Kitchen Gadgets

[cheerypeabrain]

Interesting. I like making soup tho and find the chopping, cooking, sampling etc quite enjoyable.

For xmas I've asked Santa for what is basically a slow cooker. It's a big cushiony thing stuffed with straw/insulation, with a well in the middle. The idea is to start cooking your stew/casserole/curry/whatever on the stove and once it's started to simmer you place the pot containing the hot food into the cushiony thing and leave it for 8 hours so that it can cook...spose it's similar to burying it in the back garden Dunno if Santa will be convinced tho...I have been very good...

[Rita]

Cheery I’m sure they used to cook casseroles like that during the Second World War…

[Rita]

Meant to say there’s an auto setting on the soup maker… put what ever in the jug then press automatic - 30 minutes later the soup is ready to eat, there’s a keep hot function too. Can use it for making jam and sauces too.

[bixaorellana]

I've heard of burying the stew pot or casserole in the compost pile to take advantage of the low heat there, but in the back garden?

Get an Instant Pot, Cheery. It will do the same thing for your stew/casserole, but has other super useful functions as well.

[onlyMark]

It's a cooking technique I've used a few times, more often in pre-heated sand than anything.

[mickthecactus]

Are you thinking of haybox cooking?

[monetsmum]

I'm sure you're always good Cheery. 

[monetsmum]

My sister popped round  one day bearing a gift. She said, "You bake those lovely cheese & Onion pies for us all so I've bought this for you."  It was a lovely rotary cheese grater. 
The following day, on the school run,  I told my two 16 year old granddaughters about it. "OMG", they said, " that has to be the BEST PRESENT EVER!"  I burst out laughing then jokingly asked if Millie would like one for her birthday, which was coming up in a couple of weeks. To my surprise she shouted, "Oh yes please!", at which point Elizabeth asked, "Can I have one for Christmas?"  Millie got hers, alongside a pasta maker which she'd requested from mum and dad,  and Elizabeth's is all wrapped ready for Christmas.  It still amuses me that two 16 years olds chose a cheese grater. 

[mickthecactus]

These are my grandparents carving set. I still use them every week.

[bixaorellana]

Dec 5, 2022 8:52:24 GMT monetsmum said:

It still amuses me that two 16 years olds chose a cheese grater. 

When I was little my grandmother had one of those rotary cheese graters which I wasoccasionally allowed to "help" & use it. My mother of course had one, too, as did I when I was grown. But that childish thrill of seeing that classic invention working never quite goes away.

Gorgeous set, Mick -- a real treasure.

[monetsmum]

Gosh, that set will have carved a fair few roasts Mick! Reminds me of the set that mum had, though I doubt it was as old as yours. 

[bjd]

I had at least two rotary cheese graters but they were plastic, except for the grater part, and they didn't survive long. I did buy another one though, for grating chocolate when I want it very thin on cakes so that it melts.

I have two sets of table knives with horn handles, both bought in England in the early 1950s, but no roast carving set.

[mich64]

Mick my parents use a similar set!

Cheery your pot sounds interesting! My husband's family cook beans in the beach sand at the lake. It is a whole day affair, digging the hole, making a fire creating a bed of coal put the pot of beans (secret family recipe) on top of the coals and cover up with sand.

[questa]

I still have the fork and steel which my father used with a flourish when carving the Sunday roasts. the knife got sharpened so often that the blade was worn down to a sliver of steel in the handle...long gone now.

In Bali we had a special meal for discerning patrons upon 24 hours notice. A duck was caught and prepared then rubbed all over with local herbs and spices. Then grated coconut and coconut cream patted all over and the lot wrapped in banana leaves and placed in a hole in the ground with rocks and burning coco husks
Took about 6-7 hours to cook and the meat just fell off the bones,

[fumobici]

I had to look up "rotary cheese grater" to see what it was referring to. Turns out I've got a small one, a little French Moulinex one for Parmasean at the table. The drum has gotten dull and it's become a pain to use, I should just pitch it. I went on Amazon to look at new ones but they now cost $63 and I doubt I even paid 20 for the one I have. Back to the flat grater and putting the grated cheese in a little bowl for the table then.

[bixaorellana]

I want a food mill, which used to be easy to find for almost nothing at yard sales in the US. The price for a new one now makes me blanch.

[bjd]

We have a really old food mill that we got from a former sister-in-law. I'm not sure I ever used it, but my husband occasionally mashed things with it.

I do use one of these for making grated carrots. I even sent one to my son in Canada because they were so expensive and hard to find there.

[cheerypeabrain]

It's not looking good for the hay-box cooker...the postman hasn't brought any big parcels. Also OH blanched when he saw the price. I will just have to buy it myself next year

[bixaorellana]

Cheery, print THIS out, wrap it, & give it to your dear one for Christmas. More HERE.

Dec 6, 2022 18:07:16 GMT bjd said:

We have a really old food mill that we got from a former sister-in-law.

I'll just swing by & pick that up the next time I'm out your way. I'll bring you the classic Mexican lime squeezer and a molcajete in return.

[bjd]

Sure, Bixa. I had to google molcajete -- it looks as though it might weigh down your luggage, so never mind.

The great advantage of having a very small kitchen is that any time I'm tempted to buy a gadget, I just tell myself I have nowhere to put it.

[bixaorellana]

Dec 8, 2022 7:19:50 GMT bjd said:

any time I'm tempted to buy a gadget, I just tell myself I have nowhere to put it.

Words to live by! One of my hesitations about getting the Instant Pot, besides my impression that it was just another pressure cooker, was where to put it in my very poorly laid-out, counter-stingy kitchen. The only logical place was where I kept the coffee maker, easily the most important kitchen appliance. That meant the IP was here on probation, but it has passed the test.

[kerouac2]

Since I only drink coffee in social situations, my coffee maker existed only for receiving guests. So getting rid of it freed some counter space for another item. My tiny jar of Nescafé takes up very little space.

[kerouac2]

[bixaorellana]

Oooooooo! I was prepared to mock, but wound up thinking I wanted several items shown!

[htmb]

Is that a backwards way of mocking? Reply 352 is totally blank on my screen.

[kerouac2]

Do you have a twitter blocker?

[htmb]

No, but I do have an ad blocker. Maybe that’s the issue.

[htmb]

Turned off my ad blocker. That had been the issue. Some very helpful items in that video! I now want several.

[bixaorellana]

Yep! Some of that stuff is truly clever.

That's odd about the adblocker. I have several of them installed, but they don't usually catch something like a "second-hand" ad such as Kerouac posted. My browser does act stupid, though, when it's getting ready to update.

[bjd]

I have a strong adblocker but could see the video right away. Perhaps it depends on the adblocker?