Posted by Robyn Lee, May 16, 2008 at 10:30 AM
There are cases to protect whole bananas from turning into bruised, mush-filled bags, but what about when you want to just protect the cut end of half of a banana? The NANA Saver™ Banana Holder is designed to grip onto the exposed end of your half-eaten banana and keep it fresher for longer by reducing its exposure to air. And since it's shaped like the missing half, It's kind of like a prosthetic for your banana. Make your banana feel whole again! [via The Presurfer]
Related
Banana Cupcakes: Buttercream vs. Cream Cheese?
Photo of the Day: Banana Wall
Forbidden Love of Hot Dog & Banana
Posted by Adam Kuban, April 28, 2008 at 5:45 PM
As author of The Elements of Cooking, Michael Ruhlman has inspired others to really think about what they keep in their kitchens. Now he lists his own must-have gadgets, after venting about some real crap that he's got no use for:
I’m not the first to suggest that a tool that has only a single use is just as useful in the garbage as it is in your drawer. A mango slicer, please. An egg separater—Jesus, an egg separator! We are born with the perfect egg separators, right at the end of our arms!
His fave tools? Among others, a big knife, a little knife, and "the most important tool in the kitchen: kosher salt."
Related
What's Your Favorite Kitchen Tool?
Tools Kept for Once-a-Year Dishes: In Praise of Unitaskers
Posted by Matthew Amster-Burton, April 28, 2008 at 11:30 AM
If you're into gadgets and looking to make your own baby purees, Williams-Sonoma is now selling the Beaba Babycook.
Pronounced "Bay-OBB-uh," the device has been popular for several years in Europe and is now available in the US. There's a video on the Williams-Sonoma site showing how it works. It's basically a mini-chopper than can steam food before you puree it. The industrial design is tops—with chubby curves and lime-green trim, it looks like a dollhouse accessory, albeit with a sharp blade.
Continue reading »
Posted by Erin Zimmer, April 26, 2008 at 11:00 AM
If only the late 1980s flick was actually about a courageous electronic kitchen tool with a microwave Siamese twin! Now, that would have been an animated adventure. Twenty years later, we now have a LTM9000 toaster-microwave duo which combines two food heaters that have clearly been flirting from across the countertop. One night, when the kitchen lights were dimmed and nobody was watching, they quit the winky faces and went for it. The married life seems to be treating them well, and could open a whole new world for multi-tasking kitchen appliances. A Cuisinart mixer-cum-pepper grinder? Or lemon zester that opens cans? [Via OhGizmo!]
Related
Behold the Micro-Microwave
Battle of the High-Tech Toasters
How to Make Thin Egg Sheets in Your Microwave
Posted by Robyn Lee, April 24, 2008 at 4:30 PM
Driving is already frustrating enough: $4/gallon gas, collapsing bridges, the screaming kids in the back. The last thing humanity needs is the difficulty in simply enjoying french fries from behind the wheel... and failing. It's only inevitable that errant fries will spread their grease and salt all over your car's interior. There are containers for gum, chips, and nuts that fit in a cup holder, but the standard french fry container just won't fit.
However, thanks to Improvements, purveyor of "Quick and Clever Problem-Solvers," you can get a French Fry Holder for your car! Kind of. It's sold out right now, but if it weren't, you too could indulge in the convenience of a container whose no-slip rubberized base fits into your standard cup holder and holds one order of fries. There's even a clip-on ketchup cup for easy dipping! And if you're not eating fries, you can use it to hold other snacks. With so many uses, you can't afford not to have one.
Related
The Col-Pop, an All-in-One Chicken Nugget and Soda Cup
I Am Tired of Spreading Cream Cheese on a Bagel for Myself
Posted by Robyn Lee, March 18, 2008 at 11:00 AM
If you're highly particular about the quality of your toast, check out Cool Hunting's Toaster Challenge where they rate four kinds of toasters: Alessi SG68, Viking VT200, Breville Smart Toaster BTA820XL and Krups TT6190. The winner was the Breville Smart Toaster, a toaster so advanced that it's not even on the market yet. When it does, you'll have access to a toaster that features "an LED panel that counts down and also employs a robotic function that slowly submerges the bread into the glowing coils and raises it again after an abbreviated two minutes (at the medium setting) of toasting." Read all the toaster reviews at Cool Hunting.
