Things found in your kitchen.

Discussion in 'Miscellaneous' started by trekkiedane, Sep 29, 2012.

  1. Tora Ziyal

    Tora Ziyal Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I have a very boring kitchen. Anything I've ever bought beyond the very basics I've ended up eventually re-homing, because I wasn't using it.
     
  2. An Officer

    An Officer Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Oh, and there is a nutcracker, and the only use it sees is tight bottle caps when I cannot open them!
     
  3. trekkiedane

    trekkiedane Admiral Admiral

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    :guffaw:

    I use water pump pliers for both those things.
     
  4. Grey

    Grey Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    Ooh, I have a bunch of this stuff. :)

    Mortar and pestle (no, we haven't really gotten around to breaking it in yet), bamboo steamers (two in different sizes), one of those novelty as-seen-on-TV food slicing...things. It actually works pretty well and we use it fairly often.

    Probably the biggest collection of kitchen things I have is all of my coffee stuff. It's pretty random right now as I've yet to get a decent espresso machine but...someday. Until then I'll just keep collecting tampers and steaming pitchers.

    And my french press. I use that everyday.
     
  5. trekkiedane

    trekkiedane Admiral Admiral

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    Indeed, that's one of those things you find in most kitchens, from tiny sets to the half-a-pig can fit in it size. I have an antique (well, possibly anyways; it might be less than a hundred years old, but it is old) brass apothecary-set (but I use it often enough though; whenever I need to make, say, curry or some such).

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Sep 30, 2012
  6. propita

    propita Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Apple-peeler--very useful when baking apple pies.

    Cherry de-stoner--very useful when supplying Hubby with cherries when he has gout (yeah, he gets gout)

    Mandolin--but not used so much, since Hubby has cut himself and I don't trust him around it.

    Corn cob holders--but I cut off the kernels with a knife

    Egg-slicer--useful when making potato salad and for puncturing eggs before boiling them

    Jar un-screwer--I have little hands, so big jars can be difficult, even with this.

    Potato peeler--don't most people have at least one?

    Ice cream scoop

    Oven Thermometer--well, yeah

    Strawberry huller--useful when hulling MANY berries at one time, and can also be used for tomatoes, though I usually use a knife

    Manual juicer--I juiced and froze a BUNCH of lemons from my tree

    Pineapple corer/slicer--as described by another poster

    Ricer--for ricing boiled potatoes, because I like my potatoes like I like my men...smooth



    WHAT is a banana box?
     
  7. trekkiedane

    trekkiedane Admiral Admiral

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    Never knew such a thing existed! -like many people around here I was 'in the strawberries' as a youth; I learned to do that with two fingers (it helps to actually have nails though).

    A banana-box is a banana-shaped plastic box that holds one banana (when it is of a size that fits) and allows you to transport one banana -a bit like a sandwich-box- google it if you don't believe me :lol:
     
  8. CorporalClegg

    CorporalClegg Admiral Admiral

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    I don't know. Is it bigger than a bread box?
     
  9. auntiehill

    auntiehill The Blooness Premium Member

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    A friend gave me old sandwich press--a very high end one, too. I have yet to use it. It seems like a lot of mess and work just to make myself ONE sandwich.

    Hubby bought a "cheesecake slicer" that looks like two strings of piano wire on a frame. It's rarely used.
     
  10. trekkiedane

    trekkiedane Admiral Admiral

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  11. cooleddie74

    cooleddie74 Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I have a modern waffle iron that I've owned for years and just never bother to use. When I want waffles I buy frozen ones from a store or go to a restaurant like Denny's where somebody else makes them, so the iron is just little more than a glorified paperweight.
     
  12. Mary Ann

    Mary Ann Knitting is honourable Admiral

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    For a short while I sold Pampered Chef stuff, so I have quite a few little gadgets I hardly ever use as I needed them for my demos. I kept the melon baller, the strawberry husk remover, and the garlic press, though the one that sees any kind of regular use is just the garlic press. Other things like the apple corer were crap and were never used, so they've gone. I do a lot of cooking, so I use a lot of my gadgets, such as the jam/candy thermometer. I have a vegetable peeler but prefer to use knives. In fact, I always peel potatoes with a small paring knife.

