Gadgets: what you got / want?

[Horse]

Ours is about £10, like this:



And no idea why the link gives a generic Amazon ad????

[formula400]

I’m a sucker for a kitchen power tool so have the following lurking in cupboards:


1 x Thermomix

that's cool, there brilliant

[Silly Car]

I’m a sucker for a kitchen power tool so have the following lurking in cupboards:


1 x Thermomix

that's cool, there brilliant

I’m still getting used to what it can do but I’m very impressed so far, especially with the downloadable step by step programs/recipes.

I managed a near perfect Italian meringue with it on my first time of trying, and have wasted 2 dozen eggs since trying to replicate it... not sure it there is grease lurking or I was just very lucky first time

Thankfully I’m not the type to want to cook an entire 3 course dinner in it (as per idiots on the Facebook groups - same applies in instant pot groups), but it does far more than I’ll every dream up.

[formula400]

make an Italian meringue in your stand mixed. sod using the thermo for that.

[formula400]

at work we mainly use it to blend things super smooth, or make chocolate cremeux.
or cook out the odd shuffle base.

[Silly Car]

When I first arrived it was names the £1,000 risotto machine

But you are right about blending stuff until smooth, I am awaiting the day they amend the software so the speed dial goes up to 11

[Taipan]

Halogen oven, which get used daily and is replaced instantly when they inevitably burn out or break their timer.

Instant Pot, which is now redundant since purchasing a Ninja Foodi.

Ninja Foodi which is getting used more and more. Just wish it had more capacity.

Nutri Bullet, rarely used...

[mangocrazy]

My two offerings to the thread are:

- electronic temperature sensor/ timer for cooking meat. You could prod a chicken with the knife to see whether juices run clear.

- breadmaker.

I bought a bread maker 'cos it was on offer in Aldi or Lidl (can't remember which) and used it for a while before realising that it was more of a faff and took longer than doing it by hand.

Also (unless you want to be fishing the mixing paddles out of the arse of your cooked loaf) you have to stop the breadmaker at a particular point in the program, ferret about in the gloop, retrieve said paddles and then restart the program. And even then you'd still have two holes in the bottom of your loaf where the paddle spindles had poked through.

Breadmakers are shite. Do it manually. It takes 15 minutes tops to get the dough to a state where you can whack it in a bread tin, then it goes into the airing cupboard (or equivalent) to prove. An hour or so later (during which time you can do other stuff) you bung it in the oven to cook. Piece of the proverbial. And the ensuing loaf is better than anything you can buy in a supermarket, by some distance.

[ZRX61]

I appear to have got iron fever & want to start collecting heavy cookware... I joined an FB group & some of the prices are astronomical for the older BIG stuff ($1900 for a Dutch Oven etc).

[Horse]

- breadmaker.

I bought a bread maker 'cos it was on offer in Aldi or Lidl (can't remember which) and used it for a while before realising that it was more of a faff and took longer than doing it by hand.

Also (unless you want to be fishing the mixing paddles out of the arse of your cooked loaf) you have to stop the breadmaker at a particular point in the program, ferret about in the gloop, retrieve said paddles and then restart the program. And even then you'd still have two holes in the bottom of your loaf where the paddle spindles had poked through.

Do it manually. It takes 15 minutes tops to get the dough to a state where you can whack it in a bread tin, then it goes into the airing cupboard (or equivalent) to prove. An hour or so later (during which time you can do other stuff) you bung it in the oven to cook. Piece of the proverbial.

Ah, I can see where you went wrong. I read the reviews and bought a decent one.

It takes about as long to do as it will for me to one finger type:

- Lift out the 'tin', put it on kitchen scales
- Add correct weight of flour
- Add other ingredients
- Return into machine
- Add yeast
- Set timer

When done, lift out tin, invert, loaf comes out leaving (single) paddle in the tin.

If your faffing is proverbially simple, this machine redefines it. A few minutes to set up, a great loaf four hours (roughly, varies by size and type) later.

An ex-baker said to us that a good breadmaker is more consistent than hand made.

We had a rubbish one years ago, with a similar experience to yours, it didn't stay long.

[mangocrazy]

I'm happy to accept that my breadmaker was A Bit Shit (or even very shit), but making bread by hand is such a simple and quick process that I really don't feel the need to use a machine (which then needs to be cleaned and stored somewhere). And the consistency between loaves I get is such that the occasional very minor difference is perfectly acceptable. The biggest enemy of consistency is using flour or yeast that is past its best, and that will apply equally to bread made in a breadmaker.

Making bread by hand means that power cuts or machine breakdowns have zero effect on your ability to produce bread.

[Horse]

We have an electric oven. A power cut would impact on our ability to bake bread Living in a town, power cuts are rare anyway and, even if one happened overnight, we could still bake a loaf between breakfast and lunchtime.

