Your Top 5 Favorite Kitchen Appliances and Why

[Kaido]

I *want* to like that...but it just looks like a massive pain in the ass to clean.

My 12" cast iron does just fine. I can cook 4 sausage patties in there at once, use the leftover grease to fry up 4 eggs and while the eggs cook I can use the toaster to cook the bread. Takes about 15 minutes total and then I just wipe out and rinse the skillet and call it good.

Probably does a better sear on the sausage in the skillet too.

My friend's kid has one. Uses it every day to make a breakfast sandwich before school. Apparently it works pretty well, go figure...

 

[Craig234]

"...which has really helped my testosterone levels. It is only single masticating ..."

Quit reading.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

Love it for that, it's main purpose is to cut up veggies for lunch casseroles
None of it has testosterone in it, but drinking a juice every day where each juice was half a laundry basket of raw greens boosted my natural testosterone production though the roof. I think all the iron in the beets helped me the most personally, you can actually overdo it on those and hurt yourself.

I love the Vitamix but green juice is easily the best health food thing I have ever done. They are disgusting sometimes (some are great) but I literally feel years younger. Some companies like Suja make decent ones you can buy. The trick is if either of the first two ingredients in the list are fruit don't buy it it's sugar water.

This seems like the biggest piece of bro-science i've seen in this thread.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

If you want to see something really cool, check out their BlueTherm Bluetooth enabled versions of their temperature probes. The smartphone app for it is pretty slick!

That is cool, and I'm sure it's very well made but it seems hard to justify the cost over something like a Maverick ET732 (which is what I use for my grill, and which costs $59). Since the BlueTherm is bluetooth only, the range is certainly no better than a radio-signaled remote. I do see the wisdom of WiFi thermometers like the Tappecue, which I have not used (and which can read 4 temps and costs the same as the BlueTherm), because I could check on a long, slow cook like a pork butt from anywhere, but I am not seeing how a bluetooth setup would be better than a radio one.

 

[poofyhairguy]

This seems like the biggest piece of bro-science i've seen in this thread.

Yeah maybe I am overstating the case because of the nature of the thread. Of course it wasn't just one thing, any real improvement in life is a combination of things.

I point to the green juice, but really the green juice just helped me have more energy in life and probably helped my metabolism. More energy and a healthier diet really boosted my workouts and sex life, which is probably where a lot of the major internal changes came from. I could work harder, go further, and I improved faster than before I started juicing. As I said the juice doesn't have anything like testosterone in it, but the facts show that a healthy diet and activity can make a difference.

It's all cumulative, nothing is an outright silver bullet. Green juice isn't magic sauce, it is just a very convenient way to have the kind of diet I never had in my life. Someone who listened to their parents and eats their raw vegetables every day probably wouldn't benefit that much. In fact that is better overall, you get the fiber I don't get in juice. But if you are a meat and potatoes guy whose vegetable consumption is limited to toppings on burgers and tacos (which is where I was at one point) then it can be a big boost. I am not going to eat a salad every day but I will chug a glass of green stuff. That works for me.

 

[Muse]

Muse, have you thought of going to the hardware store with the image? I mean, those things are standardized, it's gotta exist in some other form in the US.

Yesterday I did an errand run. After everything else was taken care of I stopped at the most stocked hardware store I know of, it's the size of a small warehouse. It's been there for at least 45 years, probably longer. I'd brought the bottom of my VeV moka coffee maker and my spare valve (non-working) as well. They didn't have the part. The manager said my valves had weakened due to all the steam, the spring that forces the ball against the closure hole was no longer capable of keeping sufficient pressure inside the machine to force the coffee up into the upper chamber, at least enough for a full pot of coffee.

I was directed to an upper crust culinary importer/retailer and they didn't have the valve either. They suggested I try a specialty coffee place (brew and equipment) a couple of blocks away. They didn't deal in moka pots any longer.

I then played my last card, which was to try the largest thrift store I know of, a giant recycling center, about the size of 1/2 a city block. I'd tried a couple of smaller thrift stores a few days ago, to no avail. They had an aluminum moka pot whose valve fits mine (I'd brought a Crescent wrench!). I paid the $6 for the pot, brought it home and made about 4 batches of coffee (later and this morning). The maximum output was about 11 ounces. I deliberated whether to keep using it or transfer the valve to my trusty stainless VeV, which can produce up to 13 ounces. The aluminum pot says Made in Italy, Junior Express, Crusinallo, and looks very nearly new. To me it appears that it was probably used not more than a few hundred times, probably less. It's in excellent shape. However, the last brew I made with it, I couldn't prevent it from spilling a bit of coffee on my stove when pouring into my favorite cup. That decided it. I removed its valve and screwed it into my VeV stainless, which I just used to make 13 ounces of brew. If I treat the thing well, it may make me another 40,000 brews if I live that long!

