The Kitchen Tools Top Chefs Love and What Belongs in the Trash!!

Adrienne and Joe rank chef-approved kitchen gear into three distinct categories: professional-grade, home-use, and "throw it in the trash." In this episode, we also discuss: Why glass cutting boards, cheap pan sets, and vintage grill tongs belong in the bin Whetstones vs. electric sharpeners (and the truth about rolling sharpeners) Carbon steel vs. nonstick: choosing the right sauté pan for your kitchen Heavy-duty metal vs. silicone: finding tongs that actually grip High-powered food processors and where the Magic Bullet fits in Instant-read meat thermometers vs. frustrating app-dependent probes Quick-fire verdicts on oven mitts, immersion blenders, garlic presses, and air fryers Follow the show: @chefscutpod Follow Adrienne: @chefadriennecheatham Follow Joe: @insta.flamm

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:13Adrienne Cheatham?

  Today on The Chef's Cut, Joe and I are sharing our chef-approved kitchen essentials. The cuisinats. I love this thing. We'll tell you which items you should throw directly in the trash. I go to a friend's house and I'm like, I thought I knew you and you own this? And we'll let you know whether the gadgets you see on social media are worth spending your money on.

• 0:34Joe Flamm?

  I was like, oh, this is gonna be great. I was pumped for it. I've used it once. It has sat in my cabinet for a year.

• 0:40Adrienne Cheatham?

  But first, Chef's Cut Nation, you know what time it is. Please take 10 seconds of your day to rate and review the show wherever you get your pods. It really helps.

• 0:56Joe Flamm?

  You know, we're always talking about the questions we get asked. Whatever chef you talk to, wherever they are, we all get a lot of the same questions, right? And one that I love talking about, I love talking about gear. People ask us like, what do you use for this? What do you use for this? And I think when we talk about anything, whether it's knives, spoons, whatever it may be, in my mind, there's kind of three tiers, right? There's the professional grade. There's the stuff that's in our kits, that's in our restaurants, that's hanging in the back kitchens of where we work. There's the home stuff that maybe it's not, you know, I'm not bringing this to work. Whether it's just because, you know, it's too ridiculous or whatever it is, but that we love.

• 1:37Adrienne Cheatham?

  And it's still good quality.

• 1:39Joe Flamm?

  Still good quality. It just might not be appropriate for a work setting.

• 1:43Adrienne Cheatham?

  Right.

• 1:43Joe Flamm?

  Some things need to be left at home. And then the third box, which is people shouldn't have this. No one needs this. Put it on free box. Let the kids play with it. I don't know.

• 1:55Adrienne Cheatham?

  Throw it in the trash. Yeah.

• 1:56Joe Flamm?

  I think those are, those are the three tiers for me. When I think of like kitchen equipment.

• 2:01Adrienne Cheatham?

  I love talking about that because like we talked about before, there is the worst chef question. What's your signature dish? What's your favorite thing to cook? This is one of the best chef questions. What are the best things you can ask? What's your favorite, fill in the blank of this type of equipment?

• 2:16Joe Flamm?

  The DM I always answer on Instagram. When somebody's like, I'm thinking about buying a knife. Like, do you have opinions? And it's like so many. You don't have the time in that.

• 2:24Adrienne Cheatham?

  How much time you have, right?

• 2:25Joe Flamm?

  Or whatever. So going into that today, we each are gonna do three things.

• 2:31Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yep.

• 2:32Joe Flamm?

  Essentials to any kitchen and rank the three tiers. So where do you want to kick it off?

• 2:40Adrienne Cheatham?

  So I am gonna start it off with one of the basics. When you go into a kitchen and you know you're setting up to cook, it is probably one of the first things you're gonna grab, and that is cutting boards. A good cutting board can make or break your day.

• 2:58Joe Flamm?

  I mean, there is, that is absolute truth.

• 3:03Adrienne Cheatham?

  There is a cutting board that we use in restaurants that I don't even know if there's a brand that makes them. It's just that off-yellow beige color.

• 3:13Joe Flamm?

  Yep.

• 3:14Adrienne Cheatham?

  And it says NSF National Science Foundation. In the corner, it has that NSF logo because it's bacteria resistant. So you're not gonna get mildew and mold growing on it.

• 3:25Joe Flamm?

  Those ones where it's like they're heavier than they like look, like they'd be a plastic cutting board, then you pick it up and you're like, this is like a bag of cement.

• 3:33Adrienne Cheatham?

  Right. It's like, I've seen them in up to an inch-thick, different dimensions, but that material, I think it's called like HDPE.

• 3:41Joe Flamm?

  Those inch-thick ones, I'm pretty sure are bulletproof.

• 3:43Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah. It's like, it's like this polyethylene composite material, but it's bacteria resistant. It's soft enough so that it doesn't kill your blade. And that to me is the most important thing about a cutting board. If it doesn't have enough give on the surface, as soon as you cut something, it's gonna dull your knife more and more each time. So for kitchens, I love that yellowish HDPE NSF.

• 4:10Joe Flamm?

  That's your top, that's your S tier.

• 4:12Adrienne Cheatham?

  That's my go-to cutting board. For home, though, I like something that's a little prettier. I want something that if guests come over, it can sit on the counter. It doesn't look so utilitarian. It has a little bit of like style to it. And I actually really like wooden cutting boards for home.

• 4:28Joe Flamm?

  Oh, yeah.

• 4:29Adrienne Cheatham?

  Now, you do have to take care of them. You can't put them in the dishwasher, but I love a good wooden cutting board. And I have like, it's heavy as hell. But I have like this one here.

• 4:41Joe Flamm?

  Oh, yeah.

• 4:41Adrienne Cheatham?

  And you can get them smaller, to be clear.

• 4:43Joe Flamm?

  What's that? What's that? A little white oak? You know, is that a?

• 4:47Adrienne Cheatham?

  So it's a German brand. And you do have to take care of it. You just can't like, you wash it with soap and then just make sure it dries thoroughly. It's not high maintenance, but it looks good if it's sitting on the counter and it's got this little well. So that if I'm in a restaurant, I don't care if the juices run over because I've got a towel under my board. I'm cleaning up all the time anyway. But at home, this can catch any liquid running off if I'm cutting citrus or meat. So I love these. The wooden cutting boards are my go-to.

