July 21, 2005
From the desk of Jane Galt:Summer gadget fest
So a while back, I may have told you that I was going to get a Rowenta iron. My mother talked me out of it. I don't iron that much, she told me; for the little I did, it was just as well to get a $25 Sunbeam.
Ha! I might as well have been pushing a brick around my clothes, for all the good it did me. Then a friend bought some expensive new shirts, and wanted to iron them instead of sending them to the laundry--industrial washing machines are hell on shirts. So we broke down and got the Rowenta.
You want me to spend how much for an iron? I hear you cry. And indeed, if all you do is press a shirt every few years when you're invited to a wedding, it would be madness to invest in one of these.
But if you have nice things that you don't want to see destroyed before their time by the cleaners, and you can afford 1/2 hour a week or so to iron them yourself . . . or if you just want to be able to wear your khakis a few more days between washes . . . you must buy a Rowenta. I blush, for I am about to sound like a women's magazine, but this thing really does make ironing into a joy. Like all steam irons, it can leak (though I've never had that problem), so it's wise to empty the reservoir before you iron silk or synthetics--but you were doing that anyway, weren't you, because you would never steam silk ;-)
Second gadget I've told you about before, but I'm gonna tell you again, because I just got one for my kitchen, and it's indescribably awesome: the digital oven thermometer with probe. Yes, that's right, you can stick the probe in the meat, set the thing to beep you when it hits the right temperature, and toddle off to the deck with a Tom Collins. (If your deck is very big--or you are very flush--there's a wireless version. Also fantastic for making candy and perfect Vanilla ice cream. And it's a second oven timer. All for $15. It doesn't get any better than that.
Speaking of ice cream, as y'all may know, I love my Kitchenaid mixer with a passion seldom found in one so young. You can get great deals on them at those outlet malls, or with those 20% off Bed, Bath & Beyond coupons. I use it to make, like, the best pancakes ever (recipe at the bottom of this post--you don't actually need the Kitchenaid). Believe me, they're totally worth it. The only downside is that they last so long--my mother's had hers for over thirty years--that I have no hope of ever upgrading to the fabulous new six quart mixer, upon which I have been longingly casting my eye every time I pass a Kitchenaid display. I recommend getting at least a 5 quart bowl-lift kind--the power on the other ones is okay, but they're a little cramped for baking bread or big cakes, which, believe me, you will suddenly find yourself interested in doing once you have gotten your hands on this little machine. You can also get great deals on them on Ebay. You too can make souffles or key lime pie in minutes!
The reason I bring this up is that if you get a Kitchenaid, you can then get my new favourite toy, the ice cream maker attachment. Oh, you scoff, I know. I did too, until I got my hands on one of those aforementioned Bed, Bath & Beyond coupons, and said to myself, "Why the hell not?" Luckily, I have friends who like to eat ice cream, or I would now weight 180 pounds. Ice cream, it turns out, is not all that hard to make, and homemade ice cream is magically delicious--particularly if you substitute half-and-half for the milk in the recipes (coronary surgeons need to eat too, you know). I am making Blueberry ice cream tonight to take down to Maryland with me this weekend. Yes, you can travel with ice cream: just pack a cooler with 3 parts ice to 1 part rock salt or Kosher salt, put the ice cream container in a ziploc freezer bag, and away you go. I mean, I wouldn't drive cross country that way, but you can go for hours before it begins to melt.
Finally, next time you're in an outlet mall kitchen store, help yourself to a pineapple slicer. You know that fresh chunk pineapple you buy in the supermarket for $8 a pop? You can have twice as much pinapple, fresher and better, for $5 if you're willing to buy one and cut it up yourself--which is easy if you have a pineapple slicer. I was sceptical, since I have a small apartment with limited storeage--but I also have a pineapple tooth, so I picked this gadget up at a Williams Sonoma discount place. Highly worth it. Although it is distressingly easy to eat an entire pineapple in one sitting.
Posted by Jane Galt at July 21, 2005 3:15 PM | TrackBack | Technorati inbound linksSounds neat, but where't the flapjack recipe?
Gah..."where's", not "where't"...I'm not *that* provincial:-P
Can't comment on the iron, but I have the thermometer, KitchenAid mixer and pineapple slicer. All are excellent items.
