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About This Quiz
Does a knife work just as well as a mango pitter? Do you really need a flexible frosting spreader, or is a knife dipped in water just fine for spreading frosting evenly? Unless you're someone known for the best strawberry jam this side of the Mississippi, you probably don't need a strawberry huller. So it's time to take a good hard look at that kitchen drawer that hardly closes, due to the potato masher and ladles you have stored in there.
However, there is a price for minimalism, and that price is paying more than you think you need for utensils. If you are only going to have a few tools, they need to be of the very highest quality. That's especially true for knives, cutting boards and serving utensils.
This quiz will help you take a fresh look at that old drawer and see if you can donate a few items to charity. When you hear the description, you may initially think, "Hey, a knife could do that," and realize you may not need that bagel slicer after all. Check out this quiz now. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain, including a kitchen drawer that's easier to close!
This utensil is used to remove the outer layer of fruits and vegetables. What is it?
Vegetable peeler
Although a paring knife can do the job, it can do many other jobs as well, including cutting meat and slicing dough. So the correct answer is vegetable peeler.
Spatula
Strainer
Paring knife
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Use this to hand mix ingredients and add air to your batter. What utensil is best for that?
Rubber scraper
Spatula
Wire whisk
Use a wire whisk to whip eggs or cream ingredients together, or add air to a batter. Do not try to use a whisk with thick mixtures.
Grater
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It's the best utensil to get every ounce of batter from that bowl. Which one does that?
Chef's knife
Rubber scraper
Using a metal spoon might do the job, but a rubber scraper is perfectly shaped for mixing, folding soft ingredients, and especially removing batter from a bowl completely and efficiently. The rubber flexes to match the contour of the bowl.
Juicer
Metal spoon
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This tool is perfectly shaped to flip flapjacks or burgers. Which tool is it?
Serrated knife
Spatula
Although you can flip things with your fingers (ouch) or with a fork, it's preferable to do it with a spatula. Plus, spatulas come in various sizes and shapes for every serving situation.
Pizza cutter
Barbecue fork
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This utensil will make fast work of spreading out dough evenly. Which one should you choose?
Rolling pin
Whether the dough is used to make cookies, pizza crust, pie crust or rolls, a rolling pin is an essential tool in any kitchen. Choose the style that is most comfortable for you.
Pizza cutter
Paring knife
Heavy pan
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Although its name may make you think it's only good for one thing, it's also good for cutting noodles and dough. Which one is it?
Strainer
Pizza cutter
Although it's also good for cutting, a chef's knife doesn't make you think of one particular food. A pizza cutter is useful for cutting pizza, as well as noodles and dough.
Can opener
Chef's knife
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This tool is a wire mesh bowl or scoop that is used to strain solids from liquid ingredients. What do you call it?
Strainer
A strainer is a wire mesh bowl or scoop, while a colander has bigger holes in the container and is often plastic. You may need to use a strainer, depending on the foods you're separating. For example, spaghetti or julienned veggies could slip through the holes of a colander, but not a strainer.
Colander
Cookie scoop
Sifter
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This is a cutting tool used to shred food. What's its name?
Sifter
Colander
Serrated knife
Grater
This utensil is used to shred or grate foods like potatoes, cabbage or cheese. Depending on the size of the grating holes or surface area, a shredder can also be used to zest lemons or ginger.
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You're going to cut up a whole chicken. Which is the best knife to use?
Paring knife
Butcher's knife
A butcher's knife is a specialty knife used for cutting meats because of its thicker broad blade. A butter knife only cuts through and spreads soft items, like butter and cream cheese.
Boning knife
Butter knife
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Which utensil is good to use when stirring, if you don't want to scratch your pots and pans?
Wire whisk
Rubber scraper
Wooden spoon
Wooden spoons don't scratch pots and pans. They also don't heat to scalding temperatures or chemically react with acidic foods, as metal does. Wooden spoons won't melt or leach chemicals or strange tastes into hot foods, as plastic does.
Spatula
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Time for the egg wash to be brushed on top of the rolls, for a nice brown finish. What are you using to do that?
