Gear up
It’s still technically October and you’ve got ghosts and goblins to fend off this week so I’m keeping the lists short. You’ve already sent the invitations, ordered the turkey, and done an inventory of your kitchen. This is a good week to start filling in the gaps and to that end I’ve compiled a list of the equipment you’ll likely want to have on hand. I always treat Thanksgiving as an opportunity to splurge on that bit of kitchen kit I’ve had my eye on, you should feel free to beg, borrow, or steal from your extended network.
Thing you must do this week
- Get the gear you need. Based on your kitchen inventory from last week, you should start to have an idea of what you need to pull off dinner. I’ve compiled a list below of what a well-stocked kitchen will contain, most of this stuff I bet you either have already or know someone who does. Don’t stress too much about it, this is meant to be a guide not a must-haves.
Thing you should do this week
- Account for dietary needs. A group of people gathering together to eat means there are going to be a range of preferences and requirements. Whether it’s grandma’s boyfriend getting sucked into the latest suspicious fad on instagram or your cousin the lifelong vegan, start to think about how to handle the full range of eaters. In my experience, vegetarians appreciate the effort that goes into making a main instead of just relegating them to sides and if you can make a gluten-full pie crust, you can pull off a gluten-free one. Update your living document with any special dietary needs and take note of ingredients.
Thing you might consider doing this week
- Roast a chicken. It’s not exactly true to say a turkey is just a big chicken, but there’s a lot of similarity. Especially if you’ve never roasted a whole bird before, give it a go. You’ll have a chance to familiarize yourself with the anatomy, the difference between the light and dark meats, and if you can carve a chicken, a turkey will be second nature. Remove the backbone and butterfly (ok fine spatchcock) the bird for practice and make soup with the leftover carcass.
If you’ve spent any time on the internet over the past decade, you know how these lists work. They’re affiliate links, which means I get a kickback for linking to (mostly) Amazon and you don’t pay a penny more. Not the worst online business model in existence but, you know. Capitalism. So I’ll make a deal with you: if you need something on this list and decide to buy it from here, I will donate all of the loot to our Feeding America page. If you just want to print this out and head to your local kitchen supply store, that’s fine too (you can always just donate to Feeding America directly!) And if you don’t need anything, please don’t feel the need to buy anything just because it’s on a list.
I’ve broken this down into what I consider necessary and optional and tried to provide a range of price points where applicable.
Necessary
- Apron — an apron is the first thing you should put on before you start cooking. A few years ago I noticed everyone seemed to be wearing these Hedley & Bennet jobs, with their distinctive ampersand and cross-back straps. They’re nice aprons and also ninety dollars. My personal daily driver is a selvedge denim one handmade in California by Gustin — I like these colorful options as well. (Use this referral code to save $15 on your order from Gustin)
- Nordic Ware sheet pans and wire racks — sheet pans are a must have not just for roasting and baking but also for keeping your ingredients organized. Nordic Ware makes the best and, lucky for us, they’re super reasonably priced, hold up under high heat, and last forever.
- Full sheet pan ($38 for two) — a full sheet pan almost certainly won’t fit in your oven but it’s perfect for helping to organize your kitchen counter workstation. The extra size means you can hold a full turkey while you season it or as a base for your cutting board when it comes to carving time that will guarantee no turkey juice sluices all over the counter.
- Half sheet pan ($22 for two) — this is probably what you’re thinking of when you think sheet pan and likely have a few already. If yours don’t have high sides or tend to buckle when you use them, consider these an upgrade.
- Quarter sheet pan ($22 for two) — I love these for prep work and they easily fit into the fridge.
- Wire rack ($18)— these racks are perfect for elevating a turkey while it roasts to help make sure it cooks evenly and work great as a cooling rack as well. They’re a bit gnarly to clean, even in the dishwasher, but a good soak helps.
- Meat thermometer — the only way to know if your turkey is properly cooked is with an instant read thermometer. Thermoworks makes the best — the Thermopop is a very reasonably priced entry model option that I’ve literally given as “gifts” to anyone whose kitchen I’ll be using and the Thermapen ONE is the gold standard with half-dgree accuracy and one-second read times.
- ThermoWorks Thermopop ($35)
- ThermoWorks Thermapen ONE ($71)
- Cutting boards — I have a giant Boos butcher block that sits permanently affixed on next to my stove top but whenever I need to actually cut food, I haul out one of several plastic cutting boards I’ve used over the years. Especially when it comes to meat and poultry, I prefer the food safety and ease of cleanup of a plastic board. This one from OXO is big enough to carve a turkey, but don’t expect those drip catchers to really do anything — if you want to prevent the dreaded liquid spillage, put the board inside a full sheet pan.
- Chef’s knife — A chef’s knife is deeply personal and my recommendation is to always go try one out in the store, to feel it in your hand, before you lay out what is often significant cash. That said, there are a few big names that I recommend starting with
- Global 7” Stainless Steel Chef’s Knife ($70) — this was one of the first “gifts” I gave my now-wife once I decided I’d be spending a bit more time at her place.
- WÜSTOF Classic 8” Chef’s Knife ($148) — yes, ours is a Japanese and German knife household
- Victorinox Fibrox 6” Chef’s Knife ($22) — walk into any professional kitchen and you are much more likely to find one of these workhorses than just about anything else. The fibrox handle is NSF certified to help reduce slippage, the stamped stainless blade holds an edge, and you can throw it (gently!) in the dishwasher without worrying. Not an heirloom to pass down through the generations, just a solid knife that will see you through.
- Mesh Strainers — you will need to separate the liquids from the solids in a variety of ways, this set of fine mesh strainers fill serve all of them.
