Things ain't cooking in my kitchen

[venta]

Nicked from bopeepsheep's LJ:
Bold the ones you have and use at least once a year, italicize the ones you have and don't use, strike through the ones you have had but got rid of.

I wonder how many pasta machines, breadmakers, juicers, blenders, deep fat fryers, egg boilers, melon ballers, sandwich makers, pastry brushes, cheese boards, cheese knives, crepe makers, electric woks, miniature salad spinners, griddle pans, jam funnels, pie funnels, meat thermometers, filleting knives, egg poachers, cake stands, garlic crushers, martini glasses, tea strainers, bamboo steamers, pizza stones, coffee grinders, milk frothers, piping bags, banana stands, fluted pastry wheels, tagine dishes, conical strainers, rice cookers, steam cookers, pressure cookers, slow cookers, spaetzle makers, cookie presses, gravy strainers, double boilers (bains marie), sukiyaki stoves, ice cream makers, fondue sets, healthy-grills, home smokers, tempura sets, tortilla presses, electric whisks, cherry stoners, sugar thermometers, food processors, stand mixers, mincers, bacon presses, bacon slicers, mouli mills, cake testers, pestle-and-mortars, gratin dishes, apple corers, mango stoners and sets of kebab skewers languish dustily at the back of the nation's cupboards.

I think the short version is: I've got quite a lot of crap in the kitchen, but I do use most of it. The mincer is a recent[*] acquisition which I expect to use, but have not used yet. Get back to me next week. The juicer is a close call; it probably gets used about once a year. Used to be much more often when I lived in a house with an apple tree.

I'm bewildered by some of these things, though. What is a jam funnel? I don't own one, so it clearly isn't necessary for making jam. Mind you, I had a boiled egg for breakfast on Thursday and I don't own an egg boiler, either. How does a gravy strainer differ from any other kind of strainer (or is it one of those slanty jug things)? I have flat, ceramic dishes which I use, but I'm not sure if they're legally gratin dishes or not. I have made gratin in them. I counted my Kenwood as both a stand mixer and an electric whisk (I use it for both).

[*] Hmm. Not as recent as I think, though. Must get on with it!

Comments

[bopeepsheep.livejournal.com]

Crowded House - Weather with you.

I want some of the things I don't have marked on my own list - a stand mixer, for instance! I reckon "a good food processor and mixer" covers quite a lot of these items. But space and cash and stuff prohibit me from owning them just yet... I'd own the whole of Lakeland if I had the space and money! If I win the lottery ever there'll be a heck of an order put in! :)

narenek's parents have some very niche gadgets - but the sheer fun of the cherry stoner and the tomato juicer would justify once-a-year use for me (and they get far more use than that out of them, as it happens).

[huskyteer.livejournal.com]

I was also going to ask about the gratin dishes! I think mine count. Does macaroni cheese count as a gratin, though?

I used my martini glass a couple of weeks ago after the James Bond exhibition. First time for several years.

[drdoug.livejournal.com]

Jam funnels are great, iff you are making jam. You only need it for jam/preserve/chutney-making, but it does serve as a slightly strangely-shaped regular funnel the rest of the year.

The point is to help with getting the jam out of the preserving pan and into the jars or bottles. Jam funnels have a shallower slope than normal funnels; they're very wide at the top (easy to plop jam in to), and not very narrow at the bottom - just a little smaller than the diameter of a small jam jar - so it's easy for gloopy jam with large fruity lumps in to fall through without getting stuck. They're usually made out of metal, so they don't melt when you put just-off-the-boil jam in to them.

When I try to bottle jam or chutney without one, I almost always burn my fingers and waste a lot of jam on the counter top. It's also hard to get the stuff into the jars quickly enough that even the last jar is still nicely hot (for sterilisation and making the lid pop down properly) when you get to it.

Mine gets specific use around now in preserving season. It also gets a bit of extra use in the Spring - the bottom diameter is just the right size to fit snugly inside a toilet roll inner tube. I plant my peas and beans in toilet roll tubes, and the jam funnel makes the process of scooping compost in to them very easy and speedy. I start them off in the greenhouse, and then when it's time to plant out, I just dig a series of holes in the ground and stick the whole tube in.

[rabbit1080.livejournal.com]

Out of the entire list, I own:
- meat thermometer (I use this at least once a fortnight, usually for roasts or occasionally measuring oil tempeature)
- Fondue set (I use this once every few months - recommend Gina Steer's non-traditional fondue cookbook)
- Pressure cooker (every fortnight or so, usually for chickpeas/kidney beans/etc)

I did have a meat-mincer until a couple of months ago when I accidentally found out it wasn't dishwasher-safe. Oops. I used it instead of a food-processor, and intend to replace it sometime.

For most food-chopping requirements, I just use a carving-knife and big wooden chopping-board. For cooking, I mostly use v non-stick saucepans.

(Almost forgot, I also have a pizza stone and a pasta machine. I used both fairly often a few years ago but haven't for a while. My stand-mixer has been replaced with a dishwasher-safe whisk.)

[beckyl.livejournal.com]

Too late for the kudo, but I did actually know that one. Ignoring all the kitchen stuff since it's much more himself's domain than mine.