What's New in Kitchen Gadgets?

[Deryn]

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.

[Toliver]

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

 

 

 

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. 

All very Ron Popeil-ish! 

[liuzhou]

hmmm?
 

[Anna N]

Yeah.........NO. 

[blue_dolphin]

15 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

hmmm?
 

$129 for a butter sprayer?  A bit rich for my budget.  

On the other hand, I received a $129 milk frother that I have zero use for - I'd at least give this a try if anyone wants to give me one 

[dcarch]

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  

[AlaMoi]

splendid example of why marketing types should never be allowed to demonstrate science.

 

besides, how did the butter gun make all those ridges - ala spread by knife?

[Panaderia Canadiense]

@Anna N - maybe I found the gadget in question?  I'm not sure how I and my poor wrists survived before I found this little gem.

 

[Anna N]

 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   

 

 

 

[kayb]

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   

 

 

 

Brilliant. Simply brilliant.

 

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

[rotuts]

BTW  how many go in the shaker at one time ?

[Anna N]

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.

[Anna N]

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 March 26, 2016 by Anna N (log)

[blue_dolphin]

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 March 26, 2016 by blue_dolphin (log)

[cyalexa]

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.

[andiesenji]

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.

 

[liuzhou]

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.

 

 

 

 

Any guesses?

 

 

[andiesenji]

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

[Lisa Shock]

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.

 

 

 

 

Any guesses?

 

 

 

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

[Shalmanese]

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.

 

Any guesses?

 

 

 

Watermelon cutter

[liuzhou]

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.

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 November 6, 2016 by liuzhou
formatting. WYSISWYG? In your demented dreams. (log)

[liuzhou]

9 minutes ago, Lisa Shock said:

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

 

Slicer, yes, but not tongs.

[Shalmanese]

2 hours ago, liuzhou said:

 

Slicer, yes, but not tongs.

 

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.

[liuzhou]

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 November 6, 2016 by liuzhou (log)

[Martin Fisher]

Tongs, grabbers, whatever.