95 replies to this topic

[sparrowgrass]

plk, go the extra mile and order the canning tongs. You can use the other kind, but the risk of dropping a jar is much higher.

Trust me on this. I know.

I do use the "weiner tongs" to fish the lids out of the hot water, if I can't find my magnet-on-a-stick.

[Live It Up]

Ar these the tongs to which you referred?  My wife has had these for many years and she insists that they simply predate the ubiquitous tongs found in every kitchen nowadays.

Those are indeed the exact tongs of which I speak!

I find this design lots easier to use than the ubiquitous kind. I often have to use my teeth to pull the little tab out and release these when my other hand is unavailable.

SB--Zyliss makes locking tongs that are one-handed. The locking mechanism is on the side of the tongs and it slides up and down with one finger. I love them!

[srhcb]

SB--Zyliss makes locking tongs that are one-handed. The locking mechanism is on the side of the tongs and it slides up and down with one finger. I love them!

Nery nice, but I notice that while they're offered in red or black, they only come in a right handed model?

SB

[mukki]

Weiner tongs?! I still have a pair -- those were the only type of tongs in my mom's kitchen.

Amen to several sets of measuring cups. I finally got another set this year. I have no idea why it took me so long. Having several sets of measuring spoons is a relief, too.

I confess that I almost bought a tomato knife until the Williams Sonoma sales lady told me I didn't need it. It was so pretty, though, and red just like a tomato. I love looking through the catalogue, but, yeah, some of those new items they come up with -- avocado pitter indeed.

My garlic peeler used to get a lot of use, but not so much anymore. If I had to peel a bunch of cloves, I'd probably pull in out of the drawer again.

Canning tongs are definitely a necessity. I learned that the hard way.

Most useless item I can remember buying is the corn zipper. It made me very angry.

[natasha1270]

I must admit to being an unrepentant gadget lover. I saw this today but didn't buy it ($19 @ bloomies). I want to find some use for it but even the usefulness of this garlic crusher rolling pin eludes me. Anyone? I know there must be some additional untapped potential to it. *note that the ad copy also touts the garlic scent removing properties as a bonus of handwashing said device. Take that hunk o'steel scent remover!

http://www.momastore...15_11521_null__

Also, why do all these labor saving devices always have so many nooks and crannies they would seem a major pain to clean thereby reducing the labor saving quotient?

Growing up, we had a pair of those scissor tongs and I can only remember using them when frying lumpia.

N.
proud owner of chocolate chipper, mozzarella slicer, mango pitter and other gadgets of varying usefulness...

[Smithy]

How about the hunk o' plain stainless steel that is sold as a miracle product to get the smell of garlic and onion off of your hands?  Saw one in a kitchen store last year for ten or twelve bucks.

I must admit to being an unrepentant gadget lover. I saw this today but didn't buy it ($19 @ bloomies). I want to find some use for it but even the usefulness of this garlic crusher rolling pin eludes me. Anyone? I know there must be some additional untapped potential to it. *note that the ad copy also touts the garlic scent removing properties as a bonus of handwashing said device. Take that hunk o'steel scent remover!

http://www.momastore...15_11521_null__

I too am an enthusiastic gadget collector, although my enthusiasm is starting to decline as my drawers get more crammed.

I've stayed out of the discussion about the stainless steel odor remover until now, because I personally haven't tried it. However, Fifi - may she rest in peace - thought it worked. Read about her stainless steel mushroom here. Hard-headed materials scientist and empiricist that she was, I've always thought there must be something to it after all. She even came up with a plausible explanation.

Still...that roller looks like it would send bits of garlic shooting out in every direction. Nah...not for $19, not for $1.90.

[pansophia]

I saw an avocado scoop in a recent Williams & Sonoma catalog, but I can't find it on their site now.

here it is!

That's actually not it -- the scoop was long like that, but had a spoon at the bottom, for scooping. I really need to find this...

It wasn't this one was it? I just saw it and was slightly shocked by it. I may have nightmares now - it looks like one of Uri Geller's spoons!

[paulraphael]

1) electric can opener

2) my mom's rotary cheese grater (had a hopper on top, a flat thing at the end of an arm that you'd use to press the cheese into the hopper, and a horizontal, round grating drum that you turned with a handle with your other hand). It disassembled into many parts. I have no idea what advantages it offers over a simple grater with no moving parts, but I thought it was a fun toy when I was little.

3) ... maybe the greatest of all. Never seen with my own eyes, but it's As Seen On TV™: the Ronco Inside-the-Egg Egg Scrambler.

