My favorite is an immersion blender. I have a cord free model. I like to use it making sauces and eggs.
Sauces to hide veggies from my toddler who doesn’t realize the veggies are there for fortification and health.
Eggs I like to blend/whip air into the scramble. Cheese is an easy add too. They are super fluffy and delicious.
As far as cleaning it, I wipe any missed chunks off, put warm water plus soap in a cup, and blend til stiff peaks, JK.
What is your favorite kitchen gadget?
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My only complaint about my immersion blender is that the part at the bottom is 100% metal, which sounds good, but it makes me paranoid to use it in my enameled pots for fear of scratching up the enamel. I wish I had one with nylon or silicone overmolding.
In terms of really simple “gadgets”, my favorites are wooden spoons that are flattened and almost sharpened like a chisel. They are great for scraping the bottom of pots/pans to get up fond.
In terms of more complicated stuff, I really like my Anova oven. It’s basically an overbuilt convection toaster oven that has a thermometer for wet-bulb temperature and a water tank to create steam. You can control temperature to the degree, and humidity in 10% increments. It also has a built-in probe thermometer. What this basically means is that you can set the oven to a strict temperature to hold with steam and convection, and you can cook a roast to an exact temperature for an exact amount of time (which they call sous vide, even though there’s no vacuum sealing involved). You can then set it to automatically ramp to a high temperature for browning.
It’s really nice for baking bread.
They made a new version at double the price with even more advanced features, but they’ve given it the nebulous “AI” treatment, so it might be enshittified.
my favorites are wooden spoons that are flattened and almost sharpened like a chisel. They are great for scraping the bottom of pots/pans to get up fond.
How do those hold up over time? I was looking at them but wondering if the edge would wear too quickly
I have one that’s bamboo, and it’s not that great, but i also have one that is probably maple, and it’s great. You don’t need it to be actually “sharp”, but i suppose there’s no reason I couldn’t sharpen it periodically.
Well I don’t imagine you would flip anything with it, but mix and and turn, including scraping some amount of stuff off the bottom of the pan
Just got a sous vide circulator and vacuum sealer, they go hand in hand. Game changer. Chicken is perfect every time. No more weird chicken.
My vacuum sealer, for sure. It’s not only great for prepping to sous vide, it gives me extra room in my tiny freezer if I seal stuff instead of putting it in a container or even a plastic bag. And bonus, I haven’t had a single case of freezer burned meat since I started using it.
This was one of the first things I bought as a single person. Buying meet in bulk was economical. I use to make salsa an freeze it in “pages”. I still use it for all sorts of food
What does freezing in “pages” mean?
Assuming he means the same as I do….
Freeze it in a baggie lying flat so it spreads out and gets thin. Then you can store a bunch of them upright like pages in a book.
It’s a great way to efficiently freezer space while having many accessible
Ahh that makes sense, crafty, I didn’t realize there was an expression for it. Thank you!
Upvote for freezing as “pages”. It’s good to see someone else thinking that way
Haven’t seen it mentioned yet so I’ll throw out a digital scale. Ours isn’t any special brand, but I picked it specifically because it measured to the tenth of a gram and not all scales will do that. I use it all the time, for baking, brewing coffee, portioning things out, making consistent sized burger patties/meatballs etc.
A scale is great for baking, too. Volume measuring cups are a hassle and inaccurate. Scale is easy.
Love my kitchen scale. Even a cheap simple once is amazing
Highly underrated, but a good thermometer can help a lot with cooking meats. Getting the right temp is much more accurate than cooking by sight or feel, and having one that reads in under a second is super convenient.Typhur makes some quality ones that I like to use
Meat is an obvious good use case, but i also use my thermometer to check the doneness of bread. Recipes often tell you a time/temperature, but it’s going to really depend on your oven/pans/the rise/etc, which is why recipes will tell you to insert a toothpick or something like that. It’s way easier to just stick a thermometer in.
I’ve found that you need to use an instant read for this, though, not a leave-in thermometer because bread has much less thermal mass and thermal conductivity than meat (which is mostly water), and the probe of a leave in thermometer will conduct heat into the bread, giving an arbitrarily high reading.
I also use my thermometer for checking the temp of leftovers because I hate when something is cold on the inside, and I don’t like jamming my finger into like 5 different spots to test to see if I heated something up enough.
My mother in-law insists on cooking for a time vs to temp. Dried pork and chicken don’t taste great
I have a regular thermapen as well as the thermoworks “dot” leave-in thermometer. Both are invaluable. I can’t imagine roasting anything substantial without a reliable way to check the temp.
