Food prep utensils

Equip your kitchen with the right utensils to prepare and decorate every dish with professional precision. At Hiperchef we've brought together a wide selection of small utensils designed for both catering and demanding home cooks: spatulas, sauce bottles, tongs, turners, ladles, mortars, injectors, elastic meat nets, cooking twine, scrapers and everything you need to plate up with style and work your ingredients before and after cooking.

Essential utensils for preparing and decorating in the kitchen

A well-equipped kitchen shows in the details. Frying pans and knives aren't enough on their own: it's the auxiliary utensils that make the difference between a dish that simply works and one presented with a professional eye. That's why this category brings together all the kit that usually lives in the essentials drawer, from the tongs you use to turn a fillet of beef to the sauce bottle you use to trace lines of reduction across the plate.

Each utensil has been selected by prioritising the quality of the materials (18/10 stainless steel, food-grade polypropylene, heat-resistant silicone, solid wood) and real durability in kitchens under heavy use. Prices stay competitive so that renewing your kit is never a problem.

Kitchen tongs, turners and spatulas

Kitchen tongs are an extension of the cook's hand: they let you turn meat, plate up vegetables, toss salads or serve pasta without damaging the food. You'll find stainless steel tongs in various sizes, silicone-tipped tongs for non-stick frying pans and precision tongs for fine plating. Spatulas and turners are another staple: wide fish slices, spatulas for stirring, omelette turners, cranked palette knives for baking, silicone spatulas for scraping bowls clean and serving turners.

Sauce bottles, injectors and piping bags for plating

To decorate dishes with precision, sauce bottles are an indispensable tool. They let you apply reductions, flavoured oils, coulis or sauces painted as lines, dots or strokes straight onto the plate. Sauce injectors and corers are handy for filling meat, fruit or pastries. And for baking or creative cooking, piping bags and the 100x100 Chef accessories open up a wide range of presentation possibilities.

Mortars, mills and scrapers

Centuries on, a mortar and pestle is still the best way to bind an aioli, crush spices or make a pesto with a character no food processor can match. At Hiperchef you'll find mortars in marble, granite, wood and porcelain in various sizes. Salt and pepper mills, along with dough scrapers and pastry scrapers, round off the basic kit for working doughs, breads and pastry.

Brands specialising in kitchen utensils

We work with the brands that have spent decades making this kind of small kit and that are a benchmark in professional kitchens:

• Ibili: a wide range of kitchen utensils, especially strong in baking, plating and small professional kitchenware.
• Lacor: a Spanish manufacturer with an extensive catalogue of stainless steel catering utensils.
• Marcato: an Italian specialist in pasta machines and related utensils.
• Tellier: a long-established French manufacturer of professional utensils such as food mills, corers and ballers.
• 100x100 Chef: technical and creative-cooking utensils.
• Westmark: a German manufacturer of practical, long-lasting utensils.

If you're unsure which utensil is right for your kitchen, our team is happy to advise with no obligation. A good share of our customers are catering professionals who reorder year after year, and that keeps us on our toes.

Frequently asked questions about prepare and decorate utensils

Which utensils are essential to start plating like a professional?

As a minimum we recommend: a 20-24 cm precision tong, two sauce bottles (one light, one dark), a set of cranked palette knives, a couple of tasting spoons and a good scraper. With that you can achieve clean plating in any kitchen.

Are silicone-tipped tongs suitable for non-stick frying pans?

Yes, they're exactly the recommended choice when cooking with non-stick frying pans. The silicone tip avoids scratching the coating and easily withstands normal cooking temperatures (up to 220-230 °C depending on the model).

Which mortar is best — marble, granite or wood?

It depends on the use. The marble mortar is elegant and works well with sauces and emulsions. The granite one is the most versatile and hard-wearing: ideal for tough spices, garlic and pesto. The wooden one is light and traditional, perfect for aioli and mojo sauces but needs more care when cleaning.

What's the difference between a spatula and a turner?

In kitchen language the two terms are sometimes used interchangeably, but technically a turner (or fish slice) is flat and rigid (for flipping omelettes or fish) while a spatula is usually flexible and used for scraping, mixing or spreading (a silicone spatula for scraping bowls, a cranked palette knife for smoothing icings).

Are stainless steel utensils dishwasher safe?

Most are, but it's worth checking each product's specification. Utensils with wooden handles or bonded silicone components usually recommend hand washing to extend their life. Solid 18/10 stainless steel has no problem in the dishwasher.