Best Kitchen Gadgets / Cooking Appliances

Pots, pans, baking pans, casseroles and other cooking implements:

The absolute best for a lifetime of daily cooking is stainless steel. Forget aluminum, nonstick, cast iron and every other trendy substances. Aluminum is a reactive metal, and like tin, brass, bronze will effect the flavor of foods. Avoid like the plague. Same with nonstick substances that scratch during cleaning and leech toxins into what you are eating. There isn't one non stick substance which doesn't suffer this problem, no matter what the ads say. They all lie. Caveat Emptor.

Cast iron, originally intended for use with open fires, coal and wood burning stoves, stood capable of high heat without falling apart. Properly seasoned, meaning the surface has been carbonized over time with cooking oils, is non-stick, but can never truly be cleaned for fear of breaking the seasoning, and sterility is dependent upon bringing the pan or pot to high heat before adding fresh food for cooking. They will smoke, and so will food at high temperatures. Any kitchen using cast iron could develop the aroma of a greasy spoon. The chief advantage of cast iron is cooking at extremely high temperatures, which can also be achieved with stainless steel and not all the smoke.

The best stainless steel pots and pans have a thin layer of copper between the pot or pan bottom and the cooking surface. This insures even heating at all temperatures thanks to the conductivity of copper. Today, because of the increased costs of copper aluminum has become the insert of choice. Not as efficient as copper, and not a problem because it does not come in contact with the food, it works. I've a collection of these types of pots and pans, about 35 different sizes, styles and purposes. Fry pans, sautéing pans, double boilers, pasta pots of different sizes, sauce pans, stew pots, and so on. All but a 5 piece starter set received as a wedding present with my first wife, bought at tag sales and so on, average at 10¢ on the original $ cost. When I shop the various sales, I keep a small piece of shredded steel cleaner in my pocket to rub away a patch of build up to identify the type of insert, no one cares about a touch of spot cleaning, and if it is copper I buy.

New 10 piece starter sets vary in price from about $250 to $3k. Unless you have money to burn, will never cook in them and want a photo of your kitchen in Architectural digests, a $250 starter set gets the job done.

I'm an avid baker, casserole maker, and roaster. I have about 120 baking pans, cookie sheets, cooling racks, casserole dishes, roasting pans, made from stainless steel, ceramic and glass. For the most part all have been bought at second hand sales, or while traveling overseas for specialty items, usually glazed specialty ceramics for ethnic foods. Many, I've picked up for $1 or 2. Other people's junk, my treasures. Anything from glass or ceramics I stick to the Corning label, to assure myself of oven quality. I use a magnifying glass to search for hairline scratches and cracks, and if absent, I buy. I make look silly when I examine products with my little pocket magnifier, but I don't bring anything home to throw away. One of my prize purchases, a Corning glass lidded Turkey Roaster, big enough for a 30lb Turkey with accouterments, for $5. Never used. Picked up at a tag sale, and used for all kinds of roasts over the years, including a 32lb elk loin roast that fed a wedding party of 60. All we needed was a groom and bride, a reaffirmation of vows at a 50th anniversary, they both fell asleep before the ceremony. It was still fun, and the ceremony took place after the dinner. We kept warmer plates for the both of them.

Knives and other utensils

High quality knives are essential. Specifically, German, Belgian or Japanese long time knife maker products. Again, once familiarizing yourself with the best brands, also familiarizing yourself to distinguish between crap and the best quality from the same brands, tag and estate sales are the way to go. Other than the basics, paring, bread, chef's, boner and carving, I have about 80 specialty knives, mostly for decorating purposes, others for specialty slicing, chopping and so forth. And they can be fun when throwing at a portrait of your latest political nemesis posted on a kitchen wall. I prefer the high end Japanese knives to all others, some prefer the German, others the Belgian. These use the highest grades of steel and hold an edge the longest. Having appropriate grades of whetstones and steel sharpeners, using them on each knife just before using the knife, makes a difference. I recently picked up two knives at tag sales, one a Heinkel carver, normally sold new for $450, purchased barely used for $8, and for a $1 the weirdist potato knife I've ever come across. It actually scallops the edges of each potato slice as you cut it, slicing through a raw potato as it were butter set out for a couple of hours. No idea who made it or when. The seller had to explain what it was used for, couldn't remember where she bought it or how much she paid, but said it had been sitting in a draw for years. I might try it out.

