Tuesday, March 24, 2009

What's in YOUR Kitchen?

Take a look at this article on the "gadget graveyard" and tell me what your "gadget graveyard" consists of! I'll tell you mine, and I'll categorize them as similarly to the article as possible.

Wok Accessories
... or rather, the wok itself. See, my apartment has one, but no one uses it. Needless to say, we don't have any wok accessories. I do have steaming accessories to use in big pots, but I use those. The least used (but still used) pot accessory would be the strainer and steamer add-on's to the stock pot.

An Inexplicable Plastic Thing
Indeed, I have one! Or two, really. I have microwave plastic contraptions for either "boiling" eggs or poaching them. I still use the one for hard boiled eggs because it gets the eggs just perfect, whereas the other one is now useless because I now know how to poach eggs by hand in a pot ... and it's better.

Various Coffee Makers
Okay, the coffee maker at home isn't mine, but nevertheless, I don't think we have replaced the glass plunge pot yet. Also, at work I have a french coffee press and 2/3's of a bag left of coarse ground coffee. Maybe I should just bring it home since I'm more likely to drink coffee on Saturday mornings than I am to drink it at work. (Caffeine makes me sleepy.)

The Random Culinary Souvenir
Oh gaw, yes! I got two things while I was in France: a petite madeleine pan, and a garlic ... "scraper"? I'll explain that one later. For now, the madeleine pan. It's not bad! I've used it once, but the molds are so TINY that I baked only one batch when it would've taken me about 5 times to get through the rest of the "dough." I also had to run out to go somewhere, so next time I'll use it when I have more time.

Some Really Bad Kitchen Knives
It's really just the cleaver, I think. It's not mine, otherwise I would replace it (IF I actually have a use for one). The rest ain't too bad--at least a few of the knives are pretty sharp and reliable. However, I'm pretty tough on my equipment in general and will probably have to get the knives sharpened sometime soon. (Not the same as honing.)

Garlic Tools
Okay, now onto the darn little garlic "paste-r" thing. I'm not sure if you can imagine it, but it's a small card with ridges so that you can "scrape" the garlic until it becomes paste like. However, it doesn't really work. Sucks.

And the rest ...
  • Juliene peeler: I've used it once or twice, but I really want to use it more often. Come summer, I'll be adding strips of carrot and jicama to salads! Hopefully.
  • Slow cooker: I've used it only once, and my roommate who actually owns it has probably used it for a total of 2-3 times. However! I now have liquid smoke on hand, am on the hunt for Hawaiian red salt, and will one day make Kalua pig.
  • Strawberry huller and melon baller: Another thing that will hopefully get more use when summer rolls around. What is July 4th without a watermelon rind basket, full of melon balls??
  • Mortar and pestle: I thought I would use this more often for herb rubs and crushing garlic into a paste. However, I usually just mince the herb really really finely instead since I'm cutting it anyway, and I haven't needed to use garlic paste yet. Hm.
  • Yolk separater: We all know how to use the shell to separate yolks, and who wants one more thing to wash?
So, what non-basic kitchen gadgets DO we use fairly often? So far, it's been the cake holder, pastry blender (doubles as a masher), and silicone mixing bowls (love those). As for something that has arisen from the "graveyard"? The immersion blender. Yummm ... more of Michael Bras' mushroom soup!

So ... what's yours?

3 comments:

  1. Hi Tammy, Thanks for checkin' my blog. Its pretty random right now, hope to gear it towards my DIY projects and food. I like your blog too...lots of food means its good! No I dont sell on etsy yet bc I honestly don't have anything to sell that's original. Got any ideas for me? :)

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  2. Sorry, forgot to answer the question above. I use our magic bullet a lot. Kudos goes to that inventor. I also have this banana slicer that I used to use but its a bad design. Looks kind of like this: http://www.amazon.com/Farberware-Yellow-Banana-Slicer/dp/B001PSN3LE/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1237964566&sr=8-2

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  3. i remember that watermelon basket! especially since was completely soaked in vodka haha..looking forward to more july 4th celebrations with the watermelon basket : ) i think one of my favorite tools is my whisk...to whip up vinaigrettes, to whisk together dry ingredients when i'm baking (instead of sifting), and also as a pastry blender before i finally bought one.

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