Jump to content
  • Welcome to the eG Forums, a service of the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters. The Society is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the culinary arts. These advertising-free forums are provided free of charge through donations from Society members. Anyone may read the forums, but to post you must create a free account.

Unusual & mysterious kitchen gadgets


andiesenji

Recommended Posts

On 7/19/2024 at 3:28 PM, weinoo said:

I roasted some peppers today; do many people use a Közmatik?

 

IMG_2493.thumb.jpeg.0a97420e61a2225c8950277bd8103dff.jpeg

 

Looks interesting @weinoo. Where did you get your Közmatik?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

 

Mystery10262024.jpg

 

Any guesses as to what this is?  There are no wrong answers because I have no idea.  Actually I have some idea, it is a kind of press.  It was sold as a citrus press.  A citrus press it clearly is not.  There is no place for juice to drain.  Height is 15 inches in the lowered position.  It is heavy.  It works as a nut smasher if you are fond of shell fragments.

 

The asking price was $158.  The device has since been removed from Amazon.  The fact remains someone designed it for something.

 

Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 minutes ago, Laurentius said:

This is a WAG, but I suspect there is a piece missing.  As in a tube through which that plunger traveled.

 

Maybe a sausage stuffer? Or, if the tube was perforated, some sort of juice extractor?

 

No tube and no place to affix a tube.  No room in the (plain unmarked) box for a tube to have been.  The plunger has teeth, though said teeth are not sharp.

 

Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

Mystery10262024.jpg

 

Any guesses as to what this is?  There are no wrong answers because I have no idea.  Actually I have some idea, it is a kind of press.  It was sold as a citrus press.  A citrus press it clearly is not. 

 

 

It is a lemon squeezer. Quite common here.

 

Click

 

 

Edited by liuzhou (log)
  • Thanks 3

...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

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

The Kitchen Scale Manifesto

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, liuzhou said:

 

It is a lemon squeezer. Quite common here.

 

Click

 

 

 

Thank you @liuzhou!  The press you linked is exactly the same as mine.  Strangely I note only one of the Alibaba product pictures shows a beaker, such as the beaker in the video.  Would it be common for Chinese kitchens to have metal beakers to use with the press?  I have beakers, but my beakers are glass.

 

As always, I love eGullet!

 

  • Like 2

Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

Link to comment
Share on other sites

just the right size for an

 

Otolan 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ortolan_bunting

 

'''   The birds are caught with nets set during their autumn migratory flight to Africa. They are then kept in covered cages or boxes. They react to the dark by gorging themselves on grain, usually millet seed, until they double their bulk. They are then suspended upside down over a container of Armagnac, and by dipping, made to drown, and then marinated in the brandy.[14][15] ''

 

etc.

  • Haha 1
  • Sad 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

Mystery10262024.jpg

 

Any guesses as to what this is?  There are no wrong answers because I have no idea.  Actually I have some idea, it is a kind of press.  It was sold as a citrus press.  A citrus press it clearly is not.  There is no place for juice to drain.  Height is 15 inches in the lowered position.  It is heavy.  It works as a nut smasher if you are fond of shell fragments.

 

The asking price was $158.  The device has since been removed from Amazon.  The fact remains someone designed it for something.

 

I have seen that used as a pomegranate juice press. Very effective.

 

dcarch

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

Thank you @liuzhou!  The press you linked is exactly the same as mine.  Strangely I note only one of the Alibaba product pictures shows a beaker, such as the beaker in the video.  Would it be common for Chinese kitchens to have metal beakers to use with the press?  I have beakers, but my beakers are glass.

 

 

Quite common. I have a stainless steel beaker.

 

 

  • Thanks 1

...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

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

The Kitchen Scale Manifesto

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, liuzhou said:

 

Quite common. I have a stainless steel beaker.

 

 

 

I figure 500ml is about the right size for the press, does that sound right?

 

Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

I figure 500ml is about the right size for the press, does that sound right?

 

 

My beaker is 350ml,  but I've never used it with one of those presses.  But it should be about right, I guess.

  • Thanks 1

...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

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

The Kitchen Scale Manifesto

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 10/26/2024 at 10:36 PM, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

Mystery10262024.jpg

 

Any guesses as to what this is?  There are no wrong answers because I have no idea.  Actually I have some idea, it is a kind of press.  It was sold as a citrus press.  A citrus press it clearly is not.  There is no place for juice to drain.  Height is 15 inches in the lowered position.  It is heavy.  It works as a nut smasher if you are fond of shell fragments.

 

The asking price was $158.  The device has since been removed from Amazon.  The fact remains someone designed it for something.

 

I received my Lee Valley catalogue in the mail yesterday and while leafing through it came upon this.  

20241029_155429.jpg

Edited by ElsieD
Typo (log)
  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, ElsieD said:

I received my Lee Valley catalogue in the mail yesterday and while leafing through it came upon this.  

20241029_155429.jpg

This style manual press is Coin of the Realm.  I trust Lee Valley would choose a good model, but beware knockoffs.  If I had more counter space, I'd have one.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, Laurentius said:

This style manual press is Coin of the Realm.  I trust Lee Valley would choose a good model, but beware knockoffs.  If I had more counter space, I'd have one.

Lee Valley was top drawer when it opened and for many years afterwards - but they have brought in a lot of cheap knockoffs for the Christmas season in the past. This doesn't look like one of them however. 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...