• 5:18Joe Flamm?

  I agree. The wood cutting board at home, it's like, and I will say to the point where it's like, there's a wood cutting board at every home that I cook at.

• 5:27Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah, and it can like, it can live on the counter.

• 5:29Joe Flamm?

  There's one at my mother-in-law's, there's one at my mom's, there's one at my grandma's house. You know what I mean? Like, I have a couple at the house. I have like, I've found if you go, they're really expensive, but if you go three inches, they last forever.

• 5:44Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah.

• 5:45Joe Flamm?

  If you go shorter than that.

• 5:46Adrienne Cheatham?

  And I've had it for about eight years and it's no signs of, of wear and down.

• 5:51Joe Flamm?

  But I've found some of the other ones, they warp a little bit after time and all of that. If it's, you know, inch and a half or whatever. But I feel like the other home, it's like you have to have a combo. I do have one like plastic one with like the little, you know, kind of rubber corners on it. That's, you know what I mean? So it's like, I can throw that on because I don't like cutting like alliums and like, you know, obviously any like raw poultry on my wood board. But I think it's like having a really nice wood board at home is like, is such a necessity.

• 6:19Adrienne Cheatham?

  Like you can use it for a cheese board. You can use it for a charcuterie. Like it's multi, it's a, it's a multi-purpose thing for me. But I also really like the wood composite for home use because they're thinner, but they're sturdy and you can put them in the dishwasher.

• 6:32Joe Flamm?

  Oh, those like bamboo things?

• 6:34Adrienne Cheatham?

  It's, they're bamboo. Some of them are different materials, but they're, they're durable, they're sturdy, and they take up less space because they usually come a lot thinner, but they don't warp. So I do like those also for home use, but the wood cutting board is my go-to. And I think there is a kind of cutting board that is nihilism. Hell broke loose when somebody invented this kind of cutting board. I don't know what they were thinking. And it is a glass cutting board.

• 7:02Joe Flamm?

  I like genuinely make it make sense. Like, at what point people are like, you know what we should make? Like this out of is glass to cut on?

• 7:14Adrienne Cheatham?

  Why would you want to cut on glass? Like?

• 7:16Joe Flamm?

  It's, and I mean, and it's like people of a certain generation all have them. I think my grandma had a built-in glass cutting board in her kitchen at one point. Like, it's just insanity.

• 7:27Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah.

• 7:27Joe Flamm?

  It's absolute, those are the worst.

• 7:30Adrienne Cheatham?

  I encountered one the first time and I was like, what is this for? And it was, it was actually at my sister's house. I think somebody gave it to her and she was like, it's a cutting board. I was like, no, it's not.

• 7:39Joe Flamm?

  No, it's not. This is a window. This is a window. Why do you have this window on your counter?

• 7:46Adrienne Cheatham?

  I threw that shit out so fast. I was like, I will cut on a paper towel or a side towel today and then I will go buy you a cutting board tomorrow morning.

• 7:55Joe Flamm?

  On your front sidewalk before I will cut on this glass.

• 7:58Adrienne Cheatham?

  It's gonna kill your knife. It's, it's gonna dull your knife with every stroke of the knife.

• 8:02Joe Flamm?

  Oh, it feels horrible. It's like the feeling of like the knife hitting it. You're like, oh, like it is. The other one I've seen, I've never seen this in real life. I've only seen them on Instagram too, though. And that same vein is the metal ones.

• 8:15Adrienne Cheatham?

  Oh, no.

• 8:17Joe Flamm?

  And to me, that should be like instant prison time.

• 8:20Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah.

• 8:21Joe Flamm?

  Like, if you have a metal cutting board, it's like you, you don't get to cook anymore.

• 8:26Adrienne Cheatham?

  That's my, that's my cutting board rant, Joe. So I feel good getting that off my chest. I have my professional use cutting board. That's the NSF. I have my home use. That's the wood or wood composite. And I have my trash cutting board, which is metal or glass. Those should just never exist. They're not a thing.

• 8:43Joe Flamm?

  No.

• 8:44Adrienne Cheatham?

  Oh, it just makes me mad thinking about it. But I want to hear your rant, Joe. What is your first of your three kitchen essentials, professional, home, and trash?

• 8:54Joe Flamm?

  So my first one is, because I get asked this one a ton, um, from cooks to random people, is knife sharpening.

• 9:03Adrienne Cheatham?

  Oh, good one.

• 9:05Joe Flamm?

  Because people ask about it all the time, right? And, you know, for the most part, I do tell people a lot, like if you, are you fortunate enough to live in a place with a good knife shop? Or you can take them and get them professionally sharpened. If you're just using them at the house, just go once every six months. Get all your knives sharpened. But for chefs, for professional chefs, I think you should be able to sharpen your own knives. I think it's an important part. I think it's an important lesson. I think it's an important technique. So my, my chef grade one is this bad boy.

• 9:32Adrienne Cheatham?

  Oh, yes.

• 9:34Joe Flamm?

  Thousand grit kingstone. They sell this one that is literally the size of a normal brick, which I love. And those you gotta soak, you gotta use. They take time to learn it. You know what I mean? They're a great professional piece, but like having a really big one like that at the shop so you can sharpen. And like the thousand grit, like even if you don't get into the fives, the six, the eights, those big time polishing stones.

• 9:56Adrienne Cheatham?

  I go all the way to 8,000.

• 9:57Joe Flamm?

  I know you do. You work at a burner job.

• 10:02Joe Flamm?

  I go to six. I don't go past six. You know what I mean? I don't need all that. But the thousand grit for most of the stuff, if you're, if you're regular on it, you hit it on a thousand grit. You're good to go.

• 10:11Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah.

• 10:12Joe Flamm?

  For the home cook, though, this is a lot. It's a lot. You gotta soak the stone for twenty thirty minutes.

• 10:16Adrienne Cheatham?

  And if you mess up the angle when you're holding it, you can kill your knife. I mean.

• 10:20Joe Flamm?

  Right. So it's like, you know, it takes practice. It takes work. So it's not the most home friendly version. But it's a great, I think for like professional sharpening stones, the big thousand grit. I don't like the two sided ones because they crack. And it's like, you know, like the one six combo.