Previously:
In Videos: My Incredibly Cool Toaster
Turbo Toaster Browns Bread in 50 Seconds
Toaster-Shaped Phone
Posted by Gordon Mark, February 25, 2008 at 6:30 PM
First there was the hamburger phone from Juno and then the sandwich phone. Now comes the toast phone. This concept from Brazilian design student Renata Quintela comes with two bread phones and a toaster charger. [via Gizmodo]
Posted by Robyn Lee, February 6, 2008 at 10:30 AM
In the future, there will be no need to reach across the table for your salt and pepper; just ask your dining companions to shoot it right onto your food with the spice gun! [via bb gadgets]
How many times have you been out camping and all you wanted was the power to make a pitcher of frozen drinks in about 30 seconds? We've all been there. Coleman has come to the rescue with their Rechargeable Portable Blender, perfect for all those times you're nowhere near an electrical outlet and you just really need to blend something. [via bb gadgets]
Posted by Amanda Clarke, December 13, 2007 at 1:00 PM
With their gift guides my cohorts have already supplied you with a bounty of great ideas for everyone from the cook to the baker to the cocktail maker, but what about those Serious Eaters left on your gift list who have everything already? Nobody wants to get somebody a duplicate, and gift cards just aren't much fun to give. But, while your cousin the cook may have a few spatulas in his kitchen, does he have a lime green one with a mouth that hangs on a tongue hook? And your sister-in-law with the amazing set of vintage ceramic tableware in some pattern with a name you can never remember, though it doesn't matter because all the circulating pieces cost more than your net worth? Surely she already has salt-and-pepper shakers, but how could she turn away a pair of white birdy-foot salt-and-pepper shakers?
With the stragglers left on your list in mind, I've assembled a merry band of misfits that are sure to find a place on the table or in the kitchen of the Serious Eater who has everything. (Prices do not include shipping unless otherwise noted.)
Continue reading »
Posted by Matthew Amster-Burton, December 12, 2007 at 3:30 PM
A visitor from the future has landed on my refrigerator door. Its name is SmartShopper. It's an electronic shopping list, and catalogs like Sur La Table and The Sharper Image are pushing it this holiday season. And if your idea of fun is getting into a screaming fight with your fridge, I highly recommend you pick one up.
SmartShopper is about the size of a Big Grab of chips and weighs a pound. It's solidly built, takes four AAs, and sticks firmly to our refrigerator. It has a built-in thermal printer. And it's easy to use. Just press the blue "Record" button and say what you want to add to your list. SmartShopper will present you with its three best interpretations of what you said. For example, earlier today I pressed the button and confidently intoned, "Yogurt." SmartShopper replied:
Continue reading »
Posted by Amanda Clarke, October 19, 2007 at 9:30 AM
I came to Dubai full of excitement. I knew that it was the new capitol of glitzy luxury and indulgence, but I had gleaned from various sources that the city's souks (markets) were vibrant crossroads, redolent with the character of old Arabia, where one could procure just about anything.
I was certain I would find all sorts of interesting and unfamiliar regional bits and pieces for kitchen and table. Unfortunately, after visiting nearly every souk on the Dubai map and all the narrow shop-lined streets in between, aside from a few chintzy mass-produced Arabian-coffee pots, I found little exceeding the inventory of any Chinatown or flea market back home.
Then, just as I was reaching my threshold for oppressive heat and aggressive sales tactics, I came upon a row of chubby stainless steel sentinels (above). Were they juicers? Blenders? Novel rice steamers? I snapped a quick photo and tentatively moved on, hoping to unravel the mystery without inviting the attention of vendor hungry for a sale.
Continue reading »
Posted by Ed Levine, September 5, 2007 at 6:30 PM
Brendan I. Koerner, who writes "The Goods," an underappreciated but often hilarious column in the Sunday New York Times business section, says that Bluw, a London design firm, has finally come up with a cheap, space-saving alternative to the wine rack. It's called the Wedge. And according to Koerner, it actually works:
...Though the package copy recommends that each two-piece set be used to hold a maximum of six wine bottles, I was able to create a very stable 10-bottle pyramid.
Even after downing several glasses of pinot noir, in order to affect a partygoer’s clumsiness, my jostlings of the pyramid caused almost no discernible movement.
The Wedge, $9.95 a pair, at Firebox.com
Posted by Joe Campanale, July 13, 2007 at 2:00 PM
Today we add yet another new voice to the Serious Eats mix—Joe Campanale. Joe will be joining us on Fridays to touch on topics from the world of wine. Cheers! —The Serious Eats Team
By Joe Campanale | Is there anything the iPhone can’t do? Well the whole winemaking thing is up in the air. But you can now make wine from your home computer using a new invention called the WinePod ($3,500). Just dump in (er, carefully place) 15 gallons of grapes (about seventy-five 750ml bottles), and use the interactive software to control the whole process, from pressing to aging.
But make sure you don’t use Thompson seedless or Concord grapes. These are part of an American vine variety known as Vitis labrusca and have a distinctly foxy taste that exists somewhere between Welch’s grape juice and an off-vintage Manischewitz. Instead, hunt down your favorite Vitis vinifera variety such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Gewurztraminer, or Kadarka, then plug in your WinePod and wait a year to enjoy your Main Street Cuvee!
Posted by Ed Levine, June 4, 2007 at 5:20 PM
I'm a big fan of Brendan Koerner's "The Goods" column in the New York Times Sunday business section. Yesterday he wrote about a newfangled outdoor cooker, the Orion. Here's how he described it: "a cylindrical, stainless steel gadget that resembles something out of the Apollo space program. Powered by charcoal, the Orion envelops meats in waves of hot air, also known as convection currents."
