Rimmed baking sheets

 I love my rimmed baking sheets.  Pictured above are half sheet and a quarter sheet.  They are the perfect size for just about anything.  

As you can see, I have a lot of them.  I use mine a lot so they are scuffed up and show signs of use, but they're still shiny and beautiful.

The quarter baking sheets are the perfect size for roasting vegetables, roasting a whole fish (mmm, branzino), and most things for two people, really.  I also use them for prep work.  They hold vegetables, raw meats, cooked meats, everything.  And because I have a lot of them, I just keep pulling them out which keeps things sanitary.

I use the half baking sheets for cooking, prepping, roasting, and broiling -- like Chinese ribs.  When I'm frying chicken, I lay out all the brined chicken pieces on a rack to drip off their buttermilk so I can easily sprinkle the spice mixture.  When we throw parties, they provide heavy duty support holding food in various stages of prep.  I keep the little plastic stands we get with fresh pasta so I can stack the trays in the fridge.

The only bummer about these baking sheets is that they don't go into the dishwasher.  I mean, they could go in the dishwasher.  I've put them in there before.  But then they lose their luster, and they get a little funky in color.  They still cook just fine.  They don't flake like aluminum baking sheets.  So it's handwashing for these babies.  But that's a small trade-off for their versatility.  And if they ever get grimy, you can shine 'em up again with baking soda and peroxide.

I bought mine at a restaurant supply store.  Costco seems to be carrying them now, too.  You want to be sure you are getting thick good quality ones.  Bad ones will buckle when they heat up, which is bad for just about anything that is on them.  Cooks Illustrated speaks highly of the Vollrath ones, if you need a brand to look for.

Salt cellars

Salt is crucial to cooking.  It can make the difference between mediocre food and food that is really satisfying and delicious.  Some people say they don't use salt when cooking like it's a badge of honor.  It's not.  Your body needs salt.  It's when you eat food with no salt that you look around for something to satisfy the leftover blandness, and you turn to snacks or sugar.  

In 2015, we renovated our kitchen.  When I put everything away, the countertops were left as bare as I possible, with spatulas, whisks, spiders, and tongs next to the stove in their crocks and a Ball jar of tasting spoons.  

Salt is such a critical part of cooking that I decided to invest in a good solid pepper mill -- Peugeot, no question! said my culinary friend -- and some quality salt cellars.  I commissioned some salt cellars from Doc's Woodturning, from which we have happily bought cheese boards and salad bowls from Peachtree Road Farmers Market in the past.  I requested that each cellar be a different wood so that I could tell the difference between them.  I love the swivel tops that close with a little magnetic click.  

These cellars now hold my more often used salts -- starting bottom left, clockwise: kosher, grey, fleur de sel, and maldon.

The critical piece about salting is knowing how much to use.  I use kosher salt as my every day salt.  I use what I call "restaurant salting" which means I use more than you think you should.  I salt using the three-finger pinch method that most cooks use and evenly distribute the salt over the target.  Some people salt from on high -- like eight inches above something like a chicken that will be roasted.  They claim it helps ensure even distribution.  I think this just makes a larger mess.  Over time, you'll get better at evenly distributing and knowing how much salt is right.  

I use grey salt for salting meats (thank you, Michael Chiarello) and fleur de sel or Maldon salt for finishing.  I learned to cook with Morton's iodized salt.  Use what you feel comfortable with.

We buy grey salt, dry it out in an oven at 200 degrees, and then grind it with a mortar and pestle so it's more fine.  I use fleur de sel when I want a nice crunch or Maldon when it's more subtle.  Maldon is a big flake salt so it crunches a little less.

I used to make fun of people with a lot of different types of salts.  But salt really does make a difference,  Use what you like.  If you get comfortable with using one, try another.  Or don't.  Just make sure whatever you are salting tastes good.