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| Author |
Message |
denise
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Gadgets and Gizmos
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Dec 19 14:49 UTC 1993 |
I know we already have an item on bread machines [and I think I saw one
on food dehydrators]...
But I'd like to start an item on other food gadgets/machines/things-to-help-
us-cook-and/or-eat item.
So what kind of gizmos or gadgets wouldn't you live without??
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| 205 responses total. |
aa8ij
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response 1 of 205:
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Dec 19 22:46 UTC 1993 |
I saw an infomercial for a pasta machine. It's really neat! Just dump in
the ingredients, turn it on, and 2 minutes later, PASTA...
The only thing that really bugs me is that it was invented by Ron Popeil.
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kentn
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response 2 of 205:
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Dec 20 03:26 UTC 1993 |
Back during Marriage #1, I had a pasta machine. Used it about three times.
It was one of those hand cranked ones, and as I remember, the consistency
of the dough was absolutely critical to success (and it was very hard to
obtain a proper consistency). Even so, the idea of making one's own
spaghetti and lasagna was awfully neat (and fun).
Two of my current favorite most-needed gadgets are a can opener and a
garlic press.
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jdg
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response 3 of 205:
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Dec 20 04:12 UTC 1993 |
I have a pasta machine. It's a set of attachments to my Cuisinart. I
make pasta in it about 6 or 8 times a year. It extrudes about 5 different
types of noodles.
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gracel
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response 4 of 205:
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Dec 20 17:19 UTC 1993 |
The crockpot, unless we turn vegetarian -- about once a month it provides
the first cooking of pot roast, and about twice a year it makes carcass
soup.
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remmers
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response 5 of 205:
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Dec 20 19:50 UTC 1993 |
"carcass soup"? Sounds yummy...
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chelsea
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response 6 of 205:
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Dec 20 23:57 UTC 1993 |
She has such a way with words. ;-)
Appliances in the order they'd be thrown overboard if the
wagon was overloaded and we needed to cross the wide Missouri:
1. The hand-held mixer
2. The toaster
3. The electric drip coffee maker
4. The heavy duty Kitchen Aid mixer
5. The bread machine (sniffles heard)
6. The Cuisinart (hysterical sobs)
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popcorn
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response 7 of 205:
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Dec 21 02:31 UTC 1993 |
ah, but would you through the appliances overboard *first* or *last*
when you needed to lighten the wagon to cross the wide Missouri?
these days my favorite kitchen gadget is a big strainer. no moving
parts, easy to clean, useful in practically every meal (eg.: for
washing beans, draining pasta, washing salad ingredients, squeezing
the liquid out of newly thawed frozen spinach, etc.) and it's reasonably
minimalistic.
Gratuitous Food Tip That Doesn't Belong In This Item: A great way to
beat the lines at Kroger's is to go there when everyone else is busy
mobbing the shopping malls to finish up their Christmas shopping.
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popcorn
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response 8 of 205:
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Dec 12 09:04 UTC 1994 |
Hey - I noticed the tip at the end of response #7 and realized it's
that time of the year again.
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danr
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response 9 of 205:
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Dec 28 19:08 UTC 1994 |
I just inherited a pasta maker. Haven't had a chance to use it though.
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popcorn
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response 10 of 205:
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Dec 31 08:38 UTC 1994 |
Coolness! Please keep us posted!
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tsty
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response 11 of 205:
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Jan 2 00:14 UTC 1995 |
Hmmm, could be part of the makings of a party ....
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md
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response 12 of 205:
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Jan 5 18:21 UTC 1995 |
We also have a hand-crank pasta maker, and never used it after
the first few times. We recently got an electric one (yes, the
Popiel machine) and it's first-rate. We use it all the time.
I couldn't live without our juice extracters. The citrus one
we've had forever and it just keeps going and going... The
other one we use for making apple juice, carrot juice, grape
juice, etc. Washing and preparing the fruits and veggies
beforehand is time-consuming, and cleaning the thing is a
nightmare, but it's all worth it.
We have one of those hand-crank devices that cores, peels and
spiral slices an apple in ten seconds. The kids love it more
than the adults. I prefer the two-dollar metal gizmo you
press down on the apple and it cores it and slices it into
a dozen segments. Works on pears, too.
For $40 at Williams-Sonoma I picked up a big stainless steel pot
with a steamer insert and a pasta cooking insert. The latter
is basically a stainless-steel colander made to fit inside the
big pot. You cook the pasta in it and then lift the whole thing
out to drain when al dente perfection has been achieved. It's
the best (and curiously satisfying) method for cooking pasta
I know of.
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chelsea
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response 13 of 205:
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Jan 6 00:26 UTC 1995 |
Michael, I bought that same pot about six months ago. I love it.
