What is your Favorite Kitchen Appliance and Why

[Guest gogoblender]

The world's most expensive corkscrews for any hidden millionares here:

 

http://www.finelycorked.com/html/giftguide.html#1

 

 

hahah, whatever

 

 

gogo

[Aurora 2]

Oh Please /rolleyes

 

The $5 kind does the same job....

 

I think I will stick with them!

[Ankhanu 0]

Mine would have to be my chef's knife, sashimi knife and sharpening steel... the importance of a good sharp knife in cooking can not be over stated. The chef's knife gets the most use, but the sashimi has its shining uses in slicing.

 

As for gadgetry/appliances, I suppose I use my toaster oven a lot; almost as quick as a microwave, but with better results.

[gogoblender 3,078]

I've fallen in love with my can opener. Don't laugh. All the lentils and beans I've been buying lately come packed in cans. I'm too lazy to soak em in water overnight like my parents did, and just pouring them out of the can already softened and ready to soak up flavors is just too good to pass up.

 

Long live the can opener.

 

Electric.

 

Of course

 

 

gogo

[tomi 0]

hahah!

 

Sorry...I dont laugh!

 

My favorite is an electric knife! Says brrrrrrr and wraaaaam and slashhhh! And it cuts everything, although It's for bread slicing.

 

[Delta! 988]

My favourite kitchen appliances are my Bamix(of Switzerland) stick blender

 

Mine is like the red one, and is amazing for chopping, grinding, blending, pureeing, and smoothing fruits for sorbets and ice creams.

 

My Princess Ice cream Machine <3

 

Delicious ice creams, sorbets, and frozen yoghurt!

 

and my Victorinox Chef knifes

 

very very sharp!

[lujate 578]

I am not sure I have a favorite gadget, but my digital scale sees more use than anything else in my kitchen.

[gogoblender 3,078]

I am not sure I have a favorite gadget, but my digital scale sees more use than anything else in my kitchen.

 

Yer kidding. The scale? Are you making a lot of high quality fresh from ingredients stuff?

 

Don't need a scale when for most things I own I just throw it into the microwave, nuke for 60 seconds and ding...all done!

 

 

gogo

[lujate 578]

No joke.

 

I use my scale for two main reasons.

1. I cook for just myself but most recipes make 4 (or more) servings. Either I am drowning in leftovers, or I have to scale down the recipes. It is a lot easier to scale down by weight (especially metric) than by volume.

2. Instead of dirtying measuring cups, I can just put the mixing bowl on the scale and weigh out the ingredients.

[chattius 2,539]

 

I do not know how you call these things: cutting board? butcher block? chopping board? It got me my worst mark at any highschool class , and I thought it couldn't be worser than being too lazy to learn bone names for biology

 

We were ordered to design a kitchen tool at art and design classes (couldn't choose music because one teacher was pregnant and the other had a car accident). So I planed a butcher block because our family did a lot of butcherings and most of them were wood workers. I started from a wooden board: 140*80*7 centimetres (same size as our kitchen table and clamps could secure the board to the table easily), single piece from a european black pine, 500+ years old, growing at the wind side of a hill. Weathering hundreds of storms and being that old it was robust while having a fantastic textured surface.

 

One side was designed for chopping meat, and the other was planed for herbs. The herb side had two halves: left a bowl shaped hole (like in picture 2) to allow easy fine cutting herbs with a whipping knife and right was a plane surface for normal cutting. The meat side was only 120cm wide, 10 centimetres at each side I cut away a wedge; 10*80*5 centimetres. So I had a grip when meat side was down, and I could place a plate below the grip to move cut herbs/cheese as in the picture above.

When the meat side was up the blood and liquid could run down more easily. At my test runs I placed it at the side of a table and put a bucket on the ground to catch the liquids and cut away unwanted stuff.

 

The hole as in picture 2 had the same shape as our kitchen mortar so I could put the mortar in and had a good hold while pressing herbs for a pesto.

 

It was a single block, no nasty edges, easy to clean and the best possible material: pine was the best choose for the board, way less germs than plastic. Cuts into plastic allow germs at the surface, while a cut into pine wood seals them (the wooden surfaces closes small cuts) and they die in a few hours.

 

So only 11 points for 70 hours of crafting work

 

German marks are 15 best down to 0 as worst. Later I learned that the teacher in 35 years never gave a mark better than 13 and the 2 cases which got 13 are now professors for design. So 11 was not bad except that I was used to a 13 or 14 in music. He claimed that the board was too heavy (it was, but everyone in my family is tall), too big (I wanted it for half pigs, so not the usual kitchen tool), too less work put in (he corrected that when he talked to a crafts person) but he liked the form follows function approach and the easiness of the design while it still was a good looking piece of craftmanship.

 

My mother used it all the years. So I think a good butcher board belongs into each kitchen too.

[claudius 104]

That sounds like a very cool woodshop experience. A lot of creativity in that project. If you handed it to me I wouldn't know what to do with it without a manual!

