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Unusual & mysterious kitchen gadgets

andiesenji

By andiesenji
in Kitchen Consumer

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Alex

Alex

Posted
Posted

Garlic clove smasher?

"There is no sincerer love than the love of food."  -George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman, Act 1

 

"Imagine all the food you have eaten in your life and consider that you are simply some of that food, rearranged."  -Max Tegmark, physicist

 

Gene Weingarten, writing in the Washington Post about online news stories and the accompanying readers' comments: "I basically like 'comments,' though they can seem a little jarring: spit-flecked rants that are appended to a product that at least tries for a measure of objectivity and dignity. It's as though when you order a sirloin steak, it comes with a side of maggots."

 

A king can stand people's fighting, but he can't last long if people start thinking. -Will Rogers, humorist

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Katie Meadow

Katie Meadow

Posted
Posted

My best guess? it's a weapon to prevent cats from jumping up on the table. My next best guess? Something used to grab corn that accidentally finds its way into the kitchen so that you don't have to touch the corn itself. In that case either you invented it or you are the only customer. 

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liuzhou

liuzhou

Posted
Posted
23 minutes ago, Katie Meadow said:

My best guess? it's a weapon to prevent cats from jumping up on the table. My next best guess? Something used to grab corn that accidentally finds its way into the kitchen so that you don't have to touch the corn itself. In that case either you invented it or you are the only customer. 

 

Love it, but with Chinese government assistance,the People's Liberation Army, the UN and the British Embassy, a five-mile exclusion zone for cats and c⊘rn has been imposed around my offical residence, rendering invention or custom of strange object vendor's redundant.

 

I'll reveal all tomorrow if you all behave youselves!

 

 

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...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

"No amount of evidence will ever persuade an idiot"
Mark Twain
 

The Kitchen Scale Manifesto

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Laurentius

Laurentius

Posted
Posted
17 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

I'll reveal all tomorrow if you all behave youselves!

 

As Mark Twain wrote, secrets are either too good to keep or not good enough.  So give it up.

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liuzhou

liuzhou

Posted
Posted
5 minutes ago, Laurentius said:

 

As Mark Twain wrote, secrets are either too good to keep or not good enough.  So give it up.

 

Where did he write that?

 

I'll "give it up" when the guesses stop.

...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

"No amount of evidence will ever persuade an idiot"
Mark Twain
 

The Kitchen Scale Manifesto

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Duvel

Duvel

Posted
Posted

It‘s a tool for people lacking the upper body strength to cut through a chicken bone with a wimpy cleaver. Used to be a fad with HK housewifes …

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TdeV

TdeV

Posted
Posted
On 6/24/2024 at 1:46 AM, liuzhou said:

Here's a new one to me.

 

Usual rules. Image searches just spoil the fun.

 

O1CN01JzFyUj2FN8ZGinwbs___495538867.thumb.jpg.da3c61c862e4e67d8b35fd6d62587679.jpg

 

 

 

For shaping some kind of pasta which will be filled (stuffed) in the space left by the green thingie. Possibly those metal prongies expand the space or something.

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liuzhou

liuzhou

Posted
Posted (edited)
10 hours ago, TdeV said:

For shaping some kind of pasta

 

No.

 

In fact, as advertised, it actually has three uses, two of which are kind of related, but nothing to do with pasta or shaping.

 

 

 

Edited by liuzhou (log)
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...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

"No amount of evidence will ever persuade an idiot"
Mark Twain
 

The Kitchen Scale Manifesto

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pastrygirl

pastrygirl

Posted
Posted
On 6/23/2024 at 11:46 PM, liuzhou said:

Here's a new one to me.

 

Usual rules. Image searches just spoil the fun.

 

O1CN01JzFyUj2FN8ZGinwbs___495538867.thumb.jpg.da3c61c862e4e67d8b35fd6d62587679.jpg

 

 

 

herb stripper - one hand holds the green part with the metal straddling an herb stem on a cutting board, the other pulls it through

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liuzhou

liuzhou

Posted
Posted
11 minutes ago, pastrygirl said:

 

herb stripper - one hand holds the green part with the metal straddling an herb stem on a cutting board, the other pulls it through

 

❌

 

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...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

"No amount of evidence will ever persuade an idiot"
Mark Twain
 

The Kitchen Scale Manifesto

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JeanneCake

JeanneCake

Posted
Posted

I think Duvel is on to something, that metal part looks like it would slide over a knife or something. But what's the point of having it on the knife?  Is it for storage (but it wouldn't protect the blade, it isn't long enough.  maybe the green part is a magnet? No that doesn't make sense either.)

