What kitchen gadget did you buy as a "must have" and then find you never use?

[Stinky The Clown]

I'm not talking about an impulse buy. I'm talking abut something you bought with due consideration only to find out you no longer use it. Your not using it could be because it didn't work as you thought, because your tastes have changed, because you bought a different gadget that gets you to the ame place.

For me, it is an asparagus pot. We used to use ours every now and again. But now we grill our asparagus. We eat a lot more of it and never even think about wanting to steam it and make it all wet and mushy. Grilled is soooooo much better.

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

1. I saw a cool way of grilling asparagus.

Thread several with a skewer at the top & bottom (sorta like a bamboo mat) & then grill.

My mandoline. I really, really wanted one & spent some money, but just rarely feel like dragging it out. Even when I'm slicing lots of onions I find it easier to just slice away versus dragging out the mandoline then cleaning it & drying it & putting it away.

[BuddhaGirl]

9. same mandoline experience here

I wanted, wanted, wanted a mandoline. However, it sits lonely in the cupboard. I just use my knife for chopping and slicing!

[Stinky The Clown]

13. The problem with mandolines .......

..... the ones aimed at home cooks are, as a category, pretty crappy. I have what I consider to be the best of them (an Oxo) and it just ain't all that (except they can be put in the dishwasher). The commercial ones are not out of reach, but are pricey (couple hundred bux). The problem is, they're hard to clean. And to make that cleaning effort worthwhile, they really make sense only when you're doing scores of pounds of veggies.

You're better off buying a good knife and leaning to use it properly.

[BuddhaGirl]

39. yeah, mine's an OXO, too

I sure had fun when I first got it, though! Went through lots of potatoes, onions, etc. LOL

[Warpy]

25. My plastic mandoline sits on a hook over the sink

so that when I rinse it after using, I just hang it up to dry itself.

I use mine a lot because it has a grating blade as well as the slicing and julienne blades. Besides, cabbage is dirt cheap and I just never got over living on coleslaw in winter when I wanted a salad.

You're right about onions. The only time I use the mandoline for slicing is when I want relatively even slices of either tomato or potato or the once in a very blue moon I slice a plaintain lengthwise to deep fry.

However, I hate doing cabbage slaw with a knife. That's when I pop the mandoline off its hook and slice away.

The one space eater I have is the rack that came in my Calphalon baking pan. I don't eat much meat and needed the roasting pan mostly for bain Maries. The rack is a space eater.

[Mojorabbit]

44. Same here with the mandoline

I have used it exactly once. It is sitting in it's box somewhere. I saw a small handheld device i am thinking of buying. Small and easy to use.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

2. Pressure Cooker

Had to have it. Used it maybe 4 times in 2 years.

[NMDemDist2]

3. electric skillets (I have two)

I should sell the round one on ebay, I NEVER use it since I have a gas stove again and invested in a double burner griddle.

I'll probably keep the square one as it's the best for frying chicken, but I could do that with my stove and pans now too...

hmmmm

bet I could get a few bucks and a LOT more cabinet space if I dumped those.....


hey, BTW, Mr. Ketchup came up with a GREAT idea for a pantry for me :bounce:

we have a faux column dividing our living room and dining room with basically useless cabinets, we can install a standard cabinet in there and triple my storage and have it open to the dining side instead of the living room side. the best part is our local lumber place has a paint ready birch unit for $200 and I'll still have 'head room' the cabinet is only 6'6" (approximately the height of the center shelf in the upper existing book shelf/cabinet)

:woohoo:

see the area we're gonna demo on the right of this pic, the column will stay intact, the cabinet will fix exactly between the column and the wall

[Stinky The Clown]

14. One reason to keep one of your fry pans ......

.... is precise temperature control. Like when you're frying chicken. It is never too hot or too cold. A gas range with an oil filled pan is workable .... but honestly, if forgotten, the oil could overheat and cause one hell of a fire.

[NMDemDist2]

16. that's why I'm keeping the deep square one and selling the round griddle

:hi:

[hippywife]

41. I really like

the open nature of your place. Very nice! Good idea on building a cabinet into that pass thru on the right. Seems like wasted space at the moment that would be better utilized that way.

