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I have a cast iron skillet and some good knives!

That's really more than enough to make a lot of things! except some baked goods. But it works for me because i'm a pretty good cook and a terrible baker.

Though to be honest i got to use an industrial scale bread maker and oven a few days ago and now i want one for the room i don't have for them.

 John Prins wrote:
Nemesis the Warlock?

Yes. It was my signature on The Conclave, seemed appropriate back then seen as how it was Inquisitor Torquemada's main quote.

Dug out my trusty George Formby grill.

Bacon wrapped Hodogs for lunch. Oh yes.

My avacodo smasher. If making guacamole every weekend is wrong, I don't wanna be right.

I've owned many different kitchen gadgets over the years but I always get rid of them. I basically buy them and use them once or twice, then forget about them. Like my bread maker, was fun at first, but got old fast. I had a George Forman grill, same deal. I do use my crock pot about once a month though.

My favorite gadget of all is a simple one.. my garlic press. I hate chopping and peeling garlic, but with this you don't need to!



Best invention ever.

But cleaning a garlic press is such a pain, I don't find it worth it.
I prefer the convenience of pre-chopped garlic. Or if I want something fresher, a mortar also makes quick work of it.

fresus wrote:
But cleaning a garlic press is such a pain, I don't find it worth it.

I don't think the one pictured has it, but the one I own has a pad of little "fingers" on the reverse end, so all you need to do is flip it over 100% and it pops all the stuck garlic out.

edit: like so




That being said, I will generally use the squeezy jar of prechopped garlic, unless I need it sliced for something.

 Ouze wrote:

fresus wrote:
But cleaning a garlic press is such a pain, I don't find it worth it.

I don't think the one pictured has it, but the one I own has a pad of little "fingers" on the reverse end, so all you need to do is flip it over 100% and it pops all the stuck garlic out.

edit: like so

Spoiler:

That being said, I will generally use the squeezy jar of prechopped garlic, unless I need it sliced for something.

Does it work well? Cut garlic tends to be very sticky, so if you remove the gunk from the cutting holes just to have it stick to the "cleaning fingers", it's not so much of an improvement. On your picture, it looks like the stuff is made of silicone/rubber, so it's probably to avoid excessive stickiness.

Just buy a fine dishwashing brush? Can't say I've ever had a bother with my very-old-fashioned garlic press.

Everybody has probably seen what I'm talking about, but I think one of my favorite gadgets is the bamboo steamer I picked up in Chinatown. It has a lid and two levels and sits perfectly over a sauce pan filled with boiling water, which steams whatever you happen to place in the device.

Favorite uses so far are for steaming Baos and Dumplings that we buy in bags from our favorite grocer in Chinatown. The Dumplings are great with a steam and then a quick sear in a skillet with some chili paste...nom, nom. I've only done fish a couple times as steamed fish isn't my favorite preparation, but Salmon turns out beautifully.

fresus wrote:
Does it work well? Cut garlic tends to be very sticky, so if you remove the gunk from the cutting holes just to have it stick to the "cleaning fingers", it's not so much of an improvement. On your picture, it looks like the stuff is made of silicone/rubber, so it's probably to avoid excessive stickiness.

I'm not at home but I am pretty sure that's the one I own, and that one definitely it works great. Just use the press, flip it over, and rinse, comes right off. I imagine if you let it dry on there you're gonna have a problem though.

If you press garlic with enormous hand pressure like I do, when you flip the handle over, it just pops off a single piece, a little sheet of garlic skin.

Crush it on the board, add some coarse salt, chop it to tiny bits. I find the salt helps prevent the stickiness.

That done, just sweep it off the board into the dish with the knife.

Think I need to dig out and play with my Steamer more. It’s a bit crap at rice, but that’s quite possibly me not using it right,

I have a few items that I thought about adding to this list.

I have a turkey fryer, which is a deep fryer with a basket to hold a 14lb turkey. We like fried turkey so we use this a few times a year for a turkey, and we more often use it for making stuff like buffalo wings. The only downside is it takes quite a bit of oil and eats up a lot of my very limited counter-top real estate. It's totally worth it overall because there is nothing like having the oven free for other stuff on thanksgiving, and then not working on the turkey until literally 1 hour before you're ready to eat the turkey.

We have a kitchen aid mixer which I thought was a dumb purchase, but my wife wanted it so I got it for her. Turns out it was not a dumb purchase and I use it all the time, it's very nice to have something mixing while I work on something else.