I'm going to try to be careful never to put the maker on high heat and forget it, which is what blew out the other two valves I have. Putting it on high heat is OK but once the coffee is rushing into the upper chamber it's wise to reduce the flame to low, quite low, really for the rest of the brewing process.

Now, people say that stainless steel moka pots after a time get stained, and it's true. Especially if you forget and leave the heat on high, the exterior darkens, scorches, and it no longer has that wonderful mirror gleam of the new pot. It IS possible to restore the original appearance (I've fought this "problem" for years, tried many many things). The only thing that really works for me, and I did this a few days ago, is to use wet-dry (black) sandpapers. These sandpapers can and usually should be used wet. I start with a very coarse grade, either 150 or 180 grit and work my way all the way up to extremely fine grits:

(150)
180
220
320
400
500
600
1200
1500

By the time you've used the 1500, the machine looks virtually brand new!

Before each usage, I wash the exterior with a soft kitchen-spongy netted dish cleaning implement with some soap and water (and rinse). This really helps to keep the maker looking great.

 

[zinfamous]

http://youtu.be/F-okl6e_Suk
Jump to 2:14.

I guess Maddox has never been hospitalized or cared for patients in a hospital, or infirm elderly, re: his lack of understanding the utility of flexible straws.

 

[Xstatic1]

Missed that thread! Hmm, that's a good question. So pressure cookers require liquid to operate (that's how they pressurize), which is why you need the extra water (one cup, in this case). A quick google says that you need 320ml (around 10.8oz) as the minimum liquid in any Instant Pot for recipes to turn out well; subtracting the moisture from the meat, she uses one cup (8oz) to fill in the difference. I can confirm that her recipe works awesome.

For this particular recipe, you're basically sauteeing bacon, then pressure-cooking the pork, and lastly, quickly pressure-cooking the cabbage. You do end up with quite a bit of liquid at the end...I take the meat out & shred it with my Bear Claws, then chop up the cabbage into big chunks, then chuck the remaining liquid & leftovers from the IP bowl.

I would definitely suggest adding liquid smoke to her recipe, that's really the only thing that I felt like it was missing (assuming you like the smoke flavor - I do ). I always recommend starting out with the base recipe & then modifying from there, but if you already have a wet rub you use, you might want to try that out first, and maybe put the pork on the little wireframe rack that comes with the IP (I just dump the water right on top of mine, but I only use that red salt she recommends).

I'm a few weeks late reporting back. 😱

I used my own Kalua Pork recipe and made it in an Instant Pot for the very 1st time (using the wire rack like you suggested and IIRC only 1/2 cup of water). It tasted the same (it was a hit with a bunch of people), but I didn't like how "wet" it was. I guess I'm used to the texture when it's cooked in my Crock Pot.

Verdict: Won't be using my IP for making Kalua Pork. 🙁

 

[ringtail]

best memory = The inviting beauty (true 11) perched naked on the edged of the kitchen counter top inviting me in,

and our mutually exhausted collapse after she was fulfilled far beyond all her prior life experience

Sweet memories of UCLA grad school . . .

 

[Carson Dyle]

 

[Fenixgoon]

kitchen aid mixer >>>>>>> *

so versatile.

 

[shimpster]

can opener-it openz canz
microwave-it cooks food
fridge-it stores food
coffee maker-it makes coffee
stove-it cooks food

 

[CZroe]

My kitchen timer

My stove timer

My oven timer

My egg timer

My microwave (love that timer function!)

Timers let me know when it's time to eat. Obviously, I love timers!

 

[foghorn67]

I want a good griddle/grill. Roommate keeps leaving the propane on.
Any ideas?

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

 

[Carson Dyle]

My kitchen timer

My stove timer

My oven timer

My egg timer

My microwave (love that timer function!)

Timers let me know when it's time to eat. Obviously, I love timers!

The microwave timer is the one I use constantly. What I keep running into, though, is that I set it for something on the stove and then I go to put something in the microwave and ... shit.

 

[gorcorps]

The microwave timer is the one I use constantly. What I keep running into, though, is that I set it for something on the stove and then I go to put something in the microwave and ... shit.

I use my microwave timer too. The stove timer is a very quiet little jingle on my new GE range. Not sure why it's so quiet, and I haven't found any way to increase the volume. It's easy enough to say "OK google, set timer for..." that I'm starting to use my phone.