Knife
Spoon
Rolling pin
Pastry brush
Although a knife or spoon might work, it will be a sloppy experience. Instead, use a pastry brush to do the job right. Traditional pastry brushes are made with natural bristles, while modern kitchen brushes usually have silicone bristles for easier cleaning.
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Ready to make mashed potatoes? What utensil is perfect for the job?
Meat tenderizer
Rolling pin
Shears
Potato masher
Although you could theoretically use all of these to smash up potatoes, the perfect tool is the potato masher, which has no other purpose. The only drawback is that the potato masher has a clunky shape and doesn't fit neatly in the drawer with the rest of your utensils.
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You don't want soggy salad greens, so what item should you use?
Citrus juicer
Garlic press
Salad spinner
After washing a head of lettuce, do you dry each leaf? Heck no! That's what a salad spinner is for, as “spinning” your greens is by far the easiest way to do it.
Measuring cups
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This utensil lets you take out pieces of chicken from a pot of soup without scooping up the broth. What utensil is it?
Wire whisk
Slotted spoon
Slotted spoons are used to stir foods that are in liquids and, if needed, to separate the solid foods from the liquids when serving or transferring temporarily to a plate.
Spatula
Paring knife
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This tool lets you remove metal bottle caps from bottles quickly and easily. What is it?
Measuring spoon
Measuring cup
Bottle opener
Today's bottle openers are useful and fun, and many people like to collect them. They can come in crazy shapes, sizes, colors and themes.
Butcher's knife
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It's a tool that covers an area, making it perfect for chopping meats and vegetables. What is it?
Measuring cups
Meat tenderizer hammer
Kitchen countertop
Cutting board
One of the most basic tools you need in your kitchen is a good cutting board. Since you’ll be using it every time you cook, it’s important to choose one that’s durable and well designed.
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These utensils help you follow the recipe as directed, including adding the exact amounts of ingredients. Which are they?
Measuring cups
Measuring spoons
Mixing bowls
Both measuring cups and spoons
Measuring cups and spoons are used for precisely measuring the volumes of liquid or dry cooking ingredients. You'll want measuring cups that are stackable and have a pouring lip.
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This tool is ideal for draining foods or cold shocking vegetables. Which one of these does the job?
Colander
A colander is a metal or plastic container with a perforated bottom that is used for draining and/or straining food from liquid. It can also be used to cold shock vegetables to stop the cooking process after blanching, by running the vegetables under cold water in the colander.
Cherry pitter
Meat thermometer
Tongs
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You have a couple pounds of cherries and have decided to make cherry pies. What utensil would be good to have around?
Apple corer
Cherry pitter
A cherry pitter removes pits quickly and cleanly, without any cherry juice splatter. If you don't have one of these pitters, you can always use chopsticks and a cherry sitting atop the mouth of an empty bottle to get the job done!
Vegetable peeler
Grater
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Although it can cut many kinds of rolls in half, people use this mostly for bagels. What utensil is it?
Paring knife
Bagel slicer
A bagel slicer keeps your hands away from any potential slicing harm. The cradle holds the bagel while the two plastic safety shields keep fingers away from the cutting blade.
Knife sharpener
Avocado pitter
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What utensil will help you know if your meat is properly cooked?
Meat tenderizer hammer
Serrated knife
Meat thermometer
If you like to grill or cook meat at home, it's a good idea to have a meat thermometer on hand. The best options are digital probe thermometers and instant-read thermometers.
Honing steel
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This utensil resembles a mallet with a short handle and dual heads. One face of the tool is flat, while the other has rows of pyramid-shaped bumps. What is it?
Meat tenderizer hammer
Whether you're tenderizing your meat or pounding chicken breasts to have consistent thickness, use a meat tenderizer, meat mallet, or meat pounder. Don't want to pay for one? Use a rolling pin or the bottom of a heavy pan to pound meat instead.
Chicken thermometer
Paring knife
Rolling pin
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It can make avocados easier to cut up. What is it?
