Mine is a fairly boring one but I recently purchased a new garlic press and I am in looove. Its the Kuhn Rikon and it was recommended by cooks illustrated and by someone in a favorite garlic press thread here in the cooking forum. I had used garlic presses in the past and they were always more work then just chopping by hand, so I haven't used one in about 10 years. This one is great, gets almost all the garlic and you don't even have to peel it. Plus clean up is a cinch. I use garlic almost everytime I cook and it has made it so much easier.

[Tongue in cheek]
The Internet, for making reservations through OpenTable.

We have gotten more $50 checks from them (5,000 pts = $50 cash) than I care to think about, over the last four years.

Like many here, I don't change out my kitchen stuff too often. I did finally swap out my old colander for a new one that has laser-cut holes - smaller and more of them, for better draining.

I gave up wooden spoons for restaurant quality silicon spatulas. I have four, use them everyday (sometimes all four in a day!), and they go thru the DW perfectly. They last for years, and that's remarkable considering how hard I am on my kitchen eqpt. I think this current batch is about four years old, my previous batch lasted over ten yrs.

Youtube!

The most useful cooking tool for me.

dcarch

Salad Spinner: a life saver.

This one in particular:

Here is a link that might be useful: OXO® Good Grips® Salad Spinner

Egg Shapers. I don't have them and I probably would not use them, but I am in love with them!

Here is a link that might be useful: Egg Shapers

My new Foodsaver!

My old (VERY old) one died a few months ago.

I liked it when I first got it,
But it could be very aggravating.
I often sealed the bags 2 or even 3 times,
Because I couldn't depend on the seal holding.
Plus it was kind of a hassle to get the edge of the bag
just right for it to seal,
and keep pressure on it while it was sealing.
So I didn't really use it as much as I could have.

After quite a lot of internet shopping,
Reading reviews and soul searching, (did I really NEED one?),
I decided to take the plunge.
I am so glad I did!

This new one is awesome!
Automatic! No more wondering if the bag is in the right position.
Hands free, no holding the lid down while it is sealing.
The heat seal is more than twice as wide as on the old one.
So I'm thinking it will hold better and longer.
Attached, retractable attachment hose.
And pretty enough to live on the counter.
And it has a setting to seal things like chips and crackers,
in bags, without pulverizing them.
I love it!

My second favorite new tool is a Foodsaver hand-held
Battery operated vacuum.
Fantastic for sealing cheeses, deli meats, etc.

Forgive me, please, if I sound like an infomercial.
I have no connection with the Foodsaver company at all.
I just love my new "toys"!

Also, I like the Ziplock zipper vacuum bags
much better than the Foodsaver zipper bags.
Can't find them in the local stores anymore,
But did find them online,
And stocked up.

Rusty

Rusty, no apologies necessary! You made me love your new Foodsaver along with you. Mine isn't that old, but the hose isn't attached and there's no chips setting. :) I'm lovin' all the stories!

So today I received some gifts. The very best kind are the ones you'd never bother buying for yourself, right? I guess I have to work on that whole wheat pasta recipe, huh? With charred tomatoes?

Rusty, What model is your new FS?

agree w/dcarch: youtube is a great resource when you need to examine a technique or recipe. And it's fun to watch the original Julia Child programs.

What has changed my cooking more than anything (including my beloved pressure cookers) is sous vide. I cobbled together one for around $100 with advice from dcarch and foas, and you can see the results at the link. I'll never have a kitchen without one. I may spiff this one up or replace it with one that is more aesthetically pleasing to SWMBO, but I love the flexibility it affords.

If you're a photographer, you can understand this analogy: the sous vide setup is analagous to a view camera. You can do things with a view camera that you simply cannot do with any other camera; likewise, sous vide produces food that would be very difficult to produce with any other setup. I'm sold on it. Get a sous vide setup (prices for components are coming down, and you may even be able to make a cheaper setup than I did).

Here is a link that might be useful: homemade sous vide setup

Arley, Many thanks for the link. I don't do beefsteak or fish, so hadn't really considered sous vide until another thread awhile back about pasteurizing eggs. I've saved your instructions, which are much clearer than any I've found on the 'net.

