Jump to content
  • Welcome to the eG Forums, a service of the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters. The Society is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the culinary arts. These advertising-free forums are provided free of charge through donations from Society members. Anyone may read the forums, but to post you must create a free account.

That small appliance you thought you could not live without ... where is it now?


Anna N

Recommended Posts

I sort of can't wait for my Cuisinart immersion blender to die so I can replace it with a Bamix

You'll like your Bamix.  I've had mine for at least six years and it has done everything extremely well.  The first immersion blender I got was a rechargeable - I hope no one wastes their money on these anymore, they're just useless.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I remember years ago there was a gorgeous Farberware electric skillet in gleaming stainless.  It really was too pretty for words.  I absolutely had to have it!  But I found I really didn't use it much and eventually gave it away.

Yep. Mine is gorgeous, gleaming stainless steel. To find one that was not a) aluminum or b) nonstick was challenging. Since posting about it I have noticed a number of recipes that could easily benefit from its huge cooking surface.

  • 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

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Moka pot.

Bought it several years ago.

Used it 2 or 3 months.

On the shelf it sits.

~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!

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Pressure cookers - I have too many because I was looking for just the right size.

 

 

Same problem here.

I have 7 of them.  :smile:

Edited by DiggingDogFarm (log)

~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!

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yep. Mine is gorgeous, gleaming stainless steel. To find one that was not a) aluminum or b) nonstick was challenging. Since posting about it I have noticed a number of recipes that could easily benefit from its huge cooking surface.

That sounds like the skillet my mother used as her principal cookware for decades. When she and Dad downsized she decided she could do without it. Sometimes I'm sorry I didn't take it, but I like to think it went to someone who really needed it.

Nancy Smith, aka "Smithy"
HosteG Forumsnsmith@egstaff.org

Follow us on social media! Facebook; instagram.com/egulletx

"Every day should be filled with something delicious, because life is too short not to spoil yourself. " -- Ling (with permission)
"There comes a time in every project when you have to shoot the engineer and start production." -- author unknown

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My mother also had one of these.  2d hand.  although she made a home cooked meal every night, she like to garden a lot more.

 

nothing fancy in the garden :  she like a rose, she cut off stems and plunked then in the ground.  some decided to join their friends,

 

some not.

 

I remember the 'Regualtor' thing-y on these :  had a 'thick probe' that went into the base, for heat etc.

 

I think my mother didnt use it much :  she like to have left-overs for at least 5 days.

 

have you had  'crunch SpagBol' reheated in the oven on day 4?

 

this was way pre MicoWave.

 

and crunchy SpagBol is not that bad.

 

the cheese came from Kraft, in the green glowing cylinder.   that says a lot.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yep. Mine is gorgeous, gleaming stainless steel. To find one that was not a) aluminum or b) nonstick was challenging. Since posting about it I have noticed a number of recipes that could easily benefit from its huge cooking surface.

I had one of those - may still have it but haven't seen it for years. 

I also have a smaller, stainless one that I have used quite a bit because it also has 6 egg-poaching cups, was made by West Bend (USA) is heavy and had a high-domed lid which made it more versatile than many.  I've used it a lot but it shows no wear.  They don't make them like that any more...

It's quite heavy and was advertised as being useful for buffet service as the base was tall enough that it could safely be used on tables covered by cloths.

"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

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

RE: Electric Skillets. As a high-schooler I prepared many a fried chicken dinner in one of those. It was the only thing I had ever seen my mother cook in it and so it was the only thing I cooked in it. I have one shoved away in a hard-to-reach part of a cabinet. The only time I have ever used it was to cook dove for my hunting companions and myself on the dove opener. A table and an extension cord outside of a motel room made for my "kitchen" that day.

  • Like 2

Porthos Potwatcher
The Once and Future Cook

;

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As a high-schooler I prepared many a fried chicken dinner in one of those. It was the only thing I had ever seen my mother cook in it and so it was the only thing I cooked in it. \

 

That's exactly why my maternal grandmother loved her electric skillet.

Her fried chicken was excellent.

  • Like 2

~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!

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is my electric skillet - it's 9.5 inches in diameter so quite a bit smaller than the Farberware.

On low, at 175° F.  it works great for a keep warm buffet server.

 

Somewhere in storage I also have one of the square ones - with the vent in the lid - also made by West Bend but it is aluminum and as I recall it is "Harvest Gold"  and I have some canisters that match. 

