Customer Reviews

Alton Brown's Gear for Your Kitchen

5 star:		(71)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Don't buy this book if you're looking for recommendations on which brands of applicances to buy -- even Alton Brown would admit that you're better off checking out "Cook's Illustrated" or "Consumer Reports" for that. What this book is brilliant for is the explanations of what the most commonly used kitchen tools do and don't (and can and can't) do and how they work, along with the practical tips for picking the items that suit your needs best. Alton Brown does, from time to time, make specific recommendations, but he tells you why he likes those items so that you can accept or reject them on the merits. Also it should be noted that some of his recommendations run contrary to what he recommends for baking in "I'm Just Here for More Food," so if you bake a lot, you might want to read that book as well before shopping for items such as scales and mixers that are used in both cooking and baking. "Gear For Your Kitchen" covers items used in both, but emphasizes cooking.

Alton covers each type of equipment thoroughly, explaining, for instance, what types of pans are good for different types of cooking applications, and what are the various properties of the different materials out of which they are made. So not only do you end up understanding the diffference between a sauce pan and a saucier, you can figure out whether clad metal or copper is your best bet. This same type of treatment is given for knives, small appliances, etc.

But my favorite part of the book has to do with sanitation and storage. The explanations of why certain sanitary measures need to be taken are coupled with easy ways to do it. I couldn't get a frozen enchilada smell out of my microwave oven until I mixed water and bleach in the proportions Alton recommends in a plastic spray bottle. So simple and obvious and yet...

While reading this (cover to cover in practically one sitting -- it's that readable) I found myself enjoying Alton's humorous descriptions, numerous photos and drawings. But I've found myself going back to the book as a handy reference for ingenious ways to use items I already have and ideas for shopping more intelligently.

Since buying this book I've cleared out and reorganized my kitchen and even though I bought a lot more stuff after reading this book, I have more space and am able to use it more efficiently.

Thanks Alton!

The top five (5) reasons for reading Alton Brown's GEAR For Your Kitchen are:

1. The tabulation of types of `Pots and Pans' materials, their advantages, disadvantages, and relative costs. This chapter alone is worth the price of admission. This section will not save you money except for its advice on non-stick pans. All sources I've seen from Mario Batali to AB agree on not spending a lot for Teflon ® lined pans, except be sure to get them with oven proof handles for making frittatas.
2. The thoughtful discussion of knife design and how different design features are important, or not important for different cutting tasks. This section will save you money, unless you are a knife freak.
3. The discussion of most major types of gear, which give you the features you should find most desirable. You may not agree with AB's choices, but he tells you how to make the choice which is best for you.
4. The essay on kitchen sanitation. This is one of many areas where the home cook can learn from professional chefs' practice. I'll bet that even Martha Stewart is not as careful as Alton recommends, and I plan to begin following his recommendations immediately. Note that one can make a little game of finding all the oblique references to Martha Stewart in the book. I've found four (4).
5. The explanation of accuracy versus precision in evaluating measuring devices, especially weighing devices. Being a former chemist, I would argue that AB gives too little credit to the role of the balance, although I concede that using it in the kitchen does require both extra space and special knowledge the average chef may not have.

To the book's credit, it has a wealth of references to actual makes and models, while I have detected no bias to any one manufacturer, in spite of some gratuitous general kudos to OXO. AB's opinions are based on a thorough and thoughtful use of kitchen tools over many years, so his opinions are much better than your Aunt Ida, no matter how good her apple pie may be. However, I take some with a grain of salt. I would not dismiss springform pans unless I heard both Maida Heatter and Nick Malgieri gave them up.

Another minor nit I would pick is in his use of the term multitasking. In computer science, where the word was born, it means the ability to do two things in parallel, not two different things in series! I would especially disagree with some of the uses to which he puts a rolling pin, as some secondary uses may lead to nicks which may harbor microbeasties and impair it function. The solution of sanding said roller may give it an uneven shape. Tsk Tsk.

This book is much better than his first, since it addresses in a comprehensive way a subject which is only dealt with in a very piecemeal way by any other source, including Cooks Illustrated. His first book was just another collection of recipes with humor and some (occasionally) misleading science.

"Gear for your Kitchen" provides a fairly in-depth discussion on the whys and hows of choosing various sorts of kitchen implements, from cutlery to pans to small appliances. Alton Brown uses his sense of humor to help present this information in a book that is truly easy and pleasurable to read. There is another book of this nature, a very large and diverse treatise, which attempts to showcase all the various sorts of kitchen gear available to the home cook. But unlike "Gear" it doesn't provide the information that we really need to choose our cookware.

