Kitchen Gadgets

Discussion in 'Food & Drinks' started by Beth Gallagher, Jun 16, 2020.

  1. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
    Staff Member Senior Staff Greeter Task Force Registered

    Joined:
    May 29, 2020
    Messages:
    25,149
    Likes Received:
    36,885
    Sometimes I feel as though I just landed on this planet.

    Was anyone else aware that they make small countertop ice makers?

    [​IMG]

    I must have been signed in to my Wayfair account when looking for a certain item, and now they're stalking me again. I just got an email advertising ice makers. This one ^^^ is only $103 and it makes 26# of ice per day!! It might not pay for itself relative to the cost of bagged ice, but if you entertain this beats the heck of starting to make ice in trays a month before your party. And it's a lot more convenient than buying and transporting ice.

    I really don't understand why they don't hire a model who's as excited about this as I:

    [​IMG]
     
    #181
  2. Beth Gallagher

    Beth Gallagher Supreme Member
    Registered

    Joined:
    Jan 11, 2018
    Messages:
    21,976
    Likes Received:
    46,863
    Yeah, a lot of RVers/campers use those ice machines. They are really fast but no storage, if I remember right.
     
    #182
    John Brunner likes this.
  3. Hedi Mitchell

    Hedi Mitchell Supreme Member
    Registered

    Joined:
    Mar 18, 2017
    Messages:
    9,419
    Likes Received:
    16,559
    yes battery . Lolo however people with crippled hands will have very hard time trying to screw in the tiniest Phillip head screw ever made! Marks drill did not even have a bit that small. You can tape it up, comes with it. Fell off after few hours, so used the screws. Bought battery operated as this apartment does not have enough electrical outlets.
     
    #183
    John Brunner likes this.
  4. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
    Staff Member Senior Staff Greeter Task Force Registered

    Joined:
    May 29, 2020
    Messages:
    25,149
    Likes Received:
    36,885
    I have that "world's tiniest screw" problem with the electric puck lights that I bought. The screws are long (they go through the thickness of the puck) but the heads on them require a magnifying glass to see. Then there's the cheap, soft material they are made that falls apart of as you try to screw them into the dense cabinet wood. And they tend to back out over time, causing one side of the puck to sag, and you can't retighten them.

    I've gone to my local hardware store and searched through those bulk parts bins they have. No one makes these long thin screws. I wish I had thought to take one of the broken pucks I replaced and see if I could drill the thru-hole a little larger so I can put a larger diameter screw in it.
     
    #184
    Hedi Mitchell likes this.
  5. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
    Staff Member Senior Staff Greeter Task Force Registered

    Joined:
    May 29, 2020
    Messages:
    25,149
    Likes Received:
    36,885
    I just ran across an article about Crock Pots.

    The design was patented in 1940!!!

    [​IMG]
     
    #185
    Don Alaska likes this.
  6. Beth Gallagher

    Beth Gallagher Supreme Member
    Registered

    Joined:
    Jan 11, 2018
    Messages:
    21,976
    Likes Received:
    46,863
    I think that's more of a portable roaster oven thing. https://www.freepatentsonline.com/2187888.html

    One object in my invention is to provide an improved cooking means capable of meeting the diversified phases in the general art of cooking, such as baking, searing, scalloping, steaming, stewing and so forth. A further object is to provide portable apparatus of the class described having new and useful features of construction and operation.

    An important object of my present invention is to provide a portable electric roaster which positively overcomes, as expert cooking tests have proven, some of the objections existent in devices of this class in use heretofore. Considering such last named devices, it is well known that there is much to be desired by way of results from a scientific cooking angle; such results being much less satisfactory than those obtainable when similar foods are heat treated in gas, electric or other ranges of the larger and less portable type.
     
    #186
    Don Alaska likes this.
  7. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
    Staff Member Senior Staff Greeter Task Force Registered

    Joined:
    May 29, 2020
    Messages:
    25,149
    Likes Received:
    36,885
    The Pocket article I clicked on said "Crock Pot is over 100 years old." They may have been Bee Essing me.
     