Garlic press
Avocado pitter
Avocados and their pits are notoriously hard to separate. That's why you might want an avocado pit remover. It takes the mess out of preparing avocados for fajitas, salads, dips and sandwiches.
Citrus juicer
Butcher's knife
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This utensil is designed with blades stemming out from a ring in the middle and two handles. What is it?
Apple corer
Apple corers can core and divide fruit into even wedges. Besides apples, you can use it on pears and other fruits with small cores.
Strawberry huller
Mango slicer
Chef's knife
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This utensil gets the most juice out of a lime or lemon. It can be manual or electric. What do you call it?
Garlic press
Citrus juicer
Why not use a knife to cut and then squeeze a lemon or lime half? It's actually more hassle than it should be - as you get juice all over your hands and seeds in your food. Plus, a citrus juicer is known to get more juice out of the fruit.
Meat tenderizer hammer
Bottle opener
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This utensil can carve around the odd-shaped seed in a mango. What utensil does this the best?
Apple corer
Mango slicer
Sweet, delicious mangoes are hard to efficiently peel and slice because of the odd-shaped seed. That's why many people will buy a mango slicer. With one downward press the sharp, stainless-steel blades core and cut even the ripest mangoes.
Olive pitter
Strawberry huller
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Which of these utensils will give you an edge when your knives are dull?
Honing ceramic rod
Knife sharpener
Whetstone
All of the above
Any of these utensils will help you get a sharp edge on your knives. The honing rod is used to grind away material from the blade. A whetstone is a fine-grained stone used for sharpening cutting tools, and a knife sharpener performs exactly as titled.
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This utensil works well for picking up meats or serving salads. What is it?
Tongs
Tongs make it easy to flip meats and gather vegetables. Most people prefer to have tongs with silicone tips to prevent scratching pans and pots. Because the tips have a high degree of heat resistance, they don’t melt away after frequent use.
Ladle
Trivet
Splatter guard
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What's the name of the utensil that makes serving liquids a breeze?
Immersion blender
Ladle
A ladle is essentially a very large, long-handled spoon with a deep bowl. It is used for serving liquids, like soups, stews or punch.
Trivet
Oven mitt
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This thing goes between your table and a hot casserole to ensure the table doesn't take the heat. What do you call it?
Trivet
A trivet is a heat-resistant surface that you place hot dishes on, so you don’t burn your table. It can be cloth, bamboo, wood - you name it - as long as it keeps the heat in the food container and not on the table.
Oven mitt
Blender
Splatter guard
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You can use this instead of a knife to open food packaging and cut up poultry. What is it?
Garlic press
Shears
Shears are more versatile than knives. They are great for snipping herbs, cutting pizza into slices and pitas into wedges. They also make fast work of splitting a chicken and toddler-sizing food.
Can opener
Immersion blender
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This utensil not only measures the right amount of dough, but it also easily drops it onto a cookie sheet. What is it?
Ice cream scoop
Measuring cup
Measuring spoon
Cookie dough scoop
Although some of these options will work to get cookie dough on a tray, extracting that perfectly rounded dollop of cookie dough and using a spring setup to release the dough is what makes having your very own cookie dough scoop so great.
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Add more flair to cutting up hard-boiled eggs with one of these utensils. Which one?
Toaster
Egg slicer
Dress a salad beautifully with thinly sliced hard-boiled eggs. Use the egg slicer to turn your hard-boiled eggs into bright, colorful accents on a plate.
Immersion blender
Tongs
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This utensil makes sure tea leaves aren't swallowed. Which one is it?
Teaspoon
Tea ball
Since tea leaves don't all fall to the bottom of your teacup, you might want to use a tea infuser, tea egg or tea ball to make sure the leaves stay contained. Tea shouldn't have a leafy texture.
Melon baller
Olive pitter
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This utensil makes rounded shapes so a fruit salad looks extra special. What is it?
Melon baller
This stainless-steel utensil was formally called a Parisienne scoop. The melon baller is a small spoon-like tool used to cut round- or oval-shaped sections of melon (melon balls) by pressing it into the fruit and twisting the handle.
Wine bottle opener
Butter knife
Barbecue fork
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You Got:
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