Most-used kitchen gadgets?

[torakris]

What are your most commonly used kitchen gadgets?

Any that have been sitting the drawers for years with out being touched?

I couldn't live with out my microplane and finally trashed my melon baller (who needs perfectly round fruit salads anyway! )

[Ladybug]

Tongs. Use 'em all the time. It sure beats flipping pieces of meat with a spatula.

[Chef/Writer Spencer]

Fish Spatula, 10" Forscher, Large Spoons for Saucing, Fine Chinois, Tamis, Large Immersion Blender (trolling motor size),

[Jinmyo]

Knives, tongs, spiders, whisks, tamis aren't gadgets; they're just tools.

Madolines are gadgets and I'll admit to using them. Processors and blenders too.

Gadgets, especially "time saving" gadgets, are for the weak and the poor in spirit. They never get used because the people who buy them rarely spend enough time in the kitchen to get them out of the cupboard.

[foodie52]

Microplane...citrus reamer...

[pixelchef]

Microplane here too, mandolin, fish spatula.

[elyse]

When I used to prep, I used to love the tomato... well, I don't know what the hell is was called. It was like a melon baller, but had teeth, and took the stem area out. Made my job so much easier. But I don't own one.

[kitwilliams]

and finally trashed my melon baller (who needs perfectly round fruit salads anyway! )

Ahhhh, but the melon baller is so fantastic for getting the core of seeds out of apples and pears! Indispensable for me.

Love those microplanes.

Offset spatulas.

Scale.

[Xanthippe]

When I used to prep, I used to love the tomato... well, I don't know what the hell is was called.  It was like a melon baller, but had teeth, and took the stem area out.  Made my job so much easier.  But I don't own one.

It's called a tomato shark, Elyse, and during tomato season, it becomes the single most-used tool in my kitchen. Indispensible . . .

Another vote for microplanes.

Oh, and I'm awfully fond of my garlic peeler.

[elyse]

It's called a tomato shark, Elyse, and during tomato season, it becomes the single most-used tool in my kitchen.  Indispensible . . . 

Phew! Glad I'm not a total dork.

[indiagirl]

using jinmyo's definition of gadgets - "time saving", usually plugged in .....

most regularly: waring blender

less regularly: spice grinder, stand mixer

almost never: electric citrus juicer. looks like the traditional thing but plug it in and it turns and you can just hold the orange still. no really, it was a gift!

[JAZ]

Working in a cookware store, I have to admit I can go overboard on the gadget front, but I try to hold off on most things until I've heard a lot of feedback, or have ahd a chance to try them out. I did get a garlic peeler, which I used at first but haven't touched in years. It works, but only really does one clove at a time, and the side of a knife works almost as well. And I did succumb to buying a julienne peeler, which is fun, but not essential in the least. But I've not been interested in the avocado slicer, mushroom slicer, garlic slicer, or tomato slicer. I sort of like the idea of a cornichon slicer, but only because it sounds so cool to have a dedicated cornichon slicer. Probably not a good reason to buy something.

Sometimes when I'm making tapenade or other olive spreads, I think about a cherry/olive pitter, and tomato sharks are great when you're dicing tons of tomatoes for salsa, but I'm just not sure whether they're worth the space.

But melon ballers? Not frivolous in the least. I have several sizes and like Kit, I use them for coring apples and pears. I also make a lot of appetizers and use the smaller sizes for removing the insides of cherry tomatoes and tiny potatoes when I'm stuffing them. The smaller ones are great for seeding cucumbers, too.

And I have to say that I love my olive and caper spoons, small, almost ladle-shaped slotted spoons with long handles for getting olives, pickled onions, capers, cocktail cherries, etc., out of jars, which are also great for removing the odd lemon seed that makes it past the strainer.

And then, there are things like cheese planers, which might only have one use, but they're so good at that one use that they are worth the space. Likewise with the citrus reamer. Can't live without it.

My nominee for the most worthless gadget? The egg cuber.

[Fat Guy]

My nominee for the most worthless gadget? The egg cuber.

Have you ever tried to cube an egg without an egg cuber? Forget about it.

[hjshorter]

Most used gadgets and tools are the stand mixer, tongs, microplane, and the bagel biter or whatever the heck it's called. It's sort of a bagel guillotine.

Gadgets that I would think we would use more but don't are the food processor, toaster oven, microwave, and immersion blender.

Almost never used are the mandoline (too hard to clean), the crock pot, and the blender, and 95% of whatever is in the tool drawer in the kitchen.

[Anna N]

Bamboo chopsticks - for checking oil temp, stirring food that is cooking, use them more than tongs or spatulas or whisks and I'm not even Oriental - but learned from a Japanese friend! Cheap gadget - 1.39 CAD for 1/2 dozen pair!

[foodie52]

Pleas, Sir....why would you cube an egg???

[jackal10]

I'm a bake bread so:

Bannetons: linen lined coiled baskets for proving soft doughs

Lame: A razor blade on a stick for slashing the top just before it goes in the oven. Nothing else works quite as well: The ver sharp, thin blade doesn't stick to the dough, and the slight curve the stick gives it make the perfect cut.

[hjshorter]

Pleas, Sir....why would you cube an egg???

Egg salad would be my guess.

[indiagirl]

And I have to say that I love my olive and caper spoons, small, almost ladle-shaped slotted spoons with long handles for getting olives, pickled onions, capers, cocktail cherries, etc., out of jars, which are also great for removing the odd lemon seed that makes it past the strainer.

i want these! they sound wonderful.

[JAZ]

Pleas, Sir....why would you cube an egg???

Egg salad would be my guess.

An egg cuber is not something that cuts an egg into tiny cubes. It's a square mold in which you insert a peeled, warm, hard-cooked egg. Screw the lid down chill it and the egg comes out in a cube shape.

Why would you want to do this? I have no idea, really, but the only thing I can think of is so you have square slices of egg for canapes.

Have you ever tried to cube an egg without an egg cuber? Forget about it.

You do have a point there.

[jackal10]

Set of silver plated creme brulee hammers...

[Sandra Levine]

How would I ever clean my pastry board without my dough scraper? It's also great for transfering bits of food from the cutting board to the pan.

I love my microplane, too.

I don't consider the toaster oven a gadget, but an appliance, and I use mine almost every day. I hardly ever turn on the big oven.

[=Mark]

Why would you want to do this? I have no idea, really, but the only thing I can think of is so you have square slices of egg for canapes.

Cubed eggs can be stored much more efficiently...

[Sandra Levine]

An old-fashioned square-hole grater is an efficient way of cutting eggs for egg salad. Just lay the grater over a bowl and push the egg through. Voila, cubes.

[NeroW]

Another for the microplane. Although my boss insists it is not for cheese, it is for trim carpentry.

I received a kitchen torch for Christmas and other than showing it to people and saying "check this out, isn't it cool?" and random drunken orange-skin burning (don't ask) I have not used it.

Square eggs sound dope. Where can I get me one of those?

On my school kit buy-list there was (among many other strange things whose uses I have not yet determined) a 2 oz. ladle. I got one for Christmas. At first, it just looked funny, but I've used it many times since then. I used it last night, in fact.

Will post again when I get the rest of the kit. It should be interesting--what's a piano whip?