Other than knives, ice cream scoops of different sizes, ice scrapers for granites and of course, ices. Always room for more wooden spoons, spatulas, scrapers, spreaders, egg separators (some work, some don't), nutcrackers (my wife's specialty), cheese slicers, wire cheese slicers, steel storage bowls with lids, colanders (essential for blanching vegetables), peelers, frosting and jam, jelly or preserve tubes for decorating whatever, there is always something to buy and never use. Serving spoons of all sizes, salad tossers and wooden bowls, fish de-boners, hand fruit and vegetable choppers, lemon squeezers and garlic presses. Oyster and clam shuckers, lobster forks, corn on the cob holders, watermelon seeders and spitters without saliva attached, what more can a man need in the kitchen.

Well, there's my Vitamix. The mother of all blenders. Makes ice cream, cocktails, juices, soups heated by the motor in 2 minutes, crushed ice, smoothies, sauces, kneads breads and other doughs, decorates the ceiling when someone forgets to put the lid on, perfectly whips raw squash for soup or sauces, corn for corn ice cream, chops and minces for pates and other goodies, juliennes green beans, carrots, broccoli slaw, spirals potatoes and other root vegetables, all except kneading in fractions of a second. Kneading 2lbs of dough to any consistency in less than 2 minutes. Mills flours from wheat berries, well rinsed acorns, rice, bulgar, and any other grains. Makes perfect stuffing for turkey, pork chops, cabbage, crab meat stuffing for a fish, whatever.

Last but not least, the recording of my vacuum, to be played on the kitchen sound system the moment the dog sticks his nose in the kitchen. Watch him turn tail and run, run, runaway cowardly dog. Ha!

americanwoman said:

One thing I have taken for granted - automatic can opener.

I'm in transition from old house to new house and in the meanwhile for some reason the automatic can opener didn't make the transition house cut. I thought, it's okay I can open cans by hand for a couple months and even use that expensive can opener someone gave me years ago. Never again! Not only is it not intended for left handed people but it's a pain in the ass to open a can by hand.

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Get one of these. Safety lid lifter. Love mine (older model).

https://smile.amazon.com/Kuhn-Rikon...=1538428986&sr=1-9&keywords=safety+can+opener

i've had one of these since 2009 (****, almost ten years) :



love it. apparently, it's pretty durable, too. i ate so many homemade egg muffin sandwiches that i kind of burned myself out on them. still use it for the toaster part, though.

Helix said:

i've had one of these since 2009 (****, almost ten years) :

View attachment 67241434

love it. apparently, it's pretty durable, too. i ate so many homemade egg muffin sandwiches that i kind of burned myself out on them. still use it for the toaster part, though.

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lol, yet another gadget I had that went by the wayside. TBF I did use it quite a bit for a few years, but decided decluttering my counter was more important.

Two appliances I can not live without and one gadget I can't live without.

Coffee press (single cup)


Food processor


Coffee grinder (burr)

Electric kettles are the bomb too if one doesn't have a stovetop and teakettle handy.

Winchester said:

Electric kettles are the bomb too if one doesn't have a stovetop and teakettle handy.

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I went to Germany for two weeks and these were in every hotel we stayed at. Promptly purchased one when I returned home.

Coffee

Someone in this thread said all you need is a good coffee machine and good coffee, with a quality roast.

There are no good coffee machines. The best temperature for making coffee is between 185-195 degrees F. Only three machines that I know of on the consumer market reach that temperature, the Capresso, the Bunn and the Colavita. They are with exception of the Colavita ridiculously expensive, and otherwise not that good.