Mustangs, it's the V3860.
I ordered it directly from the Foodsaver website.
They had it on sale at the time,
Plus it came with some free containers.
(Free is always good, right?)
So I felt like I was getting a bargain.
The majority of the reviews were good, too.

Rusty

My new favorite kitchen tool is this garlic press and peeler set I recently bought from Amazon. The press is heavy duty and is made from stainless steel which I really love. The peeler is very easy to use too and is very effective for peeling cloves for times when you need them whole.

Here is a link that might be useful: This is where I got the product

My latest new kitchen toy--er, tool--is a very sturdy and quite large roll up dish drying mat made of silicon-coated steel rods. It easily supports even very heavy pots over the sink to drain. Then, if desired, it can be slid onto the countertop for items to finish drying since air will still circulate under the items.

This was discussed in a recent GW thread. New to me, but it was a must-have. It arrived from BB&B yesterday (with coupon and free shipping since it wasn't available in the store, just over $20) and I love it already. I was surprised at how sturdy it is.
Fits perfectly over as much as the sink as I want to give it with the remainder either rolled up (it will stay rolled) or spread open on the countertop.

Rolls up small enough to, as a GWer in a previous post said, fit into a section of PVC pipe screwed to the under sink cabinet wall. Wish I could think of a way to mount it to the inside of the door.

And no more mildew spots on my dish drying mats because I left a heavy pot sitting upside down overnight on a damp mat. Actually, no more dish drying mats!

Edited to add: obviously not intended for drying lots of dishes. No way to stand them vertically. Perfect for my hand washing--pots and pans, silverware, crystal, and such.

Here is a link that might be useful: Over-the-sink roll up dish drying rack

Bellsmom, Congrats on your splendid new purchase! I've had mind for awhile now, and I love the double decker sink aspect of it. It's also a great place to stand a colander.

All time favorite application: Cleaning Silpats. Spread the mat on the grate and it's easy to sponge or scrub, leave it there to dry, and it doesn't fall off (I'd previously been hanging from my Karbon faucet, which had to be perfectly level to work.

My own new tool is a dough docker. I haven't gotten a chance to use it yet, though.

Plllog
I thought you were the one who said you had the roll-up drainer and loved it. Thank you for that heads up.

And now I gotta check out a dough docker!! Wonderful! Never heard of it.

Another tool/toy that I am loving is the popcorn popper/coffee roaster. My life got squirrelly in the last few days and I didn't roast new coffee in time to have it this morning (It needs to degas for 2 days. Don't I sound like I know what I am talking about? Not really, but I'm learning.) I went down to my old source for "fresh" roasted coffee beans and
1. paid $1 an ounce for the beans--$16 a pound for a nyah blend. (I paid $6/pound for the beans from Sweet Mariahs plus $1 or $2 for shipping.)
2. MY fresh roasted are at prime usage date. These I bought today (I now knew enough to ask) are anywhere up to 2 to 3 weeks from roasting date!
3. Mine are better, no doubt about it.

So another thanks to GW for the heads up on coffee roasting.
I can't wait for the corn popper to die so I can buy a "real" roaster! But for now, for less than $20, I have a roaster that works, and better coffee than I have ever enjoyed.

This is a great thread. I hope more people come up with new tools to tempt me.

This post was edited by Bellsmom on Fri, Jun 20, 14 at 17:13

My son and DIL sent me this Zip Zester for my birthday. Not many bakers would need this but I make tons of lemon bars every week for farmers market and this speeds my zesting to the max. Thinking the swirl peeler part would also make quick work of cutting for dried citrus peels (dipped in chocolate later).
Nancy

Here is a link that might be useful: Zip Zester on Amazon

Wow! Nancy, that is some birthday gift! I've used the similarly designed apple peeler but never knew that a citrus version existed. Looks perfect for your enterprise.

Bellsmom, I'd been following your popper-roaster thread. I don't care for coffee, and my company don't object to Yuban, so the nuances are a bit lost on me (I just figure it's similar to my recent pizza dough quest--also perfect after two days). The use of the popcorn popper makes sense, of course, and your journey has been totally intriguing.

