Kitchen Gadgets
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My 1977 crock pot still works great! Also love my foreman grill, it’s perfect for 2 people and very fast dinner prep.1
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I don't understand that someone disagrees with my appreciation of new rice cooker. Is it because the product is Chinese? I am not even American.
I didn’t click any buttons either, but my guess on the disagree would be down to rice cookers in general! I have never understood why they exist! 😂
They take up so much space and do a job that can be done in a standard saucepan 🤷♀️
The actual reason I’ve posted, though, is to ask the significance of the last line ‘I am not even American.’
Is there some push back in America about products made in China or something? 🤔0 -
BarbaraHelen2013 wrote: »I don't understand that someone disagrees with my appreciation of new rice cooker. Is it because the product is Chinese? I am not even American.
I didn’t click any buttons either, but my guess on the disagree would be down to rice cookers in general! I have never understood why they exist! 😂
They take up so much space and do a job that can be done in a standard saucepan 🤷♀️
The actual reason I’ve posted, though, is to ask the significance of the last line ‘I am not even American.’
Is there some push back in America about products made in China or something? 🤔
Referring to the probable imminent trade war between the US and China.1 -
BarbaraHelen2013 wrote: »I didn’t click any buttons either, but my guess on the disagree would be down to rice cookers in general! I have never understood why they exist! 😂
See, as a half Japanese kid, AND an American, I can tell you that I have a rice cooker and no crock pot, but I can do *any* crock pot recipe I want in my rice cooker.
... I've also made pancakes in it...
The rice cooker is the Asian crock pot. It's a food bucket over a timer driven heating element.
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ElizabethKalmbach wrote: »BarbaraHelen2013 wrote: »I didn’t click any buttons either, but my guess on the disagree would be down to rice cookers in general! I have never understood why they exist! 😂
See, as a half Japanese kid, AND an American, I can tell you that I have a rice cooker and no crock pot, but I can do *any* crock pot recipe I want in my rice cooker.
... I've also made pancakes in it...
The rice cooker is the Asian crock pot. It's a food bucket over a timer driven heating element.
😂 Crock Pots which I think we call Slow Cookers(?) are another thing I don’t understand! I do own one because I bought a cheap one on sale when I had a lengthy kitchen refit a few years ago. But I can honestly say I used it twice only. None of us liked the stewed style texture of anything that came out of it. We’re not Stew or Casserole lovers anyway. The only thing I’ve used it for since is to make retried beans from a pack of dried pinto beans. It does that well, but it doesn’t earn a place in my small kitchen just for that!2 -
We got rid of the woo and replaced it with disagree, which is much less confusing, yet people are still hitting that disagree button in situations where it makes no sense. Just because they don't like what someone said, or they don't like the person that said it, or I'm not really sure why. Someone can just state their preference on how they drink their coffee and they'll get a disagree (???)3
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I find I can pop corn with no fat on the newer generation non stick pans (ceramic or stone coated). You might be able to make more room in your kitchen cupboards.
I like my air popper because it's so convenient and takes all the Hassel out of making popcorn. Just pour in the corn, turn on the heater/blower and in a few mins you've got a 4qt bowl full of popcorn w/o the need to pay much attn to it.
I didn't really buy it to avoid using oil to make popcorn, which I always use to do in a wok on the stovetop but, in order to do that, I constantly had to stand by the stove shaking the wok to keep the popcorn from burning and, even when I did that, if I set the heat too high, the popcorn kernels would burn, not pop at all and I'd have to start all over again. A real PITA!
So, the air popper is much better IMO. It's also small and doesn't take up much room but I've got lots of cabinet/storage space, so that would not be an issue even if it were larger. On top of that it cost me less than $20.
A great device to own if you like to eat make & popcorn.3 -
Another device that I find essential to use when I need it is my immersion stick blender that I mainly use to make soups w/split pea, butternut squash, asparagus and other veggies.
Way more convenient to blend everything in the pot than having to pour everything into a blender or food processor (which you then also have to clean) to do the same thing.
Just stick the blender in the pot to blend everything to the desired consistency and the remove and rinse to clean it. The blender I use allows you to separate the blending tool from the corded handle, which makes cleanup even easier. It also takes next to no room to store it away.
An essential device for any kitchen IMO.1 -
Devices that I own but seldom use are a electric deep fryer and eletric grill. I seldom fry or grill food any more but still sometimes do and find these devices useful when I do
Notable devices that I use to own and threw away are electric waffle makers and juicers. Never made enough waffles to justify keeping a waffle maker and the juicers were WAY too much trouble. Better to eat the veggies raw, microwaved or in soups IMO.
Devices that I own but never use but won't throw away are a slow cooker and various electric pots that I inherited from my mother. I have no need for them but keep them for all of the find memories that I associate with them. 2 -
We are talking about kitchen appliances here! I love to cook!
My favorites are:
Crockpot: I use it at least once a week and often more often than that! I like to make main dishes that I can have enough leftovers so I don't have to cook the next day.
Food Processor: Everyone loves the cookies I make. I use the food processor a lot because the best cookies I make are made with oatmeal and I process the dry ingredients. I use it for many other recipes also.
