15 Italian Kitchen Utensils You Need

The Importance of Using Italian Cookware in Your Kitchen

There are 15 Italian Kitchen Utensils that are so important. It would be best if you had them because they help make cooking faster and are also safe to use. Some are multi-functional; you can use them for frying, boiling, or stirring. It would help if you also had Italian cookware in your kitchen because most of them are durable and natural.

For instance, the Italian cookware brands that are made of wood are good; they don’t leave any smell, and they also resist high temperatures.

15 Essential Italian Kitchen Tools You Need Now

Ravioli cutter, Italian kitchen utensils - The Proud Italian

If you are a lover of Italian cooking techniques, you need to have Cucina kitchenware–Cucina is the Italian word for kitchen. Below we discuss some essential Italian kitchen tools you need, and which are also available to purchase on Amazon:

The Gnocchi Board

Gnocchi is a type of pasta whose origins we trace back to Northern Italy. They are dumplings made from potatoes and flour. You eat gnocchi with a sauce of your choice– one of the saucing options could be tomato sauce. Here, prepare them in a way that you can pair them with the sauce.

The gnocchi board comes in handy here. It is a small board that is rectangular. It has raised lines that are used to texture gnocchi. The ridged shape helps easily pick sauce. For the best gnocchi, cut your dough into even-sized ropes. Roll them along the ridges until they are imprinted. The gnocchi board is one of the pasta utensils that is a must-have!

The Chitarra

The Chitarra looks like a musical instrument. Chitarra means guitar in Italian. We believe they invented it in Chieti, Abruzzo region, in the 1800s. We use the Chitarra for cutting the pasta into square shapes. Since the Chitarra is a harp with double sides with strings across, there is a slanting box’s bottom where pasta slides into.

You will need to use a rolling pin to flatten and press the dough through the wires. What you will have next are square noodles.

The Ravioli Cutter

Some historians believe the name ravioli originated from the Italian word, Riavvolgere that means to wrap. To prepare a ravioli, a ravioli cutter has to be available. Its use is to cut and separate the filling and the pasta pockets.

You can choose the shapes you want, from squares, rectangles, stars, hearts, and many more! You cannot afford to miss this on the list of your pasta tools and equipment.

The Parmigiano Knife

Parmigiano Reggiano is a type of cheese that is very “hard.” Cistercian and Benedictine monks first made the cheese. Their cows produced a lot of milk. To prevent the milk from spoiling, they came up with the Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. Since the cheese was hard, the best tool to use to cut it was the Parmigiano knife.

The Parmigiano knife is so strong that it can go through the most complex cheese, just like butter! If you love hard cheeses, you need to have a Parmigiano knife in your kitchen. In Italian, it is “coltello a goccia,” and it is an essential tool for any Italian cook.

The Mortar and Pestle

Ancient Egyptians, Africans, Indians, Greeks, Americans, and other people used mortars and pestles to process food and medicine. During the Stone Age era, they made mortar and pestle from stone. 

Bronze mortars gained popularity in the 14th century. The bronze ones did not last since they would react with some chemicals. Currently, there are mortars made of porcelain and even wooden ones.

The Italian kitchen cannot miss the mortar and pestle! Do you want to make your pasta delicious? The mortar and pestle will help you get the best flavors of garlic, basil, pecorino cheese. You will need to use a little energy to ground them together, and the best thing is that they will not oxidize.

You can also use this pair to smash other spices. The mortar and pestle come in different materials; they come in granite or marble. All the materials will perform the same function as long as the inner surface is rough and unglazed. You need “mortaio e pestello” in your kitchen!

The Pizzelle Maker

Pizzelles are the oldest cookies in the world. They originated in the mid-section of Italy in a village called Colcullo in Abruzzo. They are waffle cookies that are crispy and made from eggs, sugar, flour, and butter. You will never miss pizzelles in Italian homes during Easter and Christmas.

People first used Pizzelle makers in the 14th century. They made them out of two iron plates with two wooden handles. In 1869, an American called Cornelius Swartwout invented the stove-top pizzelle maker. It was in 1911 that General Electric developed an electric pizzelle maker. People began using it in 1918, and to date, its appearance has kept improving.

Do you want to prepare pizzelles at home? You will need a pizzelle maker. They designed it to make the waffles crispy and delicious. Take a drop of batter and place it in the pizzelle iron. It will then stamp a snowflake pattern on both sides of the cookie.

Depending on the ingredients you chose, your pizzelles can be soft or hard and crispy. Get a pizzelle maker and enjoy your waffles!