Cleaning? Tip the loaf out, wait for the tin to cool. Wash out tin (it's non-stick and, C 60 loaves in, still good) and paddle. Dry. Replace into machine. Slide machine under cupboard over worktop. It goes where the coffee machine that I don't have would go. Or the toaster that's in a cupboard if there wasn't cupboard space.

I'm very happy for you to spend the time home baking. We do a loaf every two days, so that time commitment would add up.

As an aside: we actually have two ovens; it would have been useful if one had a suitable temperature setting for proving.

And as another aside: if you have an airing cupboard which is warm enough, then you ought to get the insulation sorted.

[mangocrazy]

We have an electric oven. A power cut would impact on our ability to bake bread Living in a town, power cuts are rare anyway and, even if one happened overnight, we could still bake a loaf between breakfast and lunchtime.

We have a gas cooker. Never known a gas cut.

Cleaning? Tip the loaf out, wait for the tin to cool. Wash out tin (it's non-stick and, C 60 loaves in, still good) and paddle. Dry. Replace into machine. Slide machine under cupboard over worktop. It goes where the coffee machine that I don't have would go. Or the toaster that's in a cupboard if there wasn't cupboard space.

Cleaning - wash mixing bowl and wash loaf tin. Loaf tin has had literally thousands of loaves baked in it and was free, as it was my mother's. Both go in the cupboard under the sink. What make is your bread maker?

I'm very happy for you to spend the time home baking. We do a loaf every two days, so that time commitment would add up.

You're clearly a very busy man. I've recently retired and 15 minutes twice a week is not exactly onerous. I also find mixing the dough oddly therapeutic.

As an aside: we actually have two ovens; it would have been useful if one had a suitable temperature setting for proving.

And as another aside: if you have an airing cupboard which is warm enough, then you ought to get the insulation sorted.

The electricity used for a proving oven would probably be about equal to the energy 'wasted' by my airing cupboard. The hot water cylinder is very recent and insulated, so the little bit of heat that escapes enables my loaf to prove without using any extra energy.

We're clearly both very happy with the way we (our in your case, your machine) makes bread.

[Horse]

We have an electric oven. A power cut would impact on our ability to bake bread Living in a town, power cuts are rare anyway and, even if one happened overnight, we could still bake a loaf between breakfast and lunchtime.

We have a gas cooker. Never known a gas cut.

Previous gas cooker wouldn't work if mains electric went off!

[Mr. Dazzle]

As an aside: we actually have two ovens; it would have been useful if one had a suitable temperature setting for proving.

We have two identical ovens, I find that turning one on but setting the temperature gauge to 0 (i.e. so the light comes on but nothing else happens) is about right for getting proving temperature. Only works if you have an oven in which you can do that of course.

[Horse]

As an aside: we actually have two ovens; it would have been useful if one had a suitable temperature setting for proving.

We have two identical ovens, I find that turning one on but setting the temperature gauge to 0 (i.e. so the light comes on but nothing else happens) is about right for getting proving temperature. Only works if you have an oven in which you can do that of course.

I'll give it a go.

Probably ought to look in the destruction manual ...

[moth]

Does it do anything else? If not isn't it a pointless waste of money?
I looked at the Ninja stuff and it seems to be an expensive jack of all trades so I assume also a master of none.
I've tried many gadgets but most of the cooking ones don't really do any more than my cooker does already, the only one that still lives on the worktop is an air fryer because it can cook smaller amounts much quicker than the main oven and it's useful when cooking a lot as the main oven lacks power for a full load. I think the only gadget I can't reproduce with a stewing pot is a pressure cooker and I've never felt the need.

Depends which model you get. Ours is a pressure cooker, it also sautes, dehydrates, air crisps, slow cooks, grills, roasts, bakes, steams and makes fecking yoghurt. You can make great curries from scratch in it.


...and the non-stick coating really is.

[moth]

Not really a gadget, a proper raw cast iron frying pan without a non-stick coating. Cost about about a tenner, weighs more than my expensive Le Crueset pans.

Why do I love it? It stands getting very hot indeed, which makes it superb for dry roasting spices and cooking (homemade) flatbreads.

[mangocrazy]

We have an electric oven. A power cut would impact on our ability to bake bread Living in a town, power cuts are rare anyway and, even if one happened overnight, we could still bake a loaf between breakfast and lunchtime.

We have a gas cooker. Never known a gas cut.

Previous gas cooker wouldn't work if mains electric went off!

Ours is old-skool. Has an eye level grill, probably dates from the 90s.

The 1890s...

[mangocrazy]

And as another aside: if you have an airing cupboard which is warm enough, then you ought to get the insulation sorted.

I've spent most of the last 3 days replacing our old (leaking) copper hot water cylinder with a spangly new stainless steel one. You'll be pleased to know that the new cylinder has appreciably thicker insulation with a much better U-value, and that temps in the airing cupboard are now significantly reduced, meaning savings on fuel bills.

But still warm enough to get a loaf of bread to rise...