Rice Cooker: My husband loves rice and rice dishes. Use the rice cooker even more often than my crockpot. This week I am making oriental turkey burgers over rice. Yesterday I made a stir-fry over rice and later this week I will make a chicken dish with rice. I have a pretty large rice cooker so I often make several rice dishes some weeks and make a big batch of rice for that week.
But my all time favorite is my Mickey Mouse waffle iron. It is my favorite because my grandchildren are so delighted to eat Mickey Mouse waffles.
I have a lot of other small specialty kitchen appliances, but my kitchen is very small and I have them packed away in the garage. Including pizza stones, blender, a ceramic press to make Scottish shortbread, a wok, an ice cream maker, and a small pizza oven. I really miss the large kitchen that I had before we moved!2 -
A device that I am thinking about buying but don't really need and shouldn't buy because I probably won't use it much is a sous vide immersion cooker that I just saw demonstrated on America's Test Kitchen.
Nice to be able to cook your food to a precise temp but for me it takes way too long and way too fussy a procedure.
Love strip steaks and they showed how you can cook a 1-1 5" thick 1# steak (which is how I cut my steaks) to a perfect med rare at 130 degrees F but it took 2 hrs to cook the meat and then they still had to pan fry it for appearance. I cook my steaks to a perfect med rare in a cast iron grill pan in just 10-12 mins. Why wait 2 hrs to do the same thing?
I also like poached eggs. They made some perfect looking poached eggs in 12 mins at 167 degrees but I can make a couple of poached eggs in just a few mins on the stovetop. Yeah, it's messier and they aren''t as pretty, but who wants to wait 12 mins? I can make 3 doz hard boiled eggs in a pot on the stovetop in just 10 mins.
So, I guess I've talked myself out of buying a sous vide device. LOL!
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I like my garlic press and my instant pot. I have one of these big, wide scrapey things that I use to scrape up all my diced onions and such to throw into my cooking pot, one they I always see people using in cooking videos lol. Because scraping them up with my knife takes too long. I like that little guy.
I can tell you my least favorite. It's the deep fryer. That thing is gross. I hate it. My husband brought it home one day and I've hated it ever since. We don't really have anywhere to put it either. It's in the same cabinet as the crock pot, and they don't fit in there together so that cabinet door just has to stay slightly ajar. LOL.1 -
My Instant pot is the most used gadget. I want a convection oven/air fryer but don't have a lot of space so I might get the Mealthy lid for my IP. Instant pot is worth it alone for dried unsealed beans and frozen chicken breasts! I also use my dehydrator on herbs this time of year.
Non electrical gadgets I use is my chef knife (about to buy a better one), Toddy for making cold brew coffee, and garlic press.0 -
My microwave died, so I replaced it with a microwave/convection oven...hoping this will get rid of a few of the extra gadgets in my kitchen (like the toaster oven and pressure cooker)...1
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I use my instant pot and rice cooker at least once a week, usually two to three times. They are both great for meal prepping.0
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I like my electric steamer for cooking rice as it's much easier to clean than the one rice cooker I have experience with. I prefer it over stovetop because I don't have to watch/remember as it has a timer. People who "don't understand" rice cookers are those who never melded a pot of rice and a pan into one being in their early forays into cookery.
I use my pressure cooker a lot in the winter for soups and stews, but tellingly a lot less just in general since I went veggie. I think its strengths lie with how it cooks meat.
Immersion blender also had for a long time and gets plenty of use.0 -
Wish i could put recipes and ingredients in myfitnesspal together!0
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just_Tomek wrote: »I like my garlic press and my instant pot. I have one of these big, wide scrapey things that I use to scrape up all my diced onions and such to throw into my cooking pot, one they I always see people using in cooking videos lol. Because scraping them up with my knife takes too long. I like that little guy.
I can tell you my least favorite. It's the deep fryer. That thing is gross. I hate it. My husband brought it home one day and I've hated it ever since. We don't really have anywhere to put it either. It's in the same cabinet as the crock pot, and they don't fit in there together so that cabinet door just has to stay slightly ajar. LOL.
I stopped using the garlic press a while back. Use a zester and just grate the garlic into whatever. Also works great on frozen ginger.
When I buy ginger I peel and slice thinly against the grain, then zap in a mini food processor and freeze in ice cube trays. I transfer the ginger cubes into ziplock bags once frozen. For me, an easy way to add ginger to stir fries. Will try the grate from frozen technique to test which is easier. Will probably try this on galangal which I freeze too.0 -
MelanieCN77 wrote: »I like my electric steamer for cooking rice as it's much easier to clean than the one rice cooker I have experience with. I prefer it over stovetop because I don't have to watch/remember as it has a timer. People who "don't understand" rice cookers are those who never melded a pot of rice and a pan into one being in their early forays into cookery.
I use my pressure cooker a lot in the winter for soups and stews, but tellingly a lot less just in general since I went veggie. I think its strengths lie with how it cooks meat.
Immersion blender also had for a long time and gets plenty of use.
To each their own but . . .
I've cooked rice on the stovetop and in a rice cooker and far prefer the rice cooker that I've been using 4 almost 30 yrs.
I have used pressure cookers and still have 1 that I should throw away because I never use it. What's the hurry? Low and slow cooking is the way to go IMO.1
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