Cuisine Treasures Page 3

Kitchen novice? With these handy-dandy implements, you'll be ready for the Food Network in no time.

Photography: Alexandra Grablewski.

Every cook has a tool he or she can’t live without. Here’s what three TV chefs told us.

	Paula Deen, the star of Food Network’s Paula’s Home Cooking, loves her stirring spoon. ”Like a good seasoned skillet, my grandmother’s wooden spoon adds that special something to everything I make, whether it’s a pot of chili or oyster stew. Call me sentimental, but it’s about function. No kitchen should be without an all-purpose, classic wooden spoon.”
	Ingrid Hoffmann, star of the Food Network show Simply Delicioso, said that her personal fave is her green lime squeezer. “I use it for everything. Besides juicing limes beautifully, it multitasks as a hammer, meat flattener and shoe horn, and most recently when I couldn’t find my eyelash curler I warmed it on the stove ever so slightly and curled my lashes with it.” —Nicole Trifilio
	The host of American Public Television’s Simply Ming, Ming Tsai loves his Kyocera mandolin, a slicing tool that stands on its own. “I’m good at cutting with my knife, but when I’m cooking at home with my wife, we’ll both use this mandolin to make consistent, beautiful slices. I use it to prep ingredients for stir fry; it makes everything super thin so vegetables cook up quickly—a big advantage when you have two hungry children waiting to eat!”