• 10:37Adrienne Cheatham?

  I have a one six combo that I've had for years and it's never cracked.

• 10:41Joe Flamm?

  And then you're not.

• 10:42Adrienne Cheatham?

  And then I have my eight thousand separate.

• 10:44Joe Flamm?

  But like, so I don't like the combos because like one side wears down faster.

• 10:48Adrienne Cheatham?

  Okay.

• 10:48Joe Flamm?

  Or like, you know, those higher grit ones, if they soak, they crack, you know, because you're supposed to just wet and go, whatever.

• 10:54Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah.

• 10:54Joe Flamm?

  So I like, give me the big dog. Give me the one K. Give me the brick.

• 10:58Adrienne Cheatham?

  That's your workhorse.

• 10:58Joe Flamm?

  Problem solver. You know what I mean? Does everything.

• 11:01Adrienne Cheatham?

  You could also throw it through somebody's windshield if you need to.

• 11:04Joe Flamm?

  That's what I'm saying. It's a problem solver.

• 11:05Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah, we like multitasking tools here.

• 11:08Joe Flamm?

  All right. So my home one, I might catch some flack for this.

• 11:12Adrienne Cheatham?

  Oh, God, let me see.

• 11:13Joe Flamm?

  Cause I love this thing for home. I would never put this on. And also understanding that it's like, most chefs, we have our home kit and our work kit.

• 11:22Adrienne Cheatham?

  Right.

• 11:22Joe Flamm?

  And the work kit is like the knives that like, you know, you don't want in your house because you don't want anyone to touch. And so those are like the ones that, you know, you put on the stone.

• 11:30Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah, it's the separation of church and state.

• 11:32Joe Flamm?

  Right. The home ones, you know what I mean? Those are the ones for me, they're mostly like my retirees. They weren't in the kit once upon a time and now they exist at home.

• 11:41Adrienne Cheatham?

  Uh huh.

• 11:42Joe Flamm?

  So my home one, I love this thing.

• 11:45Adrienne Cheatham?

  Oh my gosh, Joe, I had seen that before.

• 11:49Joe Flamm?

  The chef's choice.

• 11:51Adrienne Cheatham?

  Oh my.

• 11:52Joe Flamm?

  Plug it in, let it rip. And I mean, like for home, it's fantastic. I'm not rolling the thing into the kitchen. No.

• 12:01Adrienne Cheatham?

  It's just like dry shaving.

• 12:03Joe Flamm?

  Like you grind the shit out of it, which is for all the knife nerds out there are going to be like absolutely losing their mind and it comes, I can't believe you would do that. And it's like, yeah, I will do that for a global that I have in my drawer. That's, you know what I mean? Seventeen years old. I'm gonna throw that thing right through there. I brought it to my mom's house the other week, sharpened all her knives for her birthday. It took me 10 minutes. It's awesome. It's great for home. I would never put like, I have some nice knives. You know what I mean? Like, I'm not rolling my Neenox through there.

• 12:31Adrienne Cheatham?

  No. Oh, you have a Neenox? Hey baller.

• 12:34Joe Flamm?

  Of course.

• 12:34Adrienne Cheatham?

  Excuse me fancy. You talk about me with my eight thousand grit stone.

• 12:39Joe Flamm?

  It's the blue handle one too.

• 12:41Adrienne Cheatham?

  No big deal.

• 12:43Joe Flamm?

  Uh, six month waitlist. It wasn't, you know, I don't worry about it.

• 12:48Adrienne Cheatham?

  With your executive membership at Costco and your Neenox knife.

• 12:51Joe Flamm?

  That's what I'm saying though. But like, you know, it's like, so it's like, I'm not taking, you know, a Porsche to a gas station car wash. But you know what I mean? Like, I'm gonna take my truck.

• 13:01Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah, even though I think those things have a setting for Japanese knives, I would never put a Japanese knife in there, but.

• 13:08Joe Flamm?

  This one, this, this one, this one a hundred percent does not. It just has one angle. You rip it through, but it gets it sharp. It gets it sharp.

• 13:15Adrienne Cheatham?

  I have a Wusthof knife that I just used for like killing lobsters and stuff like that, like heavy duty stuff. I would absolutely put that through that thing.

• 13:22Joe Flamm?

  And then you have sharpeners. All right. And the one that, this is, this is my one where I was really excited about this one. This was an Instagram purchase.

• 13:30Adrienne Cheatham?

  Oh.

• 13:31Joe Flamm?

  You know, I love a good.

• 13:32Adrienne Cheatham?

  Oh, I think I've seen, I think I know what you're gonna show.

• 13:35Joe Flamm?

  Influenced. So I bought one of these roly sharpeners.

• 13:38Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yes. Oh my God, that looked so cool. I was about to purchase that. Oh no, don't tell me.

• 13:46Joe Flamm?

  I just like, I know how to sharpen a knife. You know what I mean? Like I, I'm not saying I'm the best at it, but I sharpen, you know, I mean, on the wet stone. When I'm at work, it seems like it should be super intuitive, super easy, and it's really kind of not.

• 13:58Adrienne Cheatham?

  Oh, really?

• 13:59Joe Flamm?

  You know what I mean? Like it, it'll sharpen the knife, but it was kind of like, it's kind of a pain in the ass. Like it has two sides where you can do fifteen or twenty, like you put the knife on here and then you roll the thing next to it. But it, it looks like you're like, oh, just a couple passes here, a couple passes there. It's really hard to line up the angle. Like you really have to be paying attention. You have to really understand how the burr works to get it back and forth to level it out. I was so excited about this one and I gotta say, it's a no for me, dog. It's a no, it's a no for me, dog. Like, and I was like, oh, this is gonna be great. I was pumped for it. I've used it once. It has sat in my cabinet for a year.

• 14:39Adrienne Cheatham?

  Oh my gosh, I'm so disappointed because I, I've seen that. I've seen the videos. It looks so cool and it looks like it's easy. And you can't mess up the angle.

• 14:49Joe Flamm?

