Beyond the impressive health benefits the carnivore diet delivers, there’s this added perk– it makes your food prep a total breeze. With a shorter and simpler ingredient list to work with, you’ll have delicious food in no time.
But did you know you can make those nourishing and already yummy-as-they-are-carnivore diet recipes more mouthwatering? You’ll need to invest in some kitchen essentials, but it would be money well spent as these kitchen tools and gadgets can elevate your carnivore cooking experience to a whole new level.
Here are the top cooking tools that will help transform any carnivore diet meal into a culinary delight.
Fry/Searing Pan
A top-notch searing pan is your ticket to enjoying a flavorful, perfectly cooked meat. So, if you’re serious about creating exquisitely delectable meals on your carnivore journey, the first cooking essential on your list should be a high-quality pan.
Searing triggers a chemical transformation known as the Maillard reaction that produces complex flavors and aromas. It makes the meat more savory, giving it an irresistible crusty texture while preserving the moisture within.
Several materials are used to make fry pans, such as stainless steel, cast iron, copper, aluminum, and carbon steel. Non-stick, hybrid types make great choices for carnivore enthusiasts as they combine the durability of cast iron or stainless steel with anti-stick properties.
For this purpose, a premium fry pan is your best bet. Look for features that will allow not just ultimate searing perfection but make clean-up a breeze (that’s where advanced non-stick technology provides an advantage) Oh, don’t forget to include durability in your checklist. After all, when you find the pan that meets your needs, you’ll want it to last.
Don’t overlook the importance of selecting a safe and healthy sear pan. Steer away from those that could release harmful chemicals into your food, and instead opt for those crafted with non-toxic materials. This ensures that your cookware doesn’t detract from the health benefits of your tasty carnivore diet meal.
Knives
Quality knives are the key to effortless chopping, slicing, and making precise cuts, transforming the whole cooking process into an easy task. Sharp knives glide through meat, reducing the risk of accidents and saving you precious time. They also let you make clean, uniform cuts, ensuring perfectly cooked meals every time.
To create your carnivore diet recipes effortlessly, look for sharp, durable knives that maintain their edge for extended periods. Choose those with a comfortable, ergonomic grip, a variety of sizes to tackle different tasks, and easy-to-clean blades for low maintenance.
How about when you sit down to savor your perfectly cooked steak? Would you let a mediocre steak knife ruin the moment? No way! You’ll want a steak knife that slices through the meat like butter. A blade with optimum sharpness will help you cut your masterfully cooked meat cleanly and neatly, letting you savor your culinary creation with every bite.
Cutting Board
Far from being a mere kitchen accessory, a cutting board is an essential tool for any cook. This is particularly true for those who follow a carnivore diet, where meat is the primary food source.
A good cutting board provides a stable surface for your knife so you can chop, slice, and dice with precision. But that’s not all. It also helps prevent cross-contamination, which is when harmful bacteria from one food are transferred to another. This can happen if you use the same cutting board for raw meat and then for vegetables. Yikes!
Choose chopping boards made of wood, such as beechwood and walnut, as much as possible. Wood has natural properties that make it difficult for bacteria to thrive. The tiny cuts your knife makes in the wood help trap and kill bacteria. So, a wooden cutting board is not only beautiful, but it’s also super hygienic.
Some brands offer hybrid designs that give you 2 sides (with different surfaces) to work with – one for chopping and the other for carving. That’s a big plus for carnivore diet enthusiasts because it eliminates the need to use two cutting boards for their meals.
HexClad Walnut Cutting Board, Medium
HexClad Beechwood Cutting Board, Extra-Large
Oven
An oven is a must-have for those who have embarked or are thinking of embarking, on a carnivorous lifestyle. That’s because meat is on top of the carnivore diet food list. As such, many carnivore recipes involve roasting, baking, or broiling. Imagine crafting delectable dishes without this trusty appliance.
The best option can help you cook meat to a safe internal temperature, render fat from meat, and create a variety of dishes. In short, it ensures your culinary creations get cooked properly, safely, and without much fuss.
Don’t forget the price angle. The best doesn’t always mean the priceiest. A select few ovens can match the performance and features of premium brands minus the hefty sticker price.
Consider a combi oven using convection and steam injection. Harnessing the power of convection heating with steam injection produces the best results — roasts that are delightfully moist on the inside and crispy brown on the outside.
Sous Vide Cooker
Hankering for a steak that’s so tender and juicy it practically melts in your mouth? A sous vide cooker can help you whip one up. Sous vide is a cooking technique that involves sealing your food in a bag and dunking it in a water bath at just the right temperature.
This ensures your cooking is always spot-on, eliminating overcooked, rubbery, or undercooked meat. Considering that only a 3-degree difference stands between a rare and medium-rare steak, precision control can help elevate your cooking to pro levels.
Sous vide works not just for steaks, though. You’ll get irresistibly delicious results for fish and chicken, too, with a level of perfection that’s hard to achieve with other cooking methods.
Look for powerful cookers capable of handling any cooking task you throw at them. Of course, you’ll want one that can provide accurate temps. After all, that’s one of the secrets to unlocking the delicious wonders that sous vide brings to the table.
Vacuum Sealer
You’ll have a hard time getting the best out of sous vide cooking without a top-rate vacuum sealer. Proper vacuum sealing is crucial because the food will float if air remains trapped in the bag. That’s a big no-no, as the bag must be completely submerged for even cooking.
With the carnivore lifestyle, vacuum sealing isn’t solely reserved for sous vide. It’s a versatile tool that lets you buy large slabs of meat, cut them into serving portions, and safely store them in the freezer without any loss of freshness. This approach can mean huge savings on your meat budget.
Food Thermometer
Cooking meat on the carnivore diet without a food thermometer is like flying blind through a storm — you’re at the mercy of guesswork and potential hazards. But not just any food thermometer will do.
Accurate, fast, and durable, these qualities make a food thermometer stand out as a reliable and high-performing kitchen tool. It needs to be fast to let you quickly check if your food is safe, accurate so you can trust its readings, and durable to handle the heat (literally!) for the long haul.
One with a high and low-temperature alarm will alert you about your food’s status. The high-temp alarm tells you when your meat has reached the required heat level. Meanwhile, the low alarm (an innovation that not all temp monitors have) is great for monitoring cool dishes.
Salt and Pepper Grinder
The simplicity of the carnivore diet is one of its charms. However, to elevate the flavor of meat, proper seasoning is key (think salt and pepper). But you’ll need something to grind these seasonings with, right?
A good salt and pepper grinder enhances the carnivore feast by providing precise seasoning control. And as we mentioned, proper seasoning is crucial to creating utterly delightful meat-based culinary creations.
When selecting a salt and pepper grinder, prioritize durability, a reliable grinding mechanism, adjustable coarseness capability, ease of use, and adequate capacity.
Salt and pepper grinders made from high-quality materials (ceramic, aluminum, stainless steel) can better withstand regular and long-term use. The grinding mechanism should be able to ground both coarse and fine salt and peppercorns without clogging.
An adjustable coarseness setting gives you the convenience of crushing your salt and pepper to the desired level of fineness.
Regarding ease of use, the filling hole should be large enough to accommodate a salt shaker or peppercorns, and you should be able to grind with just one hand.
In the carnivore kitchen, having the right tools can transform your meat-centric meals from ordinary to gourmet. These tools are not just utensils; they’re your ticket to unlocking the full potential of your carnivore culinary journey. So, equip your kitchen thoughtfully and savor the delicious simplicity of your carnivorous creations.