Appliance You've Purchased But You Use the Least (and probably don't need)

[Porthos]

On 11/23/2020 at 7:09 AM, Eatmywords said:

I feel attached to mom's industrial size bingo party coffee urn that we'll never use. 

Not an appliance but I keep the 3 qt Revere pan from my mother's kitchen that I cooked with as a child. I keep it with the rest of my pots and pans but will never actually cook with it again.

 

Stick blender, also. Why I keep something I've used twice in over 3 decades is a mystery to my but I can't seem to part with it. I stopped eating waffles* over a decade ago but I do use my waffle maker once a year to make anise waffle cookies.

 

*When my Sweetie and I were engaged and I was living at my parents home, she spent the night on some weekend. She was in the kitchen with my mom the next morning before I got out of bed. My mom asked her if she should make waffles or pancakes. My Sweetie answered the she knew I really liked waffles. My mom's response was, "Pancakes are easier so I'll make pancakes." We've been married for over 40 years and we still joke about that.

[heidih]

On 11/23/2020 at 7:09 AM, Eatmywords said:

I feel attached to mom's industrial size bingo party coffee urn that we'll never use.  

 

A whole 'nother topic - regrets about discards. I got rid of ours and then so many times over the years it would have been perfect at fundraisers rather than begging StarBucks to donate those boxes of coffee that you have to tilt. Cue "I will never again" - coffee stains...

[gfweb]

1 hour ago, Porthos said:

. My mom's response was, "Pancakes are easier so I'll make pancakes." We've been married for over 40 years and we still joke about that.

 

Mom wanted you out of there !

 

No waffles for you

[ElsieD]

I have a Brod and Taylor proofer that I have used once.  I came across a recipe for salt bread that I wanted to try and the initial mixture calls for it to be held at a steady temperature of around 105F.  I tried all my gizmos and none would really do the job.  It was going to be left on overnight and longer and I was also concerned about leaving an oven on and unattended for that long..  Then the light bulb went on and here is the Brad and Taylor being used for the second time in it's life.  It is holding the temperature steady at 105F.  (Checked with a thermometer.)  Dunno about the bread, though.

Edited December 7, 2020 by ElsieD (log)

[btbyrd]

I forgot about my liquid nitrogen dewar. 😩

[JoNorvelleWalker]

58 minutes ago, btbyrd said:

I forgot about my liquid nitrogen dewar. 😩

 

Have you ever tried it for ice cream?  Or keeping your vaccine cold?

 

[Katie Meadow]

When my husband was little he used to go to his dad's office in the physics dept to use the liquid nitrogen to remove his warts. He still waxes poetic every time liquid nitrogen is mentioned.

[btbyrd]

Oh, I went LN crazy when I first got it. I powdered all the things! I segmented berries and citrus into druplets and vesicles. I cryofried a steak. I nitro-muddled cocktails and invested in a beautiful vacuum-insulated stirring tin for that purpose (also sadly underused). And, of course, I made ice cream (though I'm most partial to ChefStep's strawberry angostura sorbet which is remarkable both for its intense flavor and ultra smooth texture). In short, I had a lot of fun. But LN is expensive and can be a pain to source. I have to make a 15 minute trip to the welding supply to drop off the dewar in the morning and make a return trip in the afternoon to pick it up after it's been filled. That's an hour in the car for each refill. If I could just pick it up at Walmart like I can dry ice, I'd probably be using it a lot more. But I can't, so I don't. 

 

 

16 hours ago, Katie Meadow said:

When my husband was little he used to go to his dad's office in the physics dept to use the liquid nitrogen to remove his warts. He still waxes poetic every time liquid nitrogen is mentioned.

 

This was my first exposure to LN as well, though it was in my doctor's office at the age of 7. Nothing instills respect for the dangers of LN like getting cryogenic burns as a child.

[weinoo]

54 minutes ago, btbyrd said:

Oh, I went LN crazy when I first got it. I powdered all the things! I segmented berries and citrus into druplets and vesicles. I cryofried a steak. I nitro-muddled cocktails and invested in a beautiful vacuum-insulated stirring tin for that purpose (also sadly underused). And, of course, I made ice cream (though I'm most partial to ChefStep's strawberry angostura sorbet which is remarkable both for its intense flavor and ultra smooth texture). In short, I had a lot of fun.

This is sort of the way it is with many new toys, alas. Then...we go back to doing stuff the old fashioned way!

[Katie Meadow]

There's a place in North Oakland (although I can't attest to it still being there) that used LN to make their ice cream. There were long lines the first few months.  I thought the ice cream was second rate, given the amazing variety of great small-batch creameries in the East Bay. 

 

So I'm glad my FIL, the physicist with the ready supply of LN, never made ice cream with it. The first time I met him he was making ice cream in a hand cranked wooden tub. It was really good. Fresh strawberry. I can't remember what I ate for breakfast today, but my memory of that ice cream more that forty years ago is permanent. Now that's ice cream the old fashioned way.

