Stupid Kitchen Gadgets I have owned

[pluckyduck]

I'm going to think about this and come back with more, but to start us off:

The Egg Wave, of course

Salad Shooter, yeah, lets have a bunch of things to clean rather than a single knife to wipe

Crepe Maker, an idea that came and went in about 4 seconds

There are a lot more. I just have to think about it. What about you guys?

Andrea

[theeye]

I guess kitchen gadgets taking up space in one's kitchen despite having never actually been used qualify.

If so, I can think of the following immediately:

1. Salad Shooter (bought it for myself a few decades ago because it seemed neat)

2. Food Dehydrator (gift from a friend which I brought upon myself by saying "hey, I should get one of those!" during a brief obsession with dehyrated veggie snacks

3. Big massive Cuisinart, which was on our wedding registry and which we really do intend to use one day when we get back to actually cooking for real

4. Wire post-shaped contraption designed to impale a whole chicken so as to roast it in a vertical position, resulting in a perfectly crisp and low-fat delicious chicken dinner, or so an article I once read in a magazine claimed

[nicholmere]

Hubby won a roto-potato contraption a couple of years ago. Cheap plastic 'machine' that was supposed to peel potatoes. I never used it, and recently I managed to dump it in the Good Will box. The units were selling in the stores for about $25, so perhaps I saved some Potato Fan a few bucks.

[foxfroggy]

A curly fry maker. Loses all of its charm after about 3 potatoes.

My mother once bought a weird little device that scrambled eggs while still in the shell. It worked just fine-but WHY??????

Pat

[taurusmoon]

I absolutely had to have The Great American Onion Machine. I tried it once and the results were disastrous.

I was very happy to toss it last time I moved.

When I have a craving for a Bloomin' Onion I head for the Outback Steakhouse. It's much easier (and safer) that way.

Sara

[sylvanb]

Originally posted by foxfroggy
My mother once bought a weird little device that scrambled eggs while still in the shell. It worked just fine-but WHY??????
Pat

Well, hard-boiled scrambled eggs, of course. Or if you prefer, scrambled hard-boiled eggs. Mmm mmm mmmmm.

[conradd]

If Andrea is the Queen of Kitchen Gadgets, I'm the Court Jester. I organized my kitchen a few years ago and got rid of quite a few things that seemed like such a good idea at the time. Unfortunately, getting rid of the old stuff left me with room to buy new stuff. Here's what I currently own and don't use:

• Potato Ricer - What is up with this? By the time I get the thing assembled, the potatoes are cold; I end up grabbing my trusty handheld potato masher time after time.
• Melon Ball Scooper - So you didn't know that melons had balls? Neither does my son, since I've never once used this device.
• Mushroom Brush - This took up room on my sink tray for two years, unused, until I realized that a damp paper towel works better anyway.
• Cherry Pitter - This is really really useful for the handful of cherries that the robins miss each year.
• Turkey Baster - I bought this because my mother had one. Last Thanksgiving, she told me she's never used hers either.
• Pizzelle Maker - I have two of these. One is an electric model and makes two at a time. The other is constructed to work over an electric or gas range. The sad thing is, I bought the second one knowing full well that I'd never used the first one.
• about a million corn holders. For some reason, my mom sticks a new set in my Christmas stocking every year. I now have service for at least 250.
• A set of cookie cutters that manage to trap dough inside an incredible number of tiny crevices. Great for dieters, it refuses to release dough and you work off calories trying to clean it.
• E-Z Roll Garlic Peeler - Another stocking stuffer. It's so much easier to whack a clove with the flat side of a chef's knife. Gets rid of frustration too.
• 3 garlic presses - none of which have ever successfully pressed a peeled garlic clove. Why 3? I have no answer.
• 3 coffee mills - one for mild spices, one for horseradish, and one closely guarded mill used only for coffee. I don't have horseradish. It's a long story.
• Egg Separator - This is a plastic device that is supposed to hold the yolk while allowing the white to drop into the bowl. It's easier - much easier - to use the broken eggshell.

