Entries tagged with 'gadgets'
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The Williams Sonoma Apple Peeler/Corer ($28) can perform three functions at once--peeling, coring, and slicing. Not many apple-centric tools can say that. But is it really worth spending the money when a handheld peeler and knife work just fine?
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[Photographs: Amazon.com (chef's knife, bread knife)] Remember how I'd mentioned that my roommate's nice Wusthof knives weren't sticking around forever? Well the day finally came when they made their sad exit from my life. Clearly, this was a bit of a debacle. Being on a budget doesn't particularly allow for the kind of splurge that would be required to replace Wusthofs, but after being privy to wonderful knives, how could I ever revert to my old stock? Thankfully, Pure Komachi 2, a subsidiary of Shun, makes an impressive line of knives at knockout prices. With not a single knife topping $25, I was skeptical as to the quality of these blades, but the aficionados behind the store counter couldn't...
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[Photographs: Nikki Goldstein] I always think that grilling is a great group activity. That is, until twenty hungry stomachs show up and you realize that the grill can only hold six burgers and a few hot dogs. It may not be the end-all solution to the problem, but Fire Wire makes flexible skewers that are fantastic space-savers in this kind of situation. They're made from stainless steel cable–style wire, which means they're sturdy enough to be used and reused but bendy enough to be wrapped around whatever configuration of meatiness is already cooking away. I had my first encounter with Fire Wire skewers several weeks ago when I saw them at a local kitchen goods store. I looked at...
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I'm going to make a confession: when it comes to muffins, I'm one of those really strange people who almost prefers the bottoms. Almost. That may explain my reaction when I received a pan that specializes in making just the crusty, puffy tops: "Mini quiches! Dainty gratins! Individual fruit tarts!" The possibilities offered by the large bake-able wells seemed infinitely more diverse than just muffin tops, and I eagerly started compiling recipes that would fit the mold. In an attempt to eat dinner before dessert, I started with individual quiches loaded with baby spinach, Swiss cheese, and turkey bacon. By the time I'd layered my ingredients and was ready to pour in the egg mixture, a pang of skepticism...
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Back-to-school shopping is usually all about the clothes, but for gourmands in the making the right lunchbox is just as important. In support of the Future Foodies of America (FFA), I decided to go on a serious hunt for the coolest, most epically awesome lunchbox I could find. What I discovered was a hell of a lot more fun than I'd ever imagined—in fact, the Goodbyn almost made me want to go back to school. Aside from having a really cute name, the Goodbyn features a smart design that's both practical and environmentally proactive—a tough combination to master given the reputation of eco-friendly products as sometimes underperforming or requiring more work compared to non-green counterparts. Besides being made of...
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As much as I love a classic Eggs Benedict, I can't help but blame the dish for pigeonholing one of my favorite foods--the poached egg. For addicts like myself, they're not only brunch's star attraction, they're also the perfect topping for most any pasta dish, sandwich, or green vegetable. That said, it's pretty essential to be able to achieve a perfectly runny yolk whenever the craving hits. After years of sometimes-success with the traditional vortex method (where boiling water and white vinegar are swirled into a vortex that keeps the egg together), I decided it was time to put some poaching cups to the test. What I happily discovered was that when you find a good set of poachers,...
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I found out about the glorious pancake-making machine ChefStack through an IM conversation with Serious Eats intern Grace. Observe: Grace: http://www.chefstack.com/ Grace: Looks crazy Me: WUT Me: WUT Me: IT POOPS PANCAKES Me: PLOP PLOP PLOP Grace: Hahaaha Me: AHAHAHAH Me: HUH Grace: Hahaha omg don’t have a seizure! And that's what I sound like when you chat with me through IM about pancakes—my IQ plummets by about 100 points. The ChefStack—or as I like to call it, the Pancake Plooper—makes pancakes at a rate of 200 pph (pancakes per hour) and will set you back $3,500. Interested in owning one of these babies? Visit chefstack.com for more info....
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"Used regularly, it's a very inexpensive way to get $10 knives to perform almost like $80 ones." Slowly but surely, I've gone from being the girl with terrifyingly unsafe knife skills to being relatively nimble with a blade. But if there's one thing that still remains squarely outside my comfort zone, it's manual sharpening. As my current roommate is the fortunate owner of some enviable Wüsthof knives, I've yet to upgrade from my not-so-desirable (and since discontinued) Ikea set. Considering that the roommate (and her Wüsthofs) won't be around forever, I decided to put a knife sharpener to the test. With some TLC, could I get my crappy set to mimic the sharp competition? I quickly mustered up my old...
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"If you open the lid, you can kiss your vapor seal goodbye." When Alaina suggested I test-drive a special "Vapor Seal" pot that had found its way to Serious Eats World Headquarters, my first reaction was skepticism. I knew some serious product testing lay ahead of me. While the 360 Cookware saucepan I was given looked like any well-made pot--nicely buffed stainless steel, an ergonomic handle, the works--its instructional booklet and introductory DVD made clear that this was no normal kitchen gadget. Fifteen minutes into the DVD, I figured I had it down: you throw stuff into the pot, let the cooking process get underway, and spin the pot's lid so that the rising steam forms a so-called "vapor seal."...
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Editor's Note: Nikki Goldstein, longtime friend of Serious Eats and our newest contributor, will be checking in with a different kitchen gadget every week. Please welcome Nikki! Few would dare question the power of pancakes as comfort food--what's better than waking up to the smell of warm batter puffing up into cakey vehicles for syrup and jam? If you thought this was the pinnacle of Sunday brunch, meet the aebelskiver. It's a warm, doughy concoction that essentially crosses a pancake with a jelly doughnut. They're relentlessly addicting. While many trek to the few eateries that make these fresh (including Aunt Else's in the Twin Cities area, Shopsin's in New York City, and almost any place in Solvang, California), aebelskivers are...
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