 

HPIM7200.JPG

HPIM7201.JPG

HPIM7202.JPG

HPIM7204.JPG

HPIM7207.JPG

 

so you can see how "tall" it is.

HPIM7208.JPG

Edited by andiesenji (log)
  • Like 3

"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

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Andie, I do know of one very specialized use for the electric wok: keeping boiled sugar warm so that you can use a pot of it in liquid form. -Like the caramel sugar needed for a croquembouche, gateau st honore, or the sugar for making a big batch of spun sugar, or maybe caramel sugar nut spikes. I actually picked one of these up cheap at a thrift shop when I was in culinary school just for sugar work. It works well and the shape is economical in that as you use the sugar up, the pool becomes smaller and less winds up wasted on the sides. That said, you need to make sugar showpieces, croquembouche, nut spikes, or spun sugar every once in a while to justify the owning the wok.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I used to love my cuisinart mini food chopper grinder but since I got a decent mortar and pestle I rarely break it out anymore. If I'm going to grind or emulsify something bigger than the M&P can handle, I use the full size food processor.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My "best buy" appliances:

Moulinex blender - great French product! First time I attempted to use it to blend pea soup (this was about 35 years ago), the lid broke and the green contents changed the colour of the kitchen. It ended up in the bin. Apparently I looked like a Martian but was not in a humorous mood to appreciate it at the time.

Braun electric carving knife - I found the twin blades at the back of a drawer the other day but have no idea what happened to the motorised handle. It was useless for carving meat but was really useful for cutting extra-thin slices of bread for making Melba toast.

Atlas hand crank pasta machine - it sits on top of a wall unit in the kitchen. It used to be used on a regular basis for pasta making after they stopped making commercial pasta with egg yolks. Then it got stored when the kitchen work table was changed to stainless steel and it could no longer clamp onto the counter top.

Kenward food processor - found out that it is only good for making fresh bread crumbs!

Bought a Braun stick blender about two years ago. The box said it was made in Germany. I am sure there must be a small town in China called "Germany" where they produce these crap quality Braun products as mine has none of that German engineering a person would expect. It now gets used for soups and sauces but overheats after a minute or so.

Have an electric frying pan somewhere in a cupboard that has not been used for about 20 years.

I also have a commercial deep fryer that only gets used about once every second blue moon - the next blue moon is July 31, 2015 and after that January 31, 2018.

My best small gadget is a simple corkscrew that gets used on a regular basis - we produce some good wines here!

Cape Town - At the foot of a flat topped mountain with a tablecloth covering it.

Some time ago we had Johnny Cash, Bob Hope and Steve Jobs. Now we have no Cash, no Hope and no Jobs. Please don't let Kevin Bacon die.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I own an immersion blender, acquired as a work service anniversary gift where I got to choose from many cheapo items in a catalog. I have used it never, in probably close to five years. This thread makes me think I should give it a chance though.

 

My Vitamix, sadly, has been neglected for months now. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Atlas hand crank pasta machine - it sits on top of a wall unit in the kitchen. It used to be used on a regular basis for pasta making after they stopped making commercial pasta with egg yolks. Then it got stored when the kitchen work table was changed to stainless steel and it could no longer clamp onto the counter top.

Several people have mentioned that they don't use their handcrank pasta makers. I strongly recommend purchasing a motor attachment that makes pasta making a breeze (it's tricky cranking and feeding pasta by yourself). It also eliminates the need for having to bolt the pasta maker onto the counter. Norpro makes one that costs 59 bucks...well worth it.

The item I never use use is my Zoku quick popsicle maker. What was I thinking?

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Per the discussion of apple peelers, I can't resist posting this brilliant idea for using a power drill to zip through the apple peeling process. I have tried this and it works amazingly well. It's super fast and you're not stuck with some unipurpose item cluttering up you kitchen. Here's a link to a video demonstration:

http://www.wimp.com/peelingapples/

Love it!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Per the discussion of apple peelers, I can't resist posting this brilliant idea for using a power drill to zip through the apple peeling process. I have tried this and it works amazingly well. It's super fast and you're not stuck with some unipurpose item cluttering up you kitchen. Here's a link to a video demonstration:

http://www.wimp.com/peelingapples/

Just add a large drill bit and you can core at the same time!

I've learned that artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When I did this, I used a long 1/4 pointy bit and then when the apples were peeled used one of those items that core and slice at the same time.  Quick!

 

I simply use a device that cores and peels and slices, or just peels depending on what is wanted...

 

PeelingApples.jpg

 

 

Possibly something I could live without but very useful when I need it.

  • Like 1

Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...