The best kitchen gadgets and other stuff ...
Jun 29, 2015, 10:01 am
#46
Suspended
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: UK
Posts: 11,969
Jun 29, 2015, 10:33 am
#47
Moderator, Omni, Omni/PR, Omni/Games, FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Between DCA and IAD
Programs: UA 1K MM; Hilton Diamond
Posts: 67,106
Well, you did mention not liking the softening and wanting your steaks to be chewy... If you're losing the chewiness, you're SV'ing way too long IME.
Jun 30, 2015, 7:37 am
#49
Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 234
Yes, SV is extremely easy to use and it has upsides. I think the main upsides are it's ability to pastereurise potentially dangerous proteins using time rather than temperature and it's ability to soften tissue.
Oddly with chicken the fact that you can safely eat pink chicken with SV still never managed to cheat my mind out of thinking it was unsafe. When you have lived as long as I always viewing anything red in poultry as hazardous - for good reason, SV isn't going to take those subliminal messages away. So I cannot enjoy pink chicken however safe I tell myself it is.
Oddly with chicken the fact that you can safely eat pink chicken with SV still never managed to cheat my mind out of thinking it was unsafe. When you have lived as long as I always viewing anything red in poultry as hazardous - for good reason, SV isn't going to take those subliminal messages away. So I cannot enjoy pink chicken however safe I tell myself it is.
It is a recommendations for temperature for all kind of food (in °C and °F)
Jun 30, 2015, 8:07 am
#50
Suspended
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: UK
Posts: 11,969
Thanks ... yes .. as an aside .. a tip is always to use F rarher than C on your SV as the calibration is obviosuly narrower and more accurate.
Jun 30, 2015, 8:44 am
#51
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: Riberas del Pilar, Mexico
Posts: 437
I can't resist anything to do with cooking. What I use constantly:
Popover pan & I'm glad I moved this with me since I've never seen one in Mexico.
Microplanes, different sizes
A ruler, a necessity for me with baking
Thermapen which I got in London & is great for testing the temp of breads in addition to meat.
I'm terrible about sharpening knives so I love the ceramic ones that are sharper than any of my "good" knives.
Silpats & parchment paper
Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker, though I have to pre-freeze the canister.
Cast Iron Skillet
I'm terrified of pressure cookers. I remember when they exploded & now I'm cooking with propane at a high altitude. I'm in no hurry anyway.
Deep fryer
Kitchen shears - used almost daily
Electric kettle. I'm a tea purist so use loose leaf tea, etc.
Bench scraper, again I use it almost daily.
Kitchen-Aid & Cuisinart
And don't get me started on cookbooks...
Popover pan & I'm glad I moved this with me since I've never seen one in Mexico.
Microplanes, different sizes
A ruler, a necessity for me with baking
Thermapen which I got in London & is great for testing the temp of breads in addition to meat.
I'm terrible about sharpening knives so I love the ceramic ones that are sharper than any of my "good" knives.
Silpats & parchment paper
Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker, though I have to pre-freeze the canister.
Cast Iron Skillet
I'm terrified of pressure cookers. I remember when they exploded & now I'm cooking with propane at a high altitude. I'm in no hurry anyway.
Deep fryer
Kitchen shears - used almost daily
Electric kettle. I'm a tea purist so use loose leaf tea, etc.
Bench scraper, again I use it almost daily.
Kitchen-Aid & Cuisinart
And don't get me started on cookbooks...
Jun 30, 2015, 11:45 am
#52
Moderator: Information Desk, Women Travelers, FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Chicago, IL, USA
Programs: AA Gold
Posts: 15,637
One of the stranger uses for my KitchenAid immersion blender:
I am a fan of a shampoo that's been discontinued and I stockpiled several liters of it before it became impossible to find. Because it's old, the shampoo has a tendency to separate a bit, so when I open a new liter bottle I dump it into a mixing bowl and go to town with the immersion blender, then funnel it back into the bottle. Works like a charm!
I am a fan of a shampoo that's been discontinued and I stockpiled several liters of it before it became impossible to find. Because it's old, the shampoo has a tendency to separate a bit, so when I open a new liter bottle I dump it into a mixing bowl and go to town with the immersion blender, then funnel it back into the bottle. Works like a charm!
Jun 30, 2015, 7:08 pm
#53
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: ASIA
Programs: TK Elite, ALL Plus Diamond, Marriott Platinum, Hertz PC
Posts: 3,530
One of the stranger uses for my KitchenAid immersion blender:
I am a fan of a shampoo that's been discontinued and I stockpiled several liters of it before it became impossible to find. Because it's old, the shampoo has a tendency to separate a bit, so when I open a new liter bottle I dump it into a mixing bowl and go to town with the immersion blender, then funnel it back into the bottle. Works like a charm!
I am a fan of a shampoo that's been discontinued and I stockpiled several liters of it before it became impossible to find. Because it's old, the shampoo has a tendency to separate a bit, so when I open a new liter bottle I dump it into a mixing bowl and go to town with the immersion blender, then funnel it back into the bottle. Works like a charm!