  Yeah. I mean, maybe somebody will love it on Freebox when I post it on there, um, and they come pick it up. But for me, it's a, I got my two. That's all I need. I got the work one. I got the home one. This one has no place in my kitchen and a lot of time I'm sure a Porsche for someone to pick up.

• 15:04Adrienne Cheatham?

  Okay. So, so you've got your three, your professional, your home and trash.

• 15:08Joe Flamm?

  You gotta have the wet stone. I like the electric for home. I know I'm gonna get cooked for that one. Absolutely. And the roly sharpener, roll it right out your front door and be done with it.

• 15:20Adrienne Cheatham?

  Trash. I love it. We're, we're unearthing all the trash options out there because you would be surprised how many times like I go to a friend's house and I'm like, I thought I knew you and you own this? Like, oh, it, it makes me rethink certain things. So glass metal cutting board, the rolling knife sharpener. Okay, that's gonna make, that's gonna make us, make us question.

• 15:42Joe Flamm?

  And I will say like, I've cooked at so many of these people's houses who are friends or whatever. And then like the first time I've cooked at their house, like all of a sudden, like, two days later, like a package shows up at their house and they're like, what is this? And I'm like, oh.

• 15:54Adrienne Cheatham?

  You're welcome.

• 15:55Joe Flamm?

  You need that. You just didn't know you needed that. It was seven dollars. Don't worry about it. Like.

• 16:01Adrienne Cheatham?

  Don't even try to pay me back. I, I did us all a favor.

• 16:04Joe Flamm?

  Right. I'm doing this for, for the world.

• 16:13Adrienne Cheatham?

  So my next one, again, you know, I, we're, we're about the basics on this, the workhorses, the things we use most in our professional and kitchen at home. You know, settings. So my next one is saute pans.

• 16:27Joe Flamm?

  Oh, yeah.

• 16:28Adrienne Cheatham?

  Quintessential, one pan to rule them all, something that you can do anything in from an omelet to searing a steak, right? So I love equipment like that, that doesn't just have one specific use. And don't get me wrong, when I had to work brunch service, I hid a couple of pans that were only for eggs. But aside from that, one saute pan that I would use all service long, no matter what station I'm working. I have my professional one and I don't recommend people buy them for home because they do require a little bit of maintenance.

• 17:04Joe Flamm?

  Yep.

• 17:05Adrienne Cheatham?

  And that is blue or black carbon steel pans. I love them. They're thin but heavy. They distribute the heat evenly across the entire surface. So you're not going to get hot spots, even heat. And that's the thing, when we're talking about these pieces of equipment, there's some quintessential characteristics that we're looking for.

• 17:26Joe Flamm?

  Sure.

• 17:27Adrienne Cheatham?

  And for saute pans, I'm looking for heft, even heat distribution, even searing. And for me, blue or black carbon steel, that's it.

• 17:37Joe Flamm?

  Well, and they hold up. You know what I mean? The ones I bought five years ago when I opened Rosemary, I still have. And you know what I mean? And that doesn't sound a lot. Like if you're a home cook, you're like, oh yeah, I have pans that are five, 10, 15 years old. It's like, yeah, but you use that pan once a week, maybe twice a week. You don't use it a hundred times a day.

• 17:56Adrienne Cheatham?

  Exactly.

• 17:57Joe Flamm?

  Like, you know what I mean? You've never rocked the rivets off a pan before.

• 18:00Adrienne Cheatham?

  Thank you. You don't have to worry about the steel warping. You don't have to worry about it getting bent and messed up. You can even use metal utensils on those, which a lot of pans you can't. Now, I'm not talking about like put an egg beater in it, but you don't have to worry about scratching the surface.

• 18:16Joe Flamm?

  I mean, you're going into it with a fish net.

• 18:18Adrienne Cheatham?

  Spatula. Yeah, exactly. For home use now, I really like Tefal or Analon. I do like stainless steel pans, but most people do not take good care of their stainless steel pans. And so you'll see rusty, loose rivets.

• 18:35Joe Flamm?

  Right. So you're talking like they're stainless or you're talking like a nonstick?

• 18:39Adrienne Cheatham?

  I'm talking about their, they have like nonstick and they also have these like kind of ceramic, where you don't have to worry about scratching the Teflon off of it. Because that's, that to me is like one of the worst things. You go to somebody's house and you see a nonstick or Teflon pan that's been scratched to hell.

• 18:58Joe Flamm?

  You can, it wears its scars on the outside.

• 19:01Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yes. I'm like, the amount of chemicals you're releasing, like just get, just get rid of it. Just throw the pan away. So I like the ones that it kind of is a little bit of foolproof in the way that a home cook would not have to be as careful and precious with it. But stainless steel, I've seen too many people's stainless steel pans. They don't clean them properly. So stuff gets burnt on. They don't dry them properly. So you get rust around the rivets and then they get loose. So it's like, just go with one of those ceramic pans. Like, you know what, which one I love? Our place. Our place. It's, um.

• 19:38Joe Flamm?

  I'm not familiar with our place. I didn't know we had one.

• 19:41Adrienne Cheatham?

  They, I hate to, they have a pan called like the always pan. I have two of them.

• 19:49Joe Flamm?

  Yeah. I'm a big fan of like the high end, like some level of nonstick, right?

• 19:55Adrienne Cheatham?

  Right.

• 19:56Joe Flamm?

  Like they're like, like made in makes a really nice one, all clad, like, and people are like, oh, it's like a hundred and twenty dollar nonstick pan. And it's like, and nonstick pans don't last forever. Right? No matter what. Like at some point, they're gonna stick. But I think for ninety eight percent of the cooking people do at home, if you invest in a good quality, one of those.

• 20:20Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah.

• 20:21Joe Flamm?

  It's gonna do the work for you. What's, what's your trash pan?

• 20:24Adrienne Cheatham?

  Oh, okay. So my trash pan is anytime you see a set that's three pans for fifteen dollars, don't do it. Just don't do it. Cause you're gonna have to replace it.

• 20:35Joe Flamm?

  Dollar store Teflon?

• 20:37Adrienne Cheatham?

  Oh, man. Oh, it kills me. It's like, I'm, I've, I've been tempted. I've bought them as a college student. I even bought them when I was a line cook and I was broke and I needed some pans at home. I bought a set at Walgreens.

