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What's New in Kitchen Gadgets?

Kerry Beal

By Kerry Beal
in Kitchen Consumer

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Deryn

Deryn

Posted
Posted

Unfortunately I am sure you are correct. I wasn't disputing that ... more lamenting it.

 

I am an admitted kitchen gadget freak but the prospect of this kind of addition to my household does not intrigue me at all. Quite the opposite in fact ... I dread the day they take over our lives. I realize that the goal of replacing humans for all tasks (leaving the rest of us to do what? what 'purpose' will humans have then?) is seen by many as noble and a step that we must take even if it destroys our lives in the end, but, I disagree for many reasons that are too politically incorrect to discuss here.  I was being facetious when I said I wanted a cleaning robot (though the idea is appealing, the reality if it comes in robot form, is definitely not - for me). I would rather see the development of 'auto-magically self-cleaning' kitchens than 'employing' a metal and plastic blinking servant who would get in my way as I bumble around the kitchen cooking.

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Toliver

Toliver

Posted
Posted
On 2/19/2016 at 11:17 AM, andiesenji said:

I didn't know it until a few minutes ago but I have been waiting for this for many years.

Amazon

 

 

56c76a4005cc4_ScreenShot2016-02-19at11.1

 

I couldn't find this item on Amazon this morning. But I did find their Pink Pig-lidded Pulled Pork Slow Cooker and the Bacon Waffle Stick Maker. xD

All very Ron Popeil-ish! :B

  • Like 2

 

“Peter: Oh my god, Brian, there's a message in my Alphabits. It says, 'Oooooo.'

Brian: Peter, those are Cheerios.”

– From Fox TV’s “Family Guy”

 

Tim Oliver

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Anna N

Anna N

Posted
Posted

Yeah.........NO. 

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Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

My 2004 eG Blog

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dcarch

dcarch

Posted
Posted
22 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

hmmm?
 

 

 

"-------

So, if we were to write this relationship between the distance and the thickness of butter as an equation, we would say that the butter falls off as 1/d^2. At 2d, for example, you put 2d into this equation, and you get 2^2, which is 1/4. And at 3d, you get 3^2, which gives you 1/9. Or, in other words, if you double the distance, you don't half the thickness of butter, you divide the thickness of butter by a factor of 4 (2^2 gives you 4).

This is like something in physics called an inverse-square law. --------------If you double the distance between two objects, you cut the force of gravity to a quarter ((1/2)^2). If you triple the distance, you cut the force of gravity to a ninth ((1/3)^2).----"

 

dcarch  :B

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Anna N

Anna N

Posted
Posted

 Not a new gadget just a new use for an old one.   I cannot take credit nor do I know who to give the credit to. For those cocktail lovers who are horrified, I have an "heir and a spare".   No chance of garlic flavoured negronis  image.thumb.jpeg.95904ac7a7b3c524ed0575f 

 

 

 

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Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

My 2004 eG Blog

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kayb

kayb

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Anna N said:

 Not a new gadget just a new use for an old one.   I cannot take credit nor do I know who to give the credit to. For those cocktail lovers who are horrified, I have an "heir and a spare".   No chance of garlic flavoured negronis  image.thumb.jpeg.95904ac7a7b3c524ed0575f 

 

 

 

Brilliant. Simply brilliant.

 

I, on the other hand, buy the big bag of peeled cloves from Sam's and confit them.

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Don't ask. Eat it.

www.kayatthekeyboard.wordpress.com

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Anna N

Anna N

Posted
Posted
3 minutes ago, rotuts said:

BTW  how many go in the shaker at one time ?

 

3 minutes ago, rotuts said:

BTW  how many go in the shaker at one time ?

  I did a serious scientific study of this conundrum.  Anything more than three or four cloves and the system fails. I considered my larger cocktail shaker but it's a onesie  and the thought of garlic flavoured martinis persuaded me to think otherwise.   You can use any number of containers to reach the same results but the cocktail shaker was handy.

  • Like 1

Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

My 2004 eG Blog

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Anna N

Anna N

Posted
Posted (edited)
26 minutes ago, kayb said:

Brilliant. Simply brilliant.

 

I, on the other hand, buy the big bag of peeled cloves from Sam's and confit them.

 I often buy Christopher Ranch peeled garlic but I bought three heads of garlic with the intention of roasting them.  But then I decided I wanted to make some Aloo Gobi  which calls for ginger garlic paste. Since I needed to make it anyway I made enough to freeze as I use a lot of it when I'm in my Indian phase. 

 

I am truly scatterbrained and very often my ingredients get bumped from the recipe intended to something that caught my eye.  Like a magpie who is attracted by shiny things I am attracted by new recipes.

