Season 1 · Stop 3 of 10 · The Riverbank Inn kitchen · Apprentice level: Newcomer · New friend: Pippa the otter
On my third day, I was proud of myself. Prep was done, and I was carrying a huge armful of onion skins and carrot peels toward the trash.
“Stop right there,” said Chef Tamás, without looking up. “That’s not trash. That’s tomorrow’s stock.”
I looked at the peels. Then at the big dented pot on the back burner. Then at the peels again. Beavers hate wasting good material. How had I not seen it?
“Any big pot will do,” said Chef Tamás. “The pot doesn’t make the stock. The habit does.”
That afternoon a new apprentice arrived: Pippa, an otter, sleek and fast and absolutely full of opinions. Within ten minutes she was juggling three pairs of tongs. Within eleven she had dropped one into the fryer.
“Tongs are for turning food, not for showing off,” said the chef, fishing it out with a second pair of tongs. Then he showed us his own every-shift kit, and it surprised me. A little bent spatula. Tongs. A long pair of tweezers. That’s it. None of it fancy, all of it cheap.
Now Pippa and I take turns guarding the scraps bucket. She guards it like a goalkeeper. I guard it like a dam.
Chef Tamás’s real lesson: “Every shift I use a small offset spatula, tongs and tweezers. I make stock out of everything other people would throw away, and for that any big pot will do.” At home: keep a bag in the freezer for clean vegetable trimmings and bones. When it’s full, it’s stock day.
🎒 Gear from this adventure (all under $25 except the pot)
- OXO Good Grips Bent Icing Knife: the little offset spatula, ATK’s top pick (about $15)
- OXO Good Grips 12″ Tongs: ATK’s winner (about $18)
- 12″ kitchen tweezers: stainless, serrated tips ($10–20)
- T-fal Specialty 12 qt stockpot: an ATK co-winner (about $35–50)
The full, sourced guide: 4 cheap tools a head chef uses every shift. Prices checked October 2026. Affiliate links: how we make money.
Gerzsi and his friends are made up. Chef Tamás and his lessons are real.