What is great about this book is that in addition to giving actual suggestions of specific products for various sorts of implements, it also goes into great detail to show you how to choose items that will work for you. Brown is careful to highlight areas where paying more money isn't likely in your best interest (e.g. the non-stick fry pans as mentioned in another review, for instance) and where it is (e.g. cutlery).

The goal of having the smallest set of kitchen wear to do all the cooking you need to do is a running theme in this book. In addition to a suggested exercise in minimizing your current kitchen implements, there are many suggestions on how you can use items for tasks other than they are intended, instead of buying specialty pieces (e.g. using the bottom of a heavy fry pan in the place of a meat pounder).

This book is a great resource for cooks of all sorts, from beginners to those with years of experience. It will make a great gift for those people who are just starting out on their own!

About a year or so ago I finally gave up. All my knives were dull. All my pans were warped and flaking. All my appliances were not working as I wanted. I decided that I enjoyed cooking, but avoided it because of my equipment. I decided I'd start buying only stuff that'd last a life time or until something better came out.

It started with picking up some Wusthof knives, one every couple months. Then I started getting some new small appliances, and now I'm on to pans. I've cleaned out my "junk" drawer of unitaskers and replaced them with quality instruments.

The bad news, if I had Alton's book, I would have saved a lot of time on research. The good news is, I did fairly well on my own.

I admire Alton and this book in particular for two reason: He's innovative with his tools so that the least number of items can do the most tasks. I used to have four different garlic tools. I now I have one -- a knife. Also, a cooking tool doesn't have to come from a cooking store. Second, I enjoy how Alton doesn't shy from naming names, both the good and bad. In most parts of the book, he explains exactly what he thinks you should have and why. It's up to you if that sounds good to you.

A nice little plus is he gives recipes demonstrating some of the gear he discusses. So when you go out and buy something new, you can try it out.

You'll see a lot of this book on his shows. This is probably what this book is best at, a reference for the TV show. The book is not an authoritative look at what pan is best for this or that, or whatever. Cook's Illustrated is probably a better source for this. This is more of an overview of information. Some parts are more in-depth than others. I get the impression that the book was written from Alton's memory. In other words, Alton relied on past research and experience to write this book without going the extra steps to be more in-depth or complete. Some items are better researched and more in-depth than others, which illustrates this point. If it's important to Alton, he knows it front and back and has tested various products. If not, you just get a rough guide of what to look for.

In short, this book is basically Alton's view on cooking tools, which certainly is impressive, but I would not recommend making this book a shopping list. I don't agree with everything in the book, but it does arm you with enough information to know what you're doing at the store. Case in point, I'm looking for a new roasting pan. Alton incorrectly states that the All-Clad has an aluminum core -- it's only stainless steel. While certainly a quality pan, I'm looking for a more affordable alternative since the big thing with All-Clad is the aluminum core. Alton comes into play on what I specifically want: A stainless steel (non-reactive) pan that is heavy enough to de-glaze on the stove. In this case, I'm looking past Alton's strong product recommendation, but I know exactly what I want and why.

Alton's books and shows made me aware of my neglect for food safety. Some great tips in there. The kitchen truly is the most danger room in the house.

If you enjoy Alton's show and his tips for gear, you'll like this book, even if you've seen every episode. At the very least you'll have something to reference. For everyone else, I'd say page through it at a book store and look up topic you're familiar with. If you agree with what he says, buy it. You'll probably agree with everything else.

My fellow reviewers who agreed that this book is worth 5 stars have probably said what I feel better than I could. In a nutshell, this is an excellent resource to have on hand to learn which tools you really need for YOUR kitchen....not Alton's.

The six-month "purge" in the beginning of the book is worth the price of the book alone. It's such a simple technique but it's laid out in such logical detail that anyone who does this will know immediately how much space and money they've wasted on kitchen trinkets, cheap and expensive alike.

The section on cookware is an excellent resource for people who are scraping by on whatever cookware they got from their mother or from the local superstore. It'll help you choose the cookware (and individual pieces) that are best suited for YOU.
I also found his information on cutlery selection to be valuable.

Also, Brown doesn't automatically lean toward the idea that "expensive is better". In fact, he seems refreshingly honest when he tells you that superior tools can often be bought cheaper than at a restaurant supply store. One example is that he opts to use a trowel from the local hardware store rather than buy an expensive "pie server" from one of the houseware vendors.

