I’m a gadget guy, and I love to cook so I have my fair share of kitchen “toys.” I’ll leave the definition loose but in my mind it is something I don’t use every day, but when I do I’m happy I have it. I have a full back pantry filled with such things but I’ll limit my list to five of my top ones (in no particular order).
Stick Blender: I love soups and this is so much easier than transferring part to a blender to thicken the soup.
Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer: I don’t bake much, but when I do this is a life saver. It also gets bonus points for the attachments. I have a pasta roller and meat grinder so far. I also get a nice workout whenever I have to lift it to move it somewhere.
Pasta Pot: We make pasta a lot so this may be the most frequently used. It is a good heavy bottomed stainless pot with the removable colander that fits inside. No more lifting the boiling pot of liquid to dump it into another colander to drain. It also has a steamer basket but I haven’t used it yet.
Kitchen Scale: Small and simple, but it makes baking (the little I do) much easier, as well as help in keeping my calories in check.
Cuisinart Griddler: Kind of a George Foreman grill and panini press hybrid. The top “floats” so it can settle flatly on whatever thickness you are cooking. It can be opened completely to make a full flat griddle or grill surface. It has a quick sear feature. Wonderful for quickly making everything from grilled chicken to Reubens. You can also lock the lid at a specific height so you can melt cheese without the top actually touching.
So, what are your don’t have to have, but sure are nice kitchen gadgets?
V-slicer: Slicing vegetables is a pain in the ass, until I got this thing. Perfect, even slices every time. Much easier to clean than the food processor. Extremely dangerous.
I’ll second the Stick blender as my favorite. Especially with the mini processor attachment. I also love to make pasta with the attachment for the Kitchen Aid stand mixer.
I was thinking a mandolin, but actually my favorite is the pasta attachment for my Kitchen-Aid mixer. Fresh pasta is just so much better than the dried stuff. I have a nice stainless steel mandolin, but I use it infrequently, I just don’t need ultra thin slices often enough in quantity and I can get what I need with a knife.
I’d have to say my favorite gadget is my chamber vacuum sealer. I love love love being able to seal things up easily, quickly, and cheaply, and stock my freezer with stuff to be pulled out later without having to worry about freezer burn or other issues. It’s also great when I need to marinate things or freshen up some limp celery. Definitely not a necessity in a house, but it does make life easier. Plus, it’s damn cool.
I also got one of these for Christmas, and it’s shaping up to be a very cool thing to have in the drawer. I just need to figure out how to julienne only the vegetable I’m holding, and not my thumb, and life will be perfect.
I don’t have a whole lot of gadgets, but I would go with my scales (I have both a regular-sized kitchen scale and a milligram scale–the latter gets used a lot for sausage making) and my instant read thermometer. I love the stick blender, too. The Kitchen Aid stand mixer is a wonderful piece of machinery, too, but it mostly lives in my basement and doesn’t get much use. I just end up doing no-knead breads half because I don’t feel like lugging that beast up and cleaning it up afterwards.
First, a measuring cup set that includes a 2/3 cup and a 3/4 cup. Surprisingly difficult to find, and invaluable when adjusting recipe sizes. For example, if a recipe that calls for 2 cups of water and 1/2 cup of something else makes too much, you can use the 2/3 measure twice and 1/3 cup. 3/4 cup twice is a cup and a half; and so forth.
Second, a safety can opener. These work differently than ordinary can openers (which cut through the top of the can) by cutting around the outside rim of the can. Aside from no sharp edges, the resulting lid will tightly fit back on the top of the can, making keeping half-used cans in the fridge much easier.
The stand mixer is pretty cool, but as with the OP, I don’t bake too often these days. I’m going to use it today - it’s time to start working on my New Years Eve cake.
On a day to day basis, I use my instant hot water…it’s awesome. Water hot enough for tea, or for my french press. No waiting for a tea pot or microwave. Yay for instant gratification!
We’ve got one of these, and we love it. I routinely take advantage of the fact that you can push the can lid back on, after using part of the can. And not having to worry about slicing oneself on a sharp can lid is a major bonus.
(It doesn’t really cut the can, does it? ISTM that how it works is that it pushes the entire lid off, reversing the factory operation of putting the lid on and sealing it. Which is AFAICT why you can push the lid back on if you want.)
Yes, it does cut the side of the can just below the factory crimp. The lid is double folded at the factory. You’re not pushing that off if there. Take a close look that the edge of the can.
Big fan of the food processer; since we got it 8 or 9 years ago there isn’t a week that’s gone by that I haven’t used it. When we had chickens for 3 years, I started making a lot of savory pies, quiche, frittatas, etc., and making pastry crust is a breeze with it, as well as slicing up veggies.
My other fav gadget is a flat whisk…I use it way more than I ever thought I would, but it’s so handy for whipping up eggs or making sauces on the stovetop.
Heh. My gf has one of these in a kitchen drawer, but I never saw her use it. I went years without being certain what it might be; I thought maybe a cannoli funnel. I finally broke down and asked her; I was underwhelmed.
I’ll go with stick blender, microplane, ane food processor in a three way tie.
I don’t use it every time I need garlic…but if I’m in need of 4/5+ cloves, I guarandamntee there’s no faster (and tidier) way! Prior to this, I employed the bash-with-side-of-knife method.
ETA: Plus, it’s an actual gadget. I know OP left the definition up to interpretation, but I don’t consider a stick blender or food processor a gadget any more than I do a toaster or microwave.
Look at me, getting all defensive about a silicone tube.
I’m another huge fan of the food processer. Had one since they first became readily available and rarely go more than a day or two without using it.
Another favorite, if limited use, little gadget is a three-pronged skewer to hold a stick of butter. It makes buttering sweet corn incredibly easy and far less messy. It’s particularly useful if you’re down to the end of the butter stick. It also has a case that goes over the remaining butter so you don’t have to load and reload the butter stick. One butter stick lasts for a good part of the corn season with little to no waste.
My dislike of the silicone tube lies in my enjoyment in handling garlic. Maybe it’s weird, but I like my hands smelling of garlic when I’m working in the kitchen.
I don’t know that I’ve ever had an occasion to use less (we need a stinky breath smilie)
Personally though I’ve never thought of peeling garlic as a chore or time consuming (I know many do though). I simply chop off each end of the clove, smack it with the knife and the peel comes right off. I can do 4-5 in under 20 seconds.
Don’t get me wrong though… next time I’m out and see one of these it will most likely follow me home so I can give it a try.
Then something I consider an advantage you probably wouldn’t… I love Global Knives which are all stainless steel including the handle. Somehow stainless magically removes garlic odor from the skin so by the time I’m done there is no odor on my hands.
Some have already been mentioned, but they’re worth mentioning again. Here are my favorites:
Stick blender.
Benriner, an inexpensive Japanese mandoline.
Microplaner for finely grating garlic, ginger or parmesan cheese.
Old coffee grinder for grinding peppercorns. Hand-crank pepper grinders seem to wear out very quickly, and it takes forever to get a teaspoon or two of fresh ground pepper from them. With a coffee grinder, it’ll take only a few seconds.
My nice new Kuhn-Rikon vegetable peeler is so much sharper and finely-tuned than my old one that I wish I had gotten it years ago.
(we need a stinky breath smilie)