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liuzhou

liuzhou

Posted
Posted (edited)

OK. Time to put you out of your misery. A couple of people identified one different use each. No one got the third. Honorable mention to @Amy D. for getting the first.

 

Here are three images demonstrating each use, as mentioned in the vendors’ advertising and packaging. This is my one in white; green clashes with my eyes!

 

First up and first mentioned on the packaging is a fish scaler.

 

basedown.thumb.jpg.d9b853eb1b963e3bc295ec5aa5975993.jpg

 

Next is what I will call a knife basher to be used mainly with a Chinese cleaver to cut through bones. I think this use is mostly for people with lightweight cleavers or blunt cleavers. Put it on the blunt end of the blade and thump the tool with your fist. Only in extremis do I have to resort to such tactics and bashing the top of the blade with my rubber mallet works better and doesn’t bruise my hand. Using my heavy duty bone cleaver renders it redundant.

 

thumper.jpg.88605db26c64109adddaa131ae4e0ec8.jpg

 

The bronze medal goes to those who put the contraption on the sharp end of and use it to stand up on the counter. I never do that either. I lie it flat with the business end pointing away from me.

 

standingcleaver.thumb.jpg.f187ffc07fbf9a07d8e83ba86d92049f.jpg

 

I really only bought it out of amusement. The equivalent of $1.50 USD

 

Unusual though, to find one of these novelty things that have more than one function.

 

 

Edited by liuzhou (log)
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...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

"No amount of evidence will ever persuade an idiot"
Mark Twain
 

The Kitchen Scale Manifesto

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TdeV

TdeV

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, liuzhou said:

Unusual though, to find one of these novelty things that have more than one function.

 

I think the Marketing Dept is probably responsible for that!

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liuzhou

liuzhou

Posted
Posted

Here's one for you. Obviously some kind of spoon but for a very specific use. Don't let the German fool you.

 

As ever, only jerks who want to spoil the fun use Google image search.

 

 

spoon.jpg

...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

"No amount of evidence will ever persuade an idiot"
Mark Twain
 

The Kitchen Scale Manifesto

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liuzhou

liuzhou

Posted
Posted
3 minutes ago, Kerry Beal said:

Well it appears to be a straw and spoon combination - meant to strain some kind of liquid so you can suck it through the straw successfully?

 

Close but what? And why a spoon instead of just a grille to strain?

...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

"No amount of evidence will ever persuade an idiot"
Mark Twain
 

The Kitchen Scale Manifesto

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Kerry Beal

Kerry Beal

Posted
Posted
17 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

 

Close but what? And why a spoon instead of just a grille to strain?

It must be necessary to scrape the item - perhaps for something like watermelon or mango?

the Chocolate Doctor
www.thechocolatedoctor.ca

www.eztemper.com

 

Confectionary Course • Confectionary Course Q&A
eGullet foodblog 2006 • eGullet Foodblog 2012

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liuzhou

liuzhou

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, Kerry Beal said:

It must be necessary to scrape the item - perhaps for something like watermelon or mango?

 

No. No scraping involved.

...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

"No amount of evidence will ever persuade an idiot"
Mark Twain
 

The Kitchen Scale Manifesto

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BonVivant

BonVivant

Posted
Posted

Saw it all the time in southern Argentina. (That's a hint for those who don't know what it's used for.)

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2024 PT-LISBON (again, almost 2 decades later) - 2024 GR: The Other Greece

2024 MY:The Other Malaysia / 2023 JP: The Other Japan - Amami-Kikaijima-(& Fujinomiya)

My Own Food Photos 2024 / @Flickr (sometimes)

 

 

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TdeV

TdeV

Posted
Posted (edited)

To have that kind of bottle brush, the handle of the spoon must be hollow. It's also unlikely that plain water is running through there either.

 

 

Edited to say I should have looked up to the end of the thread!

 

 

Edited by TdeV (log)
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liuzhou

liuzhou

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, BonVivant said:

Saw it all the time in southern Argentina. (That's a hint for those who don't know what it's used for.)

 

What's southern Argentina to do with it?

...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

"No amount of evidence will ever persuade an idiot"
Mark Twain
 

The Kitchen Scale Manifesto

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