Kitchen Tools That Make Gourmet Breakfasts Easy

If there’s a better meal than breakfast, I, for one, have yet to eat it. So until science discovers something superior, the most important meal of the day will only be as good as our tools. Therefore, we need kitchen implements at the cutting edge between breakfast and Super Breakfast. Here are the most useful machines for making your next breakfast your best breakfast.

The versatility of this thing is unreal. I reach for the Switchit more than any other tool in my kitchen. It’s thin enough to slide under fried eggs, but also has the strength to flip a burger without dropping it. Plus it's silicone, so it can take higher heat than your pans can even attain. You don't have to worry about plastic melting into your food. Most important: The cleaning. No removing the head so you don't grow mold on the handle. It's all one piece. Just wash and return to the utensil storage. The rigid back even scrapes scrambled egg off pan sides pretty well. It’s perfect for anybody who wants to get that last dollop of muffin batter out of the bowl, and then push food around a hot pan without having to search for a second tool.

You probably already know the Vitamix as the buy-it-for-life dream blender that costs 10 times the competition. If you already invested in the motor base you might as well add this specialty cylinder to incorporate air into things and/or pull oils out of them. We’re talking instant whipped cream, homemade mayo, mousses, and more, made much faster and thicker than you’ll get from a stand mixer (and with no chance of splashing a mess everywhere). It makes sauces like it’s no big deal, and the perfect egg white cocktail for that brunch. It’s like an iSi whip but with way more uses and you don’t have to buy gas canisters.

My niece got me this for Christmas and it's the greatest thing ever. It has the functionality of every other garlic tool combined, while being far easier to clean. One side mashes the garlic, then you just turn it a few times and voila. It’s also excellent for other aromatics like ginger and turmeric, or chopping just the right amount of fresh herbs. The only thing it can’t do is rapidly peel a whole bulb, but you already have bowls for that. That fancy brunch quiche just became way easier to toss together.

They're cheap! And everyone will look at you like a wizard when you serve hard-boiled (or perhaps aerated?) eggs with a Maillard sugar glaze on top. Plus, who doesn’t want to own a fire gun?

I don’t know why I’m even using its proper title, you’re just going to call it “the sous vide” for the rest of your life. There’s no excuse not to get one now that they cost the same as breakfast at trendy restaurants. Sure, it makes perfect meats, but it really shines when you use it to precision-temper chocolate and custards (homemade ice cream!), brew 206º F coffee, or infuse vodka for the perfect bloody mary. And while most egg dishes are easiest to make in cookware, a circulator pinpoints methods like soft-boiling. Your friends will be awed by your custom Starbucks-style egg bites, with each savory ingredient tailored to the individual eating them. “This is an artistic expression of our friendship!” they’ll say, their mouths full of custardy egg.
Tip: need to make a huge batch of food? Use your sink as the water bath, anchor the circulator above it, and fill a stock pot with the ingredients to be cooked. Way more room to work, and no need to bag it up.

I’ve done a bundle of research on which food bag plastics are safe for sous vide, and my findings are “technically, all of them, but none are really desirable.” You’ve already bought the circulator. Might as well get some reusable silicone so you’re not constantly searching for deals on plastic bags. Silicone bags save money, eliminate phthalates, and can take temperatures up to 400º or higher. The first rule of gourmet is never eat plastic. The second rule? Don’t keep these in the freezer long-term unless you’re ready to gamble on silicone absorbing some kind of scorchy funk you’ll never get out of them.

I don't even want to tell you guys about the best coffee pot I ever owned or they'll go up in price, so I’m burying it in the middle of the article. This thing spouts a geyser of steam up to the coffee, so every grind gets wrung for all it's worth. Pyrex doesn’t make them anymore, but they’re amazing if you can find one, and a lot of fun to watch. When you brain quits screaming at you not to put glass on open flame, you get a satisfying chemistry exhibit while breakfast cooks.

This thing cooks perfect dulce de leche in fewer button taps than it took to type this sentence -- which spreads well over the monkey bread you also made in the pot. For the $3 a gallon of milk will cost you, you can make THICK Greek yogurt without spending the rest of your life trying to scrape milk off the bottom of a pan. You can even prepare a cake or a massive quiche like some kind of adult who knows what they’re doing.

Sure you can dice by hand, OR you can make twice as much breakfast in half as much time without getting knives near your fingers. Choppers take away all the tedious bits of knife work, offer mandoline functions, juicing, and a billion other functions -- some even spiralize. Just get a good one. Too much pressure and the base will break but a quality one will save you hours every month.

Fresh-baked bread is nice. Fresh-baked bread from your own flour that's minutes old and doesn't contain any weird fillers? Now that's cool. And it saves money. And woah, you can actually eat organic now! You'll also use it for spice mixtures, and making weird new kinds of flour from other grains and pulses and whatnot. They’re pricey though. Definitely save this one for once you’re good at baking. Or you can get a small one and just bake a nice, artisanal muffin for your true love.