Your least and most used kitchen appliance/utensil?

[rascal]

Mine is our mincer grinder. Wife asked me when was the last time you used it??
I lied and said a year ago. She knows I'm lying. She said we need to tidy stuff we dont use. I said im planning on dumplings and that is true. We are keeping it for now.
Judt need good recipe.

Russ

 

[GadgetGuy]

I never understood the big infatuation with "air fryers" it's literally a convection oven with a different name.

To the contrary, the air fryer has a souped-up high-powered fan that spins much faster & with a high-powered heating element (1,500 to 1,700 watts), which when combined together, they help make super-powered super-heated air to cook foods faster & better. I was really not a fan of the air fryer until I bought & tried THIS one out!! I pressure-cooked, then roasted a whole Chicken with it, & when I did, I was so amazed with it!! But the trick is that when doing a whole chicken in it, I had to turn the chicken over so that it got roasted brown on BOTH sides. I made it look as though it was rotisseried, which was what I wanted!!

 

[GadgetGuy]

My toaster oven is a convection oven, but I use it most of the time, easpecially during the summer to avoid having to use the stove's oven, which would heat up the kitchen, making it unbearably hot in there.

 

[Puggles]

I have a garlic press, but it hardly ever gets used. It IS one of my least-used gadgets. I'd much rather chop up the gloves in the chopper, rather than to put them through THIS thing. I find it hard to clean! And if you don't get all the garlic out, it could sit there & start stinking!!! You don't want that!!! Cute as they look, it can definitely be a drudgery to clean!!

View attachment 109326
My toaster oven is a convection oven, but I use it most of thge time, easpecially during the summer to avoid having to use the stove's oven, which would heat up the kitchen, making it unbearably hot in there.

That looks just like my countertop oven, I love it and use it all the time.

 

[The Late Night Gourmet]

I appreciate that most garlic crushers are a pita

Not sure if anyone else caught that....there was a guy at work that some of us nicknamed "Pita" even though his name was Gavin. For those who aren't sure of how this acronym works out, it starts with Pain In The.

 

[The Late Night Gourmet]

I find that just about everything I prepare involves a cutting board, a chef's knife, and not much else aside from a bowl for mixing things. But, the knife is pretty obvious. I get a lot of use out of the toaster oven - which, like GadgetGuy's, also has a convection oven setting. But, that's not something I use to prepare food...more like a quick reheat or a drunken invention late at night (hence the name).

I use the mandolin quite a lot because I pickle things a lot, and those things pickle better when they're sliced uniformly. I also use a box grater, or a small hand grater, quite a lot, whether it's cheese, vegetables, or garlic. I find grating the garlic to be much faster than dicing with a knife.

Oh, and a digital thermometer. There aren't many dishes I make that don't involve this.

There are a lot of least used items, but the spiralizer is one that I never used for an actual recipe. I once used it just to test what it would do with a zucchini. Okay, now I know. Some things I barely use - like a sous vide machine, vacuum sealer, and stick blender - but I still have some use for them, at least.

And, as for a stand mixer, this comes out whenever I'm baking, with an occasional exception. I didn't use it for cornbread muffins I made 2 days ago (I hand mixed the ingredients). But, I always do for sweet cupcakes, cookies, and bread. While I could hand mix to combine the ingredients, why take the extra time when I can do it so perfectly with a little bit of electricity?

 

[The Late Night Gourmet]

Least used: exact sandwich maker I bought it on my wife's recommendation and now I regret it

I think you may have misunderstood: she didn't want you to buy the sandwich maker; she wanted you to be the sandwich maker.

 

[TastyReuben]

Oh, and a digital thermometer. There aren't many dishes I make that don't involve this.

That’s interesting to me. I have one and might use it twice a year - Thanksgiving & Christmas.

 

[GadgetGuy]

That looks just like my countertop oven, I love it and use it all the time.

Sounds like we both have the same thing!! Hah!!

 

[GadgetGuy]

I find that just about everything I prepare involves a cutting board, a chef's knife, and not much else aside from a bowl for mixing things. But, the knife is pretty obvious. I get a lot of use out of the toaster oven - which, like GadgetGuy's, also has a convection oven setting. But, that's not something I use to prepare food...more like a quick reheat or a drunken invention late at night (hence the name).

