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Unusual & mysterious kitchen gadgets

andiesenji

By andiesenji
in Kitchen Consumer

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andiesenji

andiesenji

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Rather than bump up an old topic, I am starting this new one after reading and posting in the topic started by gfron1.

We had some fun in a thread last year about odd gadgets (and I have more than a few) with photos posted and folks guessing what specific task the gadget was designed to do.

Here's one that no one who has seen it has ever guessed the purpose. After demonstration, they usually say, Dang!

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I will post it in use later today. :rolleyes:

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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Smithy

Smithy

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It looks like a zester from the inside, but how would you get the fruit inside without barking your knuckles?

Uhm. It's for zesting something stationary, like the bark from some tree or large plant big enough to hold still while you run the zester up and down the trunk. Cinnamon bark, for instance.

Nancy Smith, aka "Smithy"
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davidkeay

davidkeay

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Uhm.  It's for zesting something stationary, like the bark from some tree or large plant big enough to hold still while you run the zester up and down the trunk.  Cinnamon bark, for instance.

It looks like there's a little lip around the edge which would stop the zesting things from doing their job...hmm.

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Megan Blocker

Megan Blocker

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Must be something having to do with slicing .. but I really am unsure how or even why the knife blade will be used in going down that slit ... not even close, huh?  :laugh:

I was thinking this...more like it grips something slippery (peeled peaches?) so that you can cut it.

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Rebecca263

Rebecca263

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Well, you could use that to wring out something flat, couldn't you? I was thinking of it as a ricer of sorts, myself. Here's my offering to the subject of unusual kitchen gadgets:A strange machine.... Um, it's my first photo post, feel free to let me know the proper way to achieve this sort of thing! :laugh:

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andiesenji

andiesenji

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French bean slicer?

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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Sugarella

Sugarella

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I have something rather similar to that which has a metal cup on it with a hole in the bottom; the cup is filled with dumpling batter while the whole mechanism sits across an open pot of boiling water. You work the cup back and forth with the dumpling batter and as it slides through the holes into the pot you get perfectly sized even dumplings.

But yours has no cup so I'm at a loss.... :unsure:

Edited by Sugarella (log)
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Philanthrophobe

Philanthrophobe

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Here's my offering to the subject of unusual kitchen gadgets:A strange machine.... Um, it's my first photo post, feel free to let me know the proper way to achieve this sort of thing! :laugh:

It is! It's a bean slicer! (I, uh, have two. I'm not sure why.)

"She would of been a good woman," The Misfit said, "if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life."

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Philanthrophobe

Philanthrophobe

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andiesenji, is it used to grate something over a bowl or pot with the legs resting on the rim? ...or a spaetzle maker?

Hmmmmm....

"She would of been a good woman," The Misfit said, "if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life."

--Flannery O'Connor, "A Good Man is Hard to Find"

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andiesenji

andiesenji

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I have a bean slicer very similar to the Krisk and I have a very old hand cranked one that still works and a somewhat newer one that works very well and makes either the long strings or the shorter diagonal slices (depending on which blade assembly is attached). When my garden is producing heavily, I prepare beans with the Frencher for freezing and for canning.

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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SJ Shappee

SJ Shappee

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Here's one that no one who has seen it has ever guessed the purpose.  After demonstration, they usually say, Dang!

gallery_17399_60_68956.jpg

gallery_17399_60_21860.jpg

gallery_17399_60_24372.jpg

gallery_17399_60_24172.jpg

Isn't it a toaster? Lay the slices of bread against the holes, put the thingy over a heat source and flip the slices of bread over when it's done on one side....I think we had one of these years ago when I went camping...

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andiesenji

andiesenji

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I have something rather similar to that which has a metal cup on it with a hole in the bottom; the cup is filled with dumpling batter while the whole mechanism sits across an open pot of boiling water. You work the cup back and forth with the dumpling batter and as it slides through the holes into the pot you get perfectly sized even dumplings.

