Nearly Half Of People Find This Kitchen Utensil The Most Useful
When visiting a kitchen supply store, it's hard to not be overwhelmed by the sheer variety of kitchen utensils at hand. If an alien were to teleport into such a store, they could only conclude that we require every possible tool under the sun as well as every possible variation to prepare toast. Obviously, these stores don't reflect what we actually need in the kitchen.
However, that leaves open the question of what it is we do need in the kitchen. Tasting Table decided to ask what the most useful utensil is. 515 people responded.
Those responses made it clear that a slotted spoon really isn't that important in the scheme of things. Only 3.88% deemed it the most useful tool in their culinary adventures. Similarly, only 6.21% of people voted for kitchen shears. The next two at least made it to double digits. Tongs were deemed as the most useful by 13.4% of respondents while 29.13% felt the same about spatulas.
The number one spot, though, almost received an outright majority of support. When you learn what that tool is, though, you're unlikely to be surprised as it's rather obvious.
The most iconic tool is the most useful
The largest group of people deemed "a sharp knife" as the most useful kitchen tool. 47.38% choose a good knife over any other tool as the one that is most useful.
The vagueness of the category is important too. As Business Insider quotes Anthony Bourdain's opinion on knives from Kitchen Confidential, "Please believe me, here's all you will ever need in the knife department: ONE good chefs knife, as large as is comfortable for your hand." You use the tip for the smaller cuts and the heel of the blade to cut through thicker chunks. Moreover, he believed strongly that for most people, a cheap blade can cut through vegetables, meat, and bread.
Such strong opinions show both how iconic a chef's knife is and how well-rounded their use is. In fine dining, it became a rule that chefs would bring their own set of knives in part because they had such picky opinions about what knives suit them (per Eater). While most home cooks won't need to consider how a knife feels after hours per day each day, they still realize how central and versatile the tool is. That makes a simple sharp knife the most useful of kitchen utensils.