[NMDemDist2]

43. it is holding some books, but it would be MUCH better to have a pantry

we're also (at some point) going to demo the hutch thingie on the wall behind the table and get some usable storage in there too. the lower cabinet is a waste.......

yes, I love the floorplan, I was so glad to get my kitchen in the middle of the house, in my last house if I was in the kitchen I couldn't see the TV (Keith Olbermann) or talk to my hubby when I was cooking dinner, this is so much nicer... It also tends to make me more inclined to cook on weekends so I can yack with honey and watch a movie while making bread or cookies or whatever.

[Longhorn]

4. I'm embarrassed to say,

it's my Hamilton Beach mixer. I just don't bake or make mashed potatoes enough to ever use it, though it looks cool on my counter. I rarely use my big food processor, but I use a little one quite often.

I love my new juicer, though! :)

[Stinky The Clown]

15. "I love my new juicer, though! :)" ...............

.......... so far! :hi:

[Longhorn]

24. True

but I've already used it about ten times more than I have the mixer! ;)

[flamin lib]

5. Let me count the . . .

Garlic press. Waste of time. Smash it with a knife (or really big cleaver) and be done with it.

Silicone "spoonula". Too stiff and didn't act like either a spoon or a spatula. Too expensive to throw away and too useless to keep. What to do?

Lots of soft rubber spatulas that weren't silicone and heat resistant. Dissolved in olive oil even without heat.

Instant read electronic thermometer that was flimsey and too complicated to use; was a timer, temp averaging and you name it. Threw it away and got a simple to use remote read unit.

Silly knife sharpener. All it did was make my teeth hurt when I tried to use it. Oil stone!!!

Electric carving knife. Looked like a good idea at the time but $20 better spent on a good oil stone.

Ahh, to have the money back!

[Stinky The Clown]

17. Where to start????

Garlic press. Waste of time. Smash it with a knife (or really big cleaver) and be done with it.

I have one of these.



You put a load of garlic in it and use as much or as little as you need. It seals on the bottom and can store garlic for a week or so. That said, I ONLY use it when I'm ding a lot of items that need garlic .... like at when doing Christmas dinner.

Silicone "spoonula". Too stiff and didn't act like either a spoon or a spatula. Too expensive to throw away and too useless to keep. What to do?

I know wutcha mean. I do, however, find it works well to fold stuff into a batter.

Lots of soft rubber spatulas that weren't silicone and heat resistant. Dissolved in olive oil even without heat.

Ah ..... modern science. Silicone is a miracle in the kitchen. I used the old style spatulas when I was in the food business, but back then we were still cooking dinosaurs. :)

Instant read electronic thermometer that was flimsey and too complicated to use; was a timer, temp averaging and you name it. Threw it away and got a simple to use remote read unit.

Ugga OOgga Bagga ...... I use an old fashioned pocket thermometer. I have two. One calibrated to 220F and one calculated to 500F



Silly knife sharpener. All it did was make my teeth hurt when I tried to use it. Oil stone!!!

I have one of these:



and while not a sharpener, per se, several of these:



Electric carving knife. Looked like a good idea at the time but $20 better spent on a good oil stone.

Oil stone or a good slicer ....



Ahh, to have the money back!

Indeed!!!!! :hi:

[Warpy]

26. Love the electric sharpener

diamond blades, will put an edge back on a MAC knife when nothing else ever would, keeps all my knives sharp enough to shave with. Lightning fast.

Never bought most of the other stuff, but I do find a garlic press handy when I don't want to run into large hunks of garlic in my food.

Found the pocket thermometers too slow to respond and got the cheapest electronic jobbie I could find. It works but it complains if I leave the AAA battery in it.

[sandnsea]

6. Bread maker

I think because it only makes one loaf. It also has that weird thing where it makes a big hole in the bottom. I just don't like it. Luckily I buy all that sort of thing at yard sales so it didn't cost more than $10, but I had really hoped it would replace store bought bread.

[NMDemDist2]

8. i hated the holes too, just the 'dough only' option and bake it up yourself

best of both worlds eh?

[Stinky The Clown]

18. I came **thiiiiiis** close to buying one

I now LOVE that modified NYT bread method and find it easy as pie. Maybe even easier than the bread machine when one considers the quality of the product.

[Mojorabbit]

45. Do you have a link

to the modified nyt bread? I remember reading about it last year and meant to try it.