[jsmeeker]

2) my mom's rotary cheese grater (had a hopper on top, a flat thing at the end of an arm that you'd use to press the cheese into the hopper, and a horizontal, round grating drum that you turned with a handle with your other hand). It disassembled into many parts. I have no idea what advantages it offers over a simple grater with no moving parts, but I thought it was a fun toy when I was little.

There is a safety element do it. You aren't goign to accidently grate your knukcles of finger tip or finger nail with it. Also, t here is a "sanitary" issue. You don't have to touch the cheese, So, if you want to have it on the table for people to use on their own, people won't all be touching the cheese. Some people are weird like that.

[baconburner]

Don't forget about the olive/pickle pluckers. Push the button on the top and four retractable prongs came out to snare the unsuspecting prey.
Cheers
poorsh

[srhcb]

Don't forget about the olive/pickle pluckers. Push the button on the top and four retractable prongs came out to snare the unsuspecting prey.
Cheers
poorsh

These work great for snaring small nuts/bolts/screws that fall into awkward spots when you're working on cars though!

[andiesenji]

I must admit to being an unrepentant gadget lover. I saw this today but didn't buy it ($19 @ bloomies). I want to find some use for it but even the usefulness of this garlic crusher rolling pin eludes me. Anyone? I know there must be some additional untapped potential to it. *note that the ad copy also touts the garlic scent removing properties as a bonus of handwashing said device. Take that hunk o'steel scent remover!

http://www.momastore...15_11521_null__

Also, why do all these labor saving devices always have so many nooks and crannies they would seem a major pain to clean thereby reducing the labor saving quotient? 

Growing up, we had a pair of those scissor tongs and I can only remember using them when frying lumpia.

N.
proud owner of chocolate chipper, mozzarella slicer, mango pitter and other gadgets of varying usefulness...

I had a bit of a chuckle when I saw this in one of the catalogs - Sur La Table or Napa Style - and I had the same question, about cleaning it.

[dvoskuil]

Canning tongs are definitely a necessity. I learned that the hard way.

I have to add my voice to confirm this - please make some room in your kitchen for canning tongs if you're going to do any canning at all. Boiling hot water plus wet glass jars are just asking for trouble without them - as well as a future entry in the I Will Never Again... thread.

[andiesenji]

The rubbing-of-the-hands-on-stainless-steel to get rid of garlic smell, does work. It also works with some other odors.
However one doesn't need a special item, anything stainless works, although in my experience, the satin-finish works better than highly polished SS.

[SundaySous]

At first I laughed about the hotdog tongs. Brought back child hood memories. And then low and behold I have a pair in the "other drawer".

As far as indispensable item a friend showed me how chinese cooks he worked with would use stainless steel long handles spoons to true true their cleavers.

[RobertCollins]

Would somebody please post a pix of a hot-dog tong. I am drawing a real blank on what that is. My mom used a fork to stab our hot dogs which had to boil at least 15 minutes to make they were "something", although, that something was popped apart.

Finally learned what a hot-dog should be from a little stand called GILLY'S on the square in Portsmouth N.H years later.

[SundaySous]

Would somebody please post a pix of a hot-dog tong.  I am drawing a real blank on what that is.  My mom used a fork to stab our hot dogs which had to boil at least 15 minutes to make  they were "something",  although, that something was popped apart.

Finally learned what a hot-dog should be from a little stand called GILLY'S on the square in Portsmouth N.H years later.

Second post at top of this page.

Anybody steam there hot dogs?

[andiesenji]

Canning tongs are definitely a necessity. I learned that the hard way.

I have to add my voice to confirm this - please make some room in your kitchen for canning tongs if you're going to do any canning at all. Boiling hot water plus wet glass jars are just asking for trouble without them - as well as a future entry in the I Will Never Again... thread.

How true! I have several canning tongs, including a true antique that still works, although tricky to handle.
I also have an antique lid grabber for glass and zinc lids (obviously the magnetic devices are useless for these). The latter looks rather like an instrument of torture rather than a kitchen utensil.

Actually, most of my canning involves canning racks, as I have yet to break a jar when using one and have broken several when using tongs, mainly because my grip strength is much less than it was. For the sake of safe handling, I now use one of the portable burners made for the "turkey-fryer" pots. It is much easier to lift just one or two jars out of the canner from that much lower level.

[baroness]

One item I cannot fathom buying ($20 or so), nor using, is a 'pineapple corer and slicer'. Not only is it bulky, but it makes a poor innocent fresh pineapple look like canned pineapple rings!

[ghostrider]

Ar these the tongs to which you referred?  My wife has had these for many years and she insists that they simply predate the ubiquitous tongs found in every kitchen nowadays.

My personal, ancedotal experience is that your wife is correct. In the 1950s those were the ubiquitous tongs, at least in my parents' house; there was no other kind.