• 20:50Joe Flamm?

  They're like nonstick for like 11 minutes.

• 20:52Adrienne Cheatham?

  I didn't even use metal in the pan. I was like, how the hell did this get scratched?

• 20:57Joe Flamm?

  Yeah, with a rubber spat.

• 20:58Adrienne Cheatham?

  And the, and the Teflon peeled off.

• 21:00Joe Flamm?

  Right, right. You know what I mean? Like you touched it with your finger and your fingernail scratched the surface.

• 21:04Adrienne Cheatham?

  Right. It's like, it gets hot and it just tears away. I was like, okay, I can't, it's worth spending. $15 or $30 for one good pan, like a good nine or 10 inch pan, instead of $15 to get three different sizes that are cheap and you're gonna have to get rid of in no time. I have one that I was gonna show you, but I don't know where I put it, but I've had it for, I've had it since we won Top Chef. And it's one of the Analon Anodized Steel pans. I've had it literally since, since, did I say we won?

• 21:37Joe Flamm?

  Yeah, I was like, oh, we won Top Chef.

• 21:41Joe Flamm?

  Not only do we have a place together now, but we also won Top Chef together now. I'm learning so much today about us.

• 21:47Adrienne Cheatham?

  Since we were on Top Chef. Oh, I totally lost. That's, that's right. I forgot for a second. Um, so that's, that's my, that's my saute pan rant. For professional use, blue or black carbon steel pans. For home use, Anodized Steel or something like our place, Always Pan. And then for trash, if you can get three for 15 bucks, just, just, just don't do it. And I know you have some others that you're passionate about. So what do you have next?

• 22:19Joe Flamm?

  So I would say this is probably one of the most common things when I go to someone's house that I throw away. And that is the clicks, the clickies.

• 22:32Adrienne Cheatham?

  Oh, tong time. That tong, tong, tong, tong.

• 22:38Joe Flamm?

  I think, you know, we talk about professional grade. There's a couple of schools of thought, I think, honestly.

• 22:43Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah.

• 22:43Joe Flamm?

  But it's always full metal jacket, right? You're always going full bore, all metal. I'm really more of a short tong person than a long tong person.

• 22:53Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah, I don't like long tong.

• 22:55Joe Flamm?

  Like even on like long hot grill, I'd rather just burn my hands and have more control. Um, so I like a mid-range tong. I have a full metal jacket, long pair at home. Like a stiff, heavy gauge metal tong is so important. You know what I mean? But you gotta get the good ones. You need a good solid spring. It's gotta have a good bounce back. It's gotta have a good, it's gotta, gotta have a good click to it. Like the, the, the part.

• 23:21Adrienne Cheatham?

  Bring back here.

• 23:22Joe Flamm?

  Yeah, yeah, like this part.

• 23:24Adrienne Cheatham?

  That's a solid spring.

• 23:25Joe Flamm?

  Has to be like thick and durable, so it doesn't bend right away. You need to be able to grab a pan with it, a sizzle tray, whatever. Like that, you know what I mean? That's why you have to have full metal jacket at work. Because you need to be able to grab a hot pan with the tip of those tongs.

• 23:40Adrienne Cheatham?

  Right, right.

• 23:40Joe Flamm?

  You know what I mean? For moving stuff around, taking it out of ovens, like that's super, super important. I don't think there's any argument to be made out in the world that there's another set of tongs you should have in a quick kitchen. Even the tweezer jockeys out there, I think, have to admit that, you know, I mean, a full metal jacket pair of tongs is, is the bar.

• 23:59Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah. It's non-negotiable. Now, I'm not gonna lie. I've worked in restaurants where tongs were not allowed.

• 24:04Joe Flamm?

  Yes, that's a really old school thing.

• 24:07Adrienne Cheatham?

  It is, it is. So most of my career, I didn't actually use tongs and at home, my tong sat for so long. But as somebody who's short, tongs are very essential for pulling things closer. So they give me like another six inches of height because I can reach stuff.

• 24:24Joe Flamm?

  Yeah, you're like, you're like the old people in the store with a grabber.

• 24:27Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah. I would hide a pair of tongs like in my third pan with towels. And I would pull things closer to me so I could reach them all the time.

• 24:35Joe Flamm?

  Yes. So for home though, however, I do love a pair, short pair, silicone tip, but like the thick, hard one. Like there's no bend to them. There's no give to them. Like, I don't, see, those have give to them. I don't like that.

• 24:52Adrienne Cheatham?

  They don't have give.

• 24:53Joe Flamm?

  Bend the, bend the tip, touch that tip.

• 24:56Adrienne Cheatham?

  It's not bending. It's metal inside. Oh yeah, my tips don't bend.

• 25:00Joe Flamm?

  They look flimsy. But like these, I think, like every, every home should have it. You know what I mean? Like they're just so versatile. They're so nice. Throw them on the grill. They won't melt. They do everything you need to do. You know what I mean? They're like 18 bucks. I, I don't know what brand those are, but like OXO makes them and there's a bunch of, you know what I mean? Like quality ones, but it's like the biggest thing with them is that like the tip of it is not soft. It's gotta be firm, stiff, like nice. Now, the trash one, which I feel like is the one that every home in America has.

• 25:33Adrienne Cheatham?

  Uh oh.

• 25:34Joe Flamm?

  Is like those old school, like 1950s hot dog tongs.

• 25:39Adrienne Cheatham?

  Oh, the ones that you should only use like for ice?

• 25:43Joe Flamm?

  Yeah, yeah, they should only be used for ice, but it's like they're the old school. It's like, you know, like if you saw a movie from the 50s, there's a dad on the grill, smoking a cigarette, drinking a beer, like turning a hot dog with a pair of those, right? Um, and I would, I would bet like if I went and knocked on doors on my block, I could pull a pair out of every house.

• 26:04Adrienne Cheatham?

  I wonder if my mom still has a pair tucked back somewhere.

• 26:06Joe Flamm?

  I know my mom has a pair. I know my mom has a pair. I know there's at least one pair at my grandmother's house, if not seven. Um, you know what I mean? I'm sure my mother-in-law has a pair. I'm sure there is, and our listeners out there, everyone could send us a picture of a pair of those. But those are the ones for me where I'm just like, these should not, these do not need to be in, in the cooking world anymore.