[Stinky The Clown]

75. No, it was in Cooks Illustrated.

But we had a thread about it here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=236x40287

On edit, here's the link to Cook's Illustrated ..... but its a restricted site.

http://www.cooksillustrated.com/login.asp?name=&did=4748&LoginForm=recipe&iseason=

[hippywife]

23. I didn't buy ours.

It was a wedding gift and we didn't take it out of the box at all until we'd been married about 8 years. LOL I have never used it but the DH has used it maybe 15 times in the past two years. It can be convenient but I don't like dealing with the hole, either, and I think the end product is inferior to doing it the regular way.

[Richard Steele]

30. We have one that we recieved as a gift as well...

I've never used it. It sits gathering dust next to our
equally unused and unasked-for "rice cooker".

Seriously, what the **** is up with this "rice cooker" crap?

We have a stove, we have pots and pans, and we have running water...
why the hell would anyone ever imagine we'd need anything called a "rice cooker"
or a "bread maker"? :shrug:

My sweetie -HAS- a rice cooker & bread maker; his name is Richard, knowhutImean?

[hippywife]

42. My husband has those, too.

But my name isn't Richard! LOL So I do knowhutchamean.

[Longhorn]

31. There are gadgets for cooks and gadgets for wannebe cooks.

The bread maker is for wannebes which is why I like mine. :) I don't use it that often but when I do, everyone loves the bread that comes out of it. I just don't have the time, patience, or inclination to make bread by hand. The hole in the bottom doesn't affect the taste and really only affects one or two slices. I use an electric knife to slice the bread and can get it thin enough for sandwiches. When my kids were still at home, the loaf wouldn't last through dinner, though.

I made a loaf on Christmas Eve when my daughters and their husbands came to spend the night and the bread was gone in a flash. As I said, a true baker wouldn't use one but I've never called myself a baker! ;)

[Callalily]

7. For the life of me

I can't understand why I bought this decorator. It's still in the box!

[Shakespeare]

10. Does it also work as a cookie press?

LOVE my cookie press, but I've never used any of the decorating attachments.

[displacedtexan]

34. Gotta say it: The Cookie Press

Try a pastry bag and a #5 French star tip.

[Phentex]

11. Pampered Chef chopper...

I used it a lot at first. But it's easier and more fun for me to chop what I need instead. I'm cooking for more people now, too, so I find the ole knife and cutting board more useful.

[The empressof all]

38. I love, love, love my chopper!

I use it right on a cutting board. That little cup dohicky dissappeared into the kitchen void long ago! I have arthritis in my hands so my knife skills are not the best so I couldn't get along without my chopper. You can get them cheaper than the ones at Pampered Chef at BBB by the way.

[supernova]

12. Several items I could do away with now

Most were bought with the intent that I would someday have a family to care for. Now, I've all bt stopped expecting that.

- mixing/serving bowls (I really only need one or two and have about 8 or 9).

- Old fashioned rubber spatulas that I don't cook with because they melt.

- A 12-cup coffee maker

- Mixer. (I rarely use it since I don't bake anymore, or any thing that needs whipping)

- Hand mixer. I don't puree.

- Blender. Kinda iffy on that one because I still drink protein shakes in the evening. I do like to use it to crush ice in the warmer months.

Various cookie sheets and baking pans that I don't use anymore.

[Stinky The Clown]

19. The best small volume coffee maker we ever had was the free one we got **years** ago from .......

...... Gevalia. It was a 4-cupper (2 **real** sized cups) that one of the kids now has.



I think they now give away a big 10 or 12 cup jobbie.

[Shakespeare]

20. I have one of the 12-cuppers from Gevalia. I believe Melitta makes them.

They're very, very good.

[supernova]

22. I still have mine!

:blush:

I used to belong to Gevalia and I got that 4 cupper. I still have it. I should get it out again. :-) It is just right.

[fudge stripe cookays]

21. Mandoline.

After neatly slicing off the top of one of my fingers several Thanksgivings ago, I'd rather take my chances with a Chef's knife!

[pipoman]

27. Has to be my Jack LaLanne Juicer

we like the juice but the cleanup is pain and unless we are juicing our own fruits and veggies it is sort of expensive.

[Longhorn]

32. It's true that it takes longer to make the juice and clean up

than to drink a glass but I love mine! I've never had any trouble cleaning it but I rinse the parts as soon as I make the juice and whisk the basket with a brush. I don't care much for vegetables and this is how I make sure I get some veggies and fruit in my diet. I know it's not the ideal way but it's better than nothing! :) It amazes me how good the veggies can taste when I can't stand eating them!

