We've seen a lot of fun in this forum with the orion cooker, a crockpot, and just a plain old grill...thought maybe with the holidays right around the corner we could share our favorite cooking gadges and maybe give each other a few gift ideas!

The last one I used was this:
http://www.koolatron.com/images/4-in-1-grill-all.jpg
Total Chef 4 In One Grill – Indoor Grill and Sandwich Maker - Waffle Maker - Electric Grill (http://koolatrononline.stores.yahoo.net/koolatron-total-chef-4-in-1-grill.html)

I had actually picked mine up off of sears.com for about 14.99. Couldn't resist at least trying it out. Anyway, on my last weekend with my daughter over (she is 8), that was all we cooked with...we made:

With the Grill plates:
A NY Strip Steak panini
A meatball panini

With the sandwich plates:
Ham and Egg pocket sandwiches.
Ham and cheddar pocket sandwiches.

With the Waffle plates:
Waffles...(duh...)

With the griddle plates:
Quesadilla
Ham and cheese wraps.


Needless to say we got our 14.99 worth that weekend alone! The only problem, while the grill places are easy to clean, the inside of it under the plates is a pain. You've got to work around the heating element to clean it and its pretty tight. And if you don't clean it, it gets a wee-bit smokey on your next use...but other than that, we had a lot of fun with it. (I wouldn't pay too much for it though...its fun, but I'd imagine one would get tired of it...)

I get more good, and more cooking quality, out of my pampered chef garlic press. Not fancy, not electric, but nothing adds to my kind of cooking like fresh pressed garlic.

Hmmm. I have many kitchen appliances I love, but the one gadget I get a lot of use out of and is the most helpful has to be my digital probe thermometer.

Food is always cooked to the proper temperature with the help of this wonderful tool.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41KQ3B7Z9SL._SS400_.jpg

My coffee grinder.

My favorite that I use the most is the KitchenAid mixer.
It's just a great power tool. Arrrgggghh.
Every attachment I get for it just keeps adding to the value as a cool time saver.

Next to that is the Food Saver. It really does work for us. Now in December I can enjoy that wonderful grilled taste of summer once again.

Like Alton Brown, I'm not a fan of "unitaskers". But my all-time favorite kitchen gadget is a my Reveo MariVac. It only does one thing, but it does it very well and very quickly.

http://images.surlatable.com/surlatable/images/en_US/local/products/detail/487561.jpg

Another very useful tool in the kitchen is my stainless steel skimmer.

While this isn't the exact model I have, you get the idea.....

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31J6NSC49QL._SL500_AA280_.jpg

It works wonderfully to skim out a bunch of stuff from of boiling water real quick. I don't know how I survived without one. Any cook should definitely have one of these puppies in their kitchen.

Spice/Coffee grinder.

So many good choices already used.

OK, I'll add a knife sharpening stone. After awhile the hone doesn't do it any more and a dull knife is torture.

Another kitchen gadget I love is the Breville Cordless Immersion Blender

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/wsimgs/rk/images/p2/products/200850/0006/img56l.jpghttp://www.williams-sonoma.com/wsimgs/rk/images/p2/products/200851/0005/img23l.jpg


I don't usually use it in the manner shown. I usually use it to make soups by pureeing or blending the ingredients directly in the pot while its cooking. So far I've made a cream of celery, an irish cheddar soup, and a pumpkin soup (also posted in another thread in this forum, I believe). A spicy gazpacho might also be nice....

Corkscrew (I'll post a picture) what doing all steps include release the cork. :)
Not automatic, just handheld type.

Corkscrew (I'll post a picture) what doing all steps include release the cork. :)
Not automatic, just handheld type.

I want to change my support from my garlic press — which I still love — to the corkscrew. I'm in wholehearted agreement with Smith, P.

My wife. ;p

SOMEONE had to say it.

My wife. ;p

SOMEONE had to say it.

Don't mix up kitchen and bedroom ! :D :p

Don't mix up kitchen and bedroom ! :D :p

No good can come out of this...:p

My wife got me a mortar and pestle for Christmas...according to Steven Raichlin (BBQ USA on PBS-HD) crushing garlic and herbs as opposed to chopping or mincing, unleashes more flavor and aroma. If anyone else has used a mortar and pestle before I'd love to hear your input, but I can't wait to try it out...

