Unusual & mysterious kitchen gadgets

[liuzhou]

2 minutes ago, gfweb said:

 

Must be a big ass wok

 

Restaurant woks are. And red hot, so you want a long handle to prevent roasted chef syndrome.

[Anna N]

@Kerry Beal and I were in the thrift store today and came across this:

 

 

Anyone?

[andiesenji]

 

9 hours ago, Anna N said:

@Kerry Beal and I were in the thrift store today and came across this:

 

 

Anyone?

  Chestnut roaster?

 

Edited November 29, 2018 by andiesenji (log)

[dcarch]

The two parts don't seem to belong together. They don't seem to fit. Otherwise there is no need for the rubber band and Scotch tape.

 

dcarch

 

 

[Anna N]

27 minutes ago, dcarch said:

The two parts don't seem to belong together. They don't seem to fit. Otherwise there is no need for the rubber band and Scotch tape.

 

dcarch

 

 

 I suspect both are  more related to how things become separated in thrift stores than they are to any functionality.

[Kerry Beal]

4 hours ago, andiesenji said:

 

  Chestnut roaster?

 

 

That makes sense - there is a huge Italian population around here and they are seriously into that.

[dcarch]

26 minutes ago, Anna N said:

 I suspect both are  more related to how things become separated in thrift stores than they are to any functionality.

 

It appears that the top is way too big for the spring clips to hold on to. That's why the rubber band and Scotch tape.

dcarch

Edited November 29, 2018 by dcarch (log)

[liuzhou]

These might be as common as muck, but it's new to me. The handle (actually a bamboo chopstick) is 24 cm/9½ inches long and the blade is 13x3.5 cm/5¼x1¾, also bamboo.

 

Obviously, it could be used for many purposes, but was sold with a specific one in the description.

 

 

 

 

[Kerry Beal]

56 minutes ago, dcarch said:

 

It appears that the top is way too big for the spring clips to hold on to. That's why the rubber band and Scotch tape.

dcarch

 

Actually - I was able to get it to hold in 3 places when I moved the clips equidistant - just didn't bother to take a picture. The rubber bands and scotch tape are as Anna noted - to keep the two pieces together in the thrift store. 

[Okanagancook]

5 hours ago, liuzhou said:

These might be as common as muck, but it's new to me. The handle (actually a bamboo chopstick) is 24 cm/9½ inches long and the blade is 13x3.5 cm/5¼x1¾, also bamboo.

 

Obviously, it could be used for many purposes, but was sold with a specific one in the description.

 

 

 

 

Crepe batter spreader variation?

Edited November 29, 2018 by Okanagancook (log)

[Coogles]

5 hours ago, liuzhou said:

These might be as common as muck, but it's new to me. The handle (actually a bamboo chopstick) is 24 cm/9½ inches long and the blade is 13x3.5 cm/5¼x1¾, also bamboo.

 

Obviously, it could be used for many purposes, but was sold with a specific one in the description.

 

 

 

 

It's a Chinese pancake rake.  End of the dowel fits in to the hole where the zip tie is now.

 

https://m.asia5b.com/goods.php?id=272128

Edited November 29, 2018 by Coogles
Added clarification (log)

[liuzhou]

11 hours ago, Okanagancook said:

Crepe batter spreader variation?

 

 

11 hours ago, Coogles said:

It's a Chinese pancake rake.  End of the dowel fits in to the hole where the zip tie is now.

 

https://m.asia5b.com/goods.php?id=272128

 

 

Yes. It's sold as a "pancake rake" and as far as I'm concerned crêpes are pancakes - or vice-versa!

 

Here it is "assembled".

 

 

Edited November 30, 2018 by liuzhou (log)

[Smithy]

Please alleviate my ignorance. How/why does one rake a pancake? Or, for that matter, a crêpe?

