Good Quote: Dan Barber On a Cook's Most Important Tool

As you clean out your drawers and evaluate your kitchen equipment, here's a good quote from chef Dan Barber to keep you grounded:

Q: What is your single most important cooking tool?
A: A spoon. The most indispensable kitchen tool is also the most basic, and often the most misused. I'm particular about the spoons used at both Blue Hills — we use one kind, and I think it's the right-size spoon for plating and the right-size spoon for tasting. It's not too big; it's not too small. I want everyone to have the same consistency, because the spoon — whether you're flipping a piece of fish, or you're stirring rice, or you're tasting a sauce — becomes an extension of your hand.

You can read the whole interview with Dan Barber here:

• Q&A: Dan Barber at Cookie

Also, see more art from Taleah, who drew the spoon above, here:

• Taleah's Art

(Images: Oprah; Taleah's Art)