Eric Adjepong's favorite finds will up your kitchen game without busting your budget. (Daniel Zuchnik/Getty Images for NYCWFF, Amazon)
In mid-February, Eric Adjepong's childhood dream came true: He opened his first restaurant, Elmina, an ode to the Ghanaian food he grew up with, in Washington, D.C. It's a wonder he had time: The Top Chef finalist also hosts his own Food Network show, Wildcard Kitchen, and he recently joined a new culinary advisory board for PepsiCo, where he's using his knowledge of West African cuisine to develop snack foods. "It's a really cool opportunity to impart my own opinion and my own flavor profiles on things," Eric says. (He's also about to release a cookbook and has a line of tableware at Crate & Barrel. Phew!)
When he has a few moments to himself, Eric has been browsing online for — surprise, surprise — kitchen gear. "I'm lucky — at home, I have everything I need. But because of the restaurant, I'm shopping a lot! My cart is always open, and sometimes I'll just close my eyes and hit 'checkout,'" he jokes.
His recent buys for Elmina include a commercial slicer and a vacuum sealer. But at home, he is all about the basics, like a sturdy spatula and good kitchen shears. "They'll get you to 80% of what you need to cook," he says — and none of them will cost you more than $30.
Related: More chef must-haves from Andrew Zimmern, Marcus Samuelsson and Jacques Torres
To start, you'll want a great chef's knife and durable pots and pans. Then, fill your utensil crock with these must-haves.
"I use a zester often because besides zesting, it gives you an opportunity to release flavors in a new way," Eric says. "For example, you can use it on garlic to get a slow release of the flavors versus cutting."
These KitchenAid shears are a No. 1 Amazon bestseller and include an ergonomic, rubberized grip and protective sheath for storage. You can toss them in the dishwasher when you're done snipping and slicing.
"I've had a pair of these for years and reach for them for both kitchen use as well as other general scissor needs. They are comfortable, stainless, sharp and cut most everything exceptionally well," raved a sharp shopper.
Last, but certainly not least, you can't forget about grated cheese! I have a bit of an obsession with this tool because it does the job quickly and is so much easier to clean than a big box grater. Plus, I can grate the cheese right over my pasta bowl, meaning fewer dishes to clean. I also won't zest lemons with anything else.
This is a true cooking staple that can last for years if you treat it with care, despite its affordable price. In the kitchen, sometimes "you get what you pay for" just isn't the case.
Many offset spatulas have blades that measure less than an inch wide, which is great for icing cupcakes, but that's not as handy if you're using it for other tasks. Enter this highly rated tool from Oxo, which features a 1.25-inch-wide flat blade — perfect!
More than 4,000 Amazon shoppers are in love with this thing. "Whatever you're spreading, this is the way to go. Lose the butter knife and get this," wrote one succinct fan.
Unless you're trying to start your own OJ business, I wouldn't advise purchasing a citrus-juicing machine. I don't have a ton of cabinet space for storing an appliance — even a small one — that I'm not going to be reaching for on the daily. Plus, you still have to hold the orange or lemon half over the juicer, which means you're not really saving much time. This model does have a pulp control feature, but you could always just strain out the stuff you don't want when juicing by hand. In short, not worth the space or money.
Eric uses peelers and zesters so often, he keeps a bain marie pot of them on his counter at all times. "A Y-peeler is so easy to use and inexpensive — you can get a great one for under $10," he says. "And on the side it has an indentation you can use to poke the eyes out of a potato."
Bakers often use offset spatulas for icing cakes — the angled design makes it easy to smooth things out without their hands getting in the way. But Eric says the tool is even more versatile.
"My offset spatula is like an extension of my hands," he explains. "It helps me flip things, give them a quick whisk as I am cooking, get around the edges of my omelettes and more."
Kitchen shears can do so much, Eric says. You can use them to snip herbs, open packaging, even break down poultry.
When Eric wants to quickly brighten up the flavor of a dish, he turns to his juicer. "I love fresh grapefruit or lime juice," he says. "Using a juicer gives me that immediate punch of acid."
The reviews quoted above reflect the most recent versions at the time of publication.
