Kitchen gadgetry

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A friend of mine said in casual conversation last night "I believe I have every kitchen gadget known to man", which got me thinking.

What kitchen gadgets do you have, and how many of them do you actually use -vs- how many of them languish at the back of a cupboard?

Also: rave reviews and recommendations welcomed (I like gadgets and might fancy buying something new).

― C J (C J), Thursday, 10 March 2005 09:37 (twenty years ago)

I have nopthing terribly gadgety. I tend to shy away from them I'd have a kenwood chef if I had the money and the storage space for one, but i don't so i don't. I guess my coffee grinder might fit the bill, or suzy's blender, pestle and mortar. But short of my knives I don't really have any. None of them languish, the blender get's least use, mayonaise, aioli, hollandaise, milkshakes get made ocassionally but probably not enough to justify it's present. I'd bake more if I had a kenwood chef, or maybe I'm just saying that.

― Ed (dali), Thursday, 10 March 2005 09:45 (twenty years ago)

Oh my oven has a spit, but I've used it about twice and the spit attachment does indeed languish on top of the cupboard, but I do like to use it on ocassion. Spit roast chicken with potatoes roasting in the dripping is very nice. But you have to keep the oven door open so it's a fairly inefficient method of roasting a chicken and only to be done when it's cold.

― Ed (dali), Thursday, 10 March 2005 09:48 (twenty years ago)

I have a pasta maker that's never been out of its box. Anyone who has been married will have one gadget they were given as a wedding present that they will never use.

We also have gadgety things like a blender, a juicer, that sort of thing, but we use them frequently so I don't think of them as a gadget any more than I think of a cooker or a microwave as a gadget.

― ailsa (ailsa), Thursday, 10 March 2005 09:49 (twenty years ago)

I have never bought or been given a sandwich toaster, but I still own one, and to my knowledge I have never used it, or anyone else in the house for that matter. I think there must have been a law passed in the 16th century that all houses must own a sandwich toaster, Day-Of-The-Tentacle stylee.

― Johnney B (Johnney B), Thursday, 10 March 2005 09:52 (twenty years ago)

My housemate has every gadget known to mankind - juicer, steamer, breadmaker, things I don't even *know* what they do. He always tells me that I am welcome to use them, and seems somehow offended that I don't.

As far as I'm concerned, any cooking that involves more than the oven, a frying pan or a saucepan (or maybe the grill, though I can live without that) doesn't need to be done by me.

That said, I couldn't live without a coffeemaker. Sigh.

― Masonic Cathedral (kate), Thursday, 10 March 2005 09:54 (twenty years ago)

My BEST gadget is my steamer. I use it virtually every day, and it's the best invention in the world. put some spuds in the top shelf, brrocolli in the middle shelf and some fish in the bottom, leave for forty minutes, and it's all done! Whip up a quick parsley sauce and you've got a super-tasty meal for about 5 mins work.

― Johnney B (Johnney B), Thursday, 10 March 2005 10:13 (twenty years ago)

i almost never use my potato ricer as i don't really like mashed potato

― mark s (mark s), Thursday, 10 March 2005 10:14 (twenty years ago)

more accurately, i prefer potato every other way

― mark s (mark s), Thursday, 10 March 2005 10:14 (twenty years ago)

But... but... you have to wait 40 minutes for the pay off! I'm impatient - if you boil things, they're done in 15 minutes!

x-post

― Masonic Cathedral (kate), Thursday, 10 March 2005 10:14 (twenty years ago)

Most gadgets have cheap non-gadgety alternatives. For steaming I have a load of cheap chinese bamboo steamers, and less clutter.

― Ed (dali), Thursday, 10 March 2005 10:16 (twenty years ago)

vegetables are steamed in a matter of minutes.

Also another greta way of steaming vegetables is a centimetre of water in the bottom of a saucepan of vegetables, hey presto steamed.

