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In the kitchen
#26

In the kitchen
I try to avoid having too much machinery in the kitchen, because it either takes up cupboard space or counter space.  As it is, we've amassed a moderately large collection anyway.  What we have, and how often we use it:
  • Electric kettle (very frequently)
  • Toaster (frequently)
  • Microwave oven (frequently)
  • Burr-type coffee grinder (at least weekly)
  • Blender (semi-frequently, more so in the summer)
  • Stand mixer (periodically, with the heaviest use in the late fall around Christmas baking time)
  • Hand-held mixer (occasionally)
  • Immersion blender (occasionally, mostly to break up lumps in gravy)
  • Food processor (currently broken, looking for replacement part, but only used occasionally prior to that)
  • Pasta maker (rarely, but we want to put it to better use because we like fresh pasta a lot)
Our go-to devices are one particular small steel pot, a cast iron frying pan and a Dutch oven - we can do 80-90% of our cooking with them.
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#27

In the kitchen
(06-04-2021, 07:20 PM)Astreja Wrote: I try to avoid having too much machinery in the kitchen, because it either takes up cupboard space or counter space.  As it is, we've amassed a moderately large collection anyway.  What we have, and how often we use it:
  • Electric kettle (very frequently)
  • Toaster (frequently)
  • Microwave oven (frequently)
  • Burr-type coffee grinder (at least weekly)
  • Blender (semi-frequently, more so in the summer)
  • Stand mixer (periodically, with the heaviest use in the late fall around Christmas baking time)
  • Hand-held mixer (occasionally)
  • Immersion blender (occasionally, mostly to break up lumps in gravy)
  • Food processor (currently broken, looking for replacement part, but only used occasionally prior to that)
  • Pasta maker (rarely, but we want to put it to better use because we like fresh pasta a lot)
Our go-to devices are one particular small steel pot, a cast iron frying pan and a Dutch oven - we can do 80-90% of our cooking with them.

Me?  I use.......

Toaster
Microwave
Pots
Pans
About once or twice a year I use a blender.


We have an egg timer like this-------->      Timer      

I've never used it, I guess it's a decoration.  Hey! I got to use the hour glass emoji.
                                                         T4618
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#28

In the kitchen
I don't like a hot stove or oven in the summer. It's unbearable without running the air conditioner excessively to combat the heat I am generating myself. I use my "instapot" that sears, slow cooks, pressure cooks and whatnot, or my grill, or the micro. Or I eat cold stuff.

In winter, I use the stove top and oven a lot, but not at all in summer.
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#29

In the kitchen
Let's see....
  • Microwave popcorn popper
  • Hinged vegetable chopper
  • Lettuce slicing thingamajiggy
  • Two slap-chops
  • A 48-pin meat tenderizer
  • Two meat thermometers
  • An oven thermometer
  • Collapsible colanders
  • A handicap accessible cutting board
  • An adjustable meat/cheese slicer
  • A mandoline slicer
  • 7 skillets and two pots
  • Iron skillet
  • Iron Dutch Oven
  • 5-quart basket-type air fryer
  • 25-liter air fryer
  • 1.6 cu. ft. microwave
  • A small wall clock with second hand (essential)
  • A 10-cup rice cooker (digital)
  • A 5-cup rice cooker (manual)
  • A microwave rice cooker
  • Two microwave steamers
  • A Mickey Mouse toaster
  • A 5-setting electric hot water pot
  • A 4.5-liter electric hot water pot (3 setting)
  • A 6-quart Multi-cooker
  • A 10-quart Instant Pot
  • An 8-quart stock pot
  • A 12-quart stock pot
  • An electric carving knife
  • An electric pizza oven (Presto Pizzazz)
  • Battery-powered salt & pepper grinder
  • Pineapple coring tool
  • Apple slicer
  • An immersion blender
  • A Ninja blender
  • A Ninja food processor
  • Two coffee grinders (conical burr)
  • A drip coffee maker
  • A K-cup coffee maker
  • A vacuum sealer
  • And a 7 cu. ft. chest freezer & thermometer
Mountain-high though the difficulties appear, terrible and gloomy though all things seem, they are but Mâyâ.
Fear not — it is banished. Crush it, and it vanishes. Stamp upon it, and it dies.


