What kitchen equipment does Swale View have?

So would Jay Rayner approve?

You may have seen Jay banging on about what he needs in his dream holiday home and who are we to argue?

I must admit I love Jay’s weekly Sunday column, food that is, and when I went last summer to see him play with his Jazz chums a very good evening was had by all.

So, bearing in mind the main thrust of his article was the requirement for sharp knives, big coffee mugs, a non glass chopping board and ideally a decent corkscrew and tongs how does our kitchen at Swale View cottage stack up?

Well, I’ll be honest, while our knives are brand new this year and sharp (and I’ll sharpen each time I am up) I wasn’t sure how much to spend and whether it was worth going all in on mega Japanese cooking knives.

My own knives, proper Sabatier and IO Shen have lasted me for years and have become very personal to me, can you anthropomorphise kitchenware? So these were unlikely to be used in Swale View - sorry!

But I wanted to get good quality knives, plenty of mugs, good chopping boards and so on - so I did.

I think I have got a decent mix of good quality kitchen equipment where it matters. So a couple of good frying pans, a good set (really good) of pots and pans, variety of chopping boards, some nice earthenware and pyrex dishes, measuring jugs and plenty of utensils. And on top of that I have added in a nutribullet, a juicer (which I love but is a pain to clean) as well as toasters, kettles, microwave, scales and loads of glasses and plates and dishes.

So what could I improve? Bigger mugs for coffee - on my to do list. A blender is coming up soon (arrived July 2019!). Use with the ice from the ice machine in the Aga fridge freezer to make super summer smoothies and bigger wine glasses (also arrived). Bit of a double edged sword on that one but lets go big and see how it works out!

As always, let me know if I can get anything in that you need - can’t and wont promise to do it but if I like the sound of it then I'll go for it. And given how much I like a good gadget there is a pretty good chance I will get in into Swale View!

Finally, if you like a browse around a good kitchen shop there is one in Leyburn which I like which is for house and home. I could spend hours here and there is a really good general merchants, think Robert Dyas, upstairs.

So do get in touch, my wallet is itching to buy some more kitchenware and I don’t need much of an excuse!