[Duer 157099]

28. Asparagus pot?

Until right this moment I had no idea what that tall steamer basket thing (and a tall pot) is that I have... and now I realize that it must be an asparagus pot!

Is it? :shrug: If it isn't, then it might as well be!

I've kept it because it was unique enough that I figured that eventually I would find it useful for something, but I'm still waiting. If it truly is an asparagus pot, then I can probably safely rid myself of it, since, even knowing what it is, I would never cook asparagus that way.

How funny!

[NMDemDist2]

33. i got one in my new set that I called a 'pasta pot' and it's gonna be perfect

for blanching my garden veggies before I freeze them this summer



not sure what an 'asparagus' pot is either but I googled and they are pretty cool but certainly a specialty item :shrug:

[Duer 157099]

36. Here's an asparagus pot

Who knew?? (well, clearly H2S did). When I saw it at a thrift store many years ago, I picked it up because it just seemed like it would come in useful for some reason (that I've now forgotten).

[Warpy]

37. Boiled/steamed asparagus is such a waste

when either microwaving or grilling/roasting produces such superior flavor.

The most specialized pot I ever had was a thrift shop fish poacher. I used it mostly for spaghetti. It sprang a leak just about the time I found a speckle ware pasta pot in the same thrift shop.

[Duer 157099]

29. Speaking of electronic thermometers

I picked one up last summer at Costco, and never even opened it until yesterday. It's the kind that has the probe with the wire (Alton Brown sold me on this concept) and a remote that you can take into another room.

Well, I tried the Cook's Illustrated Roast Beef recipe, which requires very close attention to temperature, and it worked like a charm. The beef came out exactly as they described, and it was my first time cooking something where I actually knew the exact temperature every moment! What a concept. :D

Edit to add: oh, and used the beef for roast beef and swiss sandwiches with roasted orange bell peppers! Oh my, words cannot express...

[displacedtexan]

35. I have that one. It's great! I also love...

my thermometer gun.

Great for boiling sugar and checking the generic oven thermometer's accuracy.

[wryter2000]

40. Potato ricer

I'm always going to make gnocci and then never get around to it.

Actually, I did try once, but I don't think I did it right. It's hard to make something when you've never had it.

[GoneOffShore]

46. I'll second that.

Use the ricer about once every two years.

That and a 'corn zipper'.

Doesn't work.

[XanaDUer]

47. This weird pasta "cooker"

That is a plastic tube that you pour boiling water in with pasta and let it cook. The pasta always swells at the bottom and clogs it up. I hate it. It is still under the sink. My SO insisted we get this stupid thing.

Biggest waste of $20.00 ever.

EDIT: Typo.

[NMDemDist2]

56. thanks for the review, i always wondered if those things worked

guess not eh?

:pals:

[XanaDUer]

59. Nope.

I get annoyed everytime I look under the sink!

:D

[NMDemDist2]

60. toss it one day your SO is gone

chances are they'll never notice......

[XanaDUer]

65. We've actually had small arguments over this dumb thing

I will see it and say 'Oh, that thing."

Or, when I cook pasta the normal way, he'll say 'use the pasta cooker'.

Yes, I should migrate it out of here incognito.

[NMDemDist2]

69. or put it DEEP STORAGE

:pals:

[The empressof all]

71. It's made out of plastic right.

When you're mad at something throw it on the floor and stamp on it. Then just hope he doesn't buy you a new one.

[XanaDUer]

72. Lol!

Yes, I may "drop" it and, since it is a piece of junk, it will most probably break, or at least crack enough so that no more swollen mooshy pasta can be cooked in it.

Brilliant! :D

[NMDemDist2]

73. or 'accidentally' leave it too close to the oven vent

surely it can't be used if it's melted, mores the pity eh?

:evilgrin:

[The empressof all]

74. Oh Jeeze My daughter did that the other day with....

My food processor. I left it on my flat top stove and she turned the kettle on to make tea and didn't realize that a burning kettle would get hot and melt the food processor next to it. :mad: :wtf: And..she's going to college in Sept....I say she's gonna die out there...(but that's another story)

It's a good thing it was fairly old and cheap anyway otherwise I'd would of had more of a cow than I did.