[rotuts]

its a tool to move the batter around on a large cooking surface , that might not be a pan

 

makes for large thin  pancake/crepes  

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKimELFW-Ls&frags=pl%2Cwn

 

 

 

Edited November 30, 2018 by rotuts (log)

[IowaDee]

It also helps to prevent forest fires from breaking out in the pan or so I've heard.😉

[Anna N]

1 hour ago, IowaDee said:

It also helps to prevent forest fires from breaking out in the pan or so I've heard.😉

Damn you. I just spit my lunch all over my screen. 

[anzu]

Anna N's thriftstore find:

 

I'm fairly sure it is an Indian clay tawa.

 

The tawa - that is, the pan one cooks Indian flatbreads on - is most commonly made of cast iron in most of India. However, over a decade back I was in Udaipur, in Rajasthan, for about a month. I cooked a lot with my neighbor, who was born locally and only cooked local dishes. When she made flatbreads from wheat flour, she cooked them on an iron tawa. However, she often used other grains for making the flatbreads, such as millet flour, and these she always cooked on a clay tawa, saying that they diffused the heat better, and that the breads would not work on an iron tawa. The one she used looked exactly like the one in the photo.

 

In addition, my local Indian store has just recently started to stock clay tawas. Again, they look the same.

[Kerry Beal]

Brilliant - clay tawa

[Anna N]

11 minutes ago, Kerry Beal said:

Brilliant - clay tawa

That’s it!

[Toliver]

37 minutes ago, Kerry Beal said:

Brilliant - clay tawa

I like the thrift store price of $4.99 better than what Amazon priced it.  

[Anna N]

8 minutes ago, Toliver said:

I like the thrift store price of $4.99 better than what Amazon priced it.  

 Every once in a while Kerry and I can walk away from the bargain. It doesn’t happen often and I’m surprised it happened this time. But it did and now we don’t own a $4.99 tawa  and you just can’t know how soon we will need one.

[kayb]

8 hours ago, Anna N said:

Damn you. I just spit my lunch all over my screen. 

 

And I spit a mouthful of red wine all over the screen.

 

Good 'un.

 

[andiesenji]

5 hours ago, anzu said:

Anna N's thriftstore find:

 

I'm fairly sure it is an Indian clay tawa.

 

The tawa - that is, the pan one cooks Indian flatbreads on - is most commonly made of cast iron in most of India. However, over a decade back I was in Udaipur, in Rajasthan, for about a month. I cooked a lot with my neighbor, who was born locally and only cooked local dishes. When she made flatbreads from wheat flour, she cooked them on an iron tawa. However, she often used other grains for making the flatbreads, such as millet flour, and these she always cooked on a clay tawa, saying that they diffused the heat better, and that the breads would not work on an iron tawa. The one she used looked exactly like the one in the photo.

 

In addition, my local Indian store has just recently started to stock clay tawas. Again, they look the same.

Absolutely!  I never thought of a tawa because the one I have is flat but it does have the same type of holder.  I haven't used it for years, don't even know where it is.  I think the bowl shaped one would also work over a gas burner, UPSIDE-DOWN.  I got my tawa from Indian Sweets and Spices, a "chain" of Indian stores in the greater Los Angeles area.  The first one was down the street from my office on Sherman Way in Canoga Park, CA in the early '80s.  It was "ethnic grocery row" as besides the Indian grocery, there was an Italian one that had been there since the '50s, a Korean grocer and a Tortilla "factory." 

[liuzhou]

12 hours ago, Smithy said:

Please alleviate my ignorance. How/why does one rake a pancake? Or, for that matter, a crêpe?

 

I have seen them being used on street food stalls in northern China to spread pancake batter evenly. I'd  call it a pancake spreader, but the notable lack of forest fires in northern China proves it's efficacy as a rake. Pancake experts, being able to pour evenly, don't need to use rakes, but then government regulations make sure they never operate in forest areas.

Does Finland have pancakes? I'm sure they must.

[DesertTinker]

@Smithy Here’s one in use that’s the same style as @liuzhou has.