Vivekananda
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#30

In the kitchen
(06-05-2021, 01:57 AM)Dānu Wrote: Let's see....
  • Microwave popcorn popper
  • Hinged vegetable chopper
  • Lettuce slicing thingamajiggy
  • Two slap-chops
  • A 48-pin meat tenderizer
  • Two meat thermometers
  • An oven thermometer
  • Collapsible colanders
  • A handicap accessible cutting board
  • An adjustable meat/cheese slicer
  • A mandoline slicer
  • 7 skillets and two pots
  • Iron skillet
  • Iron Dutch Oven
  • 5-quart basket-type air fryer
  • 25-liter air fryer
  • 1.6 cu. ft. microwave
  • A small wall clock with second hand (essential)
  • A 10-cup rice cooker (digital)
  • A 5-cup rice cooker (manual)
  • A microwave rice cooker
  • Two microwave steamers
  • A Mickey Mouse toaster
  • A 5-setting electric hot water pot
  • A 4.5-liter electric hot water pot (3 setting)
  • A 6-quart Multi-cooker
  • A 10-quart Instant Pot
  • An 8-quart stock pot
  • A 12-quart stock pot
  • An electric carving knife
  • An electric pizza oven (Presto Pizzazz)
  • Battery-powered salt & pepper grinder
  • Pineapple coring tool
  • Apple slicer
  • An immersion blender
  • A Ninja blender
  • A Ninja food processor
  • Two coffee grinders (conical burr)
  • A drip coffee maker
  • A K-cup coffee maker
  • A vacuum sealer
  • And a 7 cu. ft. chest freezer & thermometer

I have a lot of kitchen stuff myself, but not near that much. You must have a big kitchen, mine is fairly small.
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#31

In the kitchen
Well, the chest freezer is in the bedroom. But I do have a lot of stuff.
Mountain-high though the difficulties appear, terrible and gloomy though all things seem, they are but Mâyâ.
Fear not — it is banished. Crush it, and it vanishes. Stamp upon it, and it dies.


Vivekananda
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#32

In the kitchen
So I'm having an almost post Covid party Sunday with several people we know who have all been fully vaccinated.......so with that in mind i'm going to do some cooking!  

Shock

STOP THE PRESSES!


For some of you who may not know, I hate cooking.  I mean, I really don't like choping stuff up or mixing stuff or cooking it in a pan or any of the other stuff.  I'd rather just eat an apple or chew on a carrot stick.  So this is a unique event.  

Nod
                                                         T4618
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#33

In the kitchen
Wow, listing stuff...  First, none of the small stuff like melon ballers or micrograters though I love such stuff...

But equipment:  

Microwave
Oven
Stovetop
Frybaby
Air Fryer
Bread Machine
Meat Slicer
Mandolin
Potato Slicer
2 refrigerators
Dishwasher
Cast Iron Skillets
Cast Iron 10" Wok
3 nonstick skillets
The Cast  Iron 10" round raised lip griddle
Pizza Stone
Various sized baking sheet pans
Various round or square raised mesh racks
Probe Thermometers
The Infrared thermometer

And, BTW, I am planning to set up a new bookcase in the computer room to hold infrequently used kitchen gadgets in order to keep the kitchen clearer.  Like, the electric meat slicer is used once every few months, so it can sit there.  And I have enough kitchen wall to attach serious bolts into studs to hang the cast iron stuff.  The "To Do" list.  Must make some nice beveled and finished boards to apply to the walls first, though.  And I want to change my 2 fluorescent tube fixture affixed to the ceiling (where it fails when the attic gets hot) replaced with a hanging 4 tube fixture to avoid the attic heat and provide more light.  

"And we want...  A shrubbery"...
Never try to catch a dropped kitchen knife!
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#34

In the kitchen
I completely forgot to mention my microwave. That's a good measure of how important it isn't to me.
On hiatus.
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#35

In the kitchen
(06-04-2021, 05:41 PM)Thumpalumpacus Wrote:
(06-04-2021, 05:01 PM)trdsf Wrote:
(06-04-2021, 03:28 AM)Thumpalumpacus Wrote: When I was teaching myself how to cook, I'd head to the library and read up a couple of recipes to get the gist of the dish -- try to understand what made it crank -- but I always injected my own special sauce into it (shut it, Jerry) and made it my own. I'll experiment, try fusions, throw in my own preferences, and so on.

We seem pretty similar, cooking more from instinct than instruction.

It really isn't that different from being onstage, for me, except that the applause -- if it comes, lol -- is a little more delayed when others enjoy my cooking in the kitchen rather than under the lights.

I made quesadillas and jalapeño-poppers tonight. My q'dillas have meat, herbs, green onion, and tomato in them as well as the cheese. Again, going with the flow and understanding that recipes may be a baseline, but aren't the end-all of it.
Cooking didn't start making sense to me until someone told me it was just applied chemistry and thermodynamics.  That's when it fell in to a framework my mind could process better.

I always keep two cookbooks on hand: a 1975 edition of The Joy of Cooking (do not buy a later edition) and Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking.  The former covers everything, the latter is not a cookbook but a textbook.  And of course there are a few family recipes that have been written down and passed along.  Otherwise, yeah, I pretty much just freestyle.  I'll look up how to do something (mainly for the time and temperature) and the rest, I trust my instincts.

I don't criticize them who use cookbooks, just as I don't criticize orchestral musicians for using scores. It's just a different approach, that's it.