There's more. Much more. I haven't even started on the pots & pans.

[sgentile]

Hey Deb get that melon ball scooper out & use it for mess-free meatballs and cookies! Oh no wait, I just remember that my ice cream scooper with the doohicky that scrapes it OUT of the scoop replaced my melon ball scooper!

I used to LOVE my Food Dehydrator!!! I went on a dehydrated cinn-apple snack craze that lasted about 3 yrs, until I had a baby. Much too time consuming and a huge counter jog! lol. But Mmmmmm, those were the days.

My Egg Wave went out with yesterday's trash.... It was kind of sad. I had such high hopes.

Susan

[nicholmere]

Originally posted by conradd
...[*]Potato Ricer - What is up with this? By the time I get the thing assembled, the potatoes are cold; I end up grabbing my trusty handheld potato masher time after time.
...

My grandmother uses one of those. She makes wonderful mashed potatoes with them. Her potatoes are usually finished cooking a little bit before the rest of the meal. She drains them and leaves them in the pot, then puts the pot on the middle of the stove to keep warm (when there's a roast in the oven).

Me, I use the regular masher too. Big family meal times can get stressful so being able to mash something into a little pulp is a wonderful thing. Of couse if you mash too much they get very gooey.


I have almost every other gadget that you mentioned. I use my turkey baster all the time though - even for pork roasts.

[wivabef]

Deb:

I use my Turkey Baster when I mistakenly put too much water in my coffee maker. I can't tip it for fear of getting water all over the counter, so I suck out the excess water!

I used to use it with Turkies, but now I cook them in those roaster bags.

[emeleel]

I use my baster for sucking out excess grease when cooking sausage, bacon, etc. in the skillet (less popping that way) or out from around my meat loaf. I don't like it sitting there, soaking in all that grease while it's cooking.

[foxfroggy]

And in certain circumstances, the turkey baster can be used in , er, human reproduction.

Pat

[conradd]

I'll take your word on that one, Pat.

Actually, I have used my turkey baster once. I read a helpful hint that it could be successfully used to help rinse shampoo from baby's hair during bathtime. My baby grabbed it and I ended up wetter than I normally got. End of alternate use.

I do like the degreaser suggestion. I usually just spoon the excess grease out, then blot the rest with paper towels, but the baster would be much easier. Thanks!

Deb

Breadmachine and rice steamer are life savers. Not sure how fuzzy logic makes rice taste better, but darn it, I want fuzzy logic in all my appliances now.

The most useful item is a rubber circle that I can lay on top of jars and bottles that don't want to open and it gives better traction with the lid. If you're a lid-wimp, this is the perfect tool.

[foxfroggy]

Hey, file, I feel the same way about my microwave rice steamer-don't cook it any other way now. But as good as the rubber thing is, Swing-A-Way maked a better jar opener, especially for arthritic hands like mine.

Pat

[murasaki]

I have a garlic press. I rarely use it because it's a pain to clean. For the same reason, I am against buying any sort of cuisinart or salad shooter contraption: a knife may not be as fast in preparation but it beats anything more mechanical in clean up.

I have a mortar and pestle--maybe one of these days, I'll actually grow some herbs.

I've used my rolling pin once, but I've only had that a few months (wedding gift).

I have this little sandwich gadget that presses the bread into a pattern and seals the edges. Great for kids, I guess, since I don't have any, but would waste half the sandwich.

A meat tenderizer. I hardly ever cook meat and have never tenderized anything.

The gadget I use more than anything else in my kitchen that was totally worth it: the ice cream scoop with anti-freeze in the handle.

--naomi

[CeeJay62]

Originally posted by murasaki

The gadget I use more than anything else in my kitchen that was totally worth it: the ice cream scoop with anti-freeze in the handle.