Coffee beans (a misnomer because they are really berries containing seeds, a fruit) originally come from Africa. Someone brilliant figured out they could be roasted, ground and converted to a beverage. For hundreds of years, that beverage resembled mud, and still does in many countries. You can still chew many different African coffee drinks. But you may never get the grit out of your teeth. Then some greedy Conquistador planted some coffee in the mountains of Puerto Rico, and the taste of coffee change forever. Quickly traveling to Jamaica, the rest of the Caribbean isles, Central and South America, the beverage that quickly conquered Europe and North America once Europeans invaded en mass, came to be known as American coffee, and the houses in which it was served, both in Europe and North America, coffee houses, became known as bastions of insurgent ideas and radical calls for freedom, the end of economic as well as political oppression, the end of divine rule, and other representations of the DEVIL! And those damn surviving insidious indigenous Puerto Ricans added cane sugar to the beverage, the world was hooked. Sugar is more addicting than heroin.

There are three types of coffee, Arabica, Robusta and Canephora. Robusta is a bitter tasting coffee with an aftertaste similar to peanut butter. It is mostly used for making instant coffee and freeze dried coffees. Canephora, like Robusta is used in some blends of Arabica because it is cheap, relatively tasteless, high in caffeine, making both it and Robusta good for espresso blends as well as instant coffees. That kind of strange taste that addicts you to Starbucks, isn't a burnt roast, it is the high blend of cheap Robusta and Canephora with its quadruple hit of caffeine that calls you back. Think about it, they charge you more for addicting you to a cheaper product.

The best Arabica coffees have a high flavonoid content, and a concurrent high anti oxidant content. This creates a flavor with chocolate like overtones in the aftertaste. Not all flavonoids (the compounds that differentiate tastes) and not all anti oxidants are equal. Some of each are good for you, some are not. Yet to be determined.

Coffee growers basically separate coffee beans by three grades, small oblong, large oblong, and peabody (globular), suggesting the large oblong tastes better than the small, and the peabody best of all. I don't know if that is truly the case, but they sell peabody beans for more money. A quality roaster can make most arabica coffees indistinguishable from each other after roasting. Some people prefer dark roasts, some medium, some light. Which is best? Ask your own palette its expectations. Like fine wine connoisseurs, blind testings tell us they don't know the difference between the expensive and cheap.

I believe the best way to make coffee is one of the least expensive. A French press. Place the grinds in the bottom of the pot, pour in near boiling water, let sit 4-5 minutes, press down on the plunger, and presto, coffee that tastes great. Rinse off the press, let the grinds in the pot cool while you're indulging. Then pour out the grinds (they make for good mulch), rinse out the pot and you set it out to dry, ready to be used later or tomorrow. A glass French press can be bought for $13-15, a stainless steel French press for $15-20, perfect for a klutz like me who breaks anything made from glass.

I tend to buy the better estate coffees from https://www.puertoricocoffeeshop.com/

Either Alto Grande, Don Pedro or Yuaco. Almost all the Yuaco has been bought up by the European high end hotels. Unfortunately on the scale of things in the coffee world, Puerto Rico doesn't produce that much.

So you never thought coffee was political. When the Boston Tea Party was being arranged, the real target was a British merchantman carrying molasses. The biggest business in New England at the time was making rum. Rum is made from molasses. King George was broke from his wars with France, and decided to raise the tax on, you guessed it, molasses. Most American colonialists were already forgoing teas, drinking coffee in coffee houses. Damn revolutionaries. The molasses carrying merchantman in Boston harbor learned the mob was coming to toss his cargo into the waters, and departed. That left that poor fellow carrying unwanted tea as a substitute. C'est le Guerre. A myth was born.

americanwoman said:

One thing I have taken for granted - automatic can opener.

I'm in transition from old house to new house and in the meanwhile for some reason the automatic can opener didn't make the transition house cut. I thought, it's okay I can open cans by hand for a couple months and even use that expensive can opener someone gave me years ago. Never again! Not only is it not intended for left handed people but it's a pain in the ass to open a can by hand.

Click to expand...

It's an art, but I only open cans with my old bayonet. I did learn something in boot.

OldFatGuy said:

It's an art, but I only open cans with my old bayonet. I did learn something in boot.

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They didn't give you one of these. :2razz:

Winchester said:

They didn't give you one of these. :2razz:

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No, they didn't.