Hmmm. I've got one, but I only use it for crushing herbs. Haven't done garlic in it. Yet.

My wife got me a mortar and pestle for Christmas...according to Steven Raichlin (BBQ USA on PBS-HD) crushing garlic and herbs as opposed to chopping or mincing, unleashes more flavor and aroma. If anyone else has used a mortar and pestle before I'd love to hear your input, but I can't wait to try it out...

I used to crush garlic with a morter and pestle. It kind of ruined the m&P for anything else and I decided that either mincing or cutting gave me just as good flavor and more control of coarseness. I mostly just use a compression mincer these days. The M&P Is used for grinding other spices these days.

My wife got me a mortar and pestle for Christmas...according to Steven Raichlin (BBQ USA on PBS-HD) crushing garlic and herbs as opposed to chopping or mincing, unleashes more flavor and aroma. If anyone else has used a mortar and pestle before I'd love to hear your input, but I can't wait to try it out...My wife uses a metate to do all the garlic crushing. It's the Mexican equivalent of a mortar and pestle, but made from rough stone.

But her favorite tool is the Emmy food processor.

This one big enough? ;) (had camera set for close or would be crystal clear)I got this from my Moms place after she passed away... heavy sucker.

My favorite is my Microplane Citrus Zester. I found a simple recipe to make my own limoncello that everyone loves.

http://rhondascooking.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/microplaner.jpg

My new favorite gadget. Sliced up spme pastrami I smoked on the WSM a while back. Rubens tonight!!!!!!!:hungry:

My new favorite gadget. Sliced up spme pastrami I smoked on the WSM a while back. Rubens tonight!!!!!!!:hungry:

Awesome! I've been wanting a meat slicer for a while. I'm jealous.

Ive always crushed garlic with the flat side of a knife blade.

I'd say my mixer.. love the thing.. we use it to make ground meat for hamburgers.. make pasta.. cookies.. etc.. :)

I used to crush garlic with a morter and pestle. It kind of ruined the m&P for anything else and I decided that either mincing or cutting gave me just as good flavor and more control of coarseness. I mostly just use a compression mincer these days. The M&P Is used for grinding other spices these days.

Well, I crusted garlic, thyme, and olive oil into a fine paste and spread it on a pork tenderloin. It was indeed quite tasty. But I can see your point, the M&P doesn't clean easy after a task like that!

Tomorrow I'm going to crush some pine nuts and use it with garlic, onion, and basil in an oliveoil based pasta sauce.

BTW...the herbs I'm talking about are from my AeroGarden...I love that darn thing! I may add that to my list of favorite kitchen gadgets if, for all definitions and terms, 5t can be included within the scope of 'kitchen gadgets'.... :)

Awesome! I've been wanting a meat slicer for a while. I'm jealous.


Thanks. My Mother In Law got it for me. She told me to pick out the one i wanted. It's not the one I would have bought, but I didn't want her spending 300.00 bucks. This one was bought at Amazon for 100.00 bucks.

My favorite is my Microplane Citrus Zester. I found a simple recipe to make my own limoncello that everyone loves.

http://rhondascooking.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/microplaner.jpg

I bought my wife one of these for Christmas. (A Microplane Coarse Grade). The coarse one is primarily for shredding cheese. We also have a separate zester.

These single handed Microplanes are much easier to handle than the other grater we have. (See below).

http://www.istockphoto.com/file_thumbview_approve/2135437/2/istockphoto_2135437_cheese_grater.jpg

Thanks. My Mother In Law got it for me. She told me to pick out the one i wanted. It's not the one I would have bought, but I didn't want her spending 300.00 bucks. This one was bought at Amazon for 100.00 bucks.

Yeah, you can get into the commercial grade slicers that you could just set a whole brisket on and slice automatically that run about $1k and higher. The one I use to have at the restaurant I worked at was a beast. Ahh, someday... :D

Be a toss up between the blender and the grater for me...

I've mentioned it enough times in a few threads here, but I have really gotten sued to using one of those AeroGardnes you see all over these days. I have the original version, and I have to say that fresh herbs all year round do take the sting out of the bitter Chicago winter.