A few other kitchen gadgets that are worth getting:
- microplane graters - get the nutmeg grater if you bake a lot, and at least two sizes for grating chocolate, cheese, etc.
- Screwpull wine cork removers - do a great job on corks and are easy to use. Much better than the Ah-So or waiter's friend.
These items came up on the Amazon page for the digital thermometer, and are all worth getting:
- Emsa beaker - the fact that it has scales in cups, ounces, tbsp, ml, etc. means you can measure a bunch of different items into it and not have dirtied a bunch of measuring cups/spoons.
- oven thermometer. Many ovens run hot or cold, and can wreak havoc with baking. Use this thermometer to check your oven (or ovens in my case - mine run about 25 degrees hot.)
- tongs. Lots of uses.
- Alton Brown's books. If you appreciate gadgets, his books (and his show on foodTV, Good Eats) will help you get a good collection and make them multitask.
Yep, kitchen gadgets - as much fun as tools, and you use them every day........
Jane, please tell me you already have a set of good knives. I need a Henckels paring knife before I start splurging on yolk separators and pineapple slicers. Hell, I don't eat pineapple, and I just grab the yolk and throw it wherever I need it, usually down the drain.
Rest easy, my friend, I have good knives already. Though you don't really need that many. A good heavy chef's knife, a serrated utility knife, a boner, and one paring knife are more than enough to get you started, and then you can branch out into mixers. But you really don't need to "splurge" on an egg separator: the cheapest models cost about a buck. The outlet mall kitchen store is your friend.
Jane and co.,
The Taylor is great for sticking in and forgetting it but for those who grill, the Themapen from www.thermoworks.com is the best instant read thermometer in the known universe. This thing rocks so hard on the grill and checking doneness.
I am starting a movement to classify the Kitchenaid mixer as a power tool so men such as myself will feel less stigma in buying one. MEN! You can grind your own sausage! How much more manly can you get?!
Egg separators are nice; even with practice, it's still pretty easy to rupture a yolk on the broken edge of the eggshell using the 'back & forth' method.
Speaking of egg separators - do you make ice cream, or do you make frozen custard? Heavy cream + egg yolks = totally worth the heart attack.
I'm not sure about the ice cream maker attachment. At $80, it's more expensive than just buying a regular ice cream maker separately (generally around $50). Is the quality any better?
As for knives, check out the Treasured Family Sword. Unfortunately, it costs more than my entire 8-piece Wusthof block set. Maybe I'll go with the Visionary Sword Celebrated In Victory, instead. Still expensive, but not as ridiculous, and it has a cooler name, too.
I make both. The vanilla recipe I posted is my favourite, and uses two whole eggs; it's got a lovely balance.
The quality of the Kitchenaid is, in my humble opinion, much better than that of a $50 ice cream maker (though not as good as the $700 model my mother used to have in her catering days). The motor is better, and, as a nice plus, you can just keep the bowl in the freezer and it doesn't take up any additional space on your countere--a major consideration for me.
Heh, heh, heh, Jane said Boner.
Seriously though, I'm surprised you haven't checked out the deals on Dual-It toasters on Ebay. Me, I prfer the four slice version over the two.
Do you have a tomato and strawberry corer? They are very cheap and such a wonderful, handy tool if you eat either of those things often.
See, and I don't even waste my money on an egg seperator...I use my hand. I make sure it had been thuroughly washed and then I crack the egg into my right hand. I let the white drip between my fingers into a bowl and then put the yoke where I need it. Egg seperaters! Bah!
My Sister-in-Law, who is a quilt maker, swears by that iron. I really don't iron enough to make it worth my while, but my mother has one (that SIL gave her) and it is amazing!
Independent George:
Hmm, well I have Masamune's cake knife and Murasame's vegetable cleaver, but I wouldn't actually *use* them.
Many good suggestions. If, however, one is enamored with italian delights, one must make pasta from scratch, at which point, like Jane's pancake recipe (I must say that I have not yet separated and beaten the yolks, but will now give it a try), one will be forever spoiled, particularly if one grows roma tomatoes and herbs in order to make the sauce from scratch as well. After visiting friends in Italy, where pasta was made daily in the kitchen, I endeavored to do the same. I first purchased a manual, hand-cranking model, figuring anything that Italian grandmothers could do with ease I could as well. I returned it the next day, and bought an electric model, with which we have enjoyed delectable home-made pasta for almost a decade now.
