What's New in Kitchen Gadgets?

[JoNorvelleWalker]

2 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

 

My mom had the old all-metal version.  I have the orange plastic one shown in the video.  I've had it for 40 years (bought it for my first kitchen as a college undergrad) and still use it regularly. 

 

 

I had a metal mouli. More than one.  They rusted badly.  Now I have a mouli foodmill but it is made of stainless.

 

[weinoo]

I think some of the original ones may have been made of tin?

 

What a great gadget though.

 

 

[Porthos]

I have an orange one put away somewhere. A few years ago I found a Gricer Mfg company clamp-mount crank-operated shredder that is similar to the KitchenAid shredding attachment. It's good for traveling/camping. I found the mouli-julienne a bit awkward to use, but I think it's me.

[blue_dolphin]

13 minutes ago, Porthos said:

I have an orange one put away somewhere. A few years ago I found a Gricer Mfg company clamp-mount crank-operated shredder that is similar to the KitchenAid shredding attachment. It's good for traveling/camping. I found the mouli-julienne a bit awkward to use, but I think it's me.

 

There's not a ton of clearance between the hand that's pressing down on the tamper that pushes the food down towards the cutting disk and the angled handle that you're turning with your other hand.  I can imagine that being an issue for those with larger hands. 

 

[weinoo]

5 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

 

  I can imagine that being an issue for those with larger hands. 

 

That's why I started using my feet.

[Louise nadine brill]

Nope. Nope. Nope. Tried the black garlic again. It is hard to describe the flavour - there is definitely some deep umami going on..reminiscent of shiitake mushrooms, but burnt. I washed everything out with a tiny bit of bleach in a sink of water and am now waiting for my third attempt...apple essence. Different setting, much shorter cook time . The apples cook and release their juice into the larger pot. I’ll test pectin level in the juice. If it works then it will be a nice, quick, easy way to make my pectin stock. Will report back.

[Louise nadine brill]

Finally success. Produced crystal clear juice and pectin was intact. Will be good Stock for making beautiful clear jellies. Made me realise this thing probably makes excellent consomme. 

[jimb0]

On 5/21/2020 at 5:57 PM, Louise nadine brill said:

Finally success. Produced crystal clear juice and pectin was intact. Will be good Stock for making beautiful clear jellies. Made me realise this thing probably makes excellent consomme. 

 

Have you ever tried a steam juicer for this purpose?

[gfweb]

3 hours ago, jimb0 said:

 

Have you ever tried a steam juicer for this purpose?

 

I'd probably want to stick with electric.

 

I mean steam is cool and all,  but all the soot and smoke indoors...

[andiesenji]

Not exactly a "gadget" per se but I have been using these new silicone baking pans that have a steel frame around the top.

I baked this banana cake yesterday and it came out of the pan cleanly, you can see the residue and I did not use anything to loosen the sides, the cake pulled away from the sides, easy to see and it is a bit sticky.  I got a great rise, usually this cake is at least 1/4 less  in height

in a regular metal 9" round pan.  

I was sent a loaf pan and a 6 cup muffin pan and had similar experiences with those.

I have used a lot of silicone baking pans and these are superior to any of those, many of which were discarded.

 

[Darienne]

3 hours ago, andiesenji said:

Not exactly a "gadget" per se but I have been using these new silicone baking pans that have a steel frame around the top.

I baked this banana cake yesterday and it came out of the pan cleanly, you can see the residue and I did not use anything to loosen the sides, the cake pulled away from the sides, easy to see and it is a bit sticky.  I got a great rise, usually this cake is at least 1/4 less  in height

in a regular metal 9" round pan.  

I was sent a loaf pan and a 6 cup muffin pan and had similar experiences with those.

I have used a lot of silicone baking pans and these are superior to any of those, many of which were discarded.

 

The pan is rigid, isn't it?

[TdeV]

3 hours ago, andiesenji said:

Not exactly a "gadget" per se but I have been using these new silicone baking pans that have a steel frame around the top.

 

Lovely looking banana cake, @andiesenji !

Not sure if you have an Instant Pot,  but I'd like to know if these pans would fit inside. What is the maximum diameter (dimension of the pot handles) ?

 

[Louise nadine brill]

8 hours ago, jimb0 said:

 

Have you ever tried a steam juicer for this purpose?