Now I get to look for a new one during the President day Sales...

[NMDemDist2]

76. sometimes you can find em cheap on eBay

might be worth a look :shrug:

[Sparkly]

48. 25 different copper pots.

Oh wait...

[Stinky The Clown]

49. No soup for you

[housewolf]

50. An electric pasta maker

I bought this electric pasta maker with a whole bunch of different dies about 10 years ago. (Okay, take a breath and admit it...) And I have never even unpacked the thing! It's still in the shipping box I received it in, and I've even carried it with me from Colorado to California to Phoenix to Portland! :rofl: :rofl:

Okay, it must be time to get rid of it...

[NMDemDist2]

51. how much you want for it?? n/t

[housewolf]

52. I'll PM you

Let me go dig out the box (actually there are 2, one with the machine and 1 with the dies), figure out how much it would cost to ship them and I'll let you know.

Thanks for your interest!

[NMDemDist2]

53. call me , i'll pm my phone number and zip code n/t

[Stinky The Clown]

54. Okay, I'm not going to horn in on AZDD6's score, but I gotta ask .....

what are the dies made of? Plastic or :shudder-drool: bronze?

[NMDemDist2]

55. BACK OFF BUSTER!!!

or I'll take Sparkly up on some of those 'free' copper pans she keeps offering me!!!

:spank:















:rofl:

[Stinky The Clown]

57. Geeeeze ...... I wuz jus' axin' ..........

I gotta pasta maker already .........

In fact, I gotta fleet of 'em ...... not as many as I have had espresso makers ....... but I got a lot of 'em.

[NMDemDist2]

58. here's one on eBay, it looks like it's got some kind of metal thingies

http://cgi.ebay.com/Simac-MX700-PastaMatic-Pasta-Maker-w-Discs-NEW-NR_W0QQitemZ120220061447QQihZ002QQcategoryZ20680QQtcZphotoQQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting


i'm clueless on the pasta making stuff, but I'm pretty sick of dried macaroni and when I spring for the 'fresh' stuff in the grocery, it just pisses me off to pay that much for flour and eggs

:rofl:

[housewolf]

63. That's it

but with a lot more "screens" (I think that's what they call them.

Here's a page that describes the discs.
http://www.viecokitchen.com/simacpas.htm

[housewolf]

61. You just HAD to make me open it, didn't you?????

:rofl:

It's this: PastaMatic SIMAC MX700
It has 18 brass dies that are fitted with white plastic pieces, and an additional 8 plastic pieces that I think can be swapped out with the ones that are set in the brass pieces. So I guess it makes 26 different pasta shapes, from what looks like angel hair to what might be tubes.

Here it is on Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/Simac-MX700-PastaMatic-Pasta-Maker/dp/B00004RDF1

[Stinky The Clown]

62. The dies look like this, right?

The brass surrounds the plastic and the holes through which the pasta passes are in the plastic.

[housewolf]

64. Yep, that's it exactly

Now tell me this... how did you come up with that picture that fast????

[Stinky The Clown]

67. I'm a pasta nerd

I googled "SIMAC MX700" and then hit the 'images' option. I knew what I was looking for and that was that.

Here's why I was asking about the dies. Most home pasta extruders use plastic dies because they're easier and cheaper to make. But the best pasta makers use individually machined bronze dies. The difference is remarkable. The bronze dies impart their individuality on the pasta. A sharply machined one results in a silky smooth pasta. A rough die gives a more rustic artisinal finish. In both cases the heat from the extruding process warms the die to the point that it actually dires the surface of the pasta as it emerges from the die. Plastic dies give uniform, 'mushy' surface to the pasta and do not dry it. Instead, moisture condenses on the die's outer surface and tends to make the pasta a tad soggy if you make a large batch of it.

There were a few older home use pasta makers that had hand machined bronze dies.

[NMDemDist2]

68. lucky for me I cook for two then huh?

I don't see making many large batches, but if I hang it for a few minutes does that help?

[NMDemDist2]

66. did I do good Stinky?? n/t

[Stinky The Clown]

70. I have a similar machine and it does okay.

You can reliably get the equivalent of a pound of pasta from it. The dies on mine are all plastic, but the ones on yours (housewolf's actually), even with the brass, are effectively the same - pasta through a plastic die.