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All kitchens need the essentials. Whether you’re stocking a new kitchen or spring cleaning an old one, check out the best kitchen and cooking utensils. What Are Kitchen Utensils? Just because the world of cookware is so large and ever-expanding, we thought we’d show you the recipe for a successful working kitchen. Kitchen utensils are small handheld tools used in the kitchen for food preparation. The word utensil comes from the Latin word, utensilia, which translates to “things for use;” a pencil is a writing utensil, a spatula is a cooking utensil, etc. With literally hundreds of kitchen utensils on...

There are conflicting reports that cooking in aluminum pots and pans is risky because aluminum can leach into the food. Should aluminum cookware be avoided? Lightweight aluminum is an excellent heat conductor, but it’s also highly reactive with acidic foods such as tomatoes, vinegar, and citrus. Cooking these in aluminum can alter the food’s flavor and appearance and leave the pan with a pitted surface. In our tests, we detected an unpleasant metallic taste in tomato sauce and lemon curd cooked in aluminum pots. The amount of aluminum that leaches into food, however, is minimal. In lab tests, tomato sauce...

01 The Basics of Baking a Cake When kids get interested in helping their parents in the kitchen, one of the first things they want to do is to help bake a cake. It's a good choice because cake baking is often an easy, direct process and many recipes follow the same basic steps every time. Knowing the fundamentals allows you to approach making a cake from scratch with great confidence. For this step-by-step example, a chocolate cake is on the menu. 02 Grease and Preheat Before you begin baking, grease and flour the pans you are using. These could be 6-inch round...