The Cost-effective Items you Need for a Clean and Healthy Kitchen

Nov 9, 2009 Frank Yeats

Sanitation should be the biggest concern in the kitchen; these three tools will make sure your food is not only tasty, but clean.

There are many wonderful cooks out there who pay very little heed to kitchen sanitation. While a kitchen may look clean, this does not guarantee that a kitchen actually is clean. Fortunately, all the tools you need to keep a kitchen looking good and healthy are inexpensive, and their regular use can help drastically reduce the chance of a number of diseases, from the common cold to salmonella.

Tools for Cleaning Your Kitchen

The most important aspect of keeping your kitchen healthy is to clean it, and yourself, regularly. While wiping off obvious food particles off of counters, stove tops, and microwaves are usually obvious, the potential risk for contamination lies on apparently clean surfaces. While the counter may look clean and shiny, if there is bacteria on the surface, it can make any meal a potential disaster.

Bleach Spray Bottles For Surfaces

The number one tool for cleaning your kitchen surfaces is a bottle filled with bleach water. Many people avoid bleach because of how harsh it is on hands as well as the way it can stain clothing. However, if properly diluted and used in a spray bottle, spraying your counters with bleach and wiping them down with a clean kitchen towel will ensure that any bacteria on the surfaces of your kitchen are neutralized.

A bottle of bleach is fairly inexpensive, and one bottle of bleach will last your cleaning needs for some time. In some restaurants, a sink full of bleach water is often used to disinfect all the plates and silverware after they have been washed and rinsed. This ensures that nothing can spread from customer to customer throughout the day.

Chef’s Knife and the Boning Knife

Many people own a knife set, but not all have ever figured out the different uses for different blades, and this, combined with the thermometer and sanitary surfaces, ensures you have done just about all you can do in keeping your kitchen clean and safe.

While the chef’s knife–a larger knife that gently curves to a point–is used for generic cutting, the boning knife, which is a shorter blade that often narrows just above the end of the handle, should be used specifically for cutting raw meat. By specializing the function of these two knives, the biggest threat for cross contamination is removed.

Why You Need A Cooking Thermometer

Many seasoned cooks can attest to the absolute importance of a thermometer. While in professional kitchens they are rarely used, this is because of the amount of experience a chef has and the pressures of delivering food as quickly as possible. The average home cook rarely has less experience and far more time, and as such, the use of a thermometer is a wonderful insurance policy for your family’s health.

Especially when cooking meat, a thermometer is one of the best investments you can make in your kitchen. While many people rely on time and appearance to judge whether a piece of meat is properly cooked, neither of these are guaranteed. No two pieces of meat will cook the exact same way due to size, consistency, and the temperature it will be cooked at.

Appearance is also an unreliable factor because the outside of the meat will cook well before the center is to the finished temperature. With a properly working thermometer, you avoid the risk of under-cooking and over-cooking. By risking neither infection nor the quality of your meal, you can maximize your skills as a cook.

With these tools you can permanently reduce the risk of food poisoning in your home through contamination and under-cooking food. From preparation to cooking to clean-up, the tools listed above, when used properly, can help stave off potential kitchen nightmares. Now, if only you could work on that souffle.

Learn what other tools you need to have a functioning kitchen.

Learn how to better organize your kitchen for efficiency.

• Chef’s Knife (top), Boning Knife, and Paring Knife – panduh

• Very Fancy Cooking Thermometer – DanieVDM

A knife is likely one of the helpful instruments folks use of their on a usual basis life. It could help your partner for chopping one thing in their work area. Knives are especially useful in the kitchen and eating space and conserving them sharp is crucial for making them effective. That’s where the use of a electric knife sharpener might help an excellent deal Old college knife sharpeners nonetheless recognize this sharpening method. Cutting edge technology in fabricating fine quality knives also wanted a market for fine quality sharpening tools. Skilled knife sharpeners are thought of artisans and they are often pretty laborious to search out these days. And once you do, they are often relatively high priced. The greatest distinction between knife sharpeners is whether they’re handbook or electric. In case you plan to sharpen multiple knives, opt for an electric sharpener. Electric sharpeners work very quickly and will not tire your arms. These vary from relatively small countertop sharpeners to large fashions meant for industrial use. Most restaurants would relatively make investments on a knife sharpening gear as kitchen knives play a crucial role within the efficiency of their kitchen. The cooks getting ready food absolutely will might need to sharpen their knives constantly. This is as a result of various textures of meals they might need to chop and cut for long hours and naturally, and knives take a very good beating from this. H The common use of these machines is to sharpen your knives in an easy and handy way unlike the knife sharpener before like the stone sharpener or the steel sharpener that it’s a must to exert effort to sharpen your knives. These electric sharpeners will be just right for you utilizing the power of electricity. No sweat and easy to make use of. For instance, an 11-degree bevel angle is the narrowest and is used to place a razor-sharp edge on advantageous-chopping tools like X-Acto blades, woodcarving instruments and other forte tools. This angle would require the most frequent re-sharpening. Normally X-Acto blades are so economically priced you may simply dispose of them and exchange the blade when it gets dull. Then there may be the 15-diploma bevel angle and it’s most suitable for fillet, boning and makes use of that require distinctive sharpness and a bit more durability.Most knife sharpeners should be capable of final you not less than a couple of years, relying upon how typically it’s used. All sharpeners work by grinding the blade towards a tough, rough surface. The roughness of this floor is calculated in grit. Most sharpeners include two sides; one in a rougher grit for pre-sharpening, and a finer grit for honing the blade. Some stones may be sold in just one grit on both sides; buy two completely different stones to totally sharpen your knives. If you do not like sluggish guide labor of sharpening your serrate knife you may always buy an electric sharpener. An electric sharpener as we speak comes with the power to sharpen both the straight blade and the serrate knife. If you do not have any time to roam around to buy one, then you possibly can go shop on-line via the web. You possibly can go explore totally different sites where business electric knife sharpeners are offered at an affordable cost.

