Jacques Torres's favorite baking gear will raise the (chocolate) bar in your kitchen. (Center: Joel Marasigan. Products, clockwise from left: Amazon (2); Jacques Torres.)
As the head judge on Netflix's Nailed It!, pastry chef and master chocolatier Jacques Torres has seen his fair share of collapsed cakes and tragically melted frosting designs. Baking under stress can lead to disaster — which is why he makes sure to keep things "leisurely" in his home kitchen.
In fact, he recently renovated the space to make it easier for him to both cook meals for his family and test out new recipes and products. "Most of my life I have spent in the kitchen, so it was important to me to have a functional and comfortable working space," he says. He installed luxurious Miele appliances — "they help me bake and cook with accuracy and ease," he says — but he also relies on a bunch of affordable, tried-and-true gadgets and tools.
Read on for Jacques's kitchen essentials, and if you're curious how other star chefs stock their spaces, check out these fabulous finds from Andrew Zimmern and Marcus Samuelsson.
"I use this paring knife a hundred times a day," says the chef. "It's my most-used knife both at home and at work."
Unsurprisingly, he's not the only fan: Giada de Laurentiis also loves a Victorinox paring knife. And this sharp pick has earned more than 2,800 five-star reviews at Amazon.
"Dressings, pesto, pie crust, the possibilities are endless!" says Babs. She loves how this model comes with attachments for shredding and slicing, "which makes everything quicker. It might just be on par with a stand mixer in terms of versatility!"
Although it's designed for pepper, this ceramic mill can be adjusted to mill ingredients as big as coffee beans. Talk about a workhorse!
"I use it to grind not only peppercorn but also cocoa nibs," Jacques says.
"Functional but also great looking!" says Jacques of these nesting measuring cups. The set comes with 1-cup, 1/2-cup and 1/4-cup measures, and the sleek design looks nice enough that you could set them out as mini serving or dipping bowls.
They're also dishwasher-safe — key if you're working with sticky caramel or melted chocolate.
It will come as a shock to absolutely no one that Jacques reaches for chocolate more than any other ingredient. He tends to use these rich 60% Belgian dark chocolate discs most often for recipes.
He also likes to decorate with his milk chocolate and white chocolate.
Of course an accomplished baker like Jacques appreciates a good stand mixer. His KitchenAid is limited-edition: "It has a black cast iron finish and is black powder-coated, so it's matte," he says. "The 5-quart stainless steel bowl is also black with black chrome accents. It's very sleek and sophisticated. It's funny that I talk about it like it's my sports car, but I love the durability and reliability. It’s a fantastic piece of equipment and I can’t work without it."
His exact mixer came out in 2017; though this one has a chrome bowl, the body has the same matte cast-iron finish.
A friend gave Jacques this block from the legendary cutting-board company for the steaks he likes to grill in the summer. It has a groove around the edge to capture juices and other liquids.
"But I mostly use it when I'm cutting up juicy fruits for my tarts or desserts, as I don't have to worry about the juice spilling all over the counter," he says. "Another feature I really like is that this is dual-sided, so I can just wipe, flip and keep cutting up whatever I need."
To get his mornings off to a strong start, the chef is dreaming of one of Miele's ultra-sophisticated coffee makers, which fit in a typical cabinet space. "It's something I really want, but I need to figure out where in the kitchen I can install it!"
This model makes two espressos at a time and includes a grinder and a cup sensor.
