Ten... Kitchen Gadget Treats
Reg Hardware Gizmo Week logo small Most of us actually have more gadgets in the kitchen than anywhere else in the house. And looking at the list here, it’s easy to see why. There are gizmos for every conceivable task, from opening a tin of beans to knocking up a homemade Scotch broth. Most of the gizmos here are genuinely …
This topic is closed for new posts.
Re: Love the Imperia pasta machine
Kids are definitely the most useful kitchen gadget. They're pretty cheap to buy but the running costs can be enormous and they're a bugger to keep clean.
Tasimo
I used to love my Tasimo.. when I first brought it, the pods were about £2.30 for 16. but once they reached the £3.50+ mark it was obvious they were just ripping me off.. Especially when you buy a pack of decent fresh coffee for less which makes double the amount. So I sold the Tasimo on eBay (£55, thank you eBay!).
Re: Tasimo
Try looking in your local charity shop for a chrome coffee pot you can put on your hob. Just fill with water, dump coffee grounds in the container, turn on the heat and let it bloop. Cheap and effective. (Then use the used grounds on your Chilli plants).
Grounds on chilli plants?
Can you elaborate? I have a chilli plant that, while still fruiting after about six years, could probably do with a bit of perking up
Re: Tasimo
Amen. I have an Italian espresso maker - three-part decagonal aluminium thing bought dirt cheap in a Rome hardware shop - a plunger and a shed-load of Lavazza in the cupboard. Instant? Fuck off and drink water, I say.
@Nigel (was: Re: Grounds on chilli plants?)
Along with whatever veggie trimmings that you don't turn into stock, coffee grounds (and the paper filter, if you use one) make for good compost. Egg shells and fish carcasses are good, too. Personally, I don't add kitchen waste directly to the soil, I compost it all together first ... except I generally plant dead fish in the roots of the Wife's rose garden :-)
Caveat: Before adding anything to your soil, test it. Soil nutrition test kits are available at most decent garden stores & DIY shops for next to nothing. Said DIY centers usually have someone who can tell you what soil amendments work well for whatever you are growing in your area.
"Airfryer"
I had a look at these a year ago. Its a heating element and a fan, and you don't use any oil. So this is different from my kitchen's fan-assisted oven how exactly?
Re: "Airfryer"
My wife bought one of these (for less than £204 I should add) and I admit I thought it was just another health food fad. After trying it, I am a convert though, the food that comes out on the whole tastes like it's been deep fried provided it's not overloaded. Fantastic for those late night nuggets :-)
It is missing something with plain chips though, they come out crisp but a bit bland, they're not picking up any taste as they usually would from the oil.
So I have no idea what's different between this and a fan oven but there is something!
Re: "Airfryer"
Taste from the *oil* ?
Beef dripping is the only acceptable way to make real chips. Then just add a good rare steak on the side.
Re: "Airfryer"
The Tefal Actifry is better for that sort of thing. It uses a tablespoon of oil, which gives a lot better results for food that needs to be fried while still keeping the fat content down.
The Actifry's downside is that it uses a paddle to move things around and fry all sides of them. It can remove the coating on some things like fried chicken.
My take.
1) Too small for decent heat, either fast and hot or low & slow. Useless. Not a kitchen gadget, either.
2) Friends don't let friends make "packet" food. This is doubly true for coffee & tea. Quintuply true for anything chocolate.
3) I use a stick blender (under US$30) and a pot.
4) Acme 180. Can be motorized, but it's hardly necessary. US$90-ish. The extra 30cm actually makes sense occasionally. Lasagna comes to mind.
5) Useless bit of kit ... unless you are trying to say "look at me! I'm a pretentious twat who knows nothing about wine!"
6) I usually make toast under the broiler ... or under the salamander if I'm in a hurry and trying to feed a bunch of people. When it's just the wife & I, I use a US$17 Hamilton Beach four-slot toaster.
7) Mu. I have proper fryers. Nothing else need apply, IMO.
8) My refrigeration is handled by True, Delfield & Traulsen ... but on the rare occasion that I want to cool a beer down in a hurry, I spin it in a bath of ice-water. Only takes a couple minutes.
9) Victorignox "Fibrox" 8-inch chef's knife ... We use 'em for damn near everything. Under US$40.
10) See "stick blender", above.
Meep-meep!
That's "Atlas", not "Acme" on the pasta machine ... The nieces & nephews have been in the house over Easter and discovered my "Merrie Melodies" collection ;-)
As soon as you recommended tea from a coffee maker I lost all respect for the article and all hope for humanity.
The samurai folding steel stuff is all very pretty but for the same price you can buy half a dozen carbon steel blades which will work just as well and have enough change for a tattoo on the back of your hand reading "don't leave your knives to go rusty, numbnuts"
Tassimo / Nespresso
"At around £4 for 16, the price per cup is a good deal cheaper than Nespresso"
Hmmm... That's 25p a disc.