In other areas, he's candid enough to say, "Hey, this is going to last you a lifetime and if you buy the cheapo, you're going to regret it."

Overall, I thought it was refreshingly honest, thorough and -- well, just plain fun to read.

Regarding the the person who said that "$28 was too much" for a book that "wasn't very big", I'm not sure what the complaint was. Although the book is 200+ pages, well-written and wonderfully designed, that's not even the pragmatic point of the book. It's this: knowing the information in this book will save you a heck of alot more than $28 when buying the RIGHT kitchen gear instead of wasting money on stuff you don't need or shouldn't own. If it does that.....well, in my opinion, it's done its job.

Plus, even if someone knows alot of this stuff, it's a good gift item for the chef/cook in YOUR life. Buy two and give one as a gift!

I'm a hobby cook and also a gadget-junkie, so I was delighted to discover this book by one of my favorite people on the Food Network. Brown covers much more than simply can-openers and veggie-peelers, though. His topical chapters cover pots and pans, storage containers, small miscellaneous utensils, safety items, "sharp things," and "small things with plugs," and perhaps the best way to read the book is to browse from the beginning and then read his descriptions, comments, and opinions on certain items as they come to mind. I'm a regular reader of the consumer tests in COOK'S ILLUSTRATED, too, and I think Brown and Christopher Kimball would agree in many ways on what makes a particular tool useful and what features to look for among the products available. Brown's judgments are admittedly personal but he explains them very clearly. Not everything must be specially purchased, either; he recommends a length of dental floss for cutting slices of soft cheese, and he boils eggs in an electric kettle that automatically turns itself off when it reaches a boil. (Great idea!) The book's page design is also quite nice, with good photos and drawings of the tools he discusses, side discussions and tips highlighted in color, and lots of open space. All his sources appear at the back of the book. I certainly hope he does a revised and updated edition in about five years.

How interesting can a book on kitchen implements be? I have always loved kitchen gadgets and machines, and although I'm the one who drags my wife through the kitchenware sections of stores, I still asked this question about this book. Well, it is a very interesting book, and I wish I had read this before buying most of what's in my kitchen.

Alton Brown is the host of the Food Network show GOOD EATS. The show was first brought to my attention by a local radio morning show DJ. Alton is a sort of combination of Julia Childs and Mr. Wizard with a little wackiness of Jeff Corwin thrown in. After quickly getting addicted to the show, I wondered if Alton had any books, and my search led me to GEAR FOR YOUR KITCHEN.

In the short time I've been watching the show, he's twice lifted his fire extinguisher and said, "This is the only unitasker in my kitchen." That philosophy permeates this book. You will also find that he will often use non-kitchen tools if he feels they perform the task better. He serves pie with a masonry trowel and scapes dough with a drywall taping knife.

He's not afraid to name names, which is extremely beneficial and not often seen in books (Don't want to upset potential advertisers!). So instead of just describing what to look for in an item, he tells you what item(s) meets those requirements. Of course, this risks making the book quickly dated. He is also not afraid to say what items he's abandoned when they were poorly "updated," such as now recommending the Kitchenaid food processor over his once-favorite Cuisinart because Cuisinart changed the toggle switch to a membrane switch. Hopefully, some of the revelation will guide the manufacturers to provide better products.

The book is very easy to read, and reads like listening to the author on his show. The layout is very attractive. The book is punctuated with interesting sidebars giving historical information on the materials and products. There are actually a handful of recipes using the tools described in that section. For example, the section on food processors includes a recipe for Hummus. The book is full of photos of recommended items. There is a several-page table on cooking utensil materials: what they are, what they're good for, and what they're not. Some of these sidebars and tables are very appealing to an engineer like me (Alton Brown, in general, probably appeals to engineers like me), but may be boring to others. You can skip many of them without much damage.

Chapters are Pots and Pans, Sharp Things (knives and slicers), Small Things with Plugs (electric countertop kitchen appliances), Kitchen Tools Unplugged (pretty much any tool that doesn't fall into the other categories), Storage and Containment, and a potentially ho-hum chapter on Safety and Sanitation, which wasn't so bad. I could probably benefit from this last chapter, although (famous last words) I've never gotten sick from anything I made in my kitchen. It's harder explaining to my wife why I'm buying spray bottles and squeegees.

