Friday, July 31, 2009
Fun and Games / Good advice Smash or Trash?
Posted by Nicki Wood on Fri, Jul 31, 2009 at 1:27 PM
Have nothing in your house that you do not believe to be either beautiful or useful, said some august figure regarding home decor and junk accumulation.
That's why I still possess the second-most-useless thing in my kitchen: the ice tray that makes cubes in the shape of Titanics and icebergs. The Titanics sink to just the proper angle in a drink, and it's just too delicious to give away.
A hot discussion in the Recipezaar forums asked people to name the most pointless gadget in their kitchen. Blooming onion maker was the most often mentioned, with cookie press, flat whisk, ice crusher, cheap can opener, and egg separator all ranking high, though some people claimed devotion to their egg separators. A couple of people mentioned mine: the garlic press.
The press, although well-built and sturdy, didn't really eject the garlic. Instead, the press had to be disassembled and scraped. It was actually more work than chopping garlic, and added to the pile of food prep items to wash.
Are you still holding your most pointless gadget? Or did you ditch it? Better yet, did you give it to a good home?
Comments (14)
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I dumped the garlic press long ago, but I still have one of those scraper/chopper things that I never use. And an orange peeler. But neither take up much room...which is why they've won immunity from every Goodwill roundup.
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I have a square egg press. You put a warm, peeled boiled egg into it, chill in the fridge and then you can have square egg slices to fit square crackers. I gave one to my Dad years ago and he continually amazed the grandkids with the square eggs. I wouldn't give it up for anything.
Square Egg Press!! When we were first talking about this topic, I said Square Egg Press! My mom had one in a drawer for my whole childhood. We never once used it. I wonder if she still has it!
How am I supposed to make Spritz cookies and cheese straws without my cookie press? Or pan sauces and gravies without my flat silicone whisk?
My garlic press, though, is useless. Give me a cutting board and a chef's knife anyday.
Carrington, The reason square egg presses are never used is that you can only make one at a time so it is a painfully slow process. If you really wanted to make an impressive display of square eggs, you would have to own several of these oddities and no one ever thinks of that when they get the first one.
I think we should corral all of the orphaned square egg presses so we can loan them out as a group to those who need square eggs.
Linda -- You are 100% right. I am going to start soliciting cast-off SEP right now. Let's see how many we can get. I'll keep you posted.
Maybe it's because my knives need sharpening, but I use my garlic press religiously. I could never get the garlic as smooshed as the garlic press does. It's like one of my top ten kitchen gadgets I would never give up. Along with my rotating handle stovetop popcorn popper. My chocolate fountain on the other hand...
My knives stink, so I use the mandolin as often as possible. Separately, I think a guy once dumped me because I used his garlic press instead of a knife. I swear he cited Lidia or someone just like her. It was about as sexy as having a dude relay his mom's sex advice. (I mean, I guess.)
I have a whole drawer full of 'em:
- Hardwood-handled Oyster knife. I'm keeping it, because maybe one day...
- 50's aluminium lemon-squeezer that lookes like a flattened robot alligator. Problem is, back then lemons were smaller, and the crank mechanismis not much help
- Circa 1890 cast-iron corn shucker. It's so old and pre-sanitation era that if I use it I might catch consumption. And I'm plumb out of Dr. J. Ridley's Magic Elixir.
- Butter curlicuer: Makes butter into lil' yellow ribbons...And not much else!
- Little aluminium bird-lemon-squeezer-thingy. Open it, drop a 1/4 lemon into its belly, squeeze the tail, and the birdie vomits lemon juice. Awesome in a Gary Busey kinda way.
Ah.. welcome to my world! I have enough discarded kitchen gadgets to fill a veritable cooking graveyard. Apparently *I* am the one person that buys all of these ridiculous things.
Some of the items that have made the garage sale cut are:
Bread Maker
French Press
Pizza Cutter
Salad Spinner
Bloomin' Onion Maker
Sandwich Maker
Marinade Injector
Electric Rice Cooker
Microwaveable Rice Cooker
Egg Separator
Deep Fryer
Some of the pointless items I am still hanging onto are:
Melon Baller
Wine Spout
Wine Foil Cutter
Fondue Maker Pot
Lemon Squeezers (sans elzorro's bird)
I think these are still sticking around simply b/c they don't take up too much room.
My latest addition that I am still withholding judgement on is my new ice cream maker - a birthday gift. Stay tuned for the verdict.
But I too, love my garlic press.. so I guess it really is just different strokes for different folks?
I don't see why everyone's hating on the garlic press. I use mine pretty much every time I cook. I have the Pampered Chef one. I love that I don't even peel the garlic. In fact, that makes it even easier to clean.
Now, my melon baller? I have NEVER EVER used that.
West End Girl, I'm with you on the cookie press. Only use it once a year, but there's no substitute for it.
Inga and Zorro, sounds like you could start a museum with your combined collection. Throw in Erin's melon baller and call it the Kitchen Smithsonian.
WAITTTTTTT...
Don't enshrine those melon ballers just yet. They may have been invented for making balls of melon, but their true calling is taking the core out of pears. Peel the pears, core them and then poach them in viognier, water, sugar and vanilla bean until they are tender. Serve them as part of a dessert. Reduce the poaching liquid for a sauce that tastes not unlike marshmallow hehe.