Edited by Anna N (log)
  • Like 8

Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

My 2004 eG Blog

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blue_dolphin

blue_dolphin

Posted
Posted (edited)
51 minutes ago, Anna N said:

  I did a serious scientific study of this conundrum.  Anything more than three or four cloves and the system fails.

 

This is perfect!  I will be on the lookout for a spare shaker at the thrifts.  I usually only use this trick, using a pot & lid, when I have to peel a lot of cloves but don't usually bother for just a few.  

Edited by blue_dolphin (log)
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cyalexa

cyalexa

Posted
Posted
5 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

 

This is perfect!  I will be on the lookout for a spare shaker at the thrifts.  I usually only use this trick, using a pot & lid, when I have to peel a lot of cloves but don't usually bother for just a few.  

I have tried this using a glass jar with a lid and wasn't impressed. My garlic is softneck and they are theoretically harder to peel. Don't know if that matters. I'm growing both hard- and soft neck this year so I may try again with the hardnecks.

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andiesenji

andiesenji

Posted
Posted

Regarding the cocktail shaker hack.

 

May I point you all to item #3  in this list of "hacks" for the kitchen from Tasting Table that was in my Facebook news feed today.

 

I have a near antique, huge cocktail shaker - on the bottom Patented April 15, 1919.  It belonged to a great uncle who was a bartender and part owner of one of the river boats that worked the Ohio from Paducah, KY to Cincinnati, OH until Prohibition.  He and my aunt moved to Cuba and then to Vera Cruz, where he bought a small hotel.  They returned in the mid '30s and he became a liquor distributor.  Dicey in Kentucky because some counties were "dry" like the one in which I was born and raised, and sometimes local police would stop transporters and seize their goods.

 

Anyway, my aunt had no children so after he died, she sent me a box of things, including this shaker.  It has a weighted bottom and she said he used it to crack chunks of ice, holding the ice in his hand and banging it with the bottom of the shaker.  The fact that it has survived for almost a hundred years is testament to how well it was made.

Screen Shot 2016-03-27 at 12.29.59 PM.png

Screen Shot 2016-03-27 at 12.30.30 PM.png

Screen Shot 2016-03-27 at 12.30.17 PM.png

 

  • Like 9

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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andiesenji

andiesenji

Posted
Posted

I got one for watermelons but it did not work well for me.  

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"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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Lisa Shock

Lisa Shock

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, liuzhou said:

I don't know why I do these things!

 

Yesterday I picked up this gadget in a local store. I don't know if it's new, but it's new to me.

 

a.jpg

 

c.jpg

 

b.jpg

 

Any guesses?

 

 

 

Watermelon slicer tongs, a fairly recent fad here in the US.

Have you read eGullet's Kitchen Scale manifesto?

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liuzhou

liuzhou

Posted
Posted (edited)
15 minutes ago, andiesenji said:

I got one for watermelons but it did not work well for me.  

 

I guessed you might have done. Yes, it's for watermelons. I bought it a couple of days ago because it amused me - it was dirt cheap.



watermelon cutter.jpg



Thing is  - I never buy watermelons! I'll eat some if it turns up, but not something I go looking for.

 

It's Japanese and I don't know if it works or not. It will probably be a Christmas gift for a watermelon eating friend.

Edited by liuzhou
formatting. WYSISWYG? In your demented dreams. (log)
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...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

The Kitchen Scale Manifesto

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liuzhou

liuzhou

Posted
Posted (edited)
2 hours ago, Shalmanese said:

 

They are tongs. Once you've cut the watermelon, you're also meant to use the same device to get the watermelon slices out of the rind. Check the youtube video I posted earlier.

 

Quote

Tongs: An implement consisting of two limbs or ‘legs’ connected by a hinge, pivot, or spring, by means of which their lower ends are brought together so as to grasp and take up objects which it is impossible or inconvenient to lift with the hand.

OED

 

Quote

Tongs are a tool that you use to grip and pick up objects that you do not want to touch. They consist of two long narrow pieces of metal joined together at one end.

Collins Dictionary

 

These cannot pivot or spring and have no hinge. In fact there is a bar preventing such action. The two legs/arms are joined at both ends. So, in my book, they are not tongs.

Edited by liuzhou (log)

...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

The Kitchen Scale Manifesto

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Martin Fisher

Martin Fisher

Posted
Posted

Tongs, grabbers, whatever.

~Martin :)

I just don't want to look back and think "I could have eaten that."

Unsupervised, rebellious, radical agrarian experimenter, minimalist penny-pincher, and adventurous cook. Crotchety, cantankerous, terse curmudgeon, non-conformist, and contrarian who questions everything!

The best thing about a vegetable garden is all the meat you can hunt and trap out of it!

 

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