It is quite easy to make pasta; just toss in the semolina, some water, an egg, flip the switch, and in a few minutes you have home-made angel hair, spaghetti, linguini, fettucini, lasagna, or still others. If one wants to be a little more adventurous, spinach, red pepper, or other types aren't too much more trouble, although it can be a little trickier in extremely humid weather. The texture (true al dente!) and taste cannot be replicated, and combined with a home-made sauce which hasn't been loaded with sodium, a mistake that even a vast majority of non-hideous italian restaurants tend to fall prey to, and one can really taste tomatoes, herbs, and real pasta flavor for the first time. Even if one doesn't grow tomatoes, a couple basil plants and a bag of semolina can yield a pesto sauce over angel hair to die for.
As to other matters, Jane, this may sound grotesque to some, but home-made avocado ice cream in unbelievably good. The richness of the ripest avocados combines with the half-and-half in a manner to make only a couple of dollops an extraordinary treat. Finally, good knives are a must, of course, but once I tried a heavy, well balanced, Chinese cleaver, I wondered how I did without one, particularly when dismantling chickens, turkeys, or geese. Even for finely chopping vegetables or herbs it has become my tool of choice, when I don't need so much as to get out the food processor.
At the Goodwill store, egg seperaters run twenty nine cents, and ice cream makers around twelve bucks.
I have a Kitchenaid and an oven probe meat thermometer and a simple Taylor digital probe thermometer, but what I REALLY WANT is one of those infrared guns that Alton Brown uses to check the temperature of his frying pans! They don't have those at the local Bed Bath & Beyond. (Where's W when you need her?)
For the same price as just the KitchenAid attachment, you can get a complete Cuisinart ICE-30BC 2 quart ice cream maker:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0006ONQOC/ref=rm_item
AT - I know what you mean. I actually found that site because I was looking for one of those Kyocera ceramic knives. It didn't take long for me to decide I really didn't want to spend $200 on a 6" knife that couldn't be used on anything with a bone or seeds in it.
Jane - I can't help but notice that the ice cream recipe calls for three whole vanilla beans, which runs for about $40 in my neck of the woods. That had better be the best ice cream ever made.
You can get them 15 for $23 at ,a href="http://www.penzeys.com/">Penzeys.
Holy &^%*$#@!!!
The only place I've been able to find whole vanilla beans is at Whole Foods, where they go for $12 each. Now I have to resist the temptation to put vanilla into everything I make. (I remember when I first got my Wusthofs, I insisted on cutting everything into paper-thin slices - just because I could). Thank you mucho, Jane.
Wow, this whole internet thing sure is pretty nifty.
Or you can make ice cream (in a pinch, or without adult supervision if you're a kid) in a couple of zipper bags. It was on Zoom years back: Mix up your ice cream "batter" - or wing it with some cream, sugar, and vanilla - and put no more than two cups of it in a quart-sized freezer bag (I suggest not a sandwich bag, because its zipper is less burly). Put this bag into a second bag (quart-sized) for insurance. Load up a gallon-sized freezer bag with ice cubes, a good quarter cup of plain salt, and a quarter cup or so of water. Put the smaller bags into the bigger bag, put the whole contraption into a fourth freezer bag (gallon-sized) for insurance, and - using oven mitts or gloves or something to protect your hands - start throwing it in the air, or between friends. Shake it, toss it, etc., and in about 15 minutes you have soft ice cream.
Fun for kids. You can have ice cream races. You can keep the kids busy while you're doing something else. You can have ice cream any day of the week even if you only have milk around (which I guess makes it "ice milk" but it's still fun).
Also, recall that the oldest ice cream maker would be a small (and presumably metal) bowl inside a bigger bowl, the bigger bowl filled with crushed ice, salt, and water, the smaller bowl stirred constantly. I myself haven't tried it, but I'm sure it can be done if you have patience and determination.
Jane, you need to contact these people for your blogads.
"Makes ironing a joy" -- Jane Galt
Dry ice is also a great portable freezer. It can enable you to take ice cream camping.
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