Seconding, I use my instant read thermometer alot. Whether it something from the oven, airfryer, or stove, especially for fish and chicken, it keeps me from over cooking the meat
Zojirushi rice cooker
Excellent pick. We have a zojirushi as well and that thing is a workhorse in our house.
I have a cheap rice cooker. Works great for steam veggies and cooking rice. Something i learned was rinsing the rice 3+ times. Really helps make the rice not gloopy.
What makes the Zojirushi a stand out?
What kind of vegetables do you steam in your rice cooker ?
I went through a few cheap ones before buying the Zojirushi, making it ultimately the more affordable option.
Cheap ones don’t make rice as well (especially in small quantities–bottom gets burnt, top gets mushy, rice is cooked unevenly, etc), don’t keep rice as long, typically don’t have as many features (different types of rice and other grains, timers, etc), and rarely last very long. Using it about three to five times per week, rice cookers which only cost 30 bucks or so had an average lifespan of 3 to 6 months for me. I’ve had my Zojirushi for 12 or 13 years now.
Gotta give both rice cooker and cast iron skillets, because they were part of a huge change in what and how I cook. They’ve also both become central to cooking
A hot chocolate frother. They’re great for mixing any kind of powdered drink.
Dont really own a lot of gadgets but a rice cooker is great. I also like the airfryer but mine is too small, someday I’ll buy one bigger with two compartments.
I don’t know if I’d call it a gadget, but I absolutely LOVE the only round handled wooden spoon we have. Best. Utensil. Ever.
If we’re talking just electronic gadgets, I personally like using ( but Hate cleaning ) the food processor. That’s mostly my fault, though, since I almost never fully rinse it out because I’m usually busy doing a lot more cooking afterwards that takes away all my attention. Saves me from having to do things like chopping up onions.
Second in line would be a kitchen-aid stand mixer. Saves me time not having to shred chicken by hand.
I have a round handled wooden spoon. The left half of the head is a normal spoon and the right half tapers to a point like a spatula or turner. I use it in almost every meal I cook.
My favorite in terms of just being neat and cheap is my “safety” can opener. https://www.amazon.com/Safe-Cut-Can-Opener-Restaurant/dp/B0761PZC5F
It’s not about it being “safer” to me. It’s just plain better. It completely unseals the tops of cans without puncturing them, meaning the lid comes completely off at the rim. Never failed me. Opening something like some cat foods or refried beans is much better because it leaves no lip for the contents to catch on. I use it for pull tab cans too!
Not a gadget exactly, but I love my chef knife! It’s a Kan core chef knife. I have had it for several years now and enjoy using it every time. It is very sharp and is easy to keep sharp. It was not cheap, but not terribly expensive when compared to other professional quality knives. I use it almost every day and it has never disappointed me.
For actual devices in the kitchen, I would say my Kitchenaid stand mixer is my favorite.
Hard agree. I feel like you can cook almost anything with just a cast iron pan and a chef’s knife. It’s the essentialist’s gadget of choice
A good sharp knife is the best
I’ve got a couple of really good chef’s knives, but I’ve been a terrible failure at keeping them sharp over the decade. I was trying to finely dice an onion yesterday and felt like I was back in a student flat with a blunt handmedown. I think they’ve gone past the stage of just using a regular sharpener, but I don’t know where I can get them re-edged.
I just posted a link to this sharpener which I love in another comment.
Some of the dull but high quality knives I had took a bit to get sharp first time (under ten minutes though).
Guh, I think I even have that sharpener. But it’s been in a box since I’ve moved house years ago an I’ve always assumed it was too late for it to save them. You’ve inspired me to find it and give it a go! Thanks!
Hopefully you find it. Make sure you watch the video that’s linked in the instructions. Some of it is a bit of a self-glaze but the correct pressure and direction etc. are shown in the vid.
If you don’t find it, definitely worth buying another one IMO given how cheap they are. Love a good sharp knife.
Not sure what counts as a “gadget”. If it can be any cooking implement, then my Dutch oven. If it has to be something more “gadget-y” then my rice cooker.
I consider anything that is often used or a favorite item that you use. Downtown have to be daily use item. Just has to bring you happiness. I agree about the CI. I use a 12x12 skillet daily for breakfast and cook most things on it
I’d say it’s a toss up between my rice cooker and air fryer/toaster/convection oven.
I have a toaster oven. I use it daily, great for holding temp on a lot of foods an rehearsing
I swore by my toaster over for over 20 years. Loved it so much is buy the same one from places like Goodwill just to have a spare.
Then Ninja came along with their convection ovens that actually work… Game over.