According to its inventor, Christian Fitzgerald, "This not only eliminates the need for turning but also preserves juiciness and reduces cooking times. He estimates, for example, that the Orion can cook a 20-pound turkey in two and a half hours, and six racks of baby back ribs in 75 minutes."
Here's my question: Does the Orion make anything crisp on the outside? I, for one, need that crisp, crusty exterior on my meat.
Posted by Alaina Browne, May 18, 2007 at 3:25 PM
This peanut butter mixer
would have come in handy during our peanut butter and jelly celebration. Use the peanut butter mix to blend your just opened and separated peanut butter, then store it in the fridge where it will maintain its blended state. [via Cool Tools]
Posted by Lia Bulaong, April 30, 2007 at 2:00 PM
I've long been a fan of Regina Schrambling's Gastropoda, which is refreshingly acidic when many food blogs are nothing but saccharine, so I got an extra big kick out of reading what is essentially a paean to her newly-purchased immersion blender in the LA Times. She cops to immediately "going as crazy as a Martha Stewart groupie who has just discovered the glue gun"—she "[whips] through pesto, tapenade, asparagus soup, red pepper purée and hummus, while also grinding walnuts into flour and converting a hard roll into fluffy bread crumbs" in a mere forty-five minutes after ripping her blender out of its box!
Schrambling points out that you can easily drop a few hundred dollars on blenders graded for use in professional kitchens, but why bother when she's so clearly happy with her new KitchenAid KHB100, which goes for $42.99 (after a $5 rebate) on Amazon? I think I know what my next kitchen equipment purchase is going to be.
Posted by Lia Bulaong, February 6, 2007 at 7:56 AM
I can't decide whether this mushroom kitchen timer is so cute it's hideous or so hideous it's cute, so I'm just going to say that it's 3"x3.5", from Japan (if you hadn't already guessed), $12 at Fred Flare, and you should buy it if it makes you happy.
[via Apartment Therapy]
Posted by Lia Bulaong, February 2, 2007 at 2:37 PM
Wired's Super Bowl Party Gadgets roundup starts out reasonably with a $45 Black and Decker food processor for guacamole, and immediately escalates to the $2500 grill with a sound system you see at left. I don't have to try too hard to justify that—it's a fair price, if you're serious about grilling and do a LOT of it, and anyway gadget roundups have to have at least one big ticket item—but then a few items later comes the $200 garbage can, notable for the infrared sensor that opens the lid without you ever having to touch anything. Sorry, but that's just obscene.
Posted by Nathalie Jordi, January 23, 2007 at 2:56 PM
I'm a gadget minimalist, but the following kitchen tools culled off the Well Fed Network's various sites are kind of intriguing:
--The Food Loop, a kind of reusable kitchen string (for tying up joints of meat, piles of stockpot veg, etc.)
--The OXO Angled Measuring Cup, so that you don't have to bend in half when you're pouring out milk or oil.
This one, on the other hand, is just stupid: Spepper, a salt-and-pepper mix.
But I LOVE these toasters by the Sarut group!
Their Nemo whisk and graters are cute too, although they look less well designed.
Posted by Nathalie Jordi, January 16, 2007 at 5:27 PM
Okay, I pointed to these guys already but they keep giving and giving, I can't resist. Check out these (apparently discontinued, sadly) sushi USB drives, strawberry milk sausage, and sushi-making robot.
This "head tired sexy knee pillow" has NOTHING to do with food but it may be my favorite thing on the site.
Posted by Adam Kuban, December 15, 2006 at 2:29 PM
In its default setting, the Microwave Vase looks like nothing more than a regular vase; once food is placed inside and the top knob is adjusted for time, then it becomes an actual microwave, cooking your food in a heartbeat. When the food is finished, the little green leaf on top lights up to let you know that your meal is ready. Wasn't this an accessory in the The Sims?
Microwave Vase [Yanko Design]
Posted by Alaina Browne, December 13, 2006 at 2:30 PM
Not yet available in the U.S., this device takes the Egg Muffin maker concept to the next level with the addition of a coffee maker.
Here's an an ingenious way to make a complete breakfast at home without having to inundate your kitchen with single-use appliances. This new product from Japanese company Chuo Sangyo lets you make coffee, eggs, and toast all in one breath. It only takes 10 minutes and one outlet. Amazing.
–Lisa Katayama
One Machine Makes Toast, Eggs, and Coffee [TokyoMango]
Posted by Alaina Browne, December 5, 2006 at 12:03 PM
Every weekday between now and December 22, I'm going to do a food enthusiast gift idea. There will be ideas for all gift-giving budgets, so if you find yourself stuck for a present, and the myriad lists other people have created can't help, you might spy something here. Today we begin with a Wine Knot from Modern furniture purveyor Design Within Reach. An "ingenious interplay of shape and color," Wine Knot holds six liter wine bottles, with space in the center for a magnum. This is a wine holder for display, not cellaring. $98 from www.dwr.com.
