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Kitchen Things I Can't Believe I Didn't Know About


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I love these wax paper sheets that I use to keep my counters and range top clean although this doesn't look the the brand I have that I got at Costco.

Handy  for setting down an sticky spoon or knife or drippy lid.

Also good for separating sliced meat and burger patties, etc.

 

Cheap and disposable.

 

51zPMrhblSL._AC_SL1024_.jpg

image from Amazon.

 

 

Edited by lindag
spelling (log)
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On 4/26/2023 at 8:36 PM, haresfur said:

One of the best things about my canning funnel is that the bottom is designed to fit into mason jars to just the right fill depth so you know when to stop. Brilliant little detail.

Another great use is for saving your frying oil.  I keep mine in a 2qt canning jar.  Canning funnel fits on top and I have a little strainer that I cut the handle off that fits right in it.  Can strain the used oil easily while hot.  If using it for something like in the wing thread, I line it with cheesecloth as well to grab basically all the contaminants and then can re-use it to fry them.  Also use it for canning :P

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On 4/27/2023 at 12:23 PM, Tropicalsenior said:

My most exciting kitchen gadget in the last few years has been this handy little pair of pliers. In fact, I have a pair of them. I bought them in a little Chinese restaurant supply store and they called them microwave grabbers.

20230427_095353.thumb.jpg.ee27de83c368bc7af71d7424698b5a91.jpg

The closest thing that I could find to them on the Internet were these from Walmart.

They are not only great for grabbing things out of the microwave, but also for reaching down into the instant pot and for those pesky muffin pans that have no edge to grab. They have saved me from a lot of burns.

 

Found these on Amazon

 

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Deb

Liberty, MO

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On 8/2/2023 at 1:16 PM, lindag said:

Also good for separating sliced meat and burger patties, etc

I use a lot of different sizes of cupcake liners. I use the big ones to put in between two tortillas to roll them thinner, or to separate them before I put them on the griddle. I bake meat buns in them.

20230723_114736.thumb.jpg.5b136d2586b19ffbf7106d29051b4176.jpg

I measure all my spices at one time into a cupcake liner and then throw it away, no little bowl to wash. Our little Chinese supermarket has all sizes from the great big ones to the little bitty two tablespoon size. They are cheap and I find a new use for them all the time.

Edited by Tropicalsenior (log)
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59 minutes ago, Tropicalsenior said:

I use a lot of different sizes of cupcake liners. I use the big ones to put in between two tortillas to roll them thinner, or to separate them before I put them on the griddle. I bake meat buns in them.

20230723_114736.thumb.jpg.5b136d2586b19ffbf7106d29051b4176.jpg

I measure all my spices at one time into a cupcake liner and then throw it away, no little bowl to wash. Our little Chinese supermarket has all sizes from the great big ones to the little bitty two tablespoon size. They are cheap and I find a new use for them all the time.

 

I wish I'd thought of that before I gave away tons of cupcake liners!

 

 

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Deb

Liberty, MO

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1 hour ago, Tropicalsenior said:

I use a lot of different sizes of cupcake liners. I use the big ones to put in between two tortillas to roll them thinner, or to separate them before I put them on the griddle. I bake meat buns in them.

20230723_114736.thumb.jpg.5b136d2586b19ffbf7106d29051b4176.jpg

I measure all my spices at one time into a cupcake liner and then throw it away, no little bowl to wash. Our little Chinese supermarket has all sizes from the great big ones to the little bitty two tablespoon size. They are cheap and I find a new use for them all the time.

I love the look of those meat buns!  I believe you've posted about them before but if you did I missed your recipe.  Can you tell me more?

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14 hours ago, Maison Rustique said:

The short rosle tongs are strong enough to lift most of the pans those will and are otherwise super useful in the kitchen.  Sheet pans, lids, pretty mu.ch all my aluminum they are fine for.  I won't lift the copper though

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On 8/3/2023 at 9:09 AM, lindag said:

Can you tell me more?

I have indeed posted a lot of these. Some in the Dinner thread and some in The Bread Topic. The most recent was this one. I believe that the ones in this post are Char Siu Bao. The recipe for Char Siu is here.

 I don't cook dinner on Sundays so on Sunday morning I make some type of meat bun to snack on the rest of the day. I've made everything from Asian style to buns from Finland to ones just made up on the fly. If you have any good ideas for fillings, let me know.

 

I can't for the life of me get the link for the bread topic to work. But if you want to see them they are on the second to last page of the bread topic.

Edited by Tropicalsenior (log)
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Some people who know me in real life have called me "smart".  I beg to differ, in support, here's exhibit A, which purpose I just figured out due to a completely random mistake this past weekend after 20+ years cursing the blasted (and now formerly useless) side of the box grater for scraping my hands to no end and failing to properly process lemon zest, ginger, and garlic. 🤦‍♂️

box grater.jpg

Edited by jedovaty (log)
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1 hour ago, jedovaty said:

Some people who know me in real life have called me "smart".  I beg to differ, in support, here's exhibit A, which purpose I just figured out due to a completely random mistake this past weekend after 20+ years cursing the blasted (and now formerly useless) side of the box grater for scraping my hands to no end and failing to properly process lemon zest, ginger, and garlic. 🤦‍♂️

box grater.jpg

I use it for one type of potato pancake, shown to me by the German mother of a close friend. Turns the potatoes into - basically - mush, as opposed to shreds.

“Who loves a garden, loves a greenhouse too.” - William Cowper, The Task, Book Three

 

"Not knowing the scope of your own ignorance is part of the human condition...The first rule of the Dunning-Kruger club is you don’t know you’re a member of the Dunning-Kruger club.” - psychologist David Dunning

 

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1 hour ago, chromedome said:

I use it for one type of potato pancake, shown to me by the German mother of a close friend. Turns the potatoes into - basically - mush, as opposed to shreds.

She must've had some mighty powerful arms, yikes!

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It's not as bad as you'd think, unless you're prepping them for a large family. It does take a bit of time, admittedly, and there's no small degree of risk to one's knuckles, but as these things go it's not excessive.

“Who loves a garden, loves a greenhouse too.” - William Cowper, The Task, Book Three

 

"Not knowing the scope of your own ignorance is part of the human condition...The first rule of the Dunning-Kruger club is you don’t know you’re a member of the Dunning-Kruger club.” - psychologist David Dunning

 

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