 

My favorite kitchen item is a cast iron skillet. Like Chattius's gadget you can kill intruders with it. Or if they are nice you can fix them grilled ham and cheese, or my special favorite grilled peanut butter. Simple recipe bread with softened butter and the filling. Pan fry. The other family recipe is a tender cut of meat. I like it very thin. Heat the cast iron skillet hot it holds heat. Like medium high? I forget. Then you salt it and if its very thin like 1/2 centimeter cook it about 30 seconds pick up resalt and flip. I like to eat these things with thai peanut sauce, have you ever had pad thai kind of like that.

Edited April 2, 2011 by claudius

[lujate 578]

My cast iron skillet is an indispensable part of my kitchen. I have a 12". If I had it to do over again, I would go with a 10". The 12 is bigger than I need and tremendously heavy. I am just not willing to give up all the effort and seasoning I have put into it.

[gogoblender 3,078]

 

 

It was a single block, no nasty edges, easy to clean and the best possible material: pine was the best choose for the board, way less germs than plastic. Cuts into plastic allow germs at the surface, while a cut into pine wood seals them (the wooden surfaces closes small cuts) and they die in a few hours.

 

 

 

Wait a second... plastic not as good as wood? I'd thought that we the "word" was out that wooden boards had so much bacteria in it, that even bugs could make their way in and would burst out at night, board covered in masses of rustling chitinous,clicking, feeding shiny shells as they would go after any unseen food detritus. A few questions then... Pine is better than other woods? Is plastic being more germ-laden new findings or is this really true?

 

 

That sounds like a very cool woodshop experience. A lot of creativity in that project. If you handed it to me I wouldn't know what to do with it without a manual!

 

My favorite kitchen item is a cast iron skillet. Like Chattius's gadget you can kill intruders with it. Or if they are nice you can fix them grilled ham and cheese, or my special favorite grilled peanut butter. Simple recipe bread with softened butter and the filling. Pan fry. The other family recipe is a tender cut of meat. I like it very thin. Heat the cast iron skillet hot it holds heat. Like medium high? I forget. Then you salt it and if its very thin like 1/2 centimeter cook it about 30 seconds pick up resalt and flip. I like to eat these things with thai peanut sauce, have you ever had pad thai kind of like that.

 

Is this a stand alone pan, or something you plug in?

 

 

My cast iron skillet is an indispensable part of my kitchen. I have a 12". If I had it to do over again, I would go with a 10". The 12 is bigger than I need and tremendously heavy. I am just not willing to give up all the effort and seasoning I have put into it.

 

I'd heard a lot about the seasoning put into these pans. How often is this done, and what happens if you miss a session. Does the pan start to rust right away?

 

 

gogo

[lujate 578]

You season the pan initially by:

*Scour the pan with hot water

*Towel dry and coat liberally with Crisco

*Line the oven bottom rack with aluminum foil and heat to 350° F

*Put the pan upside-down in the oven and bake for 1-2 hours

*Turn the oven off and leave the pan inside to cool slowly

 

After the initial seasoning, the pan continues to season through normal use. After using the pan, I use a wooden spatula to scrape loose any stuck on bits. Then wash it with hot water (no soap) and towel it dry. Put it back on the stove and heat it until it just starts to smoke. Wipe it down with a light coat of Crisco, wiping off any excess. It is OK if it looks slightly shiny but it should be dry, not sticky or greasy.

 

I have never had a problem with rust.

[chattius 2,539]

Pan seasoning:

As I use the pan every second day, I just use a beverage coaster (I recycle used ones from paper quadratic with rounded corners) to clean the pan as long it is still warm. The paper thing is hard enough to remove food remains, but won't harm the thin oil layer. The few germs which may remain are killed as soon the pan is heated next time. The dirty beverage coasters are then put on the compost heap.

 

 

Washing a cast iron pan is removing the oil layer, not needed at all.

 

Cutting boards:

There is a lot of discussion about wood or plastic. I have my own philosophy: I have one big butcher board and 3 smaller cutting boards. Normally one of them is dry (not soaked from water). My niece is studying medicine, mainly allergic reactions, and showed me a research that wood would be far better than platic if the right wood is used and some basic usage rules are applied. Plastic is more fool proof. if you are intrested at a german food page an link to an english page was added which does the whole discussion wood or plastic and mentions that newest researches favour wood, but american laws demand no-wood for restaurants.

 

http://www.reluctantgourmet.com/cutting_board.htm

[lujate 578]

I do not use my cast iron that frequently. If I left oil in it, the oil would sour.

[chattius 2,539]

Apfelstecher - don't know the english name:

 

 

or the more elegant solution for restaurants:

 

 

used to create apple-chips (selfmade chilli/horse-radish chips, yummy)

 

 

or apple-rings as in post 4 in http://darkmatters.org/forums/index.php?/topic/19508-easy-meals/

[Delta! 988]

Apfelstecher - don't know the english name:

 

 

or the more elegant solution for restaurants:

 

 

used to create apple-chips (selfmade chilli/horse-radish chips, yummy)

 

 

or apple-rings as in post 4 in http://darkmatters.org/forums/index.php?/topic/19508-easy-meals/

 

English name is appel corer.