I use the mandolin quite a lot because I pickle things a lot, and those things pickle better when they're sliced uniformly. I also use a box grater, or a small hand grater, quite a lot, whether it's cheese, vegetables, or garlic. I find grating the garlic to be much faster than dicing with a knife.

Oh, and a digital thermometer. There aren't many dishes I make that don't involve this.

There are a lot of least used items, but the spiralizer is one that I never used for an actual recipe. I once used it just to test what it would do with a zucchini. Okay, now I know. Some things I barely use - like a sous vide machine, vacuum sealer, and stick blender - but I still have some use for them, at least.

And, as for a stand mixer, this comes out whenever I'm baking, with an occasional exception. I didn't use it for cornbread muffins I made 2 days ago (I hand mixed the ingredients). But, I always do for sweet cupcakes, cookies, and bread. While I could hand mix to combine the ingredients, why take the extra time when I can do it so perfectly with a little bit of electricity?

My mandoline slicer looks like THIS one. Surprisingly, it hardly gets used, but it's there when I ever want to use it. I rarely julienne or slice veggies & fruit. I mainly like to chop things to a dicing consistency, such as onions, bell peppers & celery. My pull-string chopper or the Slap-style chopper can handle those jobs very well. Then of course, like The Late Night Gourmet says, the chef's or French knife can also do the trick. But I mainly like gadgets worth getting & can get me out of the kitchen fast & in record time!!

 

[GadgetGuy]

I also have a gadget like THIS; a rolling chopper, which also hardly gets used. It works fine! Only thing is that it's kind of hard to clean, & you'd have to do it when whatever you've chopped is still soft, otherwise if the food that's on it is allowed to harden, you'd have to soak the blades before you can clean them & you may need a small brush to help get it clean. Gadgets like these may make life easy when it comes to prepping food, but if you don't clean them immediately, it can be a pain in the neck!!

 

[blades]

I have a lot of kitchen gadgets. I love cooking and I cook a lot, but even I can admit I have too much stuff.

The only thing I sincerely regret buying is the slow cooker. The nutribullet also doesn't get as much use as I imagined but it's a good product overall.

I'm a big fan of kitchen equipment that reduces energy consumption, like airfryers, slow cookers and pressure cookers. The airfryer is a really good alternative to the oven in my opinion, and a good way to enjoy "crunchy" food without frying anything.

We do use the slow cooker from time to time. My wife likes spare ribs cooked in it until the meat falls off the bone. It isn't my favorite way to cook ribs but she usually gets it her way. I do make a pretty good barbecue sauce for it, thoughl I think the idea behind the slow cooker is to put dinner in it to cook, go to work and then come home to a finished dish. Personally I wouldn't leave one unattended that long.

I used to own and operate a gourmet housewares store so I have way, way, way too many gadgets and tools. It came with the territory back then. So I understand completely.

 

[caseydog]

I use the mandolin quite a lot because I pickle things a lot, and those things pickle better when they're sliced uniformly.

I find that blood and fingertips ruins the flavor of my foods.

CD

 

[caseydog]

View attachment 109334
My mandoline slicer looks like THIS one. Surprisingly, it hardly gets used, but it's there when I ever want to use it. I rarely julienne or slice veggies & fruit. I mainly like to chop things to a dicing consistency, such as onions, bell peppers & celery. My pull-string chopper or the Slap-style chopper can handle those jobs very well. Then of course, like The Late Night Gourmet says, the chef's or French knife can also do the trick. But I mainly like gadgets worth getting & can get me out of the kitchen fast & in record time!!

Fixed that for you.

CD

 

[caseydog]

Some things I barely use - like a sous vide machine, vacuum sealer, and stick blender - but I still have some use for them, at least.

And, as for a stand mixer, this comes out whenever I'm baking, with an occasional exception.

Just the opposite for me. I use my vacuum sealer a lot. I buy steaks and other meats on sale, and especially when they are marked down because they are a day or two away from their "sell by" date. I vacuum seal them and freeze them. I also use it to seal foods for sous vide, which I do at least one every month. I order bags in bulk online, because I use so many -- they are cheaper that way.

On the other hand, I use my KA stand mixer maybe twice a year???

CD