One Knife, One Pan, One Board

Kitchen shops sell sets: twelve knives, ten pans, a gadget for every task. A man who cooks seriously uses one knife for almost everything, one pan for most things and a board that does not slide. Buy those three properly and the rest of the kitchen can be modest. The three, well chosen, will outlast the kitchen.

The knife

A chef’s knife, 20 to 21 centimetres, in either the German style, heavier and curved for rocking, or the Japanese gyuto, lighter and flatter for slicing. Wüsthof and Zwilling for the first, Misono, Tojiro or Masamoto for the second, between €80 and €200. Hold it before you buy: the handle should feel like an extension of the hand and the balance should sit just ahead of the bolster. Stainless is easier; carbon steel takes a sharper edge and needs to be dried after use. Add a small paring knife and a bread knife and the knife drawer is complete for life.

Sharpening it

A blunt knife is dangerous and makes cooking a chore. A honing steel or a ceramic rod, ten strokes each side before each use, keeps the edge aligned. A whetstone, 1000 grit on one side and 3000 or 6000 on the other, once a month, restores it: twenty minutes, a bowl of water, the blade at fifteen to twenty degrees, drawn across the stone from heel to tip until a burr forms, then the other side. Learning takes an afternoon and a video. It is the most useful kitchen skill a man can have and almost nobody has it.

A man with one sharp knife cooks more than a man with a block of blunt ones. The knife you sharpen is the knife you use.

The pan

Carbon steel or cast iron, 28 centimetres, no coating. Carbon steel, from De Buyer, Matfer or Mauviel, is lighter, heats faster and is the choice of every restaurant kitchen; cast iron, from Lodge or a good old one from a flea market, holds heat longer and is the better roasting pan. Both need seasoning, a thin layer of oil baked on until it polymerises into a natural non-stick surface, and both improve with every use. They sear a steak properly, which no non-stick pan can, go from hob to oven, and will still be in use when the non-stick has been thrown away three times. €40 to €90.

Caring for it

Hot pan, then oil, then food. No soap for the first months; hot water and a brush, dried on the hob, wiped with a drop of oil. If food sticks, the pan is not hot enough or the seasoning is young. If it rusts, scrub it back and season again; it is iron, it forgives everything. Never in the dishwasher, never left wet, never used for a tomato sauce until the seasoning is a year old.

The board

End-grain wood, walnut or maple, at least 45 by 30 centimetres and four centimetres thick, heavy enough to stay put. It is kind to the knife edge, which plastic and glass are not, and it looks like something a man might own. Oil it with mineral oil once a month, scrub it with salt and lemon when it smells, and it lasts for decades. A damp cloth underneath stops any board sliding.