But my buds bought me glow in the dark condoms when we got our first leave.

OldFatGuy said:

It's an art, but I only open cans with my old bayonet. I did learn something in boot.

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Now that is a talent.

I'd be handless with no tomato sauce.

sanman said:

I want to know from people what they see as the most useful kitchen gadgets or cooking appliances.

I've been hearing a lot about air fryers lately, and how they produce such nice results similar to frying, but without needing any oil (or at least needing very little of it).
Another one I've heard a lot of good things about are digital pressure cookers, like Instant Pot. They allow meals to be cooked faster while staying juicier.

Sous-vide cooking is also another good one, particularly for meat, because it allows meat to be cooked at precise temperatures for longer periods, and is supposed to give great results in an error-proof way.



I'd like to know if anybody has any of these, and can give the pro's and cons from their own experience.


What other gadgets/appliances are worth having, and why?

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Of all that you mentioned sous vide is the best investment if you are a serious foody. Its gets things absolutely perfect. I cook my steaks that way a lot of times, especially if I dont have a firm time to eat as I can set on hold the food at exact temperature. The way the steaks are cooked are exact opposite how you would normally. You cook it to just below temp then finish it on the highest heat you have 500+ for very short period to get the Maillard effect on the foods surface with an exceptionally thin brown band especially with thicker cuts. You get reliable repeatable performance.

My brother has an insta pot. It seems to me to be just a programable pressure cooker/ crockpot. Nothing wrong with it but its usefulness depends on what you cook.

If you are gona fry things get a real fryer with a large oil reserve. The oil reserve is a heat sink of sorts and when you dump something cold into the hot oil its temp does not reduce as heavily as small fryers would, which is the main cause of oil soaking you food. Air fryers produce ok results but need oil to do that otherwise they are glorified mini convection ovens with a high airflow and will tend to dry foods out. Thats why the high end built in convection ovens have a steam feature so the oven humidity can be controlled.


The most useful things you can get is a great set of knifes and a great set of measuring gear and a great set of cooking utensils like spoons spatulas ect. Those are the things you use most so dont skimp on the purchase of those. Another thing a set of squeeze bottles and a nice spray bottle are very useful and can make things much easier in the kitchen. I use them for sauces and oils and plain old water. On the measuring gear I prefer metal and pyrex preferably with etched markings. I have a variety of measuring cups. I have four 2 cup pyrex one 4cup pyrex one 1cup pyrex 2 pyrex marked shot glasses and 4 marked pyrex 5oz beakers. I use the beakers quite frequently as a substitute for a tablespoon. Your spatulas or any of your silicon gear should be of better quality and rated to over 500 degrees as should your cookware. Most lower quality stuff is not rated to 500. Anything with a nonstick coating should be researched as to temperature capability and care. I prefer high polished stainless steel. They are easy to clean and use and the performance is professional grade. Not to mention I can re-polish the surface as needed.

Lutherf said:

Air fryer - Got one. It works pretty good for most of the pre-fried stuff you get out of a bag such as chicken patties. I wouldn’t call it a regular use item.

Clam shell grill - I’ve got one like a Foreman grill but it’s some other brand. Works pretty well for flat stuff but not so much for stuff that isn’t a uniform thickness. Makes a good panini press.

Kureig coffee maker - use it all the time

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The Kureig when I am at my office. At home I roast my own beans in the morning and then grind them for my espresso. I will never by pre-roasted coffee ever again the flavor difference is huge. I didnt think it would be. But it is. Its magnified when you use the fresh roasted grind in cold brew. The best part is the beans last much longer unroasted and are cheaper, and the roasting process is easy like thirty minutes. I put the beans in the oven at night and kick it on first thing in the morning.