Nespresso capsules are mostly 29p (some are 30p or 33p for the specialist ones). And there's a choice of 16 different ones, plus flavoured ones around Christmas and a couple of special editions through the year. And you have the option of buying refillable capsules, or of course third party ones like from the Ethical Coffee company.
Yes, you can make tea in the Tassimo, but, it's tea brewed in under 30 seconds, with a vague plasticky overtaste. Not good, and definitely not proper tea. And of course the barcode system on the Tassimo units is patented, so you can't get third party capsules.
Seems to me that a Nespresso machine might have been a better choice for the article at least. I own both, the Tassimo doesn't even get plugged in any more.
Coffee is a serious matter
I have a couple of home espress mahines, a LaPavoni and a Dualit and to be honest I'm beginning o think that it's not worth it until you go towards 4 figures and get cut-down commercial machine like http://www.myespresso.co.uk/product.php/26/isomac-millennium-two-semi-automatic-espresso-machine
Re: Coffee is a serious matter
I roast my own beans & grind 'em to order ...
Plaggy-coffee is narsty, no matter how hard you squint at it.
Re: Coffee is a serious matter
If it were a genuinely serious matter then you'd brew the coffee gently rather than blasting it through with high pressure steam. Espresso is just convenience coffee ... it allows bars to knock out three times as many cups of half-decent coffee than if they had to twiddle their thumbs and brew it properly.
I don't know where or how it came to be regarded as connoisseur coffee. I suspect part of it is simply an Emperor's New Clothes effect caused by the shininess of the commercial machines and all the clanging and hissing involved in the process. The result is inevitably never more than a few shades above mediocre.
(I completely undermine my argument here by admitting that my kitchen and my office both contain shiny espresso machines ... I like to pretend that I'm busy and terribly important)
@Some Beggar
You clearly know nothing about espresso machines. The steam is used to heat the milk. The temperature of water pumped through the coffee is below 100C.
Re: Coffee is a serious matter
Hell yes. I am a coffee snob and (imho, of course), filtering or percolating are the kindest ways to go.
Re: @Some Beggar
@kubla cant
Splendid. 100% pedantry and 0% relevant clarification. An almost perfect internet messageboard post. Give yourself a gold star.
Until the invention of mocha/espresso devices, coffee was typically brewed slowly at around 80C. At that temperature, the caffeine and bitter solid compounds dissolve almost instantly and the oils that give coffee its pleasant taste dissolve in a few minutes. Bingo. Yummy yummy coffee. We did it like that for five hundred years.
Pumped espresso machines operate between 90C and 100C and around 9 bars. The original steam-driven machines used steam at around 110C (shall I say steam again? Steam.) The difference is negligible - the caffeine and bitter compounds dissolve so easily around that temperature that the pressure is irrelevant. But the oils have barely even started to dissolve. Your 30 second blast of water/steam gives you the buzz and the bitterness and the pretty foam that baristas get moist about but it leaves most of the oils and taste in the grounds you chuck down the sink.
Re: Coffee is a serious matter
Actually, if you want the most gentle way of making coffee:
1) Grind your own beans fresh.
2) Place ground beans in container of cold water.
3) Place container in fridge.
4) Let steep for at least 24 hours.
5) Decant coffee liqueur through strainer and filter.
6) Save liqueur.
7) When you want coffee, add hot water to liqueur.
Re: Coffee is a serious matter
REAL coffee snobs GROW their own beans
Re: Coffee is a serious matter
> REAL coffee snobs GROW their own beans
and process them through a civet?
Re: Coffee is a serious matter
Doubleplusreal coffee snobs process the coffee beans through THEMSELVES.
I ... I ... I kind of don't want this cup of coffee any more.
Damascus steel
Picked up a Damascus steel knife that's sharp enough to shave a gnats widget for a tenner from Aldi, best knife I've got.
metal knife??
If you're going to spend the best part of three figures for a kitchen knife it really should be ceramic.
May I suggest you look at Kyocera FK series knives
http://www.kyoceraknives.co.uk/fk-series-carbon-infused-ceramic-blades/kyocera-fk-series-carbon-infused-blade-cooks-knife-14cm
And for those that want to know where the IT angle is, Kyocera also make damn fine printers
Since when...
...has a fridge been considered a gadget? Gadgets should ideally fit in a pocket or at least be luggable and apart from Jeffrey Dahmer and a few others who'd want a luggable fridge?
Coffee from a capsule????
Personally I like my Russell Hobbs "Brew and Grind". Chuck in the beans, hit a button and it gets on with the whole damn job for me... I just have to drink the coffee. No plastic crapsules, no nasty taste (unless of course you go for crap coffee) and in the event I run out of beans then it can work as a normal filter coffee machine.
Tea comes from a teapot, not a machine. Except at work, and then it's naff tea.
Great top ten article
This is relevant to my interests.