• 26:28Adrienne Cheatham?

  And the cheap aluminum tongs, like they look like this, but they weigh nothing and they're so cheap.

• 26:35Joe Flamm?

  Bend them in half.

• 26:36Adrienne Cheatham?

  You can see the spring in here and the spring is like always holding on by a thread. And then it rusts and it breaks the first time you wash it. If they're cheap and you can like hold it in your hand and you feel no weight, you're gonna have to replace it in like, yeah, you're gonna have to replace it in no time. So it's not worth buying. So I feel you on that.

• 26:56Joe Flamm?

  That's it. Pro-grade, full metal jacket for the home, that hard, you know, kind of silicone plasticky tip ones, short tong. And the ones that, you know what I mean? Send, send away are the old school hot dog tongs. Send them out. Send them out.

• 27:12Adrienne Cheatham?

  I'm with you.

• 27:20Adrienne Cheatham?

  Okay, so for my third and final, this is something in the kitchen that I use so much in professional kitchens and at home, a food processor.

• 27:33Joe Flamm?

  Oh, yeah.

• 27:34Adrienne Cheatham?

  I mean, I use a food processor probably on average three times a day.

• 27:39Joe Flamm?

  I mean, professional grade, I think there's one option and I think there's no.

• 27:41Adrienne Cheatham?

  Oh, there's only one option. For, for professional grade, the only option, the only thing you would ever see in a professional kitchen is the Robocu.

• 27:50Joe Flamm?

  The robot.

• 27:50Adrienne Cheatham?

  It's got that, the robot, it's got that red base and then, you know, you can get the, yeah. You can get the, the, the top of it that's either clear plastic or that gray, yellow plastic or metal.

• 28:03Joe Flamm?

  From when you're making emulsified force meat?

• 28:05Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah, you're splurging when you get that metal and that's a serious.

• 28:09Joe Flamm?

  You're doing it. You're doing it.

• 28:11Adrienne Cheatham?

  So for me, the chef option, professional kitchens, it's got the highest powered motor. They last for a long time. They don't get hot very fast. So for me, professional kitchen, Robocu, that's the only option.

• 28:24Joe Flamm?

  It's the number one piece of electronics that all chefs have tried to work on at some point to fix and almost electrocuted themselves.

• 28:33Adrienne Cheatham?

  It's not even plugged in and we've all electrocuted ourselves.

• 28:36Joe Flamm?

  Never had to rig one with like a four quart lid and a pen, like you've never, you know.

• 28:40Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah, put a little duct tape around that base to keep it. And you can get an extra couple of years anytime you like find that, find that wiring, that hotspot.

• 28:49Joe Flamm?

  I mean, I've seen some absolutely, you know, duct tape rigged up Robocu's where it's like, we can get another year.

• 28:56Adrienne Cheatham?

  You're like, wait, but don't cover the vent so the motor doesn't get too hot. But yeah, the Robocu is the workhorse, I think, of any kitchen. So for a professional kitchen, you need something that's gonna last for a long time. So it's worth the money for that.

• 29:09Joe Flamm?

  All right. But I think, I think the real interesting one here is what's your home one? Because a Robocu is also the price of like a used Honda Civic.

• 29:18Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yes, 100%. But for home use, I, I told you, like even in my private work, at my client's house, I've had the same food processor for nine years. I shit you not. Same food processor. It was even there before me. So there's a good one, like Breville makes a good one, don't get me wrong, but my go-to is this guy right here.

• 29:43Adrienne Cheatham?

  It's heavy. This is.

• 29:47Adrienne Cheatham?

  The Cuisinart 14 cup.

• 29:49Joe Flamm?

  The Cuisinart.

• 29:50Adrienne Cheatham?

  The Cuisinarts. I love this thing. It's simple. It's got like two pedals, one for on and then one for off slash caps. That's all you need.

• 30:01Joe Flamm?

  That's it. That's it. I think the ones, the fancier ones now that have like 11 settings. It's like, I don't need all that.

• 30:07Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah. It's like, I just need, I don't need it to have different speeds.

• 30:10Joe Flamm?

  On off pulse. That's it.

• 30:11Adrienne Cheatham?

  Thank you. It's simple. The more bells and whistles you add to it, the more it's going to degrade over time. So this is simple. It's a great workhorse, strong. The blades don't get dull. I love that thing. And then I also love a small food processor at home because obviously I'm not always making like a gallon of something. So at home, I'll use like a small mini one. And somebody got me this one.

• 30:36Joe Flamm?

  Does that hook with the hand blender on top or what?

• 30:40Adrienne Cheatham?

  It has, this one doesn't, but I do like those because you can alternate the, the base. You can either put it on the processor or put it on a, on a hand blender. But this is one of the double blade that I do like also.

• 30:52Joe Flamm?

  All right. All right.

• 30:53Adrienne Cheatham?

  I was skeptical at first, but I like the double blade.

• 30:55Joe Flamm?

  I'm on board with your hat so far. So what do we, what are we throwing in the trash?

• 31:00Adrienne Cheatham?

  Come for me, say what you want. The magic bullet. I'm, I'm, I don't, no, no. It's, I, I go to people's houses and I see the magic bullet sitting on the counter. It's like, oh no, Joe. No, you're one of them. You're in the magic bullet cult.

• 31:20Adrienne Cheatham?

  I thought I knew you, man. We won Top Chef together. I thought we.

• 31:25Joe Flamm?

  Look at this.

• 31:26Adrienne Cheatham?

  I thought I knew you.

• 31:27Joe Flamm?

  Look at this beauty. This masterpiece of design.

• 31:31Adrienne Cheatham?

  I have never used a magic bullet. I will never use a magic bullet. For some reason I get irrationally upset when I see the magic bullet. I can't explain it. Okay. So professional robo coup.

• 31:44Joe Flamm?

  Hold on.

• 31:44Adrienne Cheatham?

  Home use, Cuisinart.

• 31:46Joe Flamm?

  You're not off the hook. You're not off the hook.

• 31:48Adrienne Cheatham?

  No, I'm off. I'm off. I don't have to explain myself.