[Katie Meadow]

2 hours ago, btbyrd said:

Oh, I went LN crazy when I first got it. I powdered all the things! I segmented berries and citrus into druplets and vesicles. I cryofried a steak. I nitro-muddled cocktails and invested in a beautiful vacuum-insulated stirring tin for that purpose (also sadly underused). And, of course, I made ice cream (though I'm most partial to ChefStep's strawberry angostura sorbet which is remarkable both for its intense flavor and ultra smooth texture). In short, I had a lot of fun. But LN is expensive and can be a pain to source. I have to make a 15 minute trip to the welding supply to drop off the dewar in the morning and make a return trip in the afternoon to pick it up after it's been filled. That's an hour in the car for each refill. If I could just pick it up at Walmart like I can dry ice, I'd probably be using it a lot more. But I can't, so I don't. 

 

 

 

This was my first exposure to LN as well, though it was in my doctor's office at the age of 7. Nothing instills respect for the dangers of LN like getting cryogenic burns as a child.

It sounds like you don't have the feeling of nostalgic fun that my husband has for NL. 

[gfweb]

1 hour ago, weinoo said:

This is sort of the way it is with many new toys, alas. Then...we go back to doing stuff the old fashioned way!

Big Easy Oil-less Fryer?

[lemniscate]

39 minutes ago, gfweb said:

Big Easy Oil-less Fryer?

I just bought one for $5 at a garage sale, apparently only used twice!   

[weinoo]

14 hours ago, gfweb said:

Big Easy Oil-less Fryer?

 

13 hours ago, lemniscate said:

I just bought one for $5 at a garage sale, apparently only used twice!   

Oh yeah, that's destined to be re-re-re-garage sale sold.

Edited December 9, 2020 by weinoo (log)

[chord]

Rice cooker. For the quantities I make, it's just easier to use a small pot.

[BeeZee]

Not an appliance, but a kitchen tool...meat tenderizer (mallet type with one side flat and the other sort of spiky). Can't remember the last time I used it and it takes up a fair amount of space in the drawer.

[Toliver]

3 hours ago, BeeZee said:

Not an appliance, but a kitchen tool...meat tenderizer (mallet type with one side flat and the other sort of spiky). Can't remember the last time I used it and it takes up a fair amount of space in the drawer.

I remember some time back I was cooking at my mom's home and couldn't find her tenderizer mallet. Ended up smacking the hell out of the plastic-wrapped chicken breast with her cast iron skillet. Worked.

[gfweb]

5 hours ago, BeeZee said:

Not an appliance, but a kitchen tool...meat tenderizer (mallet type with one side flat and the other sort of spiky). Can't remember the last time I used it and it takes up a fair amount of space in the drawer.

Funny, I use one weekly for a cutlet of some sort. A  pork tenderloin can yield 6 or 8 meals if scallopini-ized. Its kind of magic. 

[heidih]

26 minutes ago, gfweb said:

Funny, I use one weekly for a cutlet of some sort. A  pork tenderloin can yield 6 or 8 meals if scallopini-ized. Its kind of magic. 

 

Ah after a move my food processor vanished temporarily for 2 years. That mallet did the nuts for me for baklava and many other treats. - in a bag, pounded on concrete. Zero clean up. I've landed it on really hard garlic when making a large amount of paste. 

[liuzhou]

Not a full appliance, but I've never used that attachment on the right. Supposedly for peeling garlic.

 

I only use single headed garlic the skin of which just falls off if you so much as give it a sideways glance.

 

[chromedome]

6 hours ago, BeeZee said:

Not an appliance, but a kitchen tool...meat tenderizer (mallet type with one side flat and the other sort of spiky). Can't remember the last time I used it and it takes up a fair amount of space in the drawer.

Mine also gets used several times a  month. After a couple years of keto-ing, my GF is REALLY enjoying breaded cutlets again.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

7 hours ago, BeeZee said:

Not an appliance, but a kitchen tool...meat tenderizer (mallet type with one side flat and the other sort of spiky). Can't remember the last time I used it and it takes up a fair amount of space in the drawer.

 

Years ago mine moved from the kitchen to the dark recesses of the living room.  I find the mallet type of tenderizer tears up meat as opposed to flattening it.

 

[Kim Shook]

13 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

Years ago mine moved from the kitchen to the dark recesses of the living room.  I find the mallet type of tenderizer tears up meat as opposed to flattening it.

 

I finally got this one and love it.  It seems to spread the force equally across the piece of meat.  And it is very satisfying to obliterate garlic cloves with it.  

[liuzhou]

Although I do have a dedicated meat mallet with the spiky metal hitting surface, I haven't unpacked it since I moved home four years ago. Instead, I use this rubber mallet which wasn't designed for food use. I bought it in a hardware store. It does the job without tearing the meat.

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

8 minutes ago, Kim Shook said:

I finally got this one and love it.  It seems to spread the force equally across the piece of meat.  And it is very satisfying to obliterate garlic cloves with it.  

 

I use this.