--naomi

I learned the hard way you can tick off a Pampered Chef lady REAL quick calling it anti-freeze. It isn't anti-freeze, it is a special chemical that doesn't let the ice cream scoop get cold. Whatever


Dumbest thing I ever bought was one of those sandwich makers where you slather butter all over two pieces of bread, add the filling of your choice, then heat seal the thing shut with the machine. Great sandwiches, but very messy to clean and I decided I didn't really want to die of a heart attack before the age of 40 due to a butter frenzy. After that I swore off gadgets, but now I'm mulling a rice cooker, since I never ever get the real stuff right, and minute rice tastes like cardboard flecks.

[emeleel]

I've found that the BEST jar lid opener is a rubber dish-washing glove, preferrably a name brand like Playtex. They have better grippies than the store brand ones.

For grilled sandwiches, you can't beat the George Foreman grill! I have one of the sandwich makers, too, and really enjoy it but like you say, it's a PAIN to clean up. The Foreman grill may not seal the edges of the sandwich and cut it into triangles, but it's still hot, gooey and toasty - and a lot less clean up!

[Gardenwife]

Wow, I know this is an old thread, but I just found it and enjoyed reading it. My useless gadget was a Butter Butler -- that thing which holds a stick of butter and gives you repetitive stress injuries from twisting the handle on its back to extrude a wafer-thin ribbon of butter. My husband saw it on TV a couple years back and thought it was really cool, so I surprised him with it. We both hated it, but did I throw it out? Noooo....I kept it, cleaned and in its original box, thinking it might sell on eBay. When I finally got around to checking completed auctions, I had a big surprise: Gee, no one likes these things much! So, it went in a box of miscellaneous kitchen stuff I gave away on Freecycle.

Best way I've found to cook rice is in the microwave. I can cook it in the same bowl I serve from, or add other ingredients and serve. With our old microwave, I would cook 1 cup rice in 2 cups water in a large covered glass bowl. I'd do 5 minutes on high, then 20 minutes on medium. The cook times will vary with your microwave's power, of course.

Our new microwave is a Whirlpool Gold GH9184XL (got it on clearance as a floor model at Lowe's - woo!). It has awesome sensor cooking and fancy-schmancy "rice" setting that does it perfect every time, just stops when it's done. It cooks it lighter and fluffier than my old method, absolutely perfect, with no boil-over, too!

[Helen_B[$]]

I have one sauce pan that is my favorite for cooking rice. It is tall, about a three quart, stainless steel, with a really thick cast aluminum(?)pad on the bottom. I put in the rice and water, cover it, and heat the pot until steam comes out from under the lid (or it starts to boil over, which ever comes first) and then I turn the heat down to nearly nothing, and leave it for about 20 minutes or until I'm ready to eat it. I can even make sushi rice this way, but not sticky rice, which really needs a steamer. (The man at the Chinese grocery told me how to make it in a colander lined with aluminum foil with a few holes poked into it, and said he'd been cooking it that way since he was a kid. I felt so stupid, I never tried it.) Anyway, I have a Ceran cooktop stove, so boilovers aren't as much of a pain as they used to be with the old sealed-burner gas stove that took half and hour to boil water. (Another story..)

[Gardenwife]

I never had any luck doing rice on the stovetop, probably because my pans were cheap and thin. We bought a set of Crofton non-stick stainless steel cookware at Aldi's last year, though, and they're wonderful. I may just have to try making rice in the big saucepan. Still, for no-brainersville, I love the nuker. I can put a covered dish of fresh veggies on the rack above the bowl and have both ready at once.

I like my rice to separate and be fluffy. I've heard the term, but what is sticky rice? The only times I've had sticky rice are when I've cooked mine too long, and I get the feeling real sticky rice is intentional, LOL!

[hymie[$]]

Sticky rice clumps together. You need it for sushi and rice balls and things like that, where the rice needs to be shaped and then hold its form.

[hymie[$]]

theeye said

Big massive Cuisinart, which was on our wedding registry and which we really do intend to use one day

It made yummy latkes (potato pancakes) for Chanukah. I like to make them hash-brown style using the julienne disk. They come out less watery and don't turn blac