylene Torch Kit
5lab sieveassorted sizesNewark, COLE-PARMERSieve, brass, 200 mm OD, 0.500 mm open­ings, full height, No. 35 meshsieves to very fine lev­els with lit­tle fuss or expense
6foam-whipping siphoniSiprofessional-grade mod­els with durable motors are best
7hand blenderstick typeBamix, BoschBosch MSM6A60UC Mixxo Cordless Handheld Blender and Chopper, Black/White
Bamix 391203 deluxe hand mixer in silver
Bamix 391300 Hand Mixer Gastro
8sil­i­cone mathalf-sheet and full-sheet sizeSilpatSilpat Non-Stick Matuse­ful for food that sticks
9sur­gi­cal forcepsanyhave sev­eral sizes on hand
10meat ten­der­izerhand­heldJaccardJaccard Supertendermatic 48-Blade Tenderizer
11dehy­dra­torwith Para-Flexx sheetsExcalibur
12vac­uum desiccatorNalgeneanyThermo Scientific Nalgene Vacuum Desiccator, PC cover and body, 280 mm OD
13vacuum-filtering setupfil­ter flask, Büchner fun­nel, fil­ter media, and pumpWhatman (media)use­ful for clar­i­fy­ing broth or consommé
14vac­uum jarsassorted sizesFoodSaver
15meat slicercom­mer­cial gradeBiro, Berkel
16sil­i­cone moldsassorted sizesanyWorld Cuisine Non-Stick Silicone Mold, Hemispherea must-have for cast­ing gels and set­ting shapes
17car­bon­a­tor soda siphonanyfor do-it-yourself soda
18skin-puncturing toolwire brushanyuse­ful for quickly per­fo­rat­ing pas­try or skin
19pressure-filtering kitBuon Vinoclar­i­fies liq­uids quickly with min­i­mal waste or fla­vor change
20cof­fee cold-brewing kitToddyToddy T2N Cold Brew Systemmakes full-flavored extracts for use in cooking


Classic Tools for Modernist Cooks

Not every­thing has to be cut­ting edge. Some tra­di­tional tools, such as a wok burner and a grid­dle, will always have a place in our kitchen. In select­ing tra­di­tional tools, we focused on price, qual­ity, and effi­ciency. Good prices can often be found on refur­bished or used items. The brands listed are those used; many oth­ers are avail­able.
RankToolKindBrandRecommended ModelNotes
1induc­tion cooktop1,800 W induc­tionSunhom, Sunpentown, Cooktek, Max Burton, othersMax Burton 6200 Deluxe 1800-Watt Induction Cooktopcan han­dle most needs filled by tra­di­tional ranges
Cooktek MCD2500 MagnaWave Single Drop-In Induction Cooktop
3–5 kW induc­tionThirode, oth­ers
2broilergas cat­alytic TEC, oth­ers
elec­tric broilerDeLonghi, Star-MaxDeLonghi Electric Indoor Grill with Broiler
3blendercom­mer­cialVita-Mix, Waringcom­mer­i­cal blenders are faster and pro­duce smoother results
4microwave ovencom­mer­cialAmana, Panasonic, others
5mixerstand KitchenAid, Hobart
6milk shake machinecom­mer­cialWaringWaring PDM1 Drink Mixeruse­ful for cre­at­ing thick foams
7grid­dle (plan­cha)com­mer­cialAccu-Steam, oth­ers
8deep fryercom­mer­cial WaringWaring Pro DF250B 1800-Watt Deep Fryer, Brushed Stainless
Waring Countertop Electric Commercial Deep Fryer: 10 lb Capacity
9wok burnercom­mer­cialImperial, Vikinguse­ful when high heat out­put is necessary
10espresso machinecom­mer­cialSynessothe best-built espresso machine we have tried
11espresso grindercom­mer­cialMazzerMazzer Mini Espresso Grinderthe grinder is as impor­tant as the espresso machine