However, I have had a Imperia pasta maker for over a decade and have used it a sum total of... once. Most of the other items would get more everyday use from me, as they reduce the amount of work, not increase it. (Comparing homemade pasta to dried, at least - I was disappointed by my sole experiment and went back to quality dried pasta)
Re: Great top ten article
My (motorised) Imperia pasta maker gets used three or four times a week, mostly for stuffed pasta.
Being married to an Italian, and having previously made pasta for a living, may have something to do with it though...
WHATS THE IT ANGLE????
The only job I do in the kitchen is the washing up and I don't see any gadgets for that.
My better half (who is an excellent cook) would possibly be interested in the Coffee machine and the Fridge but we have a perfectly adequate fridge and coffee maker.
Now if the fridge had a tablet built into the door that warned you what foods were approaching their use-by-date,... or the coffee machine had AI and told you that you were a coffee snob and most likely couldn't tell the difference between Arabica and Deer droppings (abusive Talkie Toaster anyone? <LOL>) , then I'd be interested.
Finally I'd like to see a dishwasher that loads itself, cleans the dishes, drys the dishes, puts the dishes away, and then cleans itself. If it gives BJs and wears stockings, so much the better. ;-)
Re: WHATS THE IT ANGLE????
Plenty of those dishwashers about however when you find a suitable one you're better off leasing as TCO for full ownership is way too expensive.
Re: WHATS THE IT ANGLE????
Well at least you're not strengthening the stereotype of IT nerds being charmless boors.
Re: WHATS THE IT ANGLE????
[quote]Finally I'd like to see a dishwasher that loads itself, cleans the dishes, drys the dishes, puts the dishes away, and then cleans itself. If it gives BJs and wears stockings, so much the better. ;-)[/quote]
I've got one of these, its called the Missus and i can tell you it was the most expensive item of kitchenware i've ever purchased!
AC for obvious reasons!!!
Re: WHATS THE IT ANGLE????
I was expecting at least a coffee machine with a USB port. Or an RS232 at a push.
blight
"If you’re one of the many who open a bottle of wine in the evening......."
Your a total whino and seen as no better than opening the special brew!
I HATE 'wine people', the stench of "respectable alcoholic".
Re: blight
Chin up, sunshine. A couple of glasses of co-op £3 plonk and you might learn the difference between "you're" and "your".
Bosch Tassimo T65 coffee maker
"But I love the Bosch Tassimo, not just because it makes great coffee, but because it’s versatile too. Whether you want an early morning espresso, an afternoon cup of tea, or a late night hot chocolate, the T65 will deliver it with aplomb. "
And I can't wait to have its babies.
Could we have at least the pretence that the article hasn't just been copied verbatim out of a series of press releases?
145quid toaster
For that price it'd better slowly lower the bread once loaded into the slot and slowly raise it out afterwards,
No, wait. The Sunbeam T-20 did that 60 years ago (why can't I still buy one?)
Ok, it'd better do that AND laser etch the morning's headlines onto the bread surface.
Re: 145quid toaster
If its the same sunbeam I'm thinking of, it'll be really slow, noisy, unrefined and will eventually set itself on fire...on the had shoulder of the M1
Ice Cream Maker
I think this list is missing an ice cream maker - mine gets regular use. Unlike most of the items here (soup maker etc) its functions cannot be replicated with other kitchen implements.
Homemade ice cream is a revelation - a million times better than supermarket crap and a lot cheaper to make than premium brands.
The Cuisinart ICE30 a pretty good one. No need for the fancy ones with built in chillers, unless you're a chef - two litres of ice cream a day (with a good 12 hours to freeze the bowl again) is going to be enough for any home kitchen.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cuisinart-ICE30-ice-cream-maker/dp/B001D650FA/ref=pd_cp_kh_1
I've heard good things about the Ben & Jerry's ice cream recipe book, too.
Hmm capsule coffee
Unless you grind beans you are drinking plastic coffee.
And whilst you are at it buy something that was at least roasted this year (week)
Nothing wrong with being a snob :-)
Somebody Forgot the
Thermomix.
I know you can only get it via party plan, but it the best bit of kit in my kitchen. It would want to be as well.
Puts that soup maker into the shade. Can do the sorbet, make bread, clean itself, makes the best sauces ever.
One side only
Does the toaster have a setting for doing one side only, I'd buy it then? I know you can shove two pieces in back to back but it's not the same.
Re: One side only
One-sided toast?
Good lord. It's this sort of barbaric behaviour that lost us the Empire.
Daily bread
All this talk of coffee and toast and no mention of bread makers?
Get yourselves a Panasonic SD-2501 and never buy a loaf of 'bread' in a plastic bag again.
It's dead easy to use and the bread is awesome. I slapped the doings for a garlic and rosemary focaccia loaf in at lunch and the most beautiful aroma is now filling the house.
I think I might pop to the shops for some butter. Not the namby-pamby, lightweight, spreadable oil and water emulsion; one of those rock hard slabs of creamy lovelyness! :-)
This topic is closed for new posts.
