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| After finally cleaning out my cabinets of gadgets and cookware that will never be used again, I had to laugh at the stuff I bought that would "revolutionize" my cooking skills. Among them:
A long forgotten rice cooker, burnt on the bottom. A package of 200 bamboo skewers for all the kabobs I was going to make! A thing to make cute, artistic carrot curls. A plastic sushi maker complete with knife. A two quart crock pot for making, well, something. I am sure you can add to this list!!!!!!!!! |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| those skewers emigrated from my house to yours and then there is the yogurt maker the basket for steaming chinese dumplings my wooden "moon cake" mold from SF's chinatown but i DO use the gugelhupf mold once a year. |
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| My teenagers. |
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| This is a fun topic. I also have those bamboo skewers and I think I used a few of them once. I still haven't used the steamer I purchased a few years ago. There's the crock pot from years ago that I used a couple of times. Gadgets such as mini graters and garlic presses I never use. Multiple peelers and knives of all types (I always use the same ones).
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| Count me in on those bamboo skewers and a gazillion little knives and peelers and garlic crushers. If anybody wants to get rid of an old crockpot, either email to me or just post a notice on The Cooking Forum! I think you will have plenty of interested parties. |
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| That would be the cherry pitter, the pizza stone, my old hand grater-I've discovered microplanes now- my ridged veggie cutter- used to get so much use and now never leaves the drawer! |
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| This thread reminded me to use my favorite gadget. I have no idea what it's called so I will do my best to describe it: I guess the purpose is to allow sauces to cook down while still having a lid on the pan. The steam/water hits the lid and rolls down the dome and is collected in the channel instead on dripping back into the sauce. |
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| I have to add one more. I found this a couple of days ago while cleaning out my garage. It is an electric crepe maker. You make the batter then turn this thing upside down and dunk it ever so lightly into the batter for the perfect crepe. This is on it's way to Goodwill, just in case someone will actually use it - I never did! |
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| my mandoline. it's so complicated that I forget how to assemble the darn thing between uses, what a stupid extravagence. |
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| I second the mandoline. I ended up selling mine at a tag sale, along with the juicer, assorted KA mixer attachments (when will I make sausage??), pizza stone and assorted small objects that all do only one task. I think it should be mandatory that the majority of kitchen gadgets/cookware be able to do more than one thing...just like humans. |
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| I got rid of: garlic press lots of dull knives I never used turkey lifter (gave it away to a good home) cute plastic fish platter which was a gift and did not get used even once (sold that on ebay) pizza stone I never used (although with conversations on cooking forum lately, I wish I had kept that one!) all my lidless tupperware (where DO those lids go!?) crockpot -- the kind where the crock won't lift out of the pot and probably more stuff I can't think of right now |
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| hmmm...I have two little mini crockpots that I had planned to use for overnight oatmeal, but I never did nor did I ever intend to have two mini-pots ESP since they do not have removable crocks. aaaaargh |
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| I have an ice cream maker that I used to use a lot but haven't had room in the freezer for the insert for ages! My fondue set hasn't seen daylight in many ages either. |
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| I have a box of gadgets in the attic from when we moved into this small house with the dinky kitchen 30+yrs. ago. I remember there was: a pizza cutter that didn't cut egg separater apple corer pineapple corer apple slicer grapefruit knife I'm really picky about what new things come into my kitchen and have alienated my DMIL since she gave me most of the above. I actually use my wooden skewers and am almost ready for a new package after 25 yrs., same with the mandolin. But as I was cleaning out my kitchen I just took the following to Goodwill: Food grinder (haven't used since I got a food processor) Jury's still out on the fish mold I had to have last fall for a smoked salmon mousse. Unfortunately, no one liked the mousse, so probably will never use it again, darn it. Any of you covet same?
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- Posted by wantoretire_did (My Page) on Fri, May 12, 06 at 12:38
| I can't live without my mandoline ($9.99) from BB&B, not the totally outrageously expensive one! I use it nearly everyday at least to slice red onions for salads, sandwiches, etc. |
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- Posted by pghsteelerfan (My Page) on Mon, May 15, 06 at 1:28
| Hmmmmmm....susan6 - exactly what were those Pittsburgh cookie cutter shapes? I would have loved to have had them! My list would include my pizelle maker, sandwich maker, and pierogie cutter/maker. Still love them though, and don't want to part with them just yet..... |
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| I have a pasta roller machine. I have used it several times but not lately. My eldest keeps saying she wants to do it again. It is a long drawn out thing for pasta for one or two meals. It takes up a lot of space when you're rolling out big long strings of linguini, and need some place to set them until you cook them and I have to work really hard to keep it properly clamped to the edge of the counter as it keeps moving off the slightly rounded edge. Pasta is spectacular and fresh but what a lot of hassle. My kids DO like rolling it through the machine though. I have a rather expensive mandolin but I still fight with it to make nice even slices and feel rather ambivalent about it. Waffle iron and countertop grill only get used once in a blue moon. I do have a yogurt maker on its way to me and I hope to make it pay for itself as I passionately love Greek style yogurt. And the food dehydrator gets used annually for sure and is a worthy investment for as long as I keep a garden. The plastic cupboard needs a serious purge. |
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| Good bump, Trishcuit. I have a teeny, tiny, little whisk - diameter less than 1". I've never used it. I'm not sure when I would. To scramble an egg inside its shell? I also have a thing I don't recognize, but I'm afraid to throw it out. I think it might be a muddler - it's a metal stick with two circles and a helix at one end. I don't muddle much, but just in case... |
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- Posted by thatchairlady (My Page) on Tue, Aug 21, 12 at 10:56
| I'm a bit of a gadget nut, but RARELY buy things at a store... always looking at yard sales and thrift shops for stuff I'd like to try but definitely NOT willing to pay full price for. ALso try to find mays to make things multi-taskers. SIL used to do Pamper Chef demos and gave me some of her gizmos when she stopped. She gave me an apple peeler/corer... said she used it a LOT when my niece was little. I got an idae for an alternative use when getting ready to make a big batch of REAL lemonade. Was thinking... all that zest that I don't have a use for right now going in the trash!?! So stuck lemons on the apple gizmo, moved the corer part out of the way, and ended up with a HUGE pile of zest ribbons. Just let them air dry till "crispy" and then ground up in food processor... made lemon/pepper that wasn't mostly salt like the stuff you buy in bottle/jar. Have a dehydrater?? Why?? Had a MESSO jalapenos that I just knew would go bad before I used them up. Knew I coulda cut/chopped and froze, but freezer space is always at a premium. I Cut stem ends off, split length-wise and just stuck them in dehydrator until crunchy. Then ground up in food processor to make jalapeno powder... nice change from black/cayenne. WARNING! Cover food processor witha damp towel and let it SIT a good 5-10 minutes before removing lid! If y whip the lid right off, you'd probably get a noseful of jalapeno dust... cough! sneeze! |
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| Similar to others I almost never use Waffle maker, crock pot, apple corer, bamboo skewers :). And I use my ice maker probably only once a year. But I do use my rice cooker for everything (rice, quinoa, buckweat, apple souce, pearled couscous, etc), so it is used almost every day. I also use pressure cooker for beans and other long cooking things quite a lot. Olga |
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| I love the bamboo skewers to test a cake for doneness-- especially bundts. Try it next time |
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- Posted by sleevendog (My Page) on Sat, May 4, 13 at 10:31
| Thanks for the mandolines! I have 3. Two are the heavy pro models and one decent lightweight plastic...love them and got all at yardsales. Just made sweet potato and beet chips. |
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