The dough docker will be great for pre-baking larger pizzas. The holes keep them from puffing up, and pre-baking keeps the centers from being soggy. Docking is a similar idea to pie weights, or the thumbprint in a biscuit. I confess, however, that I really bought it for trying something I saw in a chain grocery. It was flat "buns" for burgers and sandwiches. It looked like a dense crumb. Totally great idea! I don't want masses of bread on a sandwich unless it's a proper po' boy with amazingly good bread and too much oil. I also think soft, egg buns are stupid, because they fall apart. Chiabatta are in the right direction, but require a lot of chomping power to get through the crust on a thick sandwich. So, when I get the whole wheat bread baking down, I'm going to try making flat, docked rolls. I don't know how I'll split them, but I'm thinking my cake wire might work...

Nancedar, what a great gift! Citrus peels dipped in chocolate? OOOH, yum!! Get thee behind me, temptation!

Plllog, I did look up the device and realized I had seen it before. I really, really want to play more with bread baking. Like you, I don't like a lot of bread in my sandwiches.

So far, I have only used my Zoji for breads mixed, kneaded, risen and baked in the machine. I can slice those as thin as I wish. They don't have the lovely "chew" of artisan breads, but I haven't ventured there yet. And my pizza dough tends to be made from whatever flatbreads I find at TJ's or Fresh Market, and still my pizzas are SO much better than what we used to order in. Another of those I gotta get off my you know what and learn how to do it.
Great thread. Hope more people will sign in and tempt me.

Bellsmom, TJ's has actual refrigerated pizza dough that you can buy as a ball of dough. You could start with that. This kind of dough has too much salt and too much yeast, which is necessary for the way it's sold, but it's still pretty good. You'll also want a good pizza stone or steel. The more mass the better. Don't get suckered into a lightweight one. The ease of handling isn't worth the loss of mass. My Gaggenau oven has its own add-on pizza stone with a special coil element to use with it and its own setting on the dial. Not necessary, but the ultimate in gadgetry. :) I've developed my own recipe, based on others, and gotten lured into home grain milling in pursuit of it. So there's another tool. :) And the earplugs to go with it!

Plllog
Pizza stone I have. Thanks to GW, I bought 2 heavy 18" unglazed floor tiles ($1 each at a Habitat for Humanity ReStore) which reside pretty much permanently on the bottom rack of my oven. I like the way they hold heat. But I'd trade 'em for your hi-tech one.

Pizza dough and all sorts of artisan breads are on my todo list.

Thinking of new toys, has anyone mentioned infrared thermometers? I am astonished by how often I reach for mine--to check the coffee beans as they roil about in the popper, to check how hot or cold the surface of our sunny deck is (97 degrees yesterday afternoon, -7 one frigid morning last winter), to check how cold each section of the freezer is (thanks, Dcarch for the tip on that--it's what I bought the thing to do), to check the temperature of ice cream in the ice cream maker, the ceramic shelf in the BGE . . a really nice tool. Tolerance is, I think, +/- 2 degrees, so not super accurate but close enough. And it's on sale right now at a really great price.

Edited to add: I just posted this sale in its own thread. Such a great price and I'd hate someone to miss it if they had already read this.
Mustangs, I don't see an infrared in your array. You NEED one!

Here is a link that might be useful: Great Sale right now on the Thermoworks IR Gun

This post was edited by Bellsmom on Sat, Jun 21, 14 at 11:38

I have avoided this thread because of my gadget excessive compulsiveness. But something last week made me realize how bad it is.

Beau (9 year old grandson) was practicing making a solar oven for his school project he had to make in class the next day. He made the oven, put a hot dog in it, then asked for a thermometer so he could track how hot it got.

I told him which kitchen drawer. He pulled these out, looked confused, and said "Grammy why do you need so many?" Trying to cover my embarrassment, I told him that I wanted to make sure he had exactly the one he needed. He didn't buy it!

