A List Of Handy Kitchen Gadgets
Posted on January 4, 2008
Filed Under Kitchen Gadgets |
There are many items that will make cooking easier and help you create excellent meals. Here are a few useful gadgets you may not want to do without.
- Kitchen Timer
These clocks are used to measure the length of time foods have been cooking. This makes it easy to follow recipes which include cooking times, and to avoid burning or overcooking. Most kitchens have a built in timer on the microwave or oven, but you might want a seperate timer if you are cooking more than one dish at a time.
- Vegetable peeler
Used for peeling potatoes, carrots and other vegetables, these are a kitchen gadget that it is hard to do without.
- Oven mitts and potholders
Worn to protect your hands from hot objects like ovens, stoves and cookware, everyone can use oven mitts. Most are simply an insulated mitt, quite often with a cheery pattern or picture in the cloth. More recently, manufacturers have come out with oven mitts that have patches of silicone material on them, as silicone is much more heat resistant than mere cloth. Watch out for really cheap mitts; they will melt or burn!
- Cutting board
There are wooden, plasti and glass cutting boards. This is pretty much up to individual preference. The main thing to remember is that well used cutting boards made of wood and plastic get a lot of scoring and grooves in the surface, which may harbor germs if not cleaned properly.
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- Garlic press
These handy little gadgets make dealing with garlic a lot easier. Instead of cutting each clove by hand after peeling, many garlic presses are capable of pressing garlic with the peel on. Some gourmets claim that pressed garlic has a lighter, less bitter flavor.
- Measuring cups and spoons
Most recipes call for ingredients measured by the cup, half cup, quarter cup, teaspoon, etc. A set of measuring cups and spoons make these instructions a no-brainer.
- Corkscrew
Nothing is more embarrassing than taking home a bottle of wine for that special romantic evening and discovering at the last minute you can’t open the bottle. While you may not need a top of the line corkscrew, like they might use in Washington wine clubs for instance, there are a few important things to keep in mind. It has to be easy to use, keep the cork in one piece, nimble enough to use without shaking the bottle and stirring up any sediment, and do the job safely without breaking the rim of the bottle. Therefore, don’t get the cheapest one out there!
These are just some of the necessary kitchen gadgets any aspiring chef might want in his arsenal.
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