Kitchen Gadgets

Following my posting yesterday, my long suffering reader made a comment that was very pertinent to what I was already planing to write about. I mentioned that my better half and I had bought a toaster and it will be far more energy efficient than using the grill setting in the oven. Previously as I needed to toast bread so infrequently, when I was on my own it was a balance of the cost of an appliance that I would rarely use against the energy cost. Often if I needed to grill something, I would do it after having used the oven anyway. It was all just down to planing and trying to be as energy efficient as I could. As well as being an old miser.

Talking about energy efficiency, like my talking Tree, I too prefer a gas hob as I find it much easier to control the heat with gas. However, I have learned over the years of using an electric hob that often you can turn the ring off and that residual heat in the element is enough to finish the cooking. Therefore when used properly an electric hob is fractionally more energy efficient than gas. However, with a gas hob you can use the flame to char grill peppers to remove the skin and a wok works better on a gas flame too. So while each has its benefits, we all have to make do with what we have and I see no point in wishing for something I do not have and can not afford. Where would I put two cookers anyway?

This was the issue that I wanted to talk about, that of gadgets and gizmo's in the kitchen. Like most cooks I have been suckered into getting gadgets that are supposed to make life easier in the kitchen. But even back in the 1980s I had reached the conclusion that the time saved with labour saving gadgets was then spent washing them up.

My own mother loved these labour saving devices and they would get used for a while, then would get placed in a cupboard to gather dust. Even when I was younger and discovering cooking and learning cooking skills, I often found that doing it by hand would yield better results. That said there are some gadgets that are really useful. I love my stick blender as I often make quick soups using leftovers or the odds and ends that would otherwise fester in the bottom of the fridge generating cultures. Well my hovel is a culture free zone.

Therefore most people do not need a kitchen that is full of gadgets and gizmo's What you need is good quality equipment and utensils that will aid you and not hinder you. With my ex, one of the aspects of her kitchen that I found frustrating was that her cooking knives were very blunt. It was no so much chopping food that you did with them but hack at them. She was not unique as I have other friends who don't like sharp knives and this prejudice stems from what their parents taught them. But you are more likely to injure yourself with a blunt knife than with a sharp one. Yes care needs to be taken, and even experienced cooks can cut themselves occasionally, but a cut or nick with a sharp knife heals quickly and cleanly should it happen.

Then the next item that you really need is some good quality cooking pans. While I personally prefer stainless steel, as long as they are a reasonably heavy gauge base you will get good results. A thicker base to the pan means you get a more even heat and that means you get even cooking. If the pan is to thin you get hot spots, no matter what type of hob you are using, and that is the most common cause for people thinking they can not cook.

Another essential is a selection of wooden spoons. When, I was first teaching myself to cook I used one of mothers wooden spoons. I had needed to wash it first as she never ever used them. However after using it and rewashing it after use, in the draw where is was kept the wood shrank and split. I got told off and was told that they were just for display not for use. I nearly retorted that they were well displayed in a draw, but thought better of that. My family made the Simpson's look like the Walton's. Well I bought a couple of them then and I have used wooden spoons ever since. As well as not scratching the surface of coated pans, they don't conduct the heat either.

Equally you will need other tools like a slotted spoon, a ladle, a metal spoon and a masher, but most other items will depend upon the cooking you do. The other essential is a pair of food tongs. One of the items that I frequently wasted my money on was garlic crushers. I have had a couple off very good ones, but to be honest I find that a mortar and pestle that I bought when I was 17 works far better than even the best garlic crusher.

Just before Christmas, and it happens every year, I see stacks of roasting pans. These are often the cheap and thin ones that will not last. I too have been seduced by these cheep pans but they are so thin that the fats and the food gets burnt on, even after a few times of use. Thus just as with thin based pans, they are a false economy and after having had to discard yet another that had buckled under the weight of a small goose, I got one that was thicker and was coated in vitalised enamel. I still have it and it has lasted more than twenty years and when cleaned it still looks like new. Now while at current prices one like this will cost about seven or eight pounds, even at current prices it will only take the cost of four of the cheap trays that will have to be replaced every year at least, and the better quality has fully paid for itself.

The same principal applies to other metal cookware. If you like to bake cakes getting good quality tins is essential for example. Other essentials will be bowls and jugs to measure and mix ingredients, but unless you are baking often if you are working on a budget, you do not need even scales. This may surprise some, but often you know how much is in a packet and you can judge the volume of a dry ingredient based upon what's in the packet in the first place. While I do find them essential for some of the cooking I personally do, for every day cooking I don't need them.

The items in each and every cooks kitchen will be different and I can only tell you what I have and more importantly what I use. It is one of the aspects of the celebrity cooks on TV that I often find amusing and frustrating is that they often seem to be using gadgets just for commercial reasons. Buy this gadget as I use it. When really most people do not need them, can not afford them, and will not use them even if they do have them.

So while most people will make do with what they have, I hope that anyone reading this person prospective will avoid wasting money on gadgets they don't need and spend the money on getting the best quality essentials that will genuinely last.