Briki
A Greek coffee making staple, every Greek kitchen needs a briki in at least two sizes – coffee for one and coffee for six.
Oversized stainless steel round dish
A large round stainless steel pita dish has a number of uses – one giant spanakopita, if someone asks for dessert you can make one big karithopita. Whatever the case, the primary reason behind a dish this big is feeding the masses and Greeks know how to feed en masse. And you will find that the dish is so large, you need to store it in your garage.
Rolling pin
So many uses in the Greek kitchen but a main one is for communication – what better way to get your point across than to wave a rolling pin around. Surely it can’t be for rolling anything as we all know when a Greek mother sets out to roll filo pastry, she uses a curtain rod.
Tupperware (lots of it)
Storage, storage, storage. Think about how many Tupperware containers are in your pantry filled with kourabiethes. And if you are stocking up in a Greek kitchen, only buy orange Tupperware or else they will know you are a fraud.
Wooden spoon
Apart from mixing stuff, a wooden spoon is traditionally used in the Greek kitchen to threaten young children when they misbehave.
Large baking dish
This dish only has two purposes – baking pastitsio or baking moussaka. That’s it.
The Last Supper
A giant print of The Last Supper will always adorn the wall of the Greek kitchen. It must be to make sure we always remember to be grateful for our food, to pray for our food or to remember to always drink wine – or to return The Da Vinci Code to the DVD shop.
An outdoor kitchen
In the Greek household, the indoor kitchen is normally used for entertaining, making coffees and washing dishes. All the work is done in the outdoor kitchen that is modelled on the slap-stick kitchen in the village. That’s why you’ve never heard your mum swear when she burns herself.