I can offer a few suggestions for improvements. Mainly, additional illustrations are needed to help describe differences in some items. He could use diagrams to describe different kinds of pots and pans, different turners and spatulas, and the different whisks. He does this very thing describing different kinds of knives and the parts of the knives, but falls down on the job in the other sections. There are text descriptions like "straight sides," "curved sides," "flared sides," "sides that curve outward," "they all have an offset angle built into them either at the tip or in the handle," and others. It can be hard to conceive in your mind (or maybe it's really simple, and I'm just messed up because I'm an engineer and he's not describing what plane he's working in, what line he's referring the angle to, etc.) By "straight sides" does he mean "vertical?"

And p. 192 confuses me. Alton insists there is a difference between turners and spatulas, but under "Wide, Solid Turner," he describes a particular product he owns, and there is a photo of it with a caption that clearly describes it as the same item, but calls it a "spatula." Furthermore, the next section, "Cake Spatulas," the first describing spatulas, refers to "the spatula described above." Ugh. Which is it? Are spatulas and turners the same or not?

OK. Minor point.

Mr. Brown does concedes that there may be a few good unitaskers, and admits to owning a few, but only if they do a job you need a done a lot, and it does it very well. Oh...and he does discuss fire extinguishers.

I don't think I'll personally purchase this book since it is in the my local library, and it's not something I think I'll have to refer to frequently. However, if you don't have access to it, or want to keep it around for the recipes (or have an unlimited book budget and bookcase space), I'd highly recommend purchasing GEAR FOR YOUR KITCHEN.

Nominated this year for another James Beard Award (for Tools and Techniques), Alton Brown has yet another gem for all to enjoy, "Gear For Your Kitchen". In this wonderful gem, Alton Brown explains how you can declutter your kitchen within 60 days and stock your kitchen with useful tools that you will actually use!

As any "Good Eats" fan will tell you, Alton Brown believes in "multi-taskers." His logic is: Why have a yogurt maker when you only use it once a year? Instead, he shows us, on one of his shows, how he utilizes a heating pad and a couple of canisters to achieve the same results.

Not only does he suggest unusual items for your kitchen (a cigar cutter to chop chives), but he also recommends traditional items. He explains the process with which one should consider before purchasing any item. He does explain how he chose that certain coffee maker, but he explains how we need to figure out which one is best for us.

Being as he is forever in search of a great utensil or appliance, he is quick to point out which items are more difficult to clean, and not worth buying, and which ones are worth buying. In the section devoted purely to pots and pans, he explains each metal used for cooking, the best uses for that metal, how to care for it and the good and bad points with each metal.

Instead of purchasing that expensive imported terra-cotta cookware, he suggests (with diagrams) on how to create your own cookware from flowerpots...I mean, they are both made from the same material. Why pay more because one says "cookware"?

And he doesn't stop there. He also helps his readers by helping them select safety and sanitation supplies for their kitchens!

And if you thought that was not enough, he has a large resource section, in the back of the book, where he recommends some excellent places to purchase your items, either through mail, telephone or Internet!

This book is complete with Alton Brown's sense of humor, wit and enthusiasm. He is one of the only people out there creating books for people who never went to culinary school. I appreciate his thoroughness, and recommend this book to all new cooks, and for the more seasoned chefs as well.

My husband bought me this book (along with the newest set of the Good Eats DVDs). Initially, I didn't think that this book would be for me even though Good Eats is one of my favorite shows. As interesting as Alton Brown is, I didn't think that a book just about kitchen tools would be interesting. Then I started reading it. AB has such a unique way of writing that I was instantly mesmerized. It makes me want to go through my kitchen and purge all the unitaskers I've accumulated over the years. I will get there, though it may take a while. As an added bonus, he includes quite a few interesting recipes (that correspond to the gear he is talking about). I will never again doubt AB. In my opinion, he's the best there is in the cooking world.

This book is a big help to any fledgling foodie, especially those who don't have Food Network and can't watch "Good Eats". Alton covers all manner of tools and gear, giving examples of what each is good for, what they're not good for, and recipes that make use of them. He can help you decide what you really need for your style of cooking and level of expertise.

For example, he tells you what to look for when buying knives, blenders, baking dishes, etc. He's not shy about telling you which brands and models of products he likes and uses, although they tend to be top-end, expensive ones. But he gives you enough information that if you buy a less expensive product, you get good quality, and your money's worth.

As with any Alton Brown project, this book has science, lots of humor, and funky diagrams and pictures. It's an enjoyable read, and a book you'll find yourself thumbing through whenever you think you need to buy another gadget or two from Amazon.