- Pie plates — bakers will debate endlessly over whether to use glass (so you can see if the bottom is done), ceramic (for the finished aesthetic), or aluminum (maximum heat conductivity). Personally, I’m an aluminum pie guy as I’ve found it’s the most consistent and this one from Nordic Ware includes a righteous dome to keep your pie protected.
- Nordic Ware Aluminum Hi-Dome Covered Pie Pan ($26)
- Pyrex Glass 9” Pie Plate ($22 for two)
- Emile Henry 9” Ceramic Pie Dish ($37)
- Tongs — I feel like I can never have enough of these, especially since at least two pair seem to always be in the dishwasher. I tend to have a variety of sizes — the 12” are great for big tasks like removing a turkey from the sheet pan, while the 9” is best suited for tossing vegetables. I also prefer the nylon heads, though I have a few pair of the metal heads for high heat situations like a grill. Buy at least one more than you think you need.
- Digital scale — I always want to put this at the top of the list because I really do think a scale is the single piece of equipment that will up your game. The emergence of cheap digital scales has been such a boon to home cooks.
- Mixing bowls — another essential I never seem to have enough of. I have a mix of pyrex glass bowls and lightweight stainless steel bowls and always seem to know which is the right bowl for the mixing occasion but could never articulate what that is.
- Pots and Pans — cookware is expensive but it’s also in the service of something you literally do multiple times a day so I’ve always considered it an investment. I bought my first All-Clad pan nearly twenty years ago and still use it daily. I know there are some D2C startups that are selling good quality kitchenware at more reasonable prices, but I’ve never used them. Here are a few pieces I’d recommend getting, don’t feel like you need to go All-Clad.
- All-Clad 3-Ply Stainless Steel 12” Fry Pan with Lid ($99) — an absolute workhorse, this is my desert island pan
- All-Clad 3-Ply Stainless Steel 3 Quart Saucepan ($117) — 3 quarts is big enough to make most sauces and still something you can manage with one hand
- All-Cald 3-Play Stainless Steel Sauté Pan ($180) — a sauté pan with high sides and, crucially, a second handle is so nice for everything from, well, sautéing vegetables to braising.
- Lodge 12” Cast Iron Skillet ($30) — cast iron has waxed and waned in popularity, mine is permanently affixed to my stovetop. Crucial for making skillet cornbread for cornbread dressing.
- Lodge 7 Quart Enameled Cast Iron Dutch Oven ($100) — I will admit that I own and adore several enameled cast iron dutch ovens, round and oval, made by Le Creuset though I simply can not in good conscience recommend a dutch oven that is literally four times as expensive as one that does the same job just as well. But, man, they do look good.
- Winco 12 Quart Aluminum Stock Pot ($39) — a stock pot mostly sits in storage, usually filled with all kinds of stuff, until it gets hauled out for those few times a year you need to make chili or stock. You do not need to spend hundreds of dollars on this. (If you have an induction stove, here’s a well-rated one I’ve never used that should work)
- Baking dishes — depending on where you’re from, these might be referred to as “casseroles,“ but I’ve always known them as “thirteen-by-nines”. Just about any side dish you want could be made in one of these
- Measuring cups — I prefer to measure dry ingredients by weight, but liquid ingredients need a glass graduated measuring cup. The big 4 cup one comes in handy this time of year.
- Vegetable peeler — potatoes, carrots, beets, even butternut squash need peeling. I much prefer these ceramic peelers to metal ones as they stay sharper longer. I also find the Y style peeler to be much easier to use, especially when you’ve got ten pounds of potatoes to get through.
- Kyocera Ceramic Y Peeler ($12)
Optional
- Carving knife — fans of the carving knife will extoll it’s virtues endlessly — the longer, thinner blade makes for more precise cuts, etc. but honestly I’ve never found them more useful that a sharp, well-hones chef’s knife.
- Victorinox Carving Knife ($51)
- Kitchen and Poultry shears — I’ve used my kitchen shears daily for decades but that’s likely more personal preference than anything. You can use these for everything from cutting herbs to deboning a turkey. The heftier, spring-hinged poultry shears can get through all but the biggest of bones, even.
- Pie weights — these are pretty handy if you bake pies semi-regularly, otherwise weighing down a sheet of aluminum with dried beans or rice works just as well
- Ceramic Pie Weights ($7)
- Pressure cooker / multi cooker — I know, everyone already bought an Instant Pot, but on the off chance you didn’t and are looking to make it easier to make stock, pick one up.
- Food processor — how anyone prepared dinner for more than one person before the advent of the food processor, I have no clue. My mom, and her’s before, always called it a “Cuisinart” so I’ve only ever owned that brand and mine’s lasted over a decade.
- Portable induction eye — bit of an odd choice, but having a portable single “burner” stove that you can plug in anywhere is super handy for keeping things warm or just adding a bit more capacity when you need it.
- Fat separator — Thanksgiving really is the only time of year that I think I’ve ever used a fat separator and it’s definitely useful for making great gravy. Get the 4-cup model, the smaller size just doesn’t hold enough.
- Pastry Scraper — also known as a bench scraper, this comes in handy when making pie doughs or biscuits or when you just want to keep your counter clean.
- Microplane zester — when you want to add a bit of citrus to your cranberry sauce or grate some nutmeg, a Microplane is the best choice.
- Food mill and/or potato ricer — you almost certainly don’t need both of these, although I haven’t let that stop me. The food mill is a bit more general purpose, the potato ricer is something die-hard mashed potato fans swear by.
Wow, that’s a lot of stuff! And I left a bunch out! Please don’t buy all of it and remember all of the proceeds go to Feeding America, so … maybe do buy everything? You know what, get two of everything.
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