    #187
  8. Beth Gallagher

    Beth Gallagher Supreme Member
    Registered

    Joined:
    Jan 11, 2018
    Messages:
    21,976
    Likes Received:
    46,863
    Well, basically a crock pot is a roaster with a ceramic crock inside that operates at lower temps. :D
     
    #188
  9. Beth Gallagher

    Beth Gallagher Supreme Member
    Registered

    Joined:
    Jan 11, 2018
    Messages:
    21,976
    Likes Received:
    46,863
    Has anyone noticed how expensive good knives are nowadays?? Holy crap; I'm glad I bought most of my Wusthofs years ago. I've been wanting a Shun Classic Master Utility Knife but not sure I want to spend the $$. (It's a "want", not a "need.")
     
    #189
    Don Alaska likes this.
  10. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
    Staff Member Senior Staff Greeter Task Force Registered

    Joined:
    May 29, 2020
    Messages:
    25,149
    Likes Received:
    36,885
    That article I grabbed the pic from scrolled off the menu, and I'm not looking for it again. I hate "journalists."
     
    #190
  11. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
    Staff Member Senior Staff Greeter Task Force Registered

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2015
    Messages:
    15,715
    Likes Received:
    30,253
    My mom had one of those electric roasting ovens, and that is what she used every year to make our holiday turkeys with, so hers must have been from the late 40’s or early 1950’s.
    She had it as long as I can remember, it lasted for many years, and I had it after she passed away in 1988.
    I eventually replaced it, but her old one definitely worked just as well, and lasted a lot of years.
    I think that it might have been that old-fashioned power cord that was the problem. It had the two prongs like a coffee pot plug has, but a lot larger and the cord had some kind of cloth-like covering on it.
    When it finally quit, there was no way to find another cord that worked right for such an old roaster.

    Also, about the ice makers, we had one , and I just loved it !
    It made little ice cubes and made them really fast. It only had a small storage area, but as fast as you took ice cubes out, it made more of them, so we always had ice cubes.
    The ice cubes were not as cold and hard as the ones from the freezer, but they worked just fine. We would still be using it but Bobby had it when he was working one one of the rentals he does handyman work on, and one of the other guys stole it.
    I think that we got ours from Sam’s Club, and they have them every summer.
     
    #191
    Beth Gallagher likes this.
  12. Beth Gallagher

    Beth Gallagher Supreme Member
    Registered

    Joined:
    Jan 11, 2018
    Messages:
    21,976
    Likes Received:
    46,863
    I have an Oster 22qt roaster oven that I use to roast turkeys, too. It actually works better and faster than my stove oven.
     
    #192
    Yvonne Smith likes this.
  13. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
    Staff Member Senior Staff Greeter Task Force Registered

    Joined:
    May 29, 2020
    Messages:
    25,149
    Likes Received:
    36,885
    I had to tell you I'm still lovin' my spurtles. I set my regular wooden spoons aside to see how these work out, and haven't gone after them since. I especially love the broad blade one.
     
    #193
    Beth Gallagher likes this.
  14. Beth Gallagher

    Beth Gallagher Supreme Member
    Registered

    Joined:
    Jan 11, 2018
    Messages:
    21,976
    Likes Received:
    46,863
    My latest gadgets. Non-stick chef pan to make fried rice and a Shun knife.

    pot.jpg pot2.jpg shun.jpg
     
    #194
    Yvonne Smith likes this.
  15. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
    Staff Member Senior Staff Greeter Task Force Registered

    Joined:
    May 29, 2020
    Messages:
    25,149
    Likes Received:
    36,885
    I'm getting on a seafood kick, and got recipes for au grautin scallops and for a seafood melange (white fish, shrimp, scallops, crab meat in a decadent sauce.) Both are baked & broiled and require special heat proof dishes. So I ordered au gratin dishes and ramekin dishes.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Now that I have these dishes, I'm likely to branch off into other foods.
     
    #195
    Don Alaska likes this.

Share This Page