― Ed (dali), Thursday, 10 March 2005 10:17 (twenty years ago)

I tend to stick my veggies in a sieve over the top of whatever saucepan I'm using to boil the eggs or the rice or whatever. No steamer necessary!

― Masonic Cathedral (kate), Thursday, 10 March 2005 10:21 (twenty years ago)

Ed! We tossed the bamboo steamers! We actually have the following gadgets here:

Blowtorch for creme brulee crusts
Two soda streams
Juice squeezer
Mortar and pestle
Coffee maker
Coffee grinder
Blender
Whetstone and a bazillion Global knives
George Foreman grill which should really get the Hell onto Ebay as unopened and languishing in back room

― suzy (suzy), Thursday, 10 March 2005 10:22 (twenty years ago)

grill shillahs

― mark s (mark s), Thursday, 10 March 2005 10:25 (twenty years ago)

i have one of those nice steamers with metal leaves which fold into a dome

i bought it in wales in a garden tools shop!!

― mark s (mark s), Thursday, 10 March 2005 10:29 (twenty years ago)

Ooh! I've got one of those as well. (I had bamboo steamer baskets before that but they went all discoloured and yucky so I checked them out).

I use an electric can opener.

― C J (C J), Thursday, 10 March 2005 10:48 (twenty years ago)

hmm, that we use on a regular basis:

ricer
coffee grinder and coffee machine
hand held blender

that we don't use so much:

Pannini style toaster
Steamer (prob cos it's up on a shelf and I can't reach it, as it is nice and easy to lob some fish in there, then some vegetables later on, and easy to wash up)
Food processor
Blow torch
garlic crusher - flat blade of knife and chopping does a better job
double kitchen timer

things that get used instead of gadgets:

Wok (water in bottom, plate sitting inside, with lid on)/colander over pan with lid on as steamer
biscuit cutters as poached egg rings/presentation rings (yeah right!)

I'm surprised I can't think of many more kitchen gadgets, I'd have thought we'd have more..

― Vicky (Vicky), Thursday, 10 March 2005 10:54 (twenty years ago)

I don't count ill advised and unused gifts. or Isle of Man vintage ornamental junk.

― Ed (dali), Thursday, 10 March 2005 10:58 (twenty years ago)

Hey, I count ill-advised, unused gifts if they are taking up space in the flat that could be better used to store ginormous, Jurassic computer bits or camping equipment. /spring cleaning rant

― suzy (suzy), Thursday, 10 March 2005 11:08 (twenty years ago)

How do you crush garlic with a knife? I've tried just battring it with the flat end, but it just dies. I alwasy chop garlic REALLY thinly, but I want a crush, dammit!

― Johnney B (Johnney B), Thursday, 10 March 2005 11:14 (twenty years ago)

You kind of chop and dice it. I like chopping garlic by hand, it makes my hands smell nummy.

― Masonic Cathedral (kate), Thursday, 10 March 2005 11:21 (twenty years ago)

OK, steaming things, right, lots of people buy proper steamers, I've seen them.

So, how is this ANY DIFFERENT from plonking yr spinach in a colander above a steaming pan of water?!

I mean... is there a difference?

Seriously?

― Lucretia My Reflection (Lucretia My Reflection), Thursday, 10 March 2005 11:23 (twenty years ago)

put flat of knife on clove. Smack hand on other side of knife.

― Ed (dali), Thursday, 10 March 2005 11:24 (twenty years ago)

don't use v.sharp knife for this!!

i crush garlic and allspice and whatever by making them the filling of a sandwich between two of my plastic cutting boards and bashin the top one w.my fist

ken hom whacks them w.the flat of his cleaver which loox k-kewl but when i tried that the garlic shot into a dusty nether-region in the corner of the kitchen

the metal-leaf steamers clean more easily and are less inclined to rust starry: the culinary mechanics is identical as you surmise

cookin folx are easily parted from their money in my experience of me

― mark s (mark s), Thursday, 10 March 2005 11:37 (twenty years ago)

nine years pass...

― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 2 December 2014 22:39 (ten years ago)

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