Homestead Kitchen Essentials

TeeDee

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Nov 6, 2008
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I've been dreaming of making an outside kitchen area for some time now - not just a BBQ area but a nicely equipped cleaning and prep area for anything that maybe considered foraging or homesteady. Even a nice Deer hang.

I think an outside sink is excellent for washing and prepping veg before they come into the house but what foundational equipment makes a capable country kitchen?

Outside Sink
Dehydrator
Deep large stock pots
Colanders
Cheesecloth
 
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Broch

Life Member
Jan 18, 2009
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Mid Wales
www.mont-hmg.co.uk
Nice idea :). Prepping, cooking, and eating?

It's my understanding that to get a 'game meat hygiene certificate' (different qualification for small game and large game) you must use plastic handled knives and tools - so, maybe, a set of such tools would be useful?

Other thoughts:
- large smoker (could be a small wood shed or a canvas covering over a frame)
- non-wooden or very well sealed prepping surface
- hanging rack
- long bench style eating table (so plenty of us can come down and enjoy it :))
- a large fire pit raised to stand-up cooking height (such as the Kadai range)
- a tidy small log store close to the kitchen (the main log store would be elsewhere)

I do like some of the ironmongery that Wayland takes to his camps too :)
 
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Toddy

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Jan 21, 2005
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Pressure cooker.
Maslin pans (the biggest pot covers from Ikea cover these)
Big basins (bowls ?, the English get me muddled over this, not sinks)
Mandolin fit to shred a big cabbage
Mouli
 
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British Red

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Dec 30, 2005
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For me, there are two questions to answer here.

1) How would I set up an outdoor kitchen?

and

2) What general equipment do I need that might be used in either kitchen

A very large, double, plumbed in, stainless steel sink would answer the first question, a set of large ladles would be an answer to the second.

Happy to answer either (or both) but answering them together would be a HUGE post ;)
 

TeeDee

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I think I maybe have led the herd astray - I was in the process of dealing with elderberries , pumpkin seeds and some game and was looking at the difference seldom used ( but oh so useful ) kitchen utensils and tools and also have it in my mind that this type of thing should be done outside in the outdoor kitchen environment.
 

British Red

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Dec 30, 2005
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Okay, answering Steve's

Cooking. At least a six burner industrial cooker. Canning on a standard 4 burner is a PITA to be honest.

Sinks. Two, large, stainless sinks with hot (propane on demand) water and cold water. Full drainage with soakaway.

Two large ovens (stainless, propane)

Modular walk in game larder

Two industrial size fridges

Stainless or tiled game dressing area with drainage, sluice & hoists.

Butchers block prep areas

The whole thing would have to be fly screened, shaded and able to be hosed out.

When I win the lottery, I will build such a thing in a barn with foldaway doors.
 

Toddy

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My as-near-as daughter in law is Italian. Her Granny's outdoor kitchen had a roofed area, a sink, a built in clay oven, with as near as I can tell what we used to use as a wood fired boiler....a brick built thing like the Chinese use with a big wok on top, and a big table.
No gas, no electricity bar a light.

My Granny's 'scullery' had stone floors, double sinks, a built in boiler/like the Chinese use, ( hers was fired with kindling and coal) and a big table.
There was no hot water, unless you boiled it up on the built in fire thing in the corner. There was one (rather dim) electric light, and that was it. No other electricity at all and no gas.

Both those ladies not only fed their entire families, but put past a lot of food to store in season, and provided for their respective church's 'help the needy'.

KISS is a good adage. Yes, we can all be more efficient using modern technology, but low tech works, and it works well.

Me ? I want a covered areas out of the rain ! :) and outside so that I don't steam up the kitchen like a laundry.
Other than that, a big table, I have the outdoor sink (Ikea :) ) but need it plumbed in and connected to the drains and not a bucket underneath, and something really stable to hang things on. I still have the old cast iron pulley brackets up the loft, I think that's be excellent.
Like this
1662233095865.png
 
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British Red

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Dec 30, 2005
26,887
2,138
Mercia
I think I maybe have led the herd astray - I was in the process of dealing with elderberries , pumpkin seeds and some game and was looking at the difference seldom used ( but oh so useful ) kitchen utensils and tools and also have it in my mind that this type of thing should be done outside in the outdoor kitchen environment.
Hmmmm okay so utensil based. Clearly knives well beyond the normal, blunt, 6" chef's knife - large butchers knife, cleaver, boning knives, skinner, filleting knives, ham knife etc.

Large hand cranked mincer

Bacon slicer

Ladles from 100ml to 500ml

Funnels including canning funnel

Sausage stuffer.

A4 sized really useful boxes x 6

Killing cone

Moulin

Stainless rolling pin

Elastic bands

Tongs (scissor and jar)

Pressure canner

25 litre stock pots x 3

15 litre stock pot

10 litre stock pot

Double boiler

Gambrel

Hand winch (and a beam to hang it from)

Cherry stoner

Corn stripper

Apple peeler / corer / slicer

Potato & veg peelers

Jar racks


....when shall I stop? :)
 
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Toddy

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@TeeDee, do you mean just the useful things that would be used outdoors to keep the mess in the kitchen to a minimum ?

Anything that squirts, drips, stains, smells ? that kind of thing ?

Tbh, a decent stainless steel sink, and a stable worktop beside it, under cover, would do fine for most things.

Wood left outside in the damp here grows green. Every fence, gate, shed, roadsign and bus shelter here is green with algae. If you don't have that, then you'd get away with leaving wooden utensils outside. Other wise, I wouldn't. Baskets go mouldy :sigh:

Stainless steel, plastic and enamel. I find plastic jugs left outside, (I use them for dyeing) crack because they aren't UV stablised, so not all plastic is good outdoors.

If you're having a sink, mine just drains into a bucket beneath, try to get it fitted to drain properly. Mine's out beside the greenhouse and I just lug the bucket out and use it in the garden, but it's a chore, and you've to mind and not let it overflow. If you're doing it from scratch, I'd try to sort out the water in and out. Garden tap sets can be bought for under twenty quid, and they come with all the fittings necessary....once you manage to drill a hole through the wall :rolleyes3:

Other than that, hit the poundstores for utensils. Big stainless steel spoons and ladles, tongs, colanders and sieves are a pound. Cutting boards sets too.

Big stock pots are very thin bottomed. They're meant to simmer long and low and with lots of liquid, so nothing sticks. Anything else you do in them will stick. I found that car boot sales are excellent places to find old maslin pans, or army billies, or again, Ikea and their 'student' range of pots and pans does fine for smaller quantities. Pretty sure I got two for a fiver. Those aren't the big ones, but they're good for boiling up stuff such as willow bast, moss, acorns, elderberries and the like.

Just now the supermarkets are selling off their outdoor dining stuff. I bought three big serving bowls, for a pound each last week. Bowls that you don't mind getting stained are good things :)

See if you can find a big mortar and pestle. I've got a big granite one and it's excellent for everything from cracking nuts to grinding down charcoal for making glue. You can do it with just a bit of paving slab and a comfortable in the hand stone, but the mortar and pestle makes it easy, and it's easy to sweep up nut shell bits whereas they rattle like something demented in the hoover indoors.

Some way to hang up stuff to drip through a cloot, or a jelly bag, where spatters won't matter, would be awfully useful at times too. Blackcurrants, plums, brambles, rosehips, anything with tannin....they all make a mess that stains.
 

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