The Canning Jars

You need canning jars in your kitchen! The person who came up with the method of preserving food in sealed containers was a French chef known as Nicolas Appert. John Landis Mason invented the Mason jar in 1858; that’s why it is the Mason jar. Mason jars are also used as fruit jars, ball jars, Kilner jars, lightning fruit jars, or glass canning jars.

They are essential for preserving food like sauces. You need to choose the best canning jars that suit your need. Some jars have airtight seals and the standard mason jars with screw-on-lids that you can dispose of. Whichever you choose, canning jars are a must in the kitchen.

In Italian, they are barattoli per conserve.”

The Cheese Grater

Cheese grater, Italian kitchen utensils - The Proud Italian

Francois Boullier invented the cheese grater in 1540s. He invented it after seeing the need; there were hard cheeses that needed an item to shred them.

How will you shred your cheese without a cheese grater? You will need this stainless steel grater that comes in different shapes. Some have six sides for additional shredding and slicing degrees; others have a collection point, and you need to grate directly; others have different grating coarseness.

The classic Italian cheese grater is the one that has a fine grating surface. Get this “grattugia” for simple work for cheese.

The Garlic Peeler

Peeling garlic skin can be such a tiring task. For you to do it quickly, you need to get a garlic peeler. A garlic peeler can be a rubber or silicone tube. Ben Omessi, a retired American architect, invented the tube peeler. He used to design home items for people with disabilities.

After getting the garlic peeler, place the garlic cloves in the tube and press down. What you will get are garlic cloves that have no skin.

The Lasagna Pan

A lasagna pan will never miss in an Italian kitchen. It is a pan that is for baking lasagna. Lasagna is an Italian dish that originated in Ancient Greece. It was the first form of pasta, and Italians serve it in a lasagna pan.

Amongst your Italian pasta tools, a lasagna pan has to be there. Lasagna pans come in different varieties; They are made from glass, stainless steel, aluminum, enamel, ceramic, while others are disposable. Get it for your lasagna!

The Food Mill

A food mill is a tool for mashing soft foods. It has three parts; a bowl, a plate at the bottom with holes like those in a colander, and a crank that is fitted with a blade that crushes food. The food miller performs functions similar to a food processor or blender.

It would be great if you had a food mill in your kitchen to minimize your work when it comes to mashing and making purees.

The Pizza Wheel

The pizza wheel is also known as the pizza cutter or a rollerblade. It is for cutting pizza into shapes. David S. Morgan invented the first pizza wheel. Initially, it was for cutting wallpapers. The wheel comes in two types:

  • The variety uses a wheel that goes around while someone moves the cutter where he/she would like to cut the pizza.
  • The other variety is a curved knife one rocks back and forth to cut the pizza. It is “mezzaluna” in Italian.

The two types of pizza wheels come in different sizes. Buy the size that suits you.

The Large Dutch Oven

The Large Dutch Oven has its origins in the Netherlands. Abraham Darby worked with a Brass Works Company that used to make malt mills for breweries in 1702. He visited the Netherlands, where he studied the Dutch ways of making brass pots. He learned that the Dutch people would make kitchenware from sand, clay, and loam soil.

In 1706, he discovered he could replace brass with cast iron. He would cast iron in the sand; this was a Dutch process, and that’s why it is a “Dutch Oven.”

You need a Large Dutch Oven for you to make stews, roasts, and casseroles. You can also use dutch ovens as baking ovens to bake pizzas, cakes, or biscuits. It would be good if you had this tool in your kitchen, as it serves many purposes.

The Spider

A spider is a tool that is made with wire mesh with a long handle. The name spider came about from the wiring pattern, which looks like a spider’s web. You use it for getting hot food from a hot liquid like oil or broth.

Spiders come in different shapes: They may be small and round, like spoons shaped to form a basket or flat. They can also be spoon sieves, basket skimmers, or spoon skimmers.

The Wooden Spoon

Wooden spoons, Italian kitchen utensils - The Proud Italian

You will always find a wooden spoon in any Italian kitchen. A wooden spoon is a chip of wood that was carved from a larger piece of wood. In 250 B.C., the British used wooden spoons. A bit of evidence was seen when a small spoon was discovered during archaeological excavations at the Glastonbury Lake Village.

The Anglo Saxons and the Vikings were woodworkers. They produced wooden spoons that were used for cooking.

The wooden spoons are strong and hence durable. Compared to other utensils, they cannot melt. Another significant fact about wooden spoons is that they won’t damage the surface of your pan. We use them for cooking, mixing ingredients, and stirring.

Summary

Lastly, there is one crucial accompanying tool that you need to complete your kitchen, and that is Italian Cookbooks! The discussed tools are very vital for your kitchen. If you love Italian cuisine, you need to have these kitchen utensils. You can find other Italian kitchen utensils in the Italian cooking magazine.