But yours has no cup so I'm at a loss....  :unsure:

Is it really a bean slicer????  :shock:

I have one of the "spaetzle dumpling" cutters too. The one with the wooden handle.

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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andiesenji

andiesenji

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Okay, it is officially "afternoon" here on the left coast, so here is the answer.

Melissa came pretty darn close. It is a melba toast slicer. Usually you have to have bread with a very dense crumb to slice thin enough for melba toast. This gadget allows slicing of tender, multi-grained-nut breads that are impossible to slice thin any other way.

A demonstration: This is a multi-grained bread with chunks of nuts in it.

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"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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Smithy

Smithy

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Good job, Melissa! I didn't even see the slot until after I'd posted, but I still wouldn't have had any good ideas. (I do still like the visual image of zesting a tree trunk, but somehow I doubted that was it. :rolleyes: )

Nancy Smith, aka "Smithy"
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"Every day should be filled with something delicious, because life is too short not to spoil yourself. " -- Ling (with permission)
"There comes a time in every project when you have to shoot the engineer and start production." -- author unknown

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Rebecca263

Rebecca263

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Yes! A stringer and slicer! It arrived in my home as the "bow" on a gift package once. How fun! I haven't used it for that, though, as we eat our string beans whole. I use it for cutting ribbons for decorations. :wacko: Well, I AM a bit um, 'different'.

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andiesenji

andiesenji

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I don't know what's more funny here...that it could have been a bean slicer?!  How is that supposed to work?) or that is is a food liposuctioner HAH!  What will the melbanese come up with next?

That melba toast slicer has been used by me since the late 60s. Back then, there was Van De Camp's who sold a very popular very thin sliced white bread but otherwise it was impossible to find very thin sliced bread other than rye or pumpernickle. This little gadget got a lot of use and still does.

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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andiesenji

andiesenji

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Yes! A stringer and slicer! It arrived in my home as the "bow" on a gift package once. How fun! I haven't used it for that, though, as we eat our string beans whole. I use it for cutting ribbons for decorations. :wacko: Well, I AM a bit um, 'different'.

Have you tried using it for curling ribbon? It looks like ribbon could be pulled over the blade. I bought one of the ribbon shredding thingies a few years ago but could never get it to work properly. Now I just plop gifts in the decorated bags and shove in some tissue paper and perhaps tie on a piece of garland tinsel stuff. I don't have as much patience as I once had.

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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Rebecca263

Rebecca263

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It makes lovely slender ribbons out of the already thin paper ones. After, I curl the ribbon on the flat edge of a scissor or a pencil, or a key, if I'm in the car! I have a ribbon shredder, too, somewhere. Hmmm. I DO love little gadgets and toys! :wub:

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Cure Cutaneous Lymphoma

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  • 1 year later...
Toliver

Toliver

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I thought I would post this in Andie's thread...

When my folks got married in the mid-50's, the go-to cookbook for my mom was the Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook. It's the food we were raised on and still eat, on ocassion, when we need comfort food.

My paternal grandmother would, from time to time, send my mom a little "doo-dad" for the kitchen.

Pictured below are two of my mom's favorite kitchen utensils that my granmother sent her. I had her hold them for me while I took the picture so I could also capture her hands (at 77, she's just discovered the joys of fake fingernails!).

Pictured at the top is her favorite metal spatula. Whenever she cooks something in her cast iron skillet (which is as good as a new non-stick skillet after decades of use), she always uses this metal spatula. It also has a beveled leading edge so it's also what she uses to cut up/slice pan goods like fudge. There's a "gadget" company (like Carol Wright) that sells a similar metal spatula but it's quite flimsy compared to this original metal spatula.

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Now, the reason I posted this pic is because of the second utensil in her hand. It was purchased via mail order by my grandmother from a food company. The utensil was designed for a very specific use (I sort of gave a clue in the opening paragraph if you put your thinking caps on).

Can you guess what it is?

 

“Peter: Oh my god, Brian, there's a message in my Alphabits. It says, 'Oooooo.'

Brian: Peter, those are Cheerios.”

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Tim Oliver

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