Get to Know Us & Our Favorite Kitchen Tools!
by the FFF team
Have you ever thought about what your favorite kitchen tool is? You may reach for one spatula over another because it fits the curves of your pan jussssst right, or maybe you just can’t get enough of how good that one hand-carved serving spoon looks. Regardless of why it’s your favorite, we bet there’s something in your kitchen that you’re drawn to more than anything else!
Everyone on team FFF took a moment to figure out what their most cherished kitchen tool is and we thought you’d like to read about it. From the professional chefs to the farmers to the designers on our team, we all have something different we prefer that inspires us to get cookin’. A little blurb about everyone is also included so you can get to know the gang a little better!
Alicia
Hi! I’m Alicia. I’m a surrealist lit reading, glam rock loving, textile enthusiast who’s really bad at staying up late and really good at laughing at dad jokes. I’m the Retail Lead here at FFF and if you’ve stopped by the market to pick up your order we’ve probably had a lovely chat together! I make sure all your orders are ready to rock & roll, find fun new products, and keep a watchful eye on the website and social media happenings.
This is my Stagg EKG kettle. It’s certainly not a necessity in every kitchen, but it sure is in mine. It’s electric (insert Electric Slide lyric here), it’s temperature controlled, and it can be used for so much more than just making coffee. It can boil water in under five minutes, which is great because any longer than that and I’d fall back asleep before I could make my coffee. The gooseneck spout is great for accuracy – you can easily pour 1 gram of water at a time! I also use it to get water to the perfect temperature for activating dry yeast (110ºF), quickly boiling water to dissolve natural dyes for my textile projects, and to jumpstart heating water for pasta and oatmeal. See? More than just coffee!
(Totally unrelated to the functionality of the kettle, but equally as wonderful in my eyes – the temperature adjusting knob on the base of the kettle is SO satisfying to spin. 100% tactile ASMR.)
Annika
Hi everyone! My name’s Annika, I’m an Order Fulfillment Associate here at FFF, but Alicia calls me “the jack of all trades.” I work in both the retail side and kitchen side, with a sprinkle of my organizational skills everywhere in between. I love food, animals, any/every kind of music, writing, and also just being at the farm because I get to learn a lot!
One of my favorite kitchen tools is my french press. As a college student, I’ve gained an admiration for coffee (as most of us do), and have come to love this technique of making a good cup of coffee. I prefer it over a traditional coffee pot or Keurig, as you have more control over how long your coffee grounds are steeped for, you can change up the flavor, and easily make it your preferred temperature (even iced, if you’re patient!). It also just makes you feel like you’re a cool, experienced barista with a few tricks up your sleeve, when really it’s just a 10 dollar french press, some boiling water, coffee grounds, and a splash of creamer. Happy coffee-ing!
Emma
Hey there! I’m Emma and I’m a co-owner of Forts Ferry Farm. I run our commercial operations, and I work in the kitchen making food for our market!
I’ve loved cooking my entire life and have been cooking professionally now for 16 years. One of my all-time favorite tools that I cannot live without is a microplane. It saves so much time! I am a citrus zest fanatic in my cooking and there is really no better tool to achieve the perfect zest. I also really love to microplane garlic cloves rather than chop them...it’s a super efficient way to make a great garlic paste. And most of all it’s a fantastic tool to make cheese rain over a big bowl of pasta!
Ivana
My name’s Ivana. I am currently leading the vegetable operation at Forts Ferry Farm, but have been baking in the offseason for a handful of years.
This is my strainer. As a farmer, I’ve been moving around every March and November in search of a new job. It’s been so fun trying to fit this bulky strainer on top of a keyboard, guitar, and pillows in a tiny car. I originally bought it after trailing at a restaurant where I learned this is the secret to fine food. Strain your goat milk cheesecake through here or make the smoothest carrot soup! It mostly sits in a dark cupboard, but every so often I look at it and think of what could be; a pureed food void of fiber. There are several tools like this one that I have only encountered once or twice, but have allowed me to hold on to memories I would have otherwise forgotten.
Jamie
Heyo! My name is Jamie Barker, and I manage the Creative Department and am one of the co-owners here at FFF. I’m a Sagittarius who digs campfire-y moods, Christmas music in July, and old-man rip sessions at the skatepark.
One of my all-time favorite kitchen tools is the citrus juicer. It’s a specialized tool designed to do one thing well — take juice from fruits. This one in particular has 2 sizes for lemons and limes. While it’s handy for a million different dishes/drinks in the kitchen, this little guy lives within arm’s reach from my bar and earns his keep by making margaritas. Just slice a couple of limes, place face down into the juicer, squeeze into a shaker, add tequila, orange liqueur, and ice. Shake it up and enjoy. Cheers!
John
Hey now! My name is John Barker and I'm the Director of Agriculture and a co-owner of Forts Ferry Farm. I've been running the farm operations here ever since our very humble beginnings in 2015. Prior to starting the farm, I spent 12 years in numerous kitchens in Ohio, Manhattan, Nantucket, and Hawaii serving as prep cook, line cook, and sous chef.
