that cooking meme

[kindkit]

Because I like to talk about cooking.

Bold the ones you have and use at least once a year, italicize the ones you have and don't use, strike through the ones you have had but got rid of.

I wonder how many pasta machines, breadmakers, juicers, blenders, deep fat fryers, egg boilers, melon ballers, sandwich makers, pastry brushes, cheese knives, electric woks, miniature salad spinners, griddle pans, jam funnels, meat thermometers, filleting knives, egg poachers, cake stands, garlic crushers, margarita glasses, tea strainers, bamboo steamers, pizza stones, coffee grinders, milk frothers, piping bags, banana stands, fluted pastry wheels, tagine dishes, conical strainers, rice cookers, steam cookers, pressure cookers, slow cookers, spaetzle makers, cookie presses, gravy strainers, double boilers (bains marie), sukiyaki stoves, ice cream makers, and fondue sets languish dustily at the back of the nation's cupboards.

I'm unsure of what some of these items actually are. Jam funnels, for instance. I have funnels, which I use for pouring liquids or bulk spices into jars, but are they jam funnels? Is a gravy strainer distinct from a regular strainer, of which I have several?

I need to get a bamboo steamer, since I like to cook Asian food and a lot of Chinese, Japanese, and sometimes Indian recipes call for steaming--but first I need a big enough pot to fit it into. A pressure cooker would also be useful, because I live at a high altitude and beans take forever to cook. And I should get a second coffee grinder, because I grind both spices and coffee and really it's better to have separate grinders for that. I'd really like an electric mixer, too (for breads, cakes, etc.) although that isn't on the list. I occasionlly daydream about pasta machines and ice cream makers, but I'm not sure I'd get enough use out of them to justify the expense and the house room; ditto a pizza stone. And although I cook a lot of rice, I'm a rice cooker skeptic, in part because the way you cook rice for Japanese food is different from how you cook it for other east Asian cuisines, and very different from how you cook rice for Indian food. So much depends on what you do before you put the rice on the heat (e.g. rinsing it and letting it dry vs. rinsing it and letting it soak) that I don't think a rice cooker would save much labor. On the other hand, I used to be slow cooker skeptic too, but my housemate owns one and I've discovered how handy it is for making stocks and long-simmered dishes,

Finally, who doesn't use a meat thermometer? Apart from vegetarians, that is. It's difficult to roast birds or large cuts of meat properly if you can't take their internal temperature. ETA: The answer to my question seems to be: people who like their meat braised or pot-roasted. I'm not a huge braised-meat fan, except for chicken thighs, whereas I love roasted meat (rare for beef, medium for pork) so I do need a meat thermometer.

Comments

[lilacsigil]

I love my rice cooker! It deals with Japanese and Indian rices perfectly well with different amounts of water (and extensive washing of the short-grain rice if making sushi). Also, it can work as a steamer too. (But I don't have a meat thermometer because I rarely cook large cuts of meat, and if I do it's in the cast iron pot, slowly for hours.)

I had never thought about high altitude living and cooking! Does it affect your bread at all?

[kindkit]

Hmm, yes, the meat thermometer issue seems to depend on what kinds of meat you cook and by what method. I don't like braised meat, as a general rule, whereas I love roasted meat, so for me a meat thermometer makes sense. (And now I'm craving roast pork . . .)

I haven't found that the altitude is quite as much of a problem with baking as people claim, but then I don't generally bake really tricky things like delicate cakes. Typically I adjust the recipe so as to use a little less yeast or leavening because gas expands more at altitude, and I generally have to bake things a little longer (because the boiling point of water is substantially lower--less than 200 degrees Fahrenheit and about 92.7 Celsius--at this altitude). Occasionally I've had things rise too fast, collapse, and end up flat.

[lilacsigil]

I hadn't even thought about the gases expanding more! That's really fascinating! I think you live about as high as the tallest mountain on the Australian continent, so it's never really crossed my mind before.

