Sur La Table Prep Bowls

Minimize Cooking Drama with the handy Sur La Table Prep Bowls

Busy cooks appreciate the value of tasty, fast-cooking meals although the trade-off often involves 30 to 40 minutes of chopping. Small prep bowls ease us through the advance preparation making it easier to cook with the confidence of knowing the meal will consistently possess the expected flavors. A household favorite is a red curry fish recipe that cooks within 10 minutes providing a combination of bold complementary flavors but involves at least 20 to 30 minutes of measuring, chopping and assembling. This curry fish recipe cooks in a flash and while truly delicious (in my humble opinion), the mess left behind had been challenging for cleanup.

Sur La Table's Set of Five Prep Bowls saves grief for the dish washer and simplifies preparation. The bowls are BPA-free melamine and are available in four fashionable colors, they nest for easy storage, they're top-shelf dishwasher safe and microwave safe. Each bowl has two volume indicators inside for measuring chopped items. 

My fish curry recipe calls for nine different ingredients that are either chopped or measured. Most are added at separate times during the cooking process with only a minute or two between each addition. Everything needs to be ready – there’s no time to dither. 

Measure for Consistency

The set includes five nesting bowls. The largest is measured 1 to 2 cups, and in order of largest to smallest these are ¾ to 1 ½ cup, ½ to 1 cup, ¼ - ½ cup, and ¼ to 1/8 cup. Each bowl has an indicator line at the half level and a second indicator at the rim.  This might not provide an accurate measurement, but when chopping I estimate volumes far more than when measuring dry or liquid ingredients. 

These sturdy little bowls fit in our hands. They're stable and don't tip. They don't stain and they clean easily. They're color coordinated with other cooking tools from Sur La Table. The colors are red, turquoise, green and blue. Complementary measuring cups and measuring spoons (also both sturdy Melamine) as well as lipped mixing bowls, match the prep bowl colors. My kitchen is what some politely call eclectic and nothing matches, but someone starting out might enjoy a set of colorful, coordinated kitchen cooking tools. 

The prep bowls make it easy to measure while chopping without using measuring cups. This declutters the cooking area.  If I were preparing ingredients a few hours before cooking it might be helpful to have prep bowls with lids (these don't), but I rarely get that luxury. The lids, in my opinion, would simply be one more item to wash.

The Final Act

Prep bowls make it easy to stage ingredients before the final act of cooking. If you know there will be family or friends for dinner, and they hang out in the kitchen while you cook, having ingredients staged in prep bowls before cooking makes it less hectic and safer - it allows the fast and flawless execution of cooking rather than the accidental execution of finger tips. It creates the image that you’re a talented chef. They're great and the perfect sizes for a perfect performance. These bowls from Sur La Table were a must-have for my kitchen and I'll never regret the decision to add these to my eclectic collection. 

Plus: Sturdy, stable, Colorful, Volume levels marked, replaces need for measuring cups Minus: Lacks lids Consider this:  Color-coordinated, colorful, sturdy and durable prep bowls with volume level indicators on the sides are great gifts to newlyweds or ourselves.