I also paid about fifteen dollars more. ;-(
I've wondered if extruded pasta comes out with anything near the same
texture as that made by rollers and cutters. Whenever I've watched demos
the raw pasta looked somewhat gummy and fused. I have an Atlas hand-crank
pasta machine I seldom use because I no longer have a wide enough lip on
the kitchen counter to clamp it securely in place. So instead I've
been trying different imported dry pastas. All cooked in this great
stainless steel pasta pot.
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md
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response 14 of 205:
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Jan 6 14:34 UTC 1995 |
Well, my mom used to make pasta by forming a kind of
volcanic atoll out of flour and breaking some egges into
the middle of it. Then she'd hand-knead the mess, adding
more flour as required, until it reached the desired
consistency. Then she'd roll it into a flat sheet with
a special thin rolling pin, and put the flat sheet on
her "guitar," as she called it - a wooden frame with
about fifty steel wires stretched across it - and press
in down through with the rolling pin. She'd hang the
resulting pasta on a rack to dry, or just toss it straight
into the boiling water. (Ravioli and tortellini were
a whole different process.) The pasta produced by our
machine tastes very much like what la mia mama used to
serve us.
Re the W&S pasta cooker: I bought ours a couple of years
ago. The ones I see in their store now have heavier
handles and are more expensive, which I assume is the
one you have. Anyway, great pasta-minds think more or
less alike is what this proves.
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freida
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response 15 of 205:
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May 17 06:41 UTC 1995 |
I make homemade noodles every holiday...just mix flour, eggs, a pinch of salt
and about 2 tsps of hot water...roll as thin as you can...lay on a towel
covered table to dry (only until slightly brittle on edges), roll dough
into a tight tube and thinly slice...voila...ready for cooking! No
fancy machines or ingredients...just good homemade noodles!
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popcorn
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response 16 of 205:
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Dec 3 16:14 UTC 1995 |
Last weekend, my sister bought me a salad spinner as an early gift for
Chanukah. She showed me the important salad spinner feature to look for:
a hole in the top where water from the faucet can go into the salad spinner
and reach the stuff inside. Now I'm all excited about making lots of salad.
This should make it easier to feed clean green stuff to my guinea pigs, too.
I'd been under the impression that salad spinners were expensive electronic
gadgets. This one isn't: it cost less than $10, and you crank it manually,
no electronics involved. Cool!
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popcorn
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response 17 of 205:
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Dec 24 15:25 UTC 1995 |
I'm steadily less and less impressed by my new Air Bake cookie sheets.
1) They don't have good edges, so it's hard to get a grip on them with a
pot holder. Also, cookies could easily drip off the edges.
2) They're not non-stick. In fact, they behave like they have a "stick"
coating: the opposite of non-stick.
3) I worry about putting sticky aluminum right next to foods, because
aluminum may be associated with Alzheimer's.
4) They're non-standard sized, so they don't fit my oven very well.
5) Tried-and-true recipes are failing. This might be part of the process
of me adapting to a new oven, I'm not sure. But stuff is needing to bake at
a higher temperature for a much longer time than the recipe calls for, and
even then it's coming out underbaked.
Does anybody out there have an oven thermometer I could borrow to check my
oven with?
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mdw
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response 18 of 205:
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Dec 24 20:50 UTC 1995 |
I thought aluminum had been absolved?
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eeyore
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response 19 of 205:
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Dec 25 00:29 UTC 1995 |
the air-bake pans are good for things that would normally burn....shortbread,
lebkuechen, and the like...for the rest, they are no good....(at least that
what i've noticed...:)
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popcorn
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response 20 of 205:
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Dec 25 13:07 UTC 1995 |
Re 18: I think the aluminum question is still under debate. Nobody knows what
causes Alzheimers. Patients with Alzheimer's also tend to have a lot of
aluminum in their brains. Evidence says that the aluminum in their brains
isn't the *cause* of Alzheimer's. So presumably something else is both
causing Alzheimer's and also leaving aluminum in their brains. But, 'til
someone figures out *what* causes Alzheimer's, I'm just as happy to stay away
from eating aluminum.
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ajax
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response 21 of 205:
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Dec 28 07:54 UTC 1995 |
I got an Air Bake sheet not too long ago. Haven't burned anything on it,
but it is a bit sticky. For butter-laden cookies, no prob, but it definitely
needs lubricants for drier foods...I had to chisel a pizza off it! Anybody
have recommendations for more general-purpose baking sheets?
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mcpoz
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response 22 of 205:
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Dec 28 14:42 UTC 1995 |
Mrs. McPoz does pizza on a flat stone sheet about 1/2" thick. Great crusts.
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scott
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response 23 of 205:
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Dec 29 05:28 UTC 1995 |
You can borrow my oven thermometer, Valerie. Every apartment has had a
different oven temperature problem...
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