One of my favorite cooks was my mother's late husband Kevin, who only used recipes (mainly from ATK). He was one hell of a cook. He just came at it different than I do. In this case, it's literally a matter of the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

Oh, I didn't think you were criticizing me or my style.  I just need a leg up to try something I haven't before.  And I have a friend who likes to make requests from Mastering... when I visit their place.  The Fondue de Poulet à La Crème was epic.  Smile
"Aliens?  Us?  Is this one of your Earth jokes?"  -- Kro-Bar, The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra
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#36

In the kitchen
(06-05-2021, 12:54 PM)Thumpalumpacus Wrote: I completely forgot to mention my microwave. That's a good measure of how important it isn't to me.

I forgot the microwave (and the dishwasher) as well, but more because I no longer see them as a kitchen gadget, but as one of those things that just is in the kitchen. Used to be that microwaves and dishwashers were premiums when looking to buy or rent a place to live. They've become so ubiquitous that landlords/realtors don't even mention them any longer... unless they\re missing. Smile
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#37

In the kitchen
(06-05-2021, 11:07 PM)TheGentlemanBastard Wrote:
(06-05-2021, 12:54 PM)Thumpalumpacus Wrote: I completely forgot to mention my microwave. That's a good measure of how important it isn't to me.

I forgot the microwave (and the dishwasher) as well, but more because I no longer see them as a kitchen gadget, but as one of those things that just is in the kitchen. Used to be that microwaves and dishwashers were premiums when looking to buy or rent a place to live. They've become so ubiquitous that landlords/realtors don't even mention them any longer... unless they\re missing. Smile

I've never owned or rented a place with a dishwasher; we've always use the MkI hand-eye system around these parts. My mom has one, and it's nice for holiday meals, but that's about the only time it's used.

The microwave, in my own case, has only been used to either reheat leftovers, or rapidly heat water for my ramen. To me, it isn't a cooking utensil, it's simply a fast heater. I can live without a microwave, but I can't live without a good knife or cutting-board.
On hiatus.
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#38

In the kitchen
(06-05-2021, 11:07 PM)TheGentlemanBastard Wrote:
(06-05-2021, 12:54 PM)Thumpalumpacus Wrote: I completely forgot to mention my microwave. That's a good measure of how important it isn't to me.

I forgot the microwave (and the dishwasher) as well, but more because I no longer see them as a kitchen gadget, but as one of those things that just is in the kitchen. Used to be that microwaves and dishwashers were premiums when looking to buy or rent a place to live. They've become so ubiquitous that landlords/realtors don't even mention them any longer... unless they\re missing. Smile

90% of the use my microwave gets is as a kitchen timer.  Of the remaining 10%, the vast majority of that is used for reheating my coffee.  It's no way to cook.  Wink
"Aliens?  Us?  Is this one of your Earth jokes?"  -- Kro-Bar, The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra
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#39

In the kitchen
You can actually cook some decent meals in there, but one has to make adjustments for one's particular micro, they can cook as different as night and day in my experience. 
I use it often in the summer to avoid generating heat in the house. I make various egg dishes, veggies (can come out like steamed when in covered container and timed correctly), and small meat items like meatballs or small pieces of meat in liquid (like tomato sauce etc). Nice meals can be made in there, but it does take re-thinking your cooking. I use it when it's hot and/or I am too lazy to grill or whatever. 

I cook everything I put in there in glass, I do not trust heated plastics, we know too little about them as yet and some have already been proven harmful.
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#40

In the kitchen
(06-05-2021, 11:45 PM)Thumpalumpacus Wrote:
(06-05-2021, 11:07 PM)TheGentlemanBastard Wrote:
(06-05-2021, 12:54 PM)Thumpalumpacus Wrote: I completely forgot to mention my microwave. That's a good measure of how important it isn't to me.

I forgot the microwave (and the dishwasher) as well, but more because I no longer see them as a kitchen gadget, but as one of those things that just is in the kitchen. Used to be that microwaves and dishwashers were premiums when looking to buy or rent a place to live. They've become so ubiquitous that landlords/realtors don't even mention them any longer... unless they\re missing. Smile

I've never owned or rented a place with a dishwasher; we've always use the MkI hand-eye system around these parts. My mom has one, and it's nice for holiday meals, but that's about the only time it's used.

The microwave, in my own case, has only been used to either reheat leftovers, or rapidly heat water for my ramen. To me, it isn't a cooking utensil, it's simply a fast heater. I can live without a microwave, but I can't live without a good knife or cutting-board.

I agree on both counts, even though I own both. The microwave is a re-heater and the dishwasher is, quite honestly, wasted cabinet space. The wife an kids use it, but it doesn't save them time over hand washing, though they think it does. For heating water to boiling, I prefer a stand alone hot water kettle. They're much faster, especially with more than a cup or so of water, than the microwave.
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