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Last month CSN Stores gave me a $60 gift certificate to buy anything I wanted at any of their 200+ stores. This was the post I did about it: Tons of Unique Items at CSN Stores. I had a very hard time deciding what to get, but it finally became very obvious to me what I really NEEDED to get.

Next month I will have been married for 14 years and I have never boughten myself a good set of kitchen knives. I have been using the same $10 Walmart chefs knife for 14 years and I have never had it sharpened. I have always been afraid of having sharp knives because I am a bit of a klutz and being the thrifty person I am I have never been able to justify hundreds of dollars on a nice knife set. I have spent a lot of time deciding where to put my dull knives and even did this post last year:

An an anonymous commenter pointed out to me that most kitchen knife accidents are caused by dull knives.

It was very obvious to me that I needed some new knives with my $60 gift certificate. I spent several hours researching which knives to buy and this is what I came up with:
All of the cooking blogs love Victorinox and the best part is that they are affordable! Just do a google search for “victorinox reviews” and you will find a ton of cooks praising them.
Victorinox is by the inventors of the Swiss Army knife and they have a whole line of kitchen knives. I knew that I didn’t want a big block of knives and after some more research I found out from the professionals that I only needed 3 knives.

1. A chef’s knife. I really wanted a Santoku knife for this. The santoku knife is a modified variation of the chef’s knife with origins from Japan. It has a finer edge which allows for finer precision-cutting. The blade width and weight usually matches that of the handle so if feels more balanced in the hand. It is also made from harder tempered steel. It is shorter, lighter, and easier for smaller hands (like mine). I also love the divots on the sides of the blade that help prevent the vegetables from sticking to the knife.
I got this one for $34.99 at CSN Stores Cookware.com

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• Light weight and long blade make it great for cooks with larger hands and frequent big chopping jobs
• High carbon stainless-steel blade provides maximum sharpness and edge retention; conical ground through length and depth for a wider break point
• Blade stamped from cold-rolled steel; bolsterless edge for use of entire blade and ease of sharpening
• Patented Fibrox handles are textured, slip resistant, and ergonomically designed for balance and comfort; NSF approved
• Hand washing recommended; lifetime warranty against manufacturer defects; expertly made in Switzerland

Product DescriptionThis HR Förschner chef knife by Victorinox has a record of 10 inches which is 2. width of 25 inches to handle. high-carbon stainless steel and is hand finished in Switzerland Victorinox in skilled craftsmen. A special tempering process is used to produce a benefit that can sharpen again and again, so the knife can keep its original sharpness throughout the length of the blade. Victorinox are ergonomically designed to minimize wrist ten. . . More>>

Victorinox Cutlery10-Inch Chef’s Knife, Black Fibrox Handle

A 3 piece chef knives set made by the hugely popular brand Global, this set contains 3 really useful chef knives; a 20cm Cooks Knife (G2), a 11cm Kitchen Knife (GS1) and a 15cm flexible bladed Utility Knife (GS11).]

As is the standard for Global knives all the knives in the set are made from the finest stainless steel and are weighted to be perfectly balanced in the hand.

This Japanese brand is loved by both professional chefs and enthusiastic amateurs for both its beauty and razor sharp blades that stays sharper for longer. Makes the perfect gift for your wife, husband, friend or partner but makes an equally fabulous present for you!

£159.95 with Free Shipping

Available at Amazon : Wusthof Gourmet 14-Piece Knife Block Set Features

• Wüsthof Gourmet set includes 13 knives/utensils and 17-slot oak block
• Includes: 3-inch paring; 4-1/2-inch utility; 7-inch santoku; 7-inch cook’s; 8-inch bread; 6 4-1/2-inch steak; shears; 9-inch sharpening steel
• Knives laser-cut from high-carbon, stain-resistant German steel
• Full-tang, high-impact 3-rivet handles
• Made in Solingen, Germany; wash cutlery by hand

Wusthof Gourmet 14-Piece Knife Block Set Overview

Craftsmanship has been a tradition at Wusthof for over 190 years. Quality and precision have always been the standard that we measure our knife by. Our Gourmet line of stamped German Knives take precision to a new level. Each knife in this line is actually cut from a piece of high carbon German steel using a laser beam to make an exact a perfect blade. The Gourmet 14 piece set has a very functional assortment of Gourmet knives. The set includes 3 inch parer, 4.5 inch utility, 7 inch santoku, 8″ bread, 7″ cooks, a quantity of 6 4.5inch steak knives, a kitchen shear, 9″ sharpening steel and a 17 slot block.

Wusthof Gourmet 14-Piece Knife Block Set Review

El juego de cuchillos es muy bueno. Son comodos para usar y tienen un excelente desempeño. las tijeras y cuchillo para pan son excelentes.

Considero que por el precio y las condiciones son una excelente compra.

Available at Amazon :

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