Stock Your Kitchen With Alain Ducasse's Essentials

Whether you're just starting to stock your kitchen, doing some belated spring cleaning, or simply looking to ensure everything in your kitchen is up to par, it can be difficult to decide where to start.

We reached out to Alain Ducasse, who recently released his iPad app My Culinary Encyclopedia, to ask for his five must-have kitchen tools. The results? Not surprising, but definitely useful.

Ducasse, whose app features bios for 40 different kitchen utensils, chose his five most versatile kitchen tools to showcase, all to help you cook your way through his 250 recipes on the My Culinary Encyclopedia. No worries, college students on a budget; a centrifuge is not on the list.

So what might your kitchen be missing? Sure, sieves are useful, but items like a chinois, mandoline, and more are just a bit more versatile. Click through our slideshow to see Ducasse's five must-have kitchen tools, and head on over to the iTunes store to check out the My Culinary Encyclopedia application.