LOL!! I love that! People ask me why I need so many different whisks and reamers (they all work differently for different jobs). But the other day, while I was stirring milk warming for cheese, my fancy dancy thermocouple IR/probe thermometer was acting weird, and I reached for the old Taylor meat thermometer. Somehow I came up with the candy thermometer instead! I only have the three (not counting oven thermometers and freezer thermometer (which I just move around to check out the corners)). It's still enough to get confused. :)

Bellsmom, your tiles sound great. The drawback of the fancy pizza stone attachment is there's no leaving it in the oven during other cooking, so it's a lot of in and out. While I was experimenting, so making small daily pizzas instead of bread to use up the dough, I just put it on the baking counter next to the oven, instead of its drawer under the oven (even though it's side opening, this seems easier). Since you're all set up, it's worth using. :) The white pizza dough from Whole Foods, which I only used once, was so good, it convinced me to get going and find a whole wheat pizza recipe that I was really happy with. It's dead easy.

Speaking of thermometers, Fed-Ex delivered my new Thermopop this morning. It's sunshine yellow like this one:

The backlight function sold me on it since it will be great for the grill.

Last weekend, I scored an infrared thermometer, new in pkg., at a rummage sale for $1. It's just a cheapy from Harbor Freight & haven't tried it out yet. Need to pick up a 9 volt battery for it and forgot it when we were in Wal-Mart yesterday.

I'm pretty sure my collection rivals yours, mustangs! At least in quantity. I don't have a thermopen, though. :-( They're so pricey that the Thermopop will have to do.

I have a Taylor candy thermometer, which I also use to check the temperature of water to scald birds for plucking, and I have a small thermometer of unknown origin that I use for checking meat. Elery would like a Thermapen, but not enough to pay $100 or so for one.

I have a small digital scale, still in the box unused and an old commercial butcher's scale that I use for things like weighing chickens, weanling pigs, buckets of feed, etc.

My favorite new toy, though, is my coffee roaster. I use it weekly and the house smells wonderful. I've been known to drink coffee at McDonald's and my Mother's flavored French Vanilla stuff and even Maxwell House. The only coffee I flat out refuse is Folger's, but my freshly roasted and ground Chemex coffee is one of my life's little pleasures, love the stuff.

Annie

Come to think of it, my smoker.

It is a hot and cold indoor smoker. I can smoke anything, any time, any season.

Cold smoked salmon, cheese, hot smoke chicken, beef, pork, winter, summer, rain, snow, storm, ----- makes no difference.

dcarch

dcarch--
Details, please?
Cameron's, Emson, Nordicware?????? Something else?

Good enough to pass muster at your table?
Gotta know what it is.

Not kind of you to tease like this.

Yeah, DCarch! Fess up!

I converted this 4.5 cubic foot refrigerator into a smoker. It is still a working refrigerator. That's why it can be a very effective cold smoker.

1. The St. Steel cylinder on top is the cold smoke generator, motor driven to provide exact quantity and quality of smoke into the smoker. It uses pellets or chips. I have smoked longer than 24 hours unattended.

2. The refrigerator is well insulated, a 300 watt halogen light provide more than enough heat for hot smokes.

3. The refrigerator has perfect gaskets, there is no leakage of smoke into the house. The black tube on top exhausts the smoke outdoors.

4. There is a small fan inside to circulate heat and smoke, kind of like a convection smoker.

5. Exact temperature is controlled by a PID controller (on top), kind of like a sous vide machine by heated smoke, instead of water.

6. There is a forced air blower to expel smoke before opening the door, to avoid smoking up the house.

7. There is an ultrasonic humidifier I can put inside for very long hot smokes to avoid drying out the food.

dcarch

This post was edited by dcarch on Sun, Jun 22, 14 at 18:05

oh, sh*t
I shoulda knowed it.
No way, am I gonna do this.

But you make me laugh with delight.
Of course, you played.
Thank you for endless smiles. :-) :-) :-) :-)

And endless information.

Bellsmom, Gee, and I was going to offer you the extra 4.5 cubic foot refrigerator that I have sitting in the lanai.

Yeah, I should have been ready for that too!

DC, you are amazing; do you do any Appliance 101 projects?

Wow! I was expecting something of the sort but no way I could have anticipated the reality! Especially the exhaust. Wow!

