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The best gadget to make you more confident in the kitchen
It should be a sharp knife, but that’s not really a gadget
As both a professional chef and home cook for over 20 years, my absolute favorite kitchen gadget for cooking more whole food is the box grater.
It makes quick work of almost any chopping task, and is especially helpful if you don’t yet have great knife skills. I have had a grater forever, but when I started to eat more vegetables from my local farm share box, I realized that I would go to my box grater, time and time again.
When I moved in with my husband, he already had one, so I figured I would just decide which one I liked better, but it turns out that I could easily use three. Which would be fine, because they are very inexpensive. You can pick up a stainless steel version for less than $15 or splurge for the Microplane for just under $40. The Microplane uses a photo-etching process on each hole that makes it really sharp, but I have only used the stainless type, and find it works just fine.
I do like one of my graters over the other because in addition to the large holes, it has small holes that I prefer over the spikey side that is meant to grate Parmesan cheese, like it comes in the can. (By the way, never buy a shelf stable dairy product, these should be avoided most…