OldFatGuy said:

Knives and other utensils

High quality knives are essential. Specifically, German, Belgian or Japanese long time knife maker products. Again, once familiarizing yourself with the best brands, also familiarizing yourself to distinguish between crap and the best quality from the same brands, tag and estate sales are the way to go. Other than the basics, paring, bread, chef's, boner and carving, I have about 80 specialty knives, mostly for decorating purposes, others for specialty slicing, chopping and so forth. And they can be fun when throwing at a portrait of your latest political nemesis posted on a kitchen wall. I prefer the high end Japanese knives to all others, some prefer the German, others the Belgian. These use the highest grades of steel and hold an edge the longest. Having appropriate grades of whetstones and steel sharpeners, using them on each knife just before using the knife, makes a difference. I recently picked up two knives at tag sales, one a Heinkel carver, normally sold new for $450, purchased barely used for $8, and for a $1 the weirdist potato knife I've ever come across. It actually scallops the edges of each potato slice as you cut it, slicing through a raw potato as it were butter set out for a couple of hours. No idea who made it or when. The seller had to explain what it was used for, couldn't remember where she bought it or how much she paid, but said it had been sitting in a draw for years. I might try it out.

Other than knives, ice cream scoops of different sizes, ice scrapers for granites and of course, ices. Always room for more wooden spoons, spatulas, scrapers, spreaders, egg separators (some work, some don't), nutcrackers (my wife's specialty), cheese slicers, wire cheese slicers, steel storage bowls with lids, colanders (essential for blanching vegetables), peelers, frosting and jam, jelly or preserve tubes for decorating whatever, there is always something to buy and never use. Serving spoons of all sizes, salad tossers and wooden bowls, fish de-boners, hand fruit and vegetable choppers, lemon squeezers and garlic presses. Oyster and clam shuckers, lobster forks, corn on the cob holders, watermelon seeders and spitters without saliva attached, what more can a man need in the kitchen.

Well, there's my Vitamix. The mother of all blenders. Makes ice cream, cocktails, juices, soups heated by the motor in 2 minutes, crushed ice, smoothies, sauces, kneads breads and other doughs, decorates the ceiling when someone forgets to put the lid on, perfectly whips raw squash for soup or sauces, corn for corn ice cream, chops and minces for pates and other goodies, juliennes green beans, carrots, broccoli slaw, spirals potatoes and other root vegetables, all except kneading in fractions of a second. Kneading 2lbs of dough to any consistency in less than 2 minutes. Mills flours from wheat berries, well rinsed acorns, rice, bulgar, and any other grains. Makes perfect stuffing for turkey, pork chops, cabbage, crab meat stuffing for a fish, whatever.

Last but not least, the recording of my vacuum, to be played on the kitchen sound system the moment the dog sticks his nose in the kitchen. Watch him turn tail and run, run, runaway cowardly dog. Ha!

Click to expand...

You are a cruel man. I use the dogs and cats as Guinea pigs, mainly for maintaining my considerable ego after all if they dont eat my food, then my food truly is terrible. So far they have rejected nothing. My family on the other hand they have no taste.


The Vitamix blender truly a Tim Allen special. Those things motors can be used in chainsaws and lawn mowers. I love mine. I got the sound shield for it. Thats a must if you like hearing yourself.

OldFatGuy said:

Coffee

Someone in this thread said all you need is a good coffee machine and good coffee, with a quality roast. ……………… cut content due character limit...…………………………………………...

There are three types of coffee, Arabica, Robusta and Canephora. Robusta is a bitter tasting coffee with an aftertaste similar to peanut butter. It is mostly used for making instant coffee and freeze dried coffees. Canephora, like Robusta is used in some blends of Arabica because it is cheap, relatively tasteless, high in caffeine, making both it and Robusta good for espresso blends as well as instant coffees. That kind of strange taste that addicts you to Starbucks, isn't a burnt roast, it is the high blend of cheap Robusta and Canephora with its quadruple hit of caffeine that calls you back. Think about it, they charge you more for addicting you to a cheaper product.

The best Arabica coffees have a high flavonoid content, and a concurrent high anti oxidant content. This creates a flavor with chocolate like overtones in the aftertaste. Not all flavonoids (the compounds that differentiate tastes) and not all anti oxidants are equal. Some of each are good for you, some are not. Yet to be determined.

