First, I think came the trivets. Then I started to see oven mitts. I tried a couple of the trivets, and some spoon rests. Mostly, it was the novelty: “Hey, look, it’s rubber!”
Then, ok, I admit I went a got a couple utensils. A big cooking fork thing, and some tongs. Oooh, and a spatula. Next was one of those reinforced trivets. Firm, non-bending and safe to 700 bajillion degrees. I laid one over a cat and put the pot roast, fresh out of the oven, right on top.
Purrrrrrrrrrr.
Note to ASPCA: Not Really
I think next will be the oven mitts I saw yesterday that were all ridged and have a magnet on them so you can stick them…I don’t know, on the cat’s collar?
Now, I also see muffin pans and what was that, a bundt cake pan?
I’m holding out for the first silicone frying pan I see. Or range, an entire oven/range unit made entirely of silicone.
In that handsome dark red color, that’s what I think. Pans and utensils in complimentary colors.
I’d just like to say that after a lifetime of not ever seeing the word ‘trivet’, this is the third time in a week it’s come up.
Oh, and that when I win the lottery, one of my first purchases will be that wildly expensive silicone muffin tray, along with the cake square, the flexible cookie sheet (that’s silicone, isn’t it?) and even the bread tray, even though I never bake bread.
Pray tell - are they as non-stick and amazing as they seem when I fondle them in the baking aisle?
We have a set of the oven mitts at work. They work great…for about 4 seconds. I even stuck my hand in boiling water and couldn’t feel it. Then about 4 seconds later it starting getting pretty warm so I pulled them out. Then I wondered how it would have felt if I stuck my hand to far in and the glove had filled. :o I figured I would scale back a little and just go take the sheet pans out of the oven. Did I mention the oven is about a 40 foot walk, with things in the way, from where I have to set the two sheet pans down. I made it half way and had to stop. Silicone cookware may be great, but when it comes to mitts, I still use the regular old oven mitts…even though they always seem to be damp, still haven’t figured out why.
BTW the mitts really do work well, just not if you have to hold the hot thing for any lenght of time.
I have the cookie sheets, which I cut down to the exact right size to use in my toaster oven. Makes great pizza! Good for biscuits, too. I have another that I decided not to cut down, in case I ever need a full sized one. (So far, no.) I have the three finger hot pot holders, not so good, except for small stuff, but a potholder you can wash in the dishwasher is a cool thing. I have the mitts, too bulky, but real good at what they are for. I have the skinny spatula, which if awesome. (You know you always wanted a spatula that would not melt when you use in a hot pan. It’s soft, and conforms, and doesn’t melt, how cool is that!) I also have the tongs, which are the perfect tool for boiled eggs.
For most of the bakeware, you pretty much have to put a metal cookie sheet under it anyway, or else the pan will bow out while you’re moving it. I’ve also had problems with cooking spray/oil residue sticking to the silicone baking sheets (SilPat, etc., brand) and being unable to get it off; I assume similar would happen with the pans.
er, the whole idea of this cookware and the sil pats (which is now an acceptable generic term - I heard Alton Brown use it) is that you DON’T need to add any butter/oil/cooking spray AT ALL. Silly Ferret Herder.
As for the website where these goodies are found, the heck with the silicone - I’ve been looking for one of these my entire life!
I got the cake pan and pastry sheet for Christmas lastyear. The pastry sheet is an actual sheet. You can use it to line a metal pan or roll out dough on it to prevent sticking. My husband got both pieces for $6.99 each, at the grocery store.
Next, I want the muffin pan and oven mitt.
Am I the only one who really likes the way it smells.
How humid is the area in which they’re kept? That’d be my first suspect.
If it’s really a problem, I suggest getting some of those packs of dessicant that are packed in shoe boxes and the like (the ones which are helpfully labled “Do Not Eat”) and putting them in the drawer where the mitts are kept. You could possibly make your own dessicant by putting Minute Rice into a old pair of panythose and putting that into the drawer.
The world’s best oven mitts are the Ove Glove. My grandma got me one for Christmas last year, and it’s awesome.
I bought a muffin pan made of silicone, and I really don’t like it. The edges of the muffins don’t brown at all–the end result is soggy and anemic. Ick.
I got the Orka Glove last year, but DeHusband has claimed it. You’d think it was some sort of power tool. “Where’s my glove? Did you lose it?” Hey, I’m not complaining. At least he’s helping in the kitchen.
I got a set of silicone bakeware - two of the sheets, a loaf pan, two round pans, and muffin tray on clearance for 15 bucks. I love them a lot. Except for the loaf pan, which I overloaded with batter, and then the sides of the pan bent outward to accomodate the extra batter, and then got batter all over the bottom of my oven, which caught fire the next time I turned the oven on (but just that little spot on the bottom, but then I turned my oven up to max to try to burn the crud off of the bottom of the oven, and the whole thing went up in flames (inside the oven) so I freaked out and threw a glass of water inside it and turned the oven off).
I had Aangelica’s problem in that they were often far from non-stick. I’ve also seen browning problems as well. I chucked the bakeware and have been following Cook’s Illustrated’s recommendations instead. I may pick up another silpat or two but I’m not sure if it was oil/fat in general or the cooking spray alone which was a problem; getting any oils on it at all will be hard to avoid.