Jul 4, 2015, 3:41 pm
#54
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: United Kingdom
Programs: Skywards Blue :-(, HHonors Gold, SPG Gold, GHA Platinum
Posts: 2,531
I was a very early adopter of SV, and was initially totally won over but it really didn't catch with me long-term. I went back several times to it but eventually it became confined to the garage.
On the other hand very pleased with the latest Panny breadmaker range. Won't duplicate post and so there are some piccies in the other daily food thread.
On the other hand very pleased with the latest Panny breadmaker range. Won't duplicate post and so there are some piccies in the other daily food thread.
The only problem is that I've put on well over a stone in the last 6 months after the breadmaker arrived. :-(
Jul 4, 2015, 4:15 pm
#55
Suspended
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: UK
Posts: 11,969
By the way, I have made my wife a criminal. When no one is looking, she puts a few bread bags from Waitrose into her trolley and brings them back to me. Shameful.
Jul 6, 2015, 10:36 am
#56
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Anwhere ex-MAN
Programs: A3 *G, BA Silver
Posts: 2,706
Wow - so much stuff on here.
My adds to the collection:
Aga - Pizza oven and slow cooker in one
Slow Cooker for when the Aga is off for the Summer.
Kenwood Mini Chopper - Great for micro chopping onions and other veg to sneak past kids. Easy to throw in the dishwasher. Great also for herbs.
My adds to the collection:
Aga - Pizza oven and slow cooker in one
Slow Cooker for when the Aga is off for the Summer.
Kenwood Mini Chopper - Great for micro chopping onions and other veg to sneak past kids. Easy to throw in the dishwasher. Great also for herbs.
Sep 7, 2015, 9:52 pm
#57
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 515
Good things
- Chef's knife
- Cast Iron Skillet
- Parchment Paper
- 1.5 qt Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker (love!)
- Dutch Oven
- Pizza Steel
Something that I want to try that I already own:
- the Instantpot that I bought during the prime sale a couple of months ago
Something that I want to try that I don't yet own:
- Sous vide
Something that I rarely use:
- at my weekend cottage I have a roll of Saran Wrap from 2002!
Things that I own but won't use again:
- Mandoline, I'm not adept and feel that my fingers would be at risk
- Chef's knife
- Cast Iron Skillet
- Parchment Paper
- 1.5 qt Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker (love!)
- Dutch Oven
- Pizza Steel
Something that I want to try that I already own:
- the Instantpot that I bought during the prime sale a couple of months ago
Something that I want to try that I don't yet own:
- Sous vide
Something that I rarely use:
- at my weekend cottage I have a roll of Saran Wrap from 2002!
Things that I own but won't use again:
- Mandoline, I'm not adept and feel that my fingers would be at risk
Sep 8, 2015, 4:54 am
#58
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Anwhere ex-MAN
Programs: A3 *G, BA Silver
Posts: 2,706
May 27, 2016, 12:17 pm
#60
Join Date: May 2016
Posts: 1
My most critical kitchen gadgets:
My least-used kitchen gadgets:
- Good Japanese high carbon steel knives. Much more care required but so much sharper and better cutting than even the priciest stainless steel knives. My general-purpose kitchen knife (a gyutou vs. a santoku) cost only a bit more than my stainless steel santoku and is 1000x better at cutting. Granted, the sharpening stones cost double what the knife did, but I could have gone cheaper on those stones had I wished.
- Pressure cooker. Easy risotto, quick beans, grains, etc.
- Sous vide. Perfect meats, parcooked starches, and more. I don't get the hostility toward them... Properly used, they're invaluable in the kitchen. Yes, you can turn your meat to mush... but you can also cook a steak to medium-rare all the way through, straight out of the freezer, and you can end up with fork-tender roasts. As with any kitchen tool, you have to know how to use it!
- Vitamix or equivalent. Regular blenders cannot replace them. I use mine daily, sometimes multiple times a day. Smoothies, soups, salad dressings, etc.
- Immersion blender. Great for soups, and almost foolproof for making aioli and mayo and other emulsions that can be a pain otherwise.
- Specialty pans for tamago-yaki, crepes, and paella. You can improvise, but the results aren't the same.
- Good mixer. I have a KitchenAid Pro 6 from 15+ years ago, and other than having to effect a repair on my own (correcting a design flaw), it's been a workhorse of the kitchen.
- Microplanes.
- Half-sheet pan silicone sheets.
My least-used kitchen gadgets:
- Ricer. I typically mash potatoes with a masher. If I really want them done right, I sous-vide them to the gelatinization temp for the starches (I'd have to look it up), then put them on ice for a couple of hours, then cook them. No need for a ricer IME if you do them that way.
- Jaccard. Yes, I know some people swear by them, but I just haven't found the need. Maybe I cook better cuts of meat, or prepare them differently. I'm also concerned about introducing surface bacteria into the inside of a cut of meat that I want to cook to rare or medium-rare (yes, you can cook longer in the sous vide to achieve effective pasteurization, I suppose).
- Crock pot. The problem is that my wife doesn't eat meat, so I lose most of the benefits since I'd have to cook the meat separately and add it at the end for my portion. Otherwise, this would be a much more-used device.
Last edited by cblaisd; May 28, 2016 at 6:44 am Reason: Removed broken link