I have a cast iron pan which I thought would be neat and wasn't. I had wanted to be the sort of person who owns a perfectly seasoned cast iron skillet, but it turns out I am not that person. It's a pain in the ass to clean properly with paper towels and a pinch of kosher salt, so I eventually give up, use brillo, and then re-season it in the oven with linseed oil. It never really get a great seasoning, but I also found it's not really great at pretty much anything anyway, and it weighs a fething ton. My wife can barely lift it empty. On the whole I kind of regret buying it.

I think my favorite kitchen thing, and I know this is a bit weird, is I have a little spatula/flipper I am very fond of. It's about 2 inches wide, 4 inches long, with no holes and a small handle. Kind of like this, but with a wooden handle:



I dunno, I'm just fond of it.

 Ouze wrote:
I think my favorite kitchen thing, and I know this is a bit weird, is I have a little spatula/flipper I am very fond of. It's about 2 inches wide, 4 inches long, with no holes and a small handle. Kind of like this, but with a wooden handle:

Spoiler:

I dunno, I'm just fond of it.

Those are the kind that are normally used at restaurants, and they're fantastic because they're great for everything. You can flip, scrape, stir, and in a pinch even chop stuff with the side of it.

Girlfriend recently added another one to her pile: The garlic cube.

https://www.amazon.com/Garlic-Stainless-Blades-Chopper-Crusher/dp/B075BTRML1/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1510146466&sr=8-3&keywords=garlic+cube&dpID=41NeH66hQYL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

Seems to work pretty well. Has the fingers Ouze mentioned, and has a little screen for the fingers that you can pull out to yank out any garlic that gets smushed between them. Also means I don't have to chop her garlic for her (she hates chopping garlic by hand).

Oh, that cube does seem like a neat toy.

Homemade smoker made from a oil drum
Like, this year for thanks giving, im heading out to my cousins at like, 4 in the morning, setting up the smoker and getting ready for a long haul. we ait eating till 6 too.
But its gonna be worth it for the Applewood jelepeno smoked turkey.

I am at my first apartment so cooking gear is a bit sparse.

All I have is

2 frying pans

3 saucepans of varying sizes

1 crock pot

and that is honestly about it, I want to get a cast iron skillet at some point though

Don't make the mistake I made, and leave your brand new cast iron skillet in the sink to wash later. It'll turn orange real fast.

 Necros wrote:
Don't make the mistake I made, and leave your brand new cast iron skillet in the sink to wash later. It'll turn orange real fast.

Err...yeah, don't leave cast iron in water. Wipe it rather than wash it if you can, wash only if you must, dry it immediately, and learn how to season that sucker properly.

I really like my 16 quart stock pot that I got (relatively) cheap; make a lot of soups and stews and pasta sauce and freeze it.

Stand mixer. Not cheap, but if you bake more than once in a while, it is unmatched in its usefulness.

Theoretically, that stand mixer could also be turned into many other gadgets (if it's a kitchenaid at least). I think most people don't ever bother with that though.

One of my kitchenhacks is to take smoked meats and put then in the bowl of my Kitchenaid, and then use the paddle attachment to turn multiple pounds of meat into shredded meat in less than 30 seconds.

... I never thought about using the mixer to do that. I usually use 2 forks while burning my fingers and cursing.

Got the tip from a friend, thought it sounded stupid and then was amazed as I watched two chicken breasts become enchilada filling in 10 seconds.

It's a pretty clever idea. I don't really do a whole lot with shredded meat, but I might do that next time I make chicken tacos.

Getting a new cooker.

Oven packed up and won’t stay lit.

Thankfully, being a tenant it’s a job for my landlady, not me

 Ouze wrote:


I have a cast iron pan which I thought would be neat and wasn't. I had wanted to be the sort of person who owns a perfectly seasoned cast iron skillet, but it turns out I am not that person. It's a pain in the ass to clean properly with paper towels and a pinch of kosher salt, so I eventually give up, use brillo, and then re-season it in the oven with linseed oil. It never really get a great seasoning, but I also found it's not really great at pretty much anything anyway, and it weighs a fething ton. My wife can barely lift it empty. On the whole I kind of regret buying it.

Filthy casual...

Huh, you don't also go to the Badger & Blade forums, do you d-usa? I posted that same comic in a cast iron thread there the other day. Just wondering if it's coincidence we thought of the same response.

I had a slow night at work and spend about an hour browsing XKCD, and when I saw this it reminded me of the comment.

I also made some hash browns in my perfectly seasoned cast iron pan last night, lifted them out with the spatula and just wiped the pan down with a dry paper towel and it was nice and clean.

#CastIronMasterRace

They’re a helluva thing to have.

Sounding pretentious, I wouldn’t cook Steak any other way.