I'm thinking that in spring, I'm going to grow salad greens in it, since it can be rather difficult to grow decent salad greens outdoors. (they can get 'buggy' and the greens can be rather difficult to clean).

Also, I'm looking into some of the international seed kits that are available in order to grow 'harder to find' herbs like chervil and culantro.

Anyways, aside from the indoor, year-round convenience and all...I have to admit that I've very impressed with the quality of the herbs grown, and just how well they grow in general. I've been harvesting herbs from it since November and the plants are still as full and prosperous as ever. Its quite an impressive piece here...

Agree on the Kitchenaid stand mixer. No better gadget in the kitchen. Even better, I picked mine up at a garage sale for $20! Works like new.


Hmmm. I have many kitchen appliances I love, but the one gadget I get a lot of use out of and is the most helpful has to be my digital probe thermometer.

Food is always cooked to the proper temperature with the help of this wonderful tool.

Probes are good for oven roasting, but not much else. Most of the time, I reach for my instant read.
http://www.thermoworks.com/products/thermapen/images/tpen_gallery_a.jpg

ThermoWorks - Home of the Original Super-Fast Thermapen! (http://www.thermoworks.com/products/thermapen/tpen_home.html)

Uses a thermocouple to take the temperature, which make it read accurately in a second or two.

Alton Brown fans, you may recognize it.

I do recommend highly AB's book on kitchen gear.

I get more good, and more cooking quality, out of my pampered chef garlic press. Not fancy, not electric, but nothing adds to my kind of cooking like fresh pressed garlic.

My wife would be pleased (she is an Executive Director with The Pampered Chef. :)


It isn't fancy, but it works.

My favorite kitchen tool is simple: a fork, knife, and spoon - which I use to eat the food my wife makes with all of her kitchen gadgets. :D

For somebody who cooks as often as I do, my knife skills are terrible. This little gadget slices, dices, and juliennes as fast as you can move your arm! It sees a lot of use in my kitchen.



http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/4169B1QQASL._SS400_.jpg

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/4169B1QQASL._SS400_.jpg



Edit: Sorry, I have no idea how to embed a picture into my post. :)

Put the link between the IMG tags [ IMG] [ /IMG] without the space.

Put the link between the IMG tags [ IMG] [ /IMG] without the space.

Thank you!

Thank you!

No problem.

You might want to look into a free photo hosting site so you don't hotlink pictures.

Try Tinypic, photobucket or imageshack.

While I was joking before about the forks and knives, I would have to say that my favorite kitchen gadget is the cookware (http://www.pamperedchef.biz/juliegizzi?page=products-category&categoryId=131&parentCategoryId=8) that my wife sells. It cleans up really well. I just have to remember NOT to use any metal utensils. :)

My George Forman grill...i could live without it actually....

While I was joking before about the forks and knives, I would have to say that my favorite kitchen gadget is the cookware (http://www.pamperedchef.biz/juliegizzi?page=products-category&categoryId=131&parentCategoryId=8) that my wife sells. It cleans up really well. I just have to remember NOT to use any metal utensils. :)

Shameless plug ;).

I got quite a few gadgets. One of my favorite is the kitchenaid pro line waffle maker. This thing cost me $200 but it makes the best waffles ever. I get a restaurant grade mix and takes waffles to another level.

I got quite a few gadgets. One of my favorite is the kitchenaid pro line waffle maker. This thing cost me $200 but it makes the best waffles ever. I get a restaurant grade mix and takes waffles to another level.


I have the less expensive Cuisinart Round Waffle Maker. Now selling for $30 at Amazon. I use this lovely machine about once a week and it blows my mind at the great waffles this thing continues to turn out.


http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41JZX70V32L._SS400_.jpg

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41G6VVR3DYL._SS400_.jpg

I'd have to add, the Roomba and Scooba are great to have.

I love this for chopping garlic.


http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/311B5JEHMPL._SL500_AA280_.jpg (http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/311B5JEHMPL._SL500_AA280_.jpg)

I love this for chopping garlic.


http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/311B5JEHMPL._SL500_AA280_.jpg (http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/311B5JEHMPL._SL500_AA280_.jpg)

The link gives me the following:

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