I belong to a couple of smoker's forums, because they have regular Throwdowns with nice prized I can enter [ and win :-) ].

I see that everyone in those forums has problems not being able to smoke in the winter snow, has problems keeping temperature, can't cold smoke in the summer, has to stay up all night for long smokes ------

I decided to change all that.

dcarch

Are men allowed to post here? lol

I saw these "Fruit Condoms" on the TV Show, "I Want That." and gave some as gifts to my wife and some friends.

I ended up buying them all additional ones of the smallest two sizes. They keep a sliced lemon or lime fresh in the ice box. Seal a soda can. Stretches over a bowl of dip, tuna salad, or whatever.

Kinda cool!

Here is a link that might be useful: Cover Blubber

Wow, dcarch. Anything ever blast out of that contraption tempt you to declare, "It's aliiiiiive"?

So, on a more serious note, did you have all the components lying around in the shop, or did any need to be purchased. What was the bottom line?

Edited to add:

I have not purchased this, but I am sorely tempted:
http://www.thermoworks.com/products/thermapen/splashproof_thermapen_reference.html

Here is a link that might be useful: A metathermometer

This post was edited by kitchendetective on Tue, Jun 24, 14 at 17:44

Saltidawg,

We have lots of men in this forum! Those covers look awesome!! I've added them to my want list on Amazon. :) Too bad they're not DW safe, but it looks like they function better than any I've seen. Thanks!

I like the StirStik and PetitPots, too. I see stocking stuffers in the future.

pillog,

We've got much more use out of the smaller Cover Blubbers - you can opt for just the smaller ones.

They do clean up easily - they feel "funny," like Gummy Bears.

We also like one of the following item at the same site.

Here is a link that might be useful: CitrusPod

kitchendetective, I bought the refrigerator brand new for $39.00 because it had a dent on the side.

A PID controller for $20.00
Plastic plumbing parts from HD around $15.00

All the other parts were from my junk pile.

Oh, the humidifier from Goodwill for $6.00.

dcarch

saltidawg, we do have several men on the forum, so you are definitely "allowed".

Welcome to the Cooking Forum!

Annie

Thanks, SD (see you already have a nickname!)!

I'm getting used to the feel of silicone. I wouldn't touch it when they first started making kitchen stuff out of it.

I have the turkey lace with the built in needle from the same maker. I only used it once because I stopped stuffing turkeys, but it's really cool. I also have a metal spiral turkey zipper, but it's meant for a more petite turkey than I usually make. My mother used to suture her turkeys with a darning needle. I have the needle, but never learned to suture. The silicone lace is much easier. And goes in the dishwasher.

"Thanks, SD (see you already have a nickname!)!"

Thanks for the welcome... the SaltiDawg reference comes from my being a retired 24 year Navy Submariner.

AND, I bred and exhibited (English) Bulldogs for years and 'SaltiDawg' was my Kennel Name.

This post was edited by saltidawg on Wed, Jun 25, 14 at 10:23

Welcome SD! We are eager to have your input.

This is embarrassing that I bought this after laughing at it for years in those gadget catalogs. Now I have to confess that it does the job effortlessly in the previously inaccessible space under the refrigerator and other like places.

With 3 furbabies who play soccer with many different things (e.g. bottle caps, M&M's, pills) and lots of fur, this tool brought it all out from under the refrigerator a quick swipe or two.

Here is a link that might be useful: Duster

Confession: The gadget that didn't work well was the roller skates for the fridge that was supposed to make it easy to move for cleaning. I like your duster much better! (And my new integrated fridge even more!)

Saltidawg, I figured you for a navy man from your way of speaking (rather than a folk dancer partial to the Salty Dog Rag), but submarines are very cool. Please answer something for me? Is it subMARiner (sub-mariner) or submarINEr (submarine-er)?

