Cookaholics Bulletin Board

Three cooking tools which turned out to be way more all-around-useful than I expected:

1. Metal pizza paddle ... use it for taking anything large and round out of the oven (pizza, bread, cake, souffle, casseroles).
2. Melon Baller: used for deseeding a variety of vegetables: winter squash, peppers, zucchini, cucumbers, tomatoes. Have yet to use it on melons, but i think I might by a second one.
3. Indian Food Grinder: has replaced both my FP and my M&P. Indian spices, Thai chili paste, Mexican mole, homemade cashew butter, anything which needs to be pureed and/or ground fine.

Three cooking tools which I had great hopes for but are soon to be given to Goodwill:

1. Ricer: what does one use this for other than mashed potatoes?
2. Large sharp pizza wheel: a cleaver still works better.
3. Ice Cream Maker: we never have space in the freezer for the cylinder.

What are your unexpected successes and disappointments with kitchen equipment?

My sister bought me a Hand Held Bag Sealer for Christmas this year and I have to say that I use it quite often. It's small enough to keep in a drawer and very easy to use.

I agree with you on the Ricer. I have one and I have yet to use it for potatoes. I grew up with lumpy mashed potatoes and that's how I make them.

I gave up on a ricer...as you said, a one-trick pony. I use a food mill for my potatoes instead, and think the texture is better.

Amy

I could never give up my ricer. I've tried a food mill (3 different ones) and never seemed to get the hang of it. I use it for mashed pots and gnocchi. Besides, what else would I use to strain all the water out of my spinach?
I actually bought a second icecream maker last year since we use it a lot and it was cheaper to buy another machine than an extra bowl. But they are the only things in the downstairs fridge's freezer (well that and my flours) so space wasn't an issue.

I love the small condiment spreaders that are serrated on one side. I pick them up at a restaurant supply store for less than $2 and have at least 6, kids have a phobia about getting peanut butter into the nutella jar.

Great topic! I love my zester. I use it for zesting of course but also for small amounts of cheese, carrots and what not. I am also very happy with a 1/4 cup liquid measuring cup that came in a set and is marked with tablespoons. I thought it was a silly addition to the set but use it all the time.

I cannot get the hang of a ricer and so use either my potato masher or the grinding attachment of my KA for larger amounts. The Vacuvin wine saver has never been used as there are seldom partial bottles of wine around here (just had a lightbulb moment though...I should use it for the wine I cook with). I also have 2 Valtopia (not quite sure if that is 100%right) bread tubes that you can make shaped quick bread in. They have been unopened on the top of my closet for years. I still see me serving little heart shaped slices of pumpkin bread with a smear of cream cheese on top or something equally darling so I will hold on to them for a bit.

Mary

Love the ricer for potatoes. Don't use it every time I make them but for special occasions when I want them really smooth, I use it. Also use it for gnocci which we make frequently. I tried a food mill following a French recipe for mashed potatoes and ended up with potatoes too soupy for our taste. I tried it several times more and same results.

I could fill a couple of pages with things I thought I couldn't live without and found out I could so won't bore you.

fitzie

PS - The ice cream maker - never remember to put it in the freezer so it sits under the counter, I tried to put it in a garage sale once but my daughter (who gave it to us) said "don't you guys use that?" So of course I had to put it back under the counter.

Alas, I have never used my cherry pitter - the good one recommended by CI

Hmm. I 86ed the ricer in favor of a food mill. I like to rice potatoes sometimes, but the food mill does it just as well with less waste and it can do other things. I love my melon baller and have used it almost exclusively on melons for close to 20 years. I use my cherry pitter very infrequently, but perhaps I am less disappointed than Wino since I got it at a garage sale for 25 cents.

Jean,

You have to reverse direction on the food mill every once in a while to get the potatoes through. And, thank you for the comment on spinach. I'm glad my unpublished tip lives on!

Amy

Well if 'tips' can sneak into this thread, I use my ricer to squeeze the liquid out of canned fish (tuna, salmon, etc.) it saves stinkin' my hands, don't ya know!