Coffee growers basically separate coffee beans by three grades, small oblong, large oblong, and peabody (globular), suggesting the large oblong tastes better than the small, and the peabody best of all. I don't know if that is truly the case, but they sell peabody beans for more money. A quality roaster can make most arabica coffees indistinguishable from each other after roasting. Some people prefer dark roasts, some medium, some light. Which is best? Ask your own palette its expectations. Like fine wine connoisseurs, blind testings tell us they don't know the difference between the expensive and cheap.

I believe the best way to make coffee is one of the least expensive. A French press. Place the grinds in the bottom of the pot, pour in near boiling water, let sit 4-5 minutes, press down on the plunger, and presto, coffee that tastes great. Rinse off the press, let the grinds in the pot cool while you're indulging. Then pour out the grinds (they make for good mulch), rinse out the pot and you set it out to dry, ready to be used later or tomorrow. A glass French press can be bought for $13-15, a stainless steel French press for $15-20, perfect for a klutz like me who breaks anything made from glass.

I tend to buy the better estate coffees from https://www.puertoricocoffeeshop.com/

Either Alto Grande, Don Pedro or Yuaco. Almost all the Yuaco has been bought up by the European high end hotels. Unfortunately on the scale of things in the coffee world, Puerto Rico doesn't produce that much.

So you never thought coffee was political. When the Boston Tea Party was being arranged, the real target was a British merchantman carrying molasses. The biggest business in New England at the time was making rum. Rum is made from molasses. King George was broke from his wars with France, and decided to raise the tax on, you guessed it, molasses. Most American colonialists were already forgoing teas, drinking coffee in coffee houses. Damn revolutionaries. The molasses carrying merchantman in Boston harbor learned the mob was coming to toss his cargo into the waters, and departed. That left that poor fellow carrying unwanted tea as a substitute. C'est le Guerre. A myth was born.

Click to expand...

Since you are chef you should try roasting your own. You would not believe the difference. The unroasted beans are cheaper last way longer and the finished product the coffee is much less bitter and all around better. There is no real flavor difference in flavor on bean size itself, its simply a matter of batch consistency when roasting, constant size beans roast more uniformly which affects flavor to a small degree. I get Hawaiian Kona then roast it to a medium roast for coffee and a dark roast for espresso. I have a Baratza encore grinder and La Pavoni lever pull espresso machine and a click tamper. Once you get the grind size excactly right the La Pavoni pulls perfect shots like clockwork. Best coffee ever. Good grinders are more important than good espresso machines. Spend on the grinder. then the machine.

PirateMk1 said:

Since you are chef you should try roasting your own. You would not believe the difference. The unroasted beans are cheaper last way longer and the finished product the coffee is much less bitter and all around better. There is no real flavor difference in flavor on bean size itself, its simply a matter of batch consistency when roasting, constant size beans roast more uniformly which affects flavor to a small degree. I get Hawaiian Kona then roast it to a medium roast for coffee and a dark roast for espresso. I have a Baratza encore grinder and La Pavoni lever pull espresso machine and a click tamper. Once you get the grind size excactly right the La Pavoni pulls perfect shots like clockwork. Best coffee ever. Good grinders are more important than good espresso machines. Spend on the grinder. then the machine.

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No arguments here. When it comes to coffee, we each believe we found the best.

I used to roast green coffees almost weekly. Brooklyn, next door to where I live in Queens, is still the center of the high end coffee bean trading business, home to hundreds of custom roasters, all of who will sell you samples of green beans should you show up at their doors for a cupping. All are ready and willing to discuss and teach their secrets. Bean boats from Africa, the Caribbean, south and central America still arrive daily in season. More than 90% of all the world's coffee and cocoa beans pass through the hands of Nestles at one point or another. For decades I limited myself to supplies from Brooklyn coffee brokers and roasters. Now, for consistence of product and sheer laziness, I mostly depend on the Puerto Rican Coffee shop. Does the trick for me. I use a cheap hand burr grinder in a teak box that belonged to my great grandmother. Those cheap $35-40 electric burr grinders that have arrived on the market during the past few years are as efficient as the $350-1,600 ones that have been around since WWII.

