Most Useless Kitchen Items and Utensils

fresco · November 20, 2003

I have a few candidates, but topping the list is a shrimp deveiner. I bought it. It works, sort of, but so does the tip of a knife. What's yours?

Varmint · November 20, 2003

I actually use a shrimp deveiner, although I usually get my shrimp peeled and deveined.

My most useless utensil is an egg separator. I've only kept it because it's an antique.

Anna N · November 20, 2003

A tiny, wooden, mortar and pestle - received as a gift when I wanted one of those huge, heavy monsters a la Jamie Oliver. It collects dust but I can't get rid of it as the person who gave it to me keeps a close eye on it! :sad:

melkor · November 20, 2003

Lets see... in the garage there are a few boxes full of useless kitchen gear:

flour sifter

bread maker

recipe book holder

those fork thingies that came with a roasting pan

apple corer

donut cutter

non-remote meat thermometer

ice spoon that came with an ice bucket (now used for wine)

some awful t-fal pans

"the chopper machine" - one of those useless push down chopping things

I don't think I can pick a most useless, and I'm sure there are other things in the boxes, but wow do I have a lot of useless kitchen junk.

FistFullaRoux · November 21, 2003

A garlic press. My wife bought it from one of those in-home demonstration pyramid scheme things for $15. Then I went to BB&B and got a stainless steel board scraper for $4. And we had a little contest.

If I ever have to mash a really small potato, I'll dig it out and use it, though...

Edited November 21, 2003 by FistFullaRoux (log)

Nick · November 21, 2003

I just looked through the drawer and found a tea ball. When I was growing up we had a tea ball that never got used. I guess I'm just upholding an old family tradition. :biggrin:

No one I know deveins shimp including me. Lobsters yes, shrimp no.

Edited November 21, 2003 by Nick (log)

fifi · November 21, 2003

Probably from the same home demonstration thingy I have this hopeless cutter thing that has a wavy patterned blade. It is supposed to make "wavy cut vegetables for an attractive crudite tray". It was so big and klutzy and I never used it. So I threw it in the yard.

I had high hopes for the Kyocera julienne slicer. I had visions of mounds of julienne jicama slaw. It doesn't work, unless you are trying to make jicama or carrot juice. At that price I should send it back. :angry:

bloviatrix · November 21, 2003

I would have to say it's the garlic press. I have one sitting in the drawer that has probably been used twice in 8 plus years. It's easier to chop the garlic with a knife.

I also have one of those apple slicer things - it's round and cuts through the apple making small wedges but leaves the core in tact. Again, a knife works just as well, if not better.

If I was smart I would just toss these things out as they take up precious space.

margaret · November 21, 2003

I just looked through the drawer and found a tea ball. When I was growing up we had a tea ball that never got used. I guess I'm just upholding an old family tradition.
No one I know deveins shimp including me. Lobsters yes, shrimp no.

I have many lonely tea balls, too.

And I use a toothpick to devein shrimp.

ronnie_suburban · November 21, 2003

It's my flour duster. I can throw flour down onto a board just fine using only my hands :shock:

But what difference does it make? Since I'm completely incapable of throwing anything away, it'll stay in the kitchen until one of us dies :raz:

=R=

jo-mel · November 21, 2003

I have so many useless things, I don't know where to start. Most have been tossed in a box in the basement. Those roasting pan fork thingies, are in that box, too.

Once I almost had a complete collection of garlic presses. One day I used a cheese grater (1/8 inch holes) and expirimented. TaDa! Iuse it exclusively for garlic and ginger. I don't even peel. (The garlic peel stay on the top side) My cleaver is a runner up for garlic. When someone called a cleaver "a Chinese food processor" he wasn't far from wrong!

=Mark · November 21, 2003

I've got a shrimp deveiner that actually works pretty well, and I've used it to do pounds of shrimp.

I agree with the garlic press, just as easy to whack with the bottom of the closest vinegar, soy sauce, worcester sauce or olive oil bottle and remove the skins &chop.

My other useless item is the single tine skewar that lets grilled foods do the "food spin" thing.

tommy · November 21, 2003

vacu vin wine saver :biggrin:

Varmint · November 21, 2003

Wine Clip.

Mayhaw Man · November 21, 2003

The garlic press that I recieved when I got married has been used all of one or two times. I have moved it to three different houses and two apartments in the last twenty years. I have no idea why. :blink:

I have a tea ball, and haven't made tea in years. But since it is made of non reactive metal, I have found it very useful as a garni holder in soups. It actually works great for this purpose.

I have a top o' the line ricer that I need to put in someone's garage sale. Pain in the ass to use and worse to clean up. What's the point?

Varmint · November 21, 2003

I'm still a big garlic press lover. Call me crazy.

Mayhaw Man · November 21, 2003

I'm still a big garlic press lover. Call me crazy.

Gladly,

Varmint, you must be crazy :biggrin: :laugh:

Varmint · November 21, 2003

I've argued this elsewhere, but I buy my garlic that has been already peeled at a cost around the same as unpeeled garlic. It's fresh. I can mince 2 or 3 cloves of garlic in 2 seconds, and I don't have a cutting board to clean up. The press is that easy. And I defy anyone to prove to me that finely minced garlic tastes any different when pushed through a press or when minced with a knife.

tommy · November 21, 2003

And I defy anyone to prove to me that finely minced garlic tastes any different when pushed through a press or when minced with a knife.

i think sam will be here in a matter of minutes to disprove your theory with scientific evidence and an eGCI course. :laugh:

Edited November 21, 2003 by tommy (log)

bleachboy · November 21, 2003

Those stupid "wine charms" - little pendants you're supposed to wrap around the stem of your wine glass so you know which one is yours. I get them every Christmas it seems, as they're cheap and lots of people know I like wine.

I have never once ever, in my entire life, experienced "wine confusion". Does anybody really use these things?

Nick · November 21, 2003

I have a tea ball, and haven't made tea in years. But since it is made of non reactive metal, I have found it very useful as a garni holder in soups. It actually works great for this purpose.

Now there's an idea! Thanks!

KarenS · November 21, 2003

cheap

zesters

or

melon

ballers-

they

break

after

using

once

or

twice.

tommy · November 21, 2003

I have never once ever, in my entire life, experienced "wine confusion". Does anybody really use these things?

you've never lost track of your glass when there are 3 or 4 on a table? i have, and i use those things whenever i think of it. the problem is, i always forget which freakin charm i am.

Varmint · November 21, 2003

I have never once ever, in my entire life, experienced "wine confusion". Does anybody really use these things?
you've never lost track of your glass when there are 3 or 4 on a table? i have, and i use those things whenever i think of it. the problem is, i always forget which freakin charm i am.

You're the pink clover.

Those things were invented for my mother-in-law. She easily goes through 4 different glasses at a party if she didn't have one. Hers is quite distinctive.

Schneier · November 21, 2003

I just looked through the drawer and found a tea ball. When I was growing up we had a tea ball that never got used. I guess I'm just upholding an old family tradition.
No one I know deveins shimp including me. Lobsters yes, shrimp no.

I use my tea ball all the time.

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