Christina's Cucina

An impassioned Italian Scot sharing how to cook authentically, and travel with enthusiasm.

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Home » Non Sequitur » My Rants & Recommendations » Things I Love! (Honestly, if I don’t have these things, I break out in a rash…)

Things I Love! (Honestly, if I don’t have these things, I break out in a rash…)

October 29th, 2011 | 13 Comments

Update 2018: (This is one of my VERY first posts when I had even LESS of a clue what I was doing on here!)

A list of things I love in my kitchen.

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First is my Diamond Crystal Kosher salt, yes, there is a difference in brands. I have tried others, and I don’t like them.  I use this for all my cooking, and actually do use it for Koshering meat, too.

kosher salt gourmet cooking diamond crystal

Next is my Lodge Logic 5 qt cast iron Dutch oven for making my no knead bread. Totally worth buying this item, just for baking bread!

Lodge cast iron pot

 

Then there’s Better Than Bouillon, which exactly describes itself. No MSG and tons of flavor; I prefer the reduced sodium version. Comes in lots of flavors, but I stick to the chicken and beef bases for soups like Leek and Potato, Cream of Broccoli, and Spinach Soup.

better than bouillon reduced sodium chicken base beef flavor natural ingredient

Another kitchen “must have” is a stick blender (immersion blender).  The time and effort it saves is phenomenal! I use it for blending up tinned tomatoes to make spaghetti sauce, and it’s fantastic for soup blending directly in the pot (no blender use or washing necessary). Made lumpy gravy? No problem, stick blender to the rescue (and no one has to know about your lumps)!

stick blender kitchen aid things I love
The nice thing about this is the bottom half releases for easy cleaning.

If you are wondering what the contraption below is for, and you love to bake and decorate cakes, you are in for a wonderful surprise! It’s another one of the things I love in my kitchen.

This inexpensive little cake slicer helps you make the most professional looking cakes so easily.

Just adjust the wire to the height you want the cake layer to be, whether it’s cutting a cake in half or just leveling the top so that it is completely flat and even, then saw through the cake; the results are fabulous!

I used to use a knife, but never was able to get the layers completely even, now all my cakes look perfect!

cake slicer leveler things I love

Super fresh garlic makes such a difference in all your dishes-try to buy it at a local farmer’s market.  It will last a long time in your fridge, so its not something you have to buy constantly.

Make sure you are not buying garlic from China (rules are too lax) which I have seen in stores quite frequently. Not to mention the fact that the world’s garlic capital is Gilroy, California. Why are we importing garlic from China in the first place? Fresh garlic is definitely one of my top favorite things I love in my kitchen!

garlic homegrown must have kitchen ingredient things I love
My Mummy’s homegrown garlic…isn’t it pretty?

This is one of my greatest loves: vinegar.  However, Sasso* vinegar surpasses all other store-bought vinegars which I have ever tasted.

I grabbed a bottle off the shelf on my last trip to Italy (I couldn’t help myself) and little did I know it would taste almost as good as my uncles’ homemade vinegar (sorry, Zio Carmine and Zio Sabatino.)

This baby’s 7.1% acidity is partly why it’s so amazing, but unfortunately this vinegar is very hard to find. After years of researching this (not kidding,) as far as I know, IB Foods on the East Coast is the only place left which still sells it in the US.

*UPDATE: I found SASSO vinegar at my local Claro’s Italian Market! I’m jumping for joy! (2/1/2015)

aceto di vino red wine vinegar things I love
You can’t tell I LOVE it, can you?

Last, but not at all least, is my handy-dandy ISI cream whipper. There’s a long story behind why I first got this gadget, but just trust me, its an amazing thing! It’s definitely not a “must-have” for every kitchen, but it is a thing of joy for a cream lover! And the one in the box is a spare, for when my black one dies–I swear! You can see how I used it for the cream in my Semlor.

semla

The best part about this whipper is it puts SO much air into the cream, you feel as if you are eating a big serving of cream, when in fact it’s mostly air! Therefore, big satisfaction with low-calorie intake! The cream lasts about a week in the whipper in the refrigerator.

isi cream whipper healthy dessert is one of the things I love

I would advise against buying a 1/2 pint model (mine are 1 pint) because you will use twice as many N2O cartridges.

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Christina’s Cucina is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

things I love

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My Rants & Recommendations · better than bouillon, cake leveler, cake slicer, fresh garlic, ISI whipper, Kitchenaid stick blender, Lodge Logic cast iron dutch oven pot, professional cakes, SASSO vinegar

Reader Interactions

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  1. — Christina’s 2020 Holiday Gift Guide — (Focus on Small Businesses) & an iSi Gourmet Whip Giveaway! - Christina's Cucina says:
    December 2, 2020 at 11:33 am

    […] my favorite companies to give away a one pint iSi Gourmet Whipper ($165 value)! This is a product I’ve owned for close to 20 years (after a trip to Germany and a bakery there)! However, I’ve just upgraded to the Gourmet […]

    Reply
  2. A Few of Christina's Favorite Things- (Items I Reach for Numerous Times a Day) - Christina's Cucina says:
    August 4, 2018 at 12:47 am

    […] that works like a charm, it makes me want to jump for joy! When I first started this site, I shared a few of my favorite things, and readers seemed to really like it. I haven’t posted one since, so I decided it was […]

    Reply

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Meet Christina

A Scottish Italian cook living in Los Angeles, Christina is usually cooking, baking or (cr)eating something scrumptious. When she isn't in the kitchen, she loves to travel, near and far, as long as good food is involved. Christina is on a mission to save authentic Italian dishes from extinction, and is constantly promoting Scottish (and British) food as some of the best cuisine the world has to offer—one steak pie and sticky toffee pudding at a time.



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