For espresso, I use real beans from the Isle of Java, where coffee did get its start. Pure arabaca beans. I roast no more than 8-10 tablespoons at a time, in a small dry copper pan at 280-300 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Shifting the beans continuously, but gently, to avoid burning the natural oils. I then degas the roasted beans for at least 12 hours in a ceramic covered degasser that holds up to 12 oz. Next step, instead of grinding, I slowly crush the beans with a stainless steel mortar and bowl. I cover the bowl with the coffee sock to prevent beans from exploding out of the bowl. Last but not least, I place the crushed beans in the Egyptian cotton coffee sock, in an ancient 2 cup Italian steel espresso pot, pour in slightly cooled boiled water and let steep for about 5-6 minutes. In the meantime, I run a slice of lemon peel along the rim of the serving cup, leaving the peel dangling into the cup, kiss the cup with anisette if desired, or another liqueur, like an orange sambucca, pull the sock and serve. The result a perfect, sweet espresso (meaning no bitterness, not sugared). Personally I prefer a liqueur on the side before the espresso. I've served espresso prepared this way to Italian, French and Spanish master baristas and watched their faces respond in awe. Learned this from a 15 year old Algerian kid who learned from his grandfather.

Then there is the Turkish method, grind till almost dust, boil both the grounds and water until a spoon bends, and start chewing.

A good bamboo cutting board. Plastic boards suck, and non bamboo fall apart after a couple years. A good chef knife, through tang, no hidden tang. Basic pot and pan set, but good quality. Pay now, or pay later. Spend the 300 bucks, it'll last a lifetime. My calphalon set is going strong, over ten years now, and I use it a LOT.

For "gadgets", a nice toaster oven. Sees a lot of use in our house. Slow cooker. Can't beat it, really. Drop in a hunk of meat, potatoes, carrots, celery, garlic....wait 8 hours, and eat.

The last new gadget that I bought and like enough to keep around and keep using is a restaurant quality immersion blender. I am a big old school cooking fan so I do a lot of soups and sauces, this does a good enough job for me most times and is so easy and fast.

Winchester said:

Two appliances I can not live without and one gadget I can't live without.

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Glad someone else suggested an Aeropress (and burr grinder). Got mine this year and it changed the way I thought about coffee at home - just so much better than Keurig or the cheap drip machines I'd been used to - no comparison. I know pourover works, too, but the Aeropress is idiot proof once you get the recipe right. Grind beans, put in chamber, add water, stir, wait a few seconds, press - same great result every time.

I also agree with many on pots and pans - got rid of everything but stainless steel and a couple of black steel frying pans, and two cast iron. The stainless are mostly All-Clad acquired over the years, and will last long after I'm dead, and do a good job. I have a black steel 8" fry pan I use for eggs that I like better than the stainless version, and I sear steaks and other meat on a 12" black steel, but for most cooking the stainless steel is at least as good and way less maintenance. Plus, try warming up some tomato sauce, or simmering anything in acidic sauces of any kind, in a cast-iron/black steel and it will strip the seasoning right off. I have cast iron, but the only one that gets used more than rarely is a 8" Lodge that is indispensable for southern style cornbread.

The only other suggestion I have is about knives. Like the pans, I got rid of all but those I use regularly last year, and now use a german Santoku (6.5"), paring knife and 8" chef's knife about 95% of the time - the 5% are some serrated blades that come in handy sometimes, a thin/flexible meat/deboning knife, and a 10" slicer that's great on occasion. I could make do with the chef and paring knife, but the santoku is the nicest knife I own and it's fun to use.

The hint is I hated the chef's knife I had (Wusthof I think, but their middle line and it was an unwieldy wreck) and read reviews about the Victorinox 8" chef, and bought it basically as a placeholder until I found something better. I think it was $35 with a coupon, and it's actually excellent. Plastic handle, fairly thin blade, but I've had it for a year or so and it keeps an edge great - all I've done is use a ceramic rod once or twice a week, just touch ups, and it's as sharp as I want a knife, shaves newspaper as thin as I want. It won't impress your friends, and it's nothing to be proud to own for it's aesthetic beauty or fine workmanship (which I definitely appreciate!) but it just works, and I can't believe how well the steel maintains an edge - for a fraction of the cost of Wusthof and others. To find something that WORKS better, I'll need to go to the very top of the line - professional chef level stuff.

