Cookaholics Bulletin Board

So glad you resurrected this thread Josh -- I missed it the first time around and it was a great read. As I'm a serious gadget fiend, I'd have trouble limiting my favorites to less than 15 or 20. (Or more, if you count all of my whisks and ladles. I especially have a thing for those ) It was particularly interesting to read the aebleskiver posts. I've had the cast iron pan for several years (bought it because of glowing posts on Zoe Francois' blog), but only made them a few times b/c my family seemed to prefer pancakes or waffles, which I make a lot. But now I'm going to drag it out of the drawer and give them another shot!

Emilie

I missed the first time too:

Useful:
Immersion Blender
Microplane
Tongs

Not useful:
Egg rings. Why did I buy those?
Food mill. I picked one out for Christmas and haven't found one use for it in 5 months.

--Lisa

She has maligned the food mill! Release the hounds!

I use my food mill for ricing potatoes, making spaetzle, and puréeing fruit.

Like JB, I use my food mill quite a bit. It replaced my ricer.

Amy

Ditto on th food mill....I make a tomato sauce that requires cooking tomatoes down then putting them through mill to remove skins and seeds. I also use it when I make raspberry jelly and for mashed potatoes....could not be without it.

I may try it next time I make mashed potatoes, but I like the ricer for the times I am being fussy. I bought it to make some fruit dishes, which just never happened. I will try to find a use for it.

We like our mashed potatoes with a little more body than you can get with a food mill. I faithfully followed a mashed potato recipe by Joel Robuchon twice using a foodmill and it's the only time I can ever recall having leftovers. Too soupy for our taste. But it's great for getting seeds out of tomatoes, raspberries, etc.

I'm keeping my ricer!

fitzie

The food mill makes applesauce a snap. Cook your apples with a bit of sweetener until they are mushy, run them through the food mill, chill and enjoy. No need to peel or core the apples, just cut them in half to reduce cooking time.