Edit (addition):

So...I was looking for something else on a search and stumbled on this. I must have blinked. There are other versions. None of the young mothers I know have these. It gets rave reviews. If I saw something like that coming at me, I'd start crying--at my age! The child in the picture might be distressed at posing, lights, cameras, etc., not the spoon thing, but still. Oh. I should describe: You put your puree in the tube part and squirt gently, and it fills the spoon to feed baby. Apparently, it's mostly for going out. One reviewer mentioned freezing the puree in cubes, popping a few in the tube to melt while they're out, and shaking before feeding. Okay. I get it. But one of the things baby learns during feeding is how to handle a spoon and dish...good thing it's just for puree (a stage that doesn't last long)!

This post was edited by plllog on Thu, Jun 26, 14 at 4:09

pillog,

" Is it subMARiner (sub-mariner) or submarINEr (submarine-er)?"

It's sub-marINER here in the US. It's subMARiner in the UK.

Again, in the US just say "submarine" and add an "er."

Imagine a hundred folks (Officers and enlisted men alike.) eating the same meals four times a day.

BTW, EXCELLENT food!!!!!

EDIT: As of last year, make that men AND women on submarines.

This post was edited by saltidawg on Thu, Jun 26, 14 at 7:59

SaltiDawg,
Another welcome to GW, and a thank you for the link to the FusionBrands site, which is new to me--and wacky enough to entice me that I spent several minutes deciding I didn't need anything from them at the moment. But I WAS tempted!

Bellsmom,

The FusionBrands stuff seems kinda pricey... but certainly unique.

Makes for 'interesting' gifts for the holidays. Frequently the recipient has never seen the items and the items thus suggest some heightened level of thoughtfulness.

SaltiDawg

This post was edited by saltidawg on Thu, Jun 26, 14 at 9:50

dcarch, that's fantastic...but i'm such a 'permy' i suppose that i like being out in the weather...
using wood for fuel. Smoking mozzarella on the 4th will be a challenge at 80 temp, but the ice block worked last summer.

mustangs, got ya beat on the temp collection...just mowed on over, then another i stuck in the smoker with the plastic sleeve still on, lol.
(i should just buy the whole display rack of the cheap ones)

I probably could win the 'useless-junk-kitchen-crap' contest...i just spring cleaned out the kitchen drawers and filled a box to go downstairs with all the previous years boxes...

I did toy and play with the rubber lid things recently in a cooks supply...the texture is a bit creepy like my silpats and don't care for the microfiber cloths...DH wore one to work stuck on the inside back of his shirt...wiggled down to the, fortunately tucked-in, waistband like a muffin top. Find them inside folded sheets...

Not many new purchases recently. Like that thermopop but i treated us to a thermopen for valentines day during their sale and bought red. It has a special spot and is not allowed outside for the grill unless with special care...

So i would have to say my maple tree that nature took down over the winter...
Many future cooking tools and fuel coming soon. This is just the top 1/3rd and is now safely on the ground-ish. The base 20 ft is still standing. Not at all sad as we have a large herd of them...would have cost a small fortune to have it pro cut so nature did the hard costly work. Designed a dining table a few years ago and now see it may be built finally.

I print out recipes from on line all the time, but any drop of water will make the ink from the inkjet run and make a total mess of the recipe. So then it dawned on me. I have a clear plastic clipboard from staples. I clip the recipe wrong side down on the clipboard. Then I flip it over. I can read the recipe through the clear plastic, the plastic protects the paper and is easy to clean, and the clipper part holds the recipe up at an angle so it's easier to read. I love it when things work out like that!

Great tip, AnnieDeighnaugh!

I obtained some Cover Blubbers on Saltidawg's advice above, and I'm liking them a lot. They feel disgusting, like something a ten year old boy would use to tease his sister, but they're great. I'm especially fond of using one on a cut onion. Thanks, SD!

Right now it's my apple peeler. What fun

We (my GD Brownie troop) picked apples last weekend. About 20 pounds! My DD works at a farm market, we picked at their orchard. I kept telling them to stop, we had to eat them, but they were having too much fun. Gala, Fuji, Golden Delicious, Empire (really dark red), Honey Crisp, Stayman, Cortland.

So I dug out my apple peeler, that I've never used. The kids had a blast peeling and coring apples. I plopped them into a citric acid bath, drained them and am freezing a lot of them.

But I cut up a few for a quick apple crisp.

We'll have apples well into spring, at this rate.