 

Delta!

[gogoblender 3,078]

Been a while since I had apple chips. They look as delicious as I remember. Apples are cheap now in the stores, the company that manages the buildilng in work in left a huge basket of apples in the lobby as a "thank you" for everyone on the way into office. You guys have gotten me thinking ^^

 

 

gogo

[Zodiac-Mindwarp 24]

I love my toaster oven for making small meals and re-heating leftovers. Fantastic thing to have in the kitchen.

 

Now, having said that I have to say that my favorite appliance is easily my coffee maker. A cheap simple kitchen gadget that I could never be without, especially if I want to stay awake!

[Delta! 988]

The next Kitchen appliance that I'm saving up for is a KitchenAid Artisan stand mixer, the rolls royce of mixers, and you get them in awesome colours! I want an orange one!

 

 

and there's plenty of attachments! pasta makers, juicers, grinders, sausage press etc.

 

 

 

Delta!

[chattius 2,539]

Some kitchen tools I prefer manually driven: sausage press, noodle press, ....

 

Reasons for manual sausage press was discussed in the thread how to make your own Bratwurst:

 

http://darkmatters.org/forums/index.php?/topic/16339-the-legendary-bratwurst/

 

 

HOT SMOKING

I wonder if anyone of you is doing 'hot smoking' fish, fruits, vegetables, .... ? If you spend a bit more money and buy a non electric food steamer from metal and not the plastic food steamer which pop up nowadays you have a multi-purpose tool:

 

 

If you fill in sawdust (and herbs like elder-berries) instead of water you can use it for hot smoking. The smoke leaves through the side holes of the cover plate and the fat and protein drops are catched by it, not hitting the bottom with the sawdust. So they are normally below a temperature which will give cancer risc. The fish, fruits or whatever you wanted to have smoked is placed on the roast mesh and then an airtight cover is added. You have to work quickly to keep the smoke outside the kitchen.

 

Hot smoked fish can't be stored as long as cold smoked, but if you just want it for dinner it has a more juicy taste. Our smoker/food steamer is 40 years old and has a thermometre build in. It is top restaurant quality and we bought it 3 years back very cheap at a garage sale.

 

You can avoid cancer risc by reading some chemistry book: right temperature, carefully choosen wood for sawdust. Hot smoked stuff tastes real good, I missed it in the last 20 years when every health ministary cried cancer risc as soon a single molecule of a perhaps cancer doing stuff was found in a ton of food. Modern analysis can detect very tiny amounts (as the doping tests at tour de france shows). But newer tests showedt that keeping temperature below certain levels,avoid certain wood for sawdust and most important avoinding have fat heated to high can reduce the risc to nearly non existant.

 

So what to say: we were lucky to buy a rarely used bi-metal smoker/steamer set for just 15 euro, with a worth of 350 eurp at listed price 7 years ago.

 

So anyone does hot-smoking, or was eating hot-smoked food lately?

[chattius 2,539]

@Delta the bigger Kitchenaid machines are not available in germany and the smaller ones are comparable to this one in price.

 

 

But this one can do 20 pounds of dough, so we need only 2 fillings for a day at baking house (every 2 weeks). Somehow I like Unimogs and I think I even carry it over to kitchen tools: the beast has an empty weight of 55 kilogramm, industrial engines, chain driven, 2 gears, .,..

 

Well probably with 7+ people at home:the kitchenaid is undersized.

[essjayehm 58]

HOT SMOKING

I wonder if anyone of you is doing 'hot smoking' fish, fruits, vegetables, .... ? If you spend a bit more money and buy a non electric food steamer from metal and not the plastic food steamer which pop up nowadays you have a multi-purpose tool:

So anyone does hot-smoking, or was eating hot-smoked food lately?

I gave it an honest try. But, I was not totally enjoying the flavour, even with the different types of wood available (cherry tree wood, apple tree wood, hickory, et al).

 

We had 2 smokers that we found in storage: an electric one and a 'traditional' one. The electric did not get the wood chips hot enough (or we were just too stupid to 'use' it correctly) but the older one was very good. We even smoked some steaks on it one day (about 2.5 hours cooking) but I was not a big fan.

 

Haven't used it since then.

[chattius 2,539]

We use mainly beech, oak, alder and juniper as smoking wood.

 

Fish:

For hot smoking we do the fish for half a day into a salt/herbs/water mix before we smoke it. There is snough salt in the water mix if a raw potatoe will swim.

 

Meat:

Meat is marinated for days and thicker meat often boiled to reach a germ killing core temperature. The final smoking just adds taste in this case. Never tried hot smoking a steak. I am a big fan of marinated meat.