[kindkit]

Santa Fe is at 7200 feet (almost 2200 meters), so the effects can be pretty noticeable. One amusing thing is that sealed air-filled packages (bags of potato chips/crisps, for example) tend to swell up or even burst. On the less fun side, my anemia is actually more severe here than it would be if I lived at sea level, because oxygen is less concentrated at higher altitudes and you need more hemoglobin in your blood to carry it efficiently. Most people adjust to high-altitude living by producing extra hemoglobin, but my body hasn't got the trick of it yet.

[inamac]

I've always wondered why anyone would bother with a meat thermometer! Different ways of cooking I suppose - and I don't roast really large cuts of meat often enough to justify having one.

I gave up my bamboo steamers when I got an electric steamer - which cost no more and is much less bother and more efficient (I do the cats' chicken in it as well as our veg and fish.)

A jam funnel is a very wide mouthed funnel for pouring hot jam into its jars - I've never felt the need for one when making jam, I have a steady hand with a saucepan. A gravy strainer is a jug with the spout coming from the base, so that you can pour the liquid gravy while leaving any fat on top. I've considered them occasionally, but they are hell to clean.

I asked for a pasta machine several Christmases ago. I've used it once. Dried pasta is much better than home-made.

[kindkit]

Yeah, I guess a lot depends on method and also personal taste. I like my beef rare and my pork cooked to about medium (still juicy and very slightly pink), so it's important for me to use a thermometer so as not to overcook. And if I'm roasting a chicken I want to be sure the thigh meat is done.

What you and the meme call a gravy strainer is what I'd call a fat separator. I don't have one, but whenever I try to make gravy I think about how useful it would be.

I like fresh pasta for certain kinds of sauce (like cream sauces), but it does seem like it would be a lot of effort. One of those things where if you start totting up the labor involved, it's probably cheaper to buy.

[tree_and_leaf]

What kindkit said, and also a meat thermometer is invaluable for slow-cooking meat, especially if it's chicken, where you really don't want to get it wrong.

[surexit]

My family doesn't use meat thermometers! It sounds like something my mum or granny or aunt (actually, definitely aunt, she has have everything) might have around, but I've never really seen it be introduced into the cooking process, and it's not because we don't roast large cuts of meat. I guess they just time things?

[tree_and_leaf]

A jam funnel is the kind with a wide mouth, for pouring things into jars.

[kindkit]

I think part of the reason I love and use my meat thermometer is that overcooking meat (per my taste; YMMV) is irreversible. In cooking I'm usually more of an improviser, but I fear ruinous and unfixabe mistakes like overcooking.

[vilakins]

I didn't know what a jam funnel was either (something for getting hot jam into jars?) or the gravy strainer (I do have ordinary strainers) or a cookie press (but someone told me and I've used something similar of my mother's).

The slow cooker is great for stews, chillies, soups, and anything you need to keep at a simmer while waiting for people to turn up.

I haven't used a rice cooker but those friends who have them swear by them. Since they're mostly Chinese or Indian, I suppose they either got ones that suited their cuisine or they have modifiable settings. In any case I just don't have room for anything more which is why the bread maker is in the store room. Mind you, another factor in that one is the availability of wonderful sourdoughs.

[kindkit]

I've never used a bread maker, but I've read that it's very hard to produce the kind of bread I mostly prefer--a French- or Italian-style loaf with a fluffy interior and a crisp crust--with one. Apparently they primarily make sandwich loaves, which are soft and dense. Anyway, the no-knead bread recipe that I mostly use is so easy, and produces such great bread, that I no longer want a bread machine.

Lack of space is such a frustration in the kitchen! Even if I could afford to buy an electric mixer I don't know where I'd put it.

[vilakins]

I have a wonderful no-knead wholemeal sourdough bread I used to make once a week at uni and should make again now I've found where to get proper cakes of yeast which is what I used.

The breads were crusty and nice but wholemeal which I prefer never worked as well. I'm going to donate the machine to a charity shop.

I have a hand-held electric mixer which does the job well (I don't bake that often) and just goes in a drawer afterwards.