• 31:51Joe Flamm?

  Well, listen, this is what I will tell you. I'm not making like a pesto in there. I'm not trying to do an aioli in there, but you know what? You're not coming for my magic bullet. You can.

• 32:04Adrienne Cheatham?

  Next time I come over, I am trashing your magic bullet. I'm throwing it away. If I ever come over and your magic bullet goes missing, you know why.

• 32:13Joe Flamm?

  All right. Well, when you come over, I'm just putting my magic bullet on a high shelf and.

• 32:16Adrienne Cheatham?

  Oh, I will find it. I will climb on your counter and throw that thing away. I'm, I'm sorry. I think it's because the top doesn't open that I just have such a visceral reaction. I can't really explain it, but I'm not here for the magic bullet, but that's my three. Professional robo coup, home use, Cuisinart, trash, magic bullet. What do you have next, Joe? What's your third and final kitchen essential?

• 32:37Joe Flamm?

  So my third and final one is the meat thermometer.

• 32:42Adrienne Cheatham?

  Hmm.

• 32:43Joe Flamm?

  And I think, you know, in some kitchens, you know, you don't use them a ton. Like I worked in a lot of kitchens where, you know, I mean, you just did by touch. You did cake testers. You did all those things, right? Um, but for like really large cuts, you know what I mean? Like when we're making pork cutters and stuff like that, you have to have a meat thermometer. And I think the best, simplest professional one is those ones where it's like, they almost look like a flip knife. They're a probe, instant read, digital thermometer. They have a magnet on the back. You can slap them on the oven. Pull them off, pop them in. They stay super calibrated for a long time. Those ones like, I don't know what the brand is. I don't know who they are, but like those I think are like the workhorse of professional kitchen.

• 33:20Adrienne Cheatham?

  Okay.

• 33:21Joe Flamm?

  Absolutely fantastic. You mean, you pop them in, boom, get your read, you're good to go. Right?

• 33:28Joe Flamm?

  For home, I think the most part where people need thermometers is when they're doing longer cooks, right? So like for me, it's like my number one home meat thermometer, like that I use is really, it's like, I do a pig roast every year. But it's like, this would be the same if like you're doing a turkey or a prime rib for Christmas Eve or whatever it is, you know? So for home, I'm a fan of the probe thermometers. You can leave it. Now this one is, I don't know what brand this is. What is this? It's called temp spike, right?

• 34:02Adrienne Cheatham?

  Okay.

• 34:02Joe Flamm?

  Um, it looks like something that like finds studs in the wall from Home Depot.

• 34:06Adrienne Cheatham?

  It really does.

• 34:07Joe Flamm?

  But you charge them up. You can put one, like for the pig, I could put one each end of the pig.

• 34:14Adrienne Cheatham?

  Oh, so you put the probe into the meat and you leave the body of it inside too?

• 34:19Joe Flamm?

  Yeah. So it monitors the temperature inside. So I can check. So you just put the probes in. So I could like throw it into a turkey, throw it into, you know, a whole rib roast and then be able to monitor the temperature.

• 34:30Adrienne Cheatham?

  And you can leave that whole thing in the oven. You don't have to run the cord outside.

• 34:34Joe Flamm?

  There's no cord. They're cordless.

• 34:35Adrienne Cheatham?

  Oh my gosh. Oh, I see. So the probe goes in, you take the plastic part out. Okay.

• 34:41Joe Flamm?

  You just, you know, John Wick it.

• 34:43Adrienne Cheatham?

  I don't know if I've ever seen that.

• 34:46Joe Flamm?

  This is really great. Super durable. Really a big fan of that one. I think it works awesome.

• 34:52Adrienne Cheatham?

  I actually like that more too, because the ones with the cord, I'm always afraid of messing up the seal of the oven because you're letting a little bit of air in.

• 35:01Joe Flamm?

  And it's like, those cords are supposed to be indestructible. I've destroyed them. You melt them, they go through, you know what I mean? Like this is really nice, you know, because it's just a piece of metal. Like there's nothing to melt. Keeps really good temperature. Big fan, big fan. Would purchase again.

• 35:14Adrienne Cheatham?

  So what's your trash option?

• 35:16Joe Flamm?

  The trash option is the one I bought the year before.

• 35:20Joe Flamm?

  So again, I got influenced.

• 35:24Joe Flamm?

  And I was like, look at this little thing. Super cute, super nice. This is, I think it's the, the meter plus. Now, same idea as the other one, except this interacts with a wifi app on your phone.

• 35:37Adrienne Cheatham?

  Okay.

• 35:38Joe Flamm?

  Which in theory, I was like, oh great. I could look at it. You know what I mean? I could go to the grocery store. I could go wherever I want. I know the temperature. I'm super locked in, right?

• 35:47Adrienne Cheatham?

  I guess.

• 35:48Joe Flamm?

  The problem.

• 35:50Adrienne Cheatham?

  I hate having to download apps for my equipment. That's, that's just me though.

• 35:53Joe Flamm?

  Hate it. Hate it. Hate having to download that. That's number one. Don't make me download an app to cook food.

• 35:59Adrienne Cheatham?

  No.

• 35:59Joe Flamm?

  Like, don't want to do it. At all. All I want is my favorite podcast to listen to, like about cooking. Maybe, I don't know. Chef's Cut Pop.

• 36:07Adrienne Cheatham?

  The Chef's Cut, right?

• 36:08Joe Flamm?

  Maybe the Chef's Cut. Um, so you have to download an app, one, which is super annoying. And then two, this wifi, because this thing, like when I put them in the smoker, the smoker killed the signal.

• 36:21Adrienne Cheatham?

  No.

• 36:22Joe Flamm?

  It wouldn't get through the metal.

• 36:23Adrienne Cheatham?

  What's the point of it then?

• 36:25Joe Flamm?

  So it wouldn't read unless I had the smoker open. So I'd have to.

• 36:29Adrienne Cheatham?

  Which defeats the whole fricking purpose. Oh my God.

• 36:32Joe Flamm?

  I might as well just go with the probe then.

• 36:34Adrienne Cheatham?

  That, yeah, that's the dumbest thing ever. I'm sorry. Yeah. The, like, you keep adding all these bells and whistles and you're missing the whole point of the thermometer.

