This is Chef’s Staples, where professional chefs dish on the gear they couldn’t cook without. This week: Chef Jeremy Hansen of Fork in Philadelphia, PA.
James Beard semi-finalist Chef Jeremy Hansen helms the kitchen at Fork in Philadelphia, serving up hyper-local fare prepared with technique developed under the legendary Gray Kunz. His menus are gastronomical incarnations of things are not always as they seem, with dishes that front as standard American fare, but go a step further (think mussels with mole, or A5 Wagyu with persimmon). Hansen is also a gear nut — the chef moonlights as a photographer and filmmaker on top of his day job — and runs a non-profit called 509Cooks, a first-responder organization that deploys chefs to emergency situations and disaster zones to serve up food. From a sturdy pocketknife to a world-famous pepper grinder, these are the things he couldn’t cook without.
The James Brand “The Carter”
The James Brand“An easy-to-carry-around-for-everything tool. Good for breaking down cardboard boxes, cutting twine, opening up caviar tins, opening up sous vide bags and for any other thing you don’t want to use your chefs knives on.”