The kitchen tool that I decided to highlight today is a knife that was introduced to me while on my externship from the Culinary Institute of America at a fine dining restaurant in Columbus, Ohio by the name of Handke's Cuisine. The restaurant's Executive chef and owner was Certified Master Chef, Hartmut Handke. Chef Handke insisted every kitchen team member purchase and learn to use this knife. It is inexpensive, easy to clean and maintain, and hands down the most versatile tool that I have used in a kitchen. It is a Victorinox 10.25" serrated slicer that can be used in nearly every facet of the kitchen including meat and fish fabrication, vegetable prep, slicing breads and pastries. Because of its rounded tip and thin flexible blade, it can also be used as a spatula to turn smaller things in a pan or on the grill.
Luke
Hey I’m Luke, and I’m one of the field workers extraordinaire here at FFF. It is always a pleasure for me to spend time at the farm learning about the plants and helping them thrive. I spent four years studying environmental science, and I joined the field team at the farm last summer. It’s lots of fun working at a farm that sells unique produce—I am always learning new varieties of veggies that I didn’t know about.
My favorite tool from my kitchen is my pizza cutter. Usually, my favorite tools have multiple uses, but honestly, a pizza cutter only does one thing well. That being said, the specialization of a pizza cutter is why I like it—there’s no better tool for the job. It is a very unique tool, and in a way, it adds to how special of an occasion it is whenever I make pizza at home.
Matt
Hi, my name is Matthew D’Ambrosio. I am the technical lead in the Forts Ferry Farm kitchen. I’ve been working in the food industry for the past 15 years focusing mostly on regional Italian cuisine. I enjoy good wine, cheese, and long baguettes on the beach. In my downtime, I enjoy gardening and baking with my children.
One of the favorite kitchen tools that I use on an everyday basis is a Japanese mandoline. No, it’s not a musical instrument, but it slices just as well as one. Simplicity, sleek and sharp tool design are features that make a mandoline a must-have for me at home or in a commercial setting. So what can a mandoline do, you ask? I think the real question is what can’t it do—from shaving slices of apples for a salad to shaving garlic for a sauce, to slicing cucumbers for my kid’s lunch (it does it all.) Some other fun features include a safety guard for us clumsy cats out there, as well as a few different blade attachments for making julienne cuts a breeze if you’re not too sharp with your knife.
My second-favorite kitchen tool is the kitchen aid rotary mixer. An essential kitchen workhorse from mixing doughs and pie crust to making fluffy meringue. Its small footprint to me makes it worth its weight in gold. Another key feature that makes this a must-have is its ability to run 10–12 different attachments, including a pasta sheeter, meat grinder, sausage stuffer, vegetable spiralizer, and grain miller, just to name a few. No kitchen is complete until it has one of these.
Sarah
Hey, I’m Sarah, one of the field workers here at Forts Ferry Farm! In my spare time, I play a lot of music, read, knit, make pottery, and play with my rabbit.
When I’m not farming, I spend a lot of time in the kitchen cooking and preserving. My love of food is one of the reasons I got into farming and it has been an incredibly rewarding and nourishing experience to grow my own food and share it with others. One of my favorite kitchen tools is this simple and compact mandoline. I’ve never sliced my finger on this mandoline which is a miracle considering how often I use it and how fast I cut up vegetables with it. This tool has taken my salad making game to the next level and has helped me enjoy the produce we grow in new and exciting ways. I was surprised that such a small mandoline could handle slicing roots like potatoes, carrots, and watermelon radish with ease. It’s not the flashiest or most exciting kitchen gadget, but it definitely saves me time slicing vegetables thinly and it’s super easy to clean and store.
Siwei
Hey hey! My name is Siwei. I’m the designer/Creative Lead here at FFF. Besides FFF, everything that starts with the letter “F” is alright with me—fantastic films, foods, funky fonts…you name it!
My most used kitchen utensils are probably chopsticks. I always reach for them to flip, stir, whisk, and more. I also use them as a guide while pouring liquid from one container to another to avoid drips and spills (Asian grandma lifehack #1). But I’m not here to talk about chopsticks! I’m here to talk about a nifty little thing called an ami jakushi (網杓子) that I stumbled upon last year at a Japanese market in NYC. It’s a small, fine-mesh skimmer that’s perfect for removing the “scum” that rises to the surface of any meat-based soups and broths. I love making hearty Cantonese soups and stews using pork ribs/bones, oxtails, or whole chickens, especially in the cold Northeastern winter. These meats can sometimes be quite fatty, so I usually pre-boil the meat to clean off any shards of bone or globs of fat (lifehack #2). Even after pre-boiling, there might still be some leftover fat and impurities left, but can be easily taken out with the skimmer. With this cute little tool, you can showcase your beautiful, clear broth and leave it with a clean taste without skipping a beat.
And…there you have it! We hope this list inspires you to dig into the depths of your kitchen drawers to use some forgotten tools, or that if you haven’t used any of these items before that you give some a shot! Drop us a comment below with what your favorite kitchen tool is and how you use it!