Your 5 favourite kitchen gadgets

[brdwygurl]

Originally Posted by Angst

The only unusual gadget in my kitchen is an aerogarden for fresh herbs.

I have always wondered about these. Do they actually work? How long do the plants produce veggies/herbs/lettuce?

I live in a condo, and really miss my outdoor garden.

Thanks

[beppe]

Originally Posted by montsnmags

My brother-out-law is/was a French chef. Actually, a pretty damn good one...bringing a couple of restaurants here up in stars/chefs hats and helping score one as best regional in one of our biggest wine-growing regions. He's my cooking hero, and sometimes mentor (mostly on food perspective, making me a culinary Francophile ). His knives, taken everywhere (incl. restaurant to restaurant), are Victorinox. He doesn't like my Furi knives because of the all-metal handles - they get slippery when the going gets messy - and he's not fond of the lighter weight of them.

The Victorinox...quite exy, aren't they?

Originally Posted by bjones6416

Hmmm, I've got some Amazon credit and that looks promising. Thanks for mentioning it!

Originally Posted by brdwygurl

No problem! It's a great all around knife



Yes they are. Does it make me sound like a serial killer to say that I think good quality knives are sexy?

Originally Posted by montsnmags

Why, yes. Yes, it does.

Cheers,
Marc

The larger one is the old Victorinox of my mother. It's a good knife, but as a chef's knife I prefer the smaller one.

BTW Marc, what are antaloons? Something speakable? Something to do with hymenoptera? you know wasps, bees, ants ...

Sorry.

[Bookworm_Girl]

I just made dinner and thought of another gadget that I use often: my wine bottle foil cutter. I also thought of another gadget that doesn't work well: frying pan splatter screens. Typing this post is just procrastination because I am not looking forward to cleaning up my range-top.

[Barbara1955]

Electric Can Opener
Crock Pot
Stove
Refridgerator

[Phogg]

1. My Beloved Villaware UNO Panini grill - perfect grilling and it heats the kitchen much less in summer.



2. My Avanti Teba mini kitchen. I only use the burners and rotisserie occaisionally, but it was the biggest convection oven I could find and beats heating the full oven. Plus it shuts off automatically in case i am distracted.



3. My ancient Hobart Kitchen Aid mixer. They still make these because the design is a classic.



4. Marble Cheese slicer, Easier to clean than a bladed meat slicer but still able to slice cheese (or spam) evenly and thin.



5.My Joie Eggy collection, They just cheer me up. I started with a whisk and then they took over a shelf...

[Angst]

Originally Posted by brdwygurl

I have always wondered about these. Do they actually work? How long do the plants produce veggies/herbs/lettuce?

I live in a condo, and really miss my outdoor garden.

Thanks

About 6 months. I'm 3 months into my first batch of herbs, so that "6" number isn't verified. I also grow one tomato plant hydroponically on my apartment balcony every year.

Another kitchen goodie, although it isn't a gadget. My Vinegar pot.

[Xanthe]

I don't really have any fancy or expensive gadgets that I use. These are the items that I always use:

Rada Cutlery Deluxe Vegetable Peeler. It's the best peeler I've ever used:



A graniteware roaster like this one, that was my mom's:



A 9 3/4" slicing knife from Cutco that was my mom's.



My mom's Feemster slicer (noticing the pattern here? )



The LUX Color Changing Egg Timer:

[thinkpad]

#1. Good knife
#2. Tefal actifry (good for making french fries not so good for falafel)
#3. Mixer
#4. Salad spinner

#5. Pressure cooker (Much faster when boiling chick peas)

[DMB]

Originally Posted by Xanthe

I don't really have any fancy or expensive gadgets that I use. These are the items that I always use:

Rada Cutlery Deluxe Vegetable Peeler. It's the best peeler I've ever used:



A graniteware roaster like this one, that was my mom's:



A 9 3/4" slicing knife from Cutco that was my mom's.



My mom's Feemster slicer (noticing the pattern here? )



The LUX Color Changing Egg Timer:

I've got one of those egg timers. They are ace!

[thinkpad]

I had one of those egg timers too. I thought it started to smell plastic when putting it in the boiling water. Perhaps I got a bad one.

[anabolina]

This is an awesome thread that's giving me some inspiration. the Aerogarden is really attractive, if a bit expensive. Still, it must be nice having fresh herbs readily available.

I'm an itinerant cook. Usually I'm just not in the mood for it so we eat out, have a hot dog, or have a pb&j sandwich(I know, must try to cook more and spend less money). It's odd though because my roommate(/brother) is much more into cooking and it better at it but is like me in that he'll only do it if he's in the mood to cook(maybe it's how we were raised). I can cook to a recipe well enough, but that's boring and many of my experiments are... um... not successful lol.

I may not be a serious cook, but I was really excited last year when I bought my first non-cheap walmart-type pan from Ross. It's stainless steel and awesome. Using better quality tools really makes the whole process more enjoyable. This pan has no icky non-stick coating to flake off into food like the cheapo walmart pans and has a thick enough bottom that it heats fairly evenly.

The other 2 most-used kitchen gadgets are the George Foreman Grill and the crock pot. My brother and I actually bought a new one when we moved in together because he didn't have one and mine was tiny.

[HomeInMyShoes]

Originally Posted by Phogg

5.My Joie Eggy collection, They just cheer me up. I started with a whisk and then they took over a shelf...

I've got the boiled egg slicer. It does cheer me up.

I had one of those LUX egg timer things and it started getting water underneath it. I liked it, but I've found that I'm getting better results with just the microwave timer and a bit of observation.

I've also got a QueasyNart (Cuisinart) grill. I love it for pressed sandwiches, pancakes, and doing kebobs or burgers when it's lousy outside.

[thinkpad]

I'm thinking of buying a bread baking machine. Just have to find one I like. Anyone with experience who can share there thoughts?

[beppe]

Originally Posted by thinkpadx

I'm thinking of buying a bread baking machine. Just have to find one I like. Anyone with experience who can share there thoughts?

I have one, and I used it for years, happily. Mine is simple, with no frills and it makes excellent breads: it is enough to follow the instructions. Severin is the brand, not expensive. Easy to use and to clean. I obtained the best results with packages for different kinds of bread that I could find at the Coop in Switzerland. I just had to add the water. Rye, whole wheat, white bread, with all sort of seeds, brioches, all sorts.

I do not use it anymore as I learned of a different approach to bread making. I just use this approach now, with excellent results. I use wholegrain, stone milled flours, as they have a much better nutritional value. And an incredible taste and texture. Family loves it.

[beppe]

Originally Posted by thinkpadx

#2. Tefal actifry (good for making french fries not so good for falafel)

I am taking this up as a challenge. I am going to make falafel in the actifry and see if I can make it nice. It might take some experimenting, but I have a couple of ideas.