    By far my favourite kitchen toy is one that doesn't fit in a drawer: a Kenwood Chef Titanium. I use mine at least four times a week, if not more. I always bake my own bread, and I make pasta from scratch as well, using the pasta making attachment. As you can see from the price it's definitely not something you buy if you're not going to use it often! Other larger toys in my cramped little kitchen include a slow cooker and a pressure cooker, which are also used regularly. My kitchen may be a mess, but at least we eat well. ;)
     
  13. Captain Ice

    Captain Ice Cookie Constructor Admiral

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    I've got one of those that i only use during the Christmas season, and only to make Sugared Walnuts. The sugar has to boil at precisely the right temperature or you wind up with a big ball of goo. Two degrees either way and it's completely garbage.

    Other utensils in my kitchen that don't see much use include: corkscrew (used about 10x a year), flour sifter (just bought one this week since I have no idea what happened to the old one), two ancient vegetable peelers (they are rusty and I have two fairly new ones too), and my coffee maker (used only Dec. - Mar.)
     
  14. KimMH

    KimMH Drinking your old posts Premium Member

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    We've only got two, pretty small, use them twice a day everyday. our son is fed and medicated via gastric tube and not all his meds come in liquid form. any tablet medications have to be crushed and dissolved in water to administer. we have a regular use sized one for home and a teeny travel sized one. the plastic pill crushers you can buy at the pharmacy aren't even half as effective.
     
  15. Mary Ann

    Mary Ann Knitting is honourable Admiral

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    Those pill crushers and cutters are useless. What a nightmare that not all of Peanut's meds come in liquid form. One more thing to add to the list, eh?
     
  16. RoJoHen

    RoJoHen Awesome Admiral

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    I think the craziest thing I have in my kitchen is my Magic Bullet food processor, which really isn't that crazy at all. Other than that, I have the most basic kitchen in the world. Bowls, knives, spoons, pots and pans...nothing special. And I can't think of a single reason why I would ever need to peel anything, so I don't have a peeler of any kind. I just eat the skin!
     
  17. Timby

    Timby o yea just like that Administrator

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    I don't peel potatoes, since the skins have never caused stomach irritation for me, but peeling tomatoes is a regular occurrence in my kitchen ... the idea of peels in marinara / red sauce, gazpacho, chili or the like just nauseates me (mostly because cooked tomato skins have a pretty nasty texture). I don't use a peeler, though ... just score them, drop them in boiling water, then shock them in cold water, then drain and peel with a paring knife.

    My mandoline, though, I'd die without. Nothing better for slicing up a metric ton of vegetables or meats in about six seconds flat.
     
  18. RoJoHen

    RoJoHen Awesome Admiral

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    I'm not the hugest fan of tomatoes in general, so if I am cooking with them, I throw them in the food processor and turn them into a paste. You can't even tell they had skin. :p

    The only thing I would ever feel the need to peel are carrots, so I usually just go the lazy route and buy bags of baby carrots, which are already peeled.
     
  19. M'Sharak

    M'Sharak Definitely Herbert. Maybe. Moderator

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    We have a juicer like the glass one in your picture, a hand-held one similar to this, and also an electric one for large-scale juicing tasks. No tongs, though.

    Yep, exactly like the one in your picture

    Don't think so
    presses, but no peeler
    yes, but not nearly so nice as the one in Timby's picture
    I think we have some holders, but no peeler
    there's one somewhere, but it never gets used
    yes, gets used all the time
    no, no, no
    yep

    Got one of those.

    Got a small one of those.
     
  20. KimMH

    KimMH Drinking your old posts Premium Member

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    Eh! Until we discovered the now old fangled tech I was tempted to use my shoe . . . ;)