We called it a fish weight. That was probably a mistake. Because while getting perfectly crispy fish skin is reason enough to own one, it barely scratches the surface of what a 1.6kg stainless steel cooking press can do.
The principle of even downward pressure and sustained contact with a hot surface applies to an enormous range of cooking tasks. Once you start using one regularly, you'll find it on your cooktop several times a week, nowhere near a piece of fish.
Here are eight things a Cook’s Edge cooking press does extraordinarily well.
1. Smash burgers
The smash burger method, which involves pressing a ball of beef mince flat against a screaming-hot surface to maximise Maillard reaction, and it is one of the best things to happen to home cooking in years. The problem is that a spatula doesn't give you enough force, especially if you want thin, lacey, crispy-edged patties.
A 1.6kg cooking press is ideal. Place a ball of high-fat beef mince on the hot pan, press down firmly with the cooking press, and hold for 10–15 seconds. The result: a flat, caramelised patty with crispy, frilly edges. The reason smash burgers taste better than regular burgers is surface contact, and a heavy flat press maximises it.
Use the press immediately after the mince hits the pan. You have about 20 seconds before the proteins set and the patty resists smashing. Move fast.
2. Crispy chicken thighs
Skin-on chicken thighs have the same problem as fish: they bow away from the pan as they cook, leaving the skin in partial contact with the heat. A cooking press holds them flat.
Place the thigh skin-side down in a cold pan, add the press, then turn the heat to medium. The slow start renders the fat properly before the skin crisps. By the time you remove the press (after 12–15 minutes), you have a thigh with uniformly golden, crackling skin with no pale patches, no soft spots.
This method also works beautifully for spatchcocked quail and small chicken pieces.
3. Pork belly
Crackle is one of cooking's great achievements, and it's also one of the most temperamental. Getting every part of the rind to puff and blister evenly, without any patches of soft or chewy skin, requires sustained even heat contact.
After the initial high-heat blast or oven stage, finish your pork belly skin-side down in a hot pan with the cooking press on top. The even pressure keeps the rind in full contact with the surface, and the skin crackles up uniformly. It's the difference between crackle with soft patches and crackle that shatters.
4. Grilled cheese and pressed sandwiches
The cooking press is, essentially, a panini press for your stovetop. Place your sandwich in a buttered pan, put the press on top, and get an evenly compressed, golden-sided toastie without a separate appliance.
It works particularly well for:
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Grilled cheese (the weight ensures full contact with the butter, even browning across the bread)
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Cubanos and Reubens (the press is why they're shatteringly crispy)
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Leftover focaccia or ciabatta sandwiches
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Quesadillas (hold them completely flat while the cheese melts)
Butter both sides of the bread before it goes in the pan. The press will compress it evenly, giving you a perfectly flat, golden surface on both sides.
5. Steak: especially thinner cuts
For a thick ribeye, you want a hot pan and a quick sear. But for thinner cuts such as skirt steak, bavette, flat iron, minute steak, the fish weight is transformative. These cuts are uneven and tend to bow in the pan, leaving the thicker parts seared and the thinner parts overcooked or underdone.
The cooking press holds the whole surface flat, creating an even Maillard crust across every millimetre. Combined with a very hot pan and a short cook time, you get an even sear on a thin steak that's genuinely difficult to achieve any other way.
Also excellent for searing the fat cap on a thick steak: tilt the steak on its side, hold it with tongs, and use the press to maintain even contact with the pan.
6. Fried eggs
This one surprises people. If you like your fried eggs flat with no raised yolk dome, white cooked through to the edges, no raw translucent patches. A light press on top of the egg white for the first 30 seconds of cooking flattens it out and ensures even heat distribution.
You don't press hard. Just rest the weight gently on the white as it sets. The result is a flat, evenly cooked egg with a still-runny yolk. Perfect for stacking on a burger or fitting neatly on toast.
7. Crispy potatoes and vegetables
The cooking press is one of the best tools for smashed potatoes. Boil small potatoes until just tender, then place them on a hot oiled pan and press each one flat with the cooking press. The crushed surface maximises contact with the oil, and the result is a potato that's simultaneously creamy in the centre and deeply crunchy on both flat sides.
The same technique works for:
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Sliced fennel: caramelises beautifully under weight
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Halved capsicums: stays flat for even charring
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Polenta cakes: gives a firm crust without crumbling
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Halloumi: even browning without the cheese bowing in the heat
8. Bacon
Bacon is the simplest application: put the press on top as it cooks and it stays flat. No curling, no uneven cooking, no splatter from a piece that's half-off the pan surface. Flat bacon cooks more evenly, crisps more uniformly, and fits on a sandwich properly.
The press also reduces splatter significantly, a minor but genuine quality-of-life improvement for anyone who's ever cleaned a hob after cooking bacon without one.
The common thread
Every one of these uses comes back to the same principle: even, sustained contact between food and a hot surface produces better results than uneven contact. A cooking press creates that contact.
It's not a single-use gadget. It's one of those tools that, like a good cast iron pan or a sharp knife, changes the way you approach cooking, because once you know what it can do, you keep finding new reasons to use it.
The Cook’s Edge cooking presses are 1.6kg of solid 316 stainless steel. Multiple finishes. Works on all cooking surfaces including induction and BBQ. In stock, ships same day.
Australia. No pre-order waitlists.