• 36:43Joe Flamm?

  So, and I think that's, you know, the thermometer is, it goes simpler, the better. You know, the Digi read, number one, you know, I mean, just the magnet one too is super nice. So you'd like, you'd throw it on your fridge in the house, wherever. It's just a really easy one. You put it on the grill outside. That's a great work one that I actually think works as a great home one too. You know what I mean? That's one of the few ones where it like carries both, but you can't leave it in something is the thing. So it's like, if you're doing your turkey, whatever, you can't just leave it in there and wait. You're going to have to pull the whole thing out to temp it, which, you know what I mean? Like you may or may not want to do it. So professional grade, Digi read magnet, stays everywhere. Fantastic. For the home, two probe with the temperature on the thing itself.

• 37:25Joe Flamm?

  Garbage one is the wifi. I have to download an app to find out a temperature. I'm not doing it. Get me out of here.

• 37:31Adrienne Cheatham?

  I'm with you on that.

• 37:32Joe Flamm?

  Lose me with it, age.

• 37:41Adrienne Cheatham?

  Before we wrap it up, our producers had a little, little curve ball. They want to do a little fork it or forget it with us and ask us about the following pieces of equipment and if we think that they should stay in your kitchen or if they should get kicked to the curb. So for this, our producer, Jordan, is going to ask us a few things and I don't know what's on her list. So these are, these are going to be surprises and we will tell our honest opinions.

• 38:07Joe Flamm?

  All right. Roll it, Jordan.

• 38:09Speaker 02

  All right. Our first fork it or forget it. We have the oven mitt.

• 38:14Adrienne Cheatham?

  Oh, absolutely not.

• 38:16Joe Flamm?

  Forget it. Get a kitchen towel.

• 38:18Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah. All you need is a, is a, is a dry kitchen towel.

• 38:21Joe Flamm?

  Don't, don't come at me with those weird little rubbery things either.

• 38:25Adrienne Cheatham?

  Quack, quack. No, that's, that's for puppet time. No.

• 38:28Joe Flamm?

  Absolutely.

• 38:28Adrienne Cheatham?

  No oven mitts in my kitchen. I literally don't have a single one. No pot holder, no oven, nope.

• 38:33Joe Flamm?

  Nope.

• 38:34Adrienne Cheatham?

  Not up in here.

• 38:36Speaker 02

  All right. Next we have the hand blender. Essential.

• 38:40Joe Flamm?

  Fork it.

• 38:41Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yep. Fork in it.

• 38:42Joe Flamm?

  Yeah. Yeah. Gotta have it. It's so versatile.

• 38:45Adrienne Cheatham?

  Forget.

• 38:45Joe Flamm?

  So versatile.

• 38:47Adrienne Cheatham?

  Hand blender, fork in the hell out of that.

• 38:49Joe Flamm?

  You do anything with that.

• 38:50Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah. I'm here for it. I think I have two.

• 38:54Speaker 02

  This one we have from our fellow producer, Sean, the garlic press.

• 38:58Adrienne Cheatham?

  Oh, Sean. How could you? No, no.

• 39:03Joe Flamm?

  But no, forget it. Forget it. Forget it. Is there one in my house?

• 39:09Joe Flamm?

  Yes.

• 39:10Adrienne Cheatham?

  Have you ever used it?

• 39:12Joe Flamm?

  No.

• 39:12Adrienne Cheatham?

  No. My problem with the garlic press.

• 39:14Joe Flamm?

  Use it?

• 39:15Adrienne Cheatham?

  I don't think people need it. If you have a microplane, if you have a grater, if you have a knife, I hate things that only have one use. A garlic press has no other use, so it, it can't take up space in my kitchen. Get out of here.

• 39:30Adrienne Cheatham?

  What you got next?

• 39:31Speaker 02

  This one, I know everybody is wondering what you guys think about.

• 39:34Adrienne Cheatham?

  Oh.

• 39:35Speaker 02

  We have the workhorse, the air fryer.

• 39:41Adrienne Cheatham?

  Okay. People are going to hate me and I don't have one, so I can't really speak on it, but I have no problem turning my oven to 475. It's, an air fryer is essentially just a very hot, very small convection oven. So, I mean, I get it. You're not heating up your whole house. It's not going to get as smo- I don't know, but I don't know. I don't want another piece of equipment that's going to take up counter space in my New York apartment. So.

• 40:08Joe Flamm?

  Listen.

• 40:09Adrienne Cheatham?

  I don't personally have an air fryer.

• 40:10Joe Flamm?

  I used to agree with you till I had an air fryer.

• 40:14Adrienne Cheatham?

  Ah.

• 40:15Joe Flamm?

  And if you've ever reheated a egg roll in an air fryer, you know, it's the truth. It gets crispy again. It's super delicious. I fork an air fryer.

• 40:26Adrienne Cheatham?

  And you don't have to heat up the oven and wait for the whole thing to warm.

• 40:30Joe Flamm?

  It won't get as crispy in the oven. Even at 475, you're not getting the airflow. It's just not working. The, the, the air fryer rips. It's, you know what I mean? Like I would say 99% of the cooking I do after I get home from work, after a long shift is like, whatever it is, I'm going to figure out how to throw it in the air fryer.

• 40:46Adrienne Cheatham?

  Okay. So you're forking it. I'm forgetting it. I'll try it at somebody else's house before I commit to buying one for myself, but uh, for now, I'm going to forget the air fryer. So oven mitts, we both say, forget it. Hand blenders, we both fork it. Garlic press.

• 41:05Adrienne Cheatham?

  Forget it. Air fryer, split decision. One fork it, one forget it.

• 41:11Joe Flamm?

  You just don't know yet.

• 41:15Adrienne Cheatham?

  Joe, it has been a blast.

• 41:17Joe Flamm?

  Always a pleasure, age. Till next time, we'll find something else to argue about.

• 41:25Adrienne Cheatham?

  That is it for this episode of the Chef's Cut. Head to the comments to tell us your favorite go-to kitchen essentials and don't forget to subscribe on YouTube and follow us on IG. For Joe Flamm, I'm Adrian Cheatham and this has been the Chef's Cut. Life beyond the past.