5 kitchen tools I never touch:
2) Garlic press - Again, I use my trusty knife, which is probably already out slicing and dicing the vegetables and other ingredients for whatever dish I'm making. Nothing extra to wash or put away!
5) Melon baller - Did I have visions of hosting a garden party for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge when I hauled this tool home!?! And, the fruit balls are never picture-perfect-round. Plus, it's tiring to flip your wrist unnaturally up to make those incomplete balls, so I no longer reach for it. Instead, I dice watermelon, cantaloupe, or honeydew into bite-sized cubes. Perfect-complete-cubes!! Faster and saves the wrist. Turns out I should give my multi-tasking knife a pay-raise!
1) Egg slicer - I mean, how often do you slice eggs? And if it's only one or 2 eggs, you use a sharp knife, no? Presto, a sharp knife can do the task in less than a minute.
3) Potato peeler - This tool has never peeled a single potato ... not one! For the last decade, it's only been a drawer occupier. Some potatoes I cook unpeeled and with others, out comes the sharp knife again to do the job!
4) Pastry cutter - Buying one of these seems like a brilliant idea, yet again I simply use a knife to cut the butter into tiny cubes, then work the butter into the dough with my figures to ensure by feeling that the dough's texture is crumbly-right. I bought this thing despite already having 10 free human digits (which came with my hands, head, and trunk already assembled:). Go figure why I bought a thing unable to feel a dough's texture!
Can you add anything sitting in your kitchen drawers to my idle tool list? If I look in my drawers, I bet I could find 5 more idle utensils!
What makes us buy these extra gadgets? I wish I had become a minimalist earlier!😊
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Hi Debra, I smiled when I saw the yellow egg slicer - so many memories of the 70s and 80s. No I never had one, just my friends did. I don't like new gadgets and tend to throw out those I am given. However, I still have my original garlic press, and use it. Old habits. Regarding potato peeler, I cannot use the kind you picture; I tried one at my son's place this year and it was too strange for me. I have always used an old style one which peels towards you, and which are still cheaply available. Never had a pastry cutter, I do what I was taught at school, using fingers. We had a melon baller once, and used it maybe twice. Out it went :) There is one old gadget we love, a wrench which easily opens tight screw top jars. They disappeared from the shops about 30 years ago, so we keep our old one going. All the modern versions are not nearly as good, probably because they are made of cheaper (therefore not as strong) materials. But then, I am an old cynic. I also acquired a few old but excellent tools from my mother-in-law when we cleaned out her flat. My favourite is a metal spatula.
ReplyDeleteTrish, when I first arrived in NYC there was a wonderful store called Odd Lot Trading, which I think are still open in other parts of the country, but have closed here in Manhattan, where I bought 2 sizes of metal spatulas and I had a 3rd at home. It's suprising that sometimes you need 3 but when you bring produce home you sometimes do. It was inexpensive, but still going strong.
DeleteAlways enjoy your thoughts on these topics. Thanks for sharing.:)
A lot of my kitchen equipment came from my mother. This includes a pastry cutter, which I have used for certain tasks. I very much wanted to use it on Easter Sunday to prepare a relish of beets and horseradish, but it seems to have disappeared! I am hoping that it emerges from my drawers and cabinets, because I certainly don't want to buy a new one.
ReplyDeleteSounds very much like your pastry cutter is hidden in a drawer or cabinet and will turn up. I bet all the kitchen tools were made stronger in your mother's day too.
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