[snowangel]

Ar these the tongs to which you referred?  My wife has had these for many years and she insists that they simply predate the ubiquitous tongs found in every kitchen nowadays.

My personal, ancedotal experience is that your wife is correct. In the 1950s those were the ubiquitous tongs, at least in my parents' house; there was no other kind.

As my mother couldn't retreat anything except a hot dog with these type of tongs, I illuminated her with a pair of locking tongs, which those scalloped tong parts. Revelation! Even more of a revelation when I told her she should free up some drawer space by getting rid of the old ones.

[judiu]

Ar these the tongs to which you referred?  My wife has had these for many years and she insists that they simply predate the ubiquitous tongs found in every kitchen nowadays.

My personal, ancedotal experience is that your wife is correct. In the 1950s those were the ubiquitous tongs, at least in my parents' house; there was no other kind.

As my mother couldn't retreat anything except a hot dog with these type of tongs, I illuminated her with a pair of locking tongs, which those scalloped tong parts. Revelation! Even more of a revelation when I told her she should free up some drawer space by getting rid of the old ones.

Oh, Puhleeze! These were called "corn tongs" in my Nana's house, and they were used to lift corn on the cob out of the boiling water and into a basket covered by a napkin. Given that the corn came out of my Grandaddy's garden, Yum-O!!!!!!!!

[TarteTatin]

Most useless item I can remember buying is the corn zipper. It made me very angry.


Oh, my! I totally agree! That corn zipper was a useless wasted of time. I want to throw it away.
A knife works so much better.

[feedmec00kies]

It wasn't this one was it?  I just saw it and was slightly shocked by it.  I may have nightmares now - it looks like one of Uri Geller's spoons!

Well, if you did get suckered into buying that avocado scoop, at least you could know that it would double as a costume prop if you ever wanted to be Captain Hook, or perhaps some sort of "Kitchen Gadget Monster" (a la Edward Scissorhands on acid) for Halloween!

[Lilija]

I'm anti-gadget, as a rule, so most of the ones that are gifted to me go right to my mom who LOVES gadgets...

But, the most useless thing in my kitchen is a scissors shaped meatball shaper scooper thing. When the scissor hinge is closed, the ends form a sphere with holes in it. Nigh impossible to use for a dozen reasons. Lame lame lame.

[Live It Up]

SB--Zyliss makes locking tongs that are one-handed. The locking mechanism is on the side of the tongs and it slides up and down with one finger. I love them!

Nery nice, but I notice that while they're offered in red or black, they only come in a right handed model?

SB

Not to harp on this, but I don't see why you couldn't use them with your left hand--just slide the locking mechanism with your index finger instead of your thumb. I just tried it, and though I am useless with my left hand, it worked just fine.

[srhcb]

SB--Zyliss makes locking tongs that are one-handed. The locking mechanism is on the side of the tongs and it slides up and down with one finger. I love them!

Nery nice, but I notice that while they're offered in red or black, they only come in a right handed model?

SB

Not to harp on this, but I don't see why you couldn't use them with your left hand--just slide the locking mechanism with your index finger instead of your thumb. I just tried it, and though I am useless with my left hand, it worked just fine.

That's what I'd do.

I just always find it curious when companies forget that 10% of their customers are left-handed, but are considerate enough to offer a choice of colors?

[Smithy]

SB--Zyliss makes locking tongs that are one-handed. The locking mechanism is on the side of the tongs and it slides up and down with one finger. I love them!

Nery nice, but I notice that while they're offered in red or black, they only come in a right handed model?

SB

Not to harp on this, but I don't see why you couldn't use them with your left hand--just slide the locking mechanism with your index finger instead of your thumb. I just tried it, and though I am useless with my left hand, it worked just fine.

That's what I'd do.

I just always find it curious when companies forget that 10% of their customers are left-handed, but are considerate enough to offer a choice of colors?

Perhaps, Steve, they just remember that lefties are generally more creative than righties. They can figger out another way better than most of us can imagine another color.

[srhcb]

I just always find it curious when companies forget that 10% of their customers are left-handed, but are considerate enough to offer a choice of colors?

Perhaps, Steve, they just remember that lefties are generally more creative than righties. They can figger out another way better than most of us can imagine another color.

I can't see why they didn't just make these tongs so that the silicone ends were reversible?

I guess it was just my engineering genes acting up?

SB (designer of the Left-Handed-Flying-Pink-Pig Pen )

[Grovite]

What about those palm peelers and corn slitters? Just use a damn peeler and a knife. Oh, Onion Goggles. They may work, but come on, you'll look like a dick with ears wearing those around. Suck it up and let the tears flow!