Winchester said:

Electric kettles are the bomb too if one doesn't have a stovetop and teakettle handy.

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Yeah, didn't think I'd like one, but after having it, when it breaks, I'll buy another on the next day if I can. I start the water before walking the dogs first thing, and when I get back, it's boiled, shut off, and has cooled to close to my preferred Aeropress coffee temp of 175-185!

I might try a temp controlled unit when this one dies...

Here's a new gadget that has changed the way we eat:



We were in New Mexico on vacation about 4 years ago and I learned how to make corn tortillas in a cooking class - it's maybe slightly harder than "learning" how to fry an egg. Haven't bought store brands since. Takes maybe 10 minutes start to finish to make enough for a meal, and you can do a lot of it while cooking the ingredients for breakfast or dinner tacos. No comparison in taste. I had to watch Hispanic women on Youtube to get it right, but couldn't be easier to do with just a little practice.

sanman said:

I want to know from people what they see as the most useful kitchen gadgets or cooking appliances.

I've been hearing a lot about air fryers lately, and how they produce such nice results similar to frying, but without needing any oil (or at least needing very little of it).
Another one I've heard a lot of good things about are digital pressure cookers, like Instant Pot. They allow meals to be cooked faster while staying juicier.

Sous-vide cooking is also another good one, particularly for meat, because it allows meat to be cooked at precise temperatures for longer periods, and is supposed to give great results in an error-proof way.



I'd like to know if anybody has any of these, and can give the pro's and cons from their own experience.


What other gadgets/appliances are worth having, and why?

Click to expand...

I got a blender, arepa cooker, food processor, French Fry cutter, ravioli press, spaetzle maker, couple of mandolin slicers, cast iron drop biscuit pan, pasta roller, pasta machine, sandwich machine, rubber garlic peeler, salad spinner, panini press, potato ricer, electric knife sharpener, rice cooker, lemon press, garlic press, microplane zester, Aeropress Coffee maker, pepper grinder, coffee grinder, a couple different box grater, marinade injector,pan with a steamer basket, beer can chicken rack.


I rarely use the pasta machine because it seems a pain to clean, so I only used it a few times.

I like the Benriner Mandoline Slicers. They are sharp enough that you can make minced onion with the medium blade(which I like for chili dogs). They are extremely sharp.

The potato ricer is good for mashed potatoes when the potatoes are not done enough to be mashed with a fork.

I don't use the rice cooker that often. I mostly use either Basmati rice or parboiled rice which I can easily cook in a pan. I use the rice cooker on long grain rice.
One of the box graters I used a screw driver to enlarge the holes in them to make diner style hashbrowns.

The salad spinner is a must for rinsing off lettuce and herbs.Its a cheap one I got at walmart. Gets the job done.I also use it to rinse off shredded potatoes for hashbrowns.

The Ravioli press I use for making pelmeni.

The french fry cutter I use for making fried potatoes.

I know a pepper grinder is pretty basic, but its a must if you like ground pepper. There is a difference between freshly ground pepper and store bought ground pepper. Black pepper corns retain their flavor even the cheap brands. Store bought ground pepper loses a lot of flavor. Its kind of like the difference between freshly ground coffee and store bought already ground coffee.

Everything else I use depending on what I am in the mood for or the time of year. Winter time for example I like making drop biscuits and gravy.

JasperL said:

Here's a new gadget that has changed the way we eat:

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We were in New Mexico on vacation about 4 years ago and I learned how to make corn tortillas in a cooking class - it's maybe slightly harder than "learning" how to fry an egg. Haven't bought store brands since. Takes maybe 10 minutes start to finish to make enough for a meal, and you can do a lot of it while cooking the ingredients for breakfast or dinner tacos. No comparison in taste. I had to watch Hispanic women on Youtube to get it right, but couldn't be easier to do with just a little practice.

Click to expand...

Try mixing in a little Psyllium Husk (best kind of fiber) and some Almond Flour (most Vitamin E, without carbs) when making your tortilla -- really healthy stuff.