KITCHEN TOOLS- Bowls

Mixing Bowls

One of the most used, least thought about tools in the kitchen sits there on the shelf, waiting to do your bidding....the mixing bowl.
Between garage sales, finding and inheriting, I've managed to assemble a nice variety of stainless steels....and to be honest, some of the large ones have an infamous past-as weigh room bowls at Dennis Peron's SFCBC and the San Francisco Patients' Cooperative. 

If those bowls could talk!

Having a variety makes a big difference; sometimes you need a high-walled flat bottom bowl, sometimes you need a shallow one....it all depends on what you're trying to do.

The most common mistake when it comes to these tools?  It seems to be choosing the wrong size for the job.

Stirring is very physical work...be it whisking, spooning or using a hand mixer.  Things are bound to splash over the sides-unless you took that into account when choosing your bowl.  Make sure it's big enough...and by that I mean bigger than what you're working with. Your bowl choice should be about two times larger.

That may sound like a lot, until you figure that you are adding other ingredients and will be mixing them all around a few times before you're done.

I like stainless steel...it doesn't break, it doesn't stain.  It's also great for chilling dough in a hurry.  The large ones make great salad servers, and are absolutely THE thing for mixing double and triple batches of cookie dough!  The uses are endless!

So make sure when setting up your kitchen you take a few moments and really select the right bowls...and enough of them.  1 extra large, 1 large or 2 large, an assortment of mid-size and a few small ones. They don't have to be stainless, that's my own personal preference.

If you have any suggestions or comments please feel free to send them along!