No, i haven't - but I think that is essentially what this setting is for on the Ocoo. It saved alot of time and hassle compared to my normal method of extracting juice. 

[jimb0]

18 minutes ago, Louise nadine brill said:

No, i haven't - but I think that is essentially what this setting is for on the Ocoo. It saved alot of time and hassle compared to my normal method of extracting juice. 

 

Ah nice. If you ever have to do large quantities, I recommend the steam juicer. It's just a set of pans with a silicone hose that drains into a separate container, and you can keep adding fruit until it's full (as it obviously compresses as the juice drains). Works really well for clear, concentrated juices.

 

Couple of years ago I ran a bunch of cactus pears through it - which would have been kind of impossible to juice, otherwise - and it made for a really awesome jelly.

Edited May 23, 2020 by jimb0 (log)

[andiesenji]

7 hours ago, Darienne said:

The pan is rigid, isn't it?

No, only the top rim is rigid.

[andiesenji]

4 hours ago, TdeV said:

 

Lovely looking banana cake, @andiesenji !

Not sure if you have an Instant Pot,  but I'd like to know if these pans would fit inside. What is the maximum diameter (dimension of the pot handles) ?

 

10 5/8 inches  from the outer edge of the handles.  

 

[andiesenji]

When I first got the silicone pans I made sticky buns in it and instead of just setting it on the oven rack, because with heavy stuff the bottom does bulge before baking, I set it on a sheet pan with a silicone liner, just in case any of the stuff ran over.

 

I was surprised when I put a platter on top and inverted it, after allowit it to cool a littel, about 20 minutes or so,  The buns came out perfectly.

I have had them stick in other silicone pans so I was very impressed with this one.

In the loaf pan I did a dark cocoa very dense cake which is notorious for sticking and it came out clean.

[Louise nadine brill]

4 hours ago, jimb0 said:

 

Ah nice. If you ever have to do large quantities, I recommend the steam juicer. It's just a set of pans with a silicone hose that drains into a separate container, and you can keep adding fruit until it's full (as it obviously compresses as the juice drains). Works really well for clear, concentrated juices.

 

Couple of years ago I ran a bunch of cactus pears through it - which would have been kind of impossible to juice, otherwise - and it made for a really awesome jelly.

 

Good to know! Thank you 😁

[Louise nadine brill]

Completely unrelated to the Ocoo. This is one of my favourite kitchen gadgets...the Chef-n-Stem. Stems strawberries quickly, easily, and with minimal waste. It was a game changer for dealing with pounds and pounds of strawberries for jam.

[chromedome]

I use a "tomato shark" for such things, which is also quite effective (disclosure: mine is an inexpensive knockoff, because I'm a cheap bast  a frugal person). Aside from strawberries and tomatoes, I find it very neatly cores halved apples, which makes for attractively uniform slices or wedges. .

[ElsieD]

30 minutes ago, chromedome said:

I use a "tomato shark" for such things, which is also quite effective (disclosure: mine is an inexpensive knockoff, because I'm a cheap bast  a frugal person). Aside from strawberries and tomatoes, I find it very neatly cores halved apples, which makes for attractively uniform slices or wedges. .

 

That's what I have, same colour.  Works really well.

[chromedome]

Oh...and it's also great for scraping the membranes out of peppers when you're prepping them in quantity. Works great, it's fast, and there's little likelihood of gouging into/wasting the pepper's actual flesh.

 

[BeeZee]

After reading @andiesenji’s comment about reinforced silicone baking pans, I bought a muffin pan online. I make muffins often enough, and I am curious to see how it works with a recipe I currently make which requires paper liners. I had a silicone baking pan many years ago and hated it, in part due to the lack of structure.

[ElsieD]

3 hours ago, chromedome said:

Oh...and it's also great for scraping the membranes out of peppers when you're prepping them in quantity. Works great, it's fast, and there's little likelihood of gouging into/wasting the pepper's actual flesh.

 

 

Never thought of using it for that.  Thanks!

[Vapre]

On 5/19/2020 at 9:28 AM, adey73 said:

 

is this what you suspect too?

 

Eventually, yes. Maybe not for another year or two. Right now it sounds like they're working on 2 Searzalls, one with increased surface area and one that's souped up and should probably only be used outdoors.