KITCHEN TOOLS - George Foreman Grill

Isn't it great when something works like it's supposed to?  Such is the case with the George Foreman Grill. Mind you, I have the small version, actually two of them, bought at a garage sale.  They were used when I got them, about six years ago, but they still work like new!

For grilling burgers, hot dogs and sandwiches, the Foreman Grill is a natural!  Heating elements on both lid and base assure even cooking.  One of my grills has a special bun warmer in the lid, and it actually works pretty good.

Foreman Lean Mean Grillin' Machine w/ bun warmer lid

The grill works pretty good on other cuts of meat like chicken breast fillet and sausages. Vegetarians will find it useful for grilling those thick portabello mushrooms, eggplant "steaks"  and other such goodies.

Dripping into the drip pan

No matter what you're grilling, be sure to keep an eye on the drip pan.  It's probably a good idea to have a spare on hand if you're making a lot of things...that way a fresh one can be slid underneath while the old one is being emptied.

Not submersible, the George Foreman Grill' s clean-up is still fairly easy, with its non-stick, raised surfaces.  A warm sponge usually does the trick.

My main complaint about my grill is that it is too small. 

PRODUCT REVIEW - KITCHEN TOOLS - Tribute to An Ancient Mixer

I sing the praise of a wondrous thing....a hand mixer from a bygone age.  It comes with its own cabinet, suitable for hanging on a wall or keeping in a drawer....but who'd want to? 
May I introduce....drum roll please......
the Hamilton Beach Scovill model 110.  This hand mixer is a dependable work horse.

Hamilton Beach Scovill Model 110

It has remained alive and well used in my kitchen for many, many years....long after other, more recently manufactured mixers bit the dust. 

I'm not just talking those cheap Kitchen Gourmet versions they sell at the corner drug store either! I'm talking Black & Decker, Sunbeam...some name brands here.  And not only that, some of 'em were full sized table top numbers, like  the Sunbeam stand mixer. Couldn't stand up to the almost daily batches of cookies I had to make while working at the Co-Op.  
The day that fancy mixer died, good old 110 saved the day.

Model 110 in cabinet (closed)

Considering its size and more importantly, its age - there's a lot to be said for the old 110!  In its time, from the mid '60s  through the early '70s, it was probably considered downright groovy.  

We've had this beauty in our family since around 1992, when Jack and I were just beginning.  In fact he bought it for me at a yard sale. My old hand mixer was on the blink and he figured it would work until something better came along. I went right home and used it to mix some cookie dough.  It was pretty much love at first use, other than the power cord's propensity to fall out of its socket. Oh well.


Things I like about the HBS model 110
1) It still works  (duh)
2) The cabinet. I've tried hanging it on a wall and it works good that way, too.
3) It still works
4) The beater release is not complicated
5) The beaters are bigger and heavy duty

6) Feels well built, well balanced
7) Vintage appeal
8) It still works

Power cord problem

Things I don't like HBS model 110:
1) The power plug tends to fall out of the side mounting
2) Not enough power for certain mixing jobs
3) The power lever should stick out a little more
     Other than that, I have no real complaints.  I'd be panic stricken at this point if Old 110 suddenly bites the dust.   

When I use it, I imagine something like the Brady Bunch kitchen...Ann B. Davis as Alice at her station (Gawd, those orange walls!) using this mixer with some avocado colored Pyrex bowls. 

Ahhhhh....those innocent times....nice to look back on these days, eh?

Retro like the Brady Bunch

So here's to the Hamilton Beach Scovill hand mixer, old 110....long may you run!







Rating : 5 out of 5 Mixing Bowls, even with the cord problem. Considering it's age, it's still going strong!

KITCHEN TOOLS - The Rolling Pin

Here's to the rolling pin...that handy dandy tool that is at once dough roller, crumb maker, meat tenderizer, veggie smasher, talking stick and equalizer all in one.  The power one can wield with this device in hand is not to be ignored!  With it, a person can make biscuit dough cooperate, reduce hard cereals and so on to crumbs and so much more.

Let's get rolling!

I'd imagine it was one of the first real "kitchen" tools...although my version of its discovery may be slightly different from the actual facts.

Picture if you will, a cave.  The cave man of the house has just come home with breakfast...a rabbit, or it's equivalent. The cave woman of the house sees the hare and grumbles "Hasenpfeffer again!"

In anguish she takes a thick tree limb she's been playing with and smashes it against a pile of seeds. She notices the seeds crack open.  This is her Eureka moment.  She smashes the seeds to a fine paste, and after skinning the rabbit, rubs the meat with some of the seeds before setting it on a stick over the fire.

Mr. Neanderthal is happy with the results, so is the Missus.   She decides to try her magic stick on other things.  Gradually grain seeds are smashed to a powder, water is added....the stick is used to flatten out this mush into something.....and suddenly she's making breads and cookies.

And when hubby tries to steal one of the cookies still cooling on a rock, she smites his hand with that same utensil. And there you have it....the basis for not only the rolling pin as a kitchen tool, but the start of that life-long vision of woman "training"  man with a rolling pin.

Modern day rolling pins can be made of anything, from hollow plastic that you fill with ice water, through the various wood designs (with and without handles) and even pins made with copper, glass and marble, just to name a few.  The marble, metal and ice water filled varieties can be especially handy for working with finicky pastry dough.

According to Wikipedia, they come in different models:

• Rod: Thin rods typically made of wood around 2–3 cm in diameter. They are used by rolling the rod across the dough using one's palm. The pins may be tapered at one or both ends for more pivot control in certain tasks such as making small jiaozi skins or pie shells. Most East Asian or French style rolling pins, and the Turkish Oklava are rod style.
• Roller: Consists of a thick heavy roller made of a variety of materials around 7–10 cm in diameter with thinner handles which extend through the roller. They are used by grasping the handles and pushing the pin across the dough. Many Western rolling pins are roller types.
• Textured: Some specialized rolling pins have textured surfaces that mark and indents the dough surfaces for special breads and pancakes.

The wooden ones are great for pastry, too....although I put mine in the freezer for a few moments to chill it before working with some doughs. 

It's a versatile tool no kitchen should be without! 

PRODUCT REVIEW - KITCHEN TOOLS - Ball Tipped Whisks

 Whisk, whisk whisk!   How many eggs, sauces and other things have you whipped into shape through the years?  My first such experience was as a child at home in the kitchen with my mother.

We didn't have any of those fancy-schmancy wire doo-dads like on the cooking shows.  Nope!   We used a plain old table fork, or occasionally one of those hand-cranked egg beaters.  Of course for the really big jobs we just used a mixer.

Standard wire whisk

 My first experience with an actual wire whisk happened in tenth grade Home Economics class. I was immediately taken with how that tool made quick work of fluffing eggs, smoothing sauces and such.  

The construction and concept were so simple, elegant.  I couldn't wait to get one of my own, to try it out at home.

It took a while but I finally got one....in a gift basket of kitchen gadgets at my wedding shower.
I was thrilled.

Although the marriage didn't last, we were both so very young, my fascination for cooking and kitchen gadgets has remained strong.  So when I saw this latest version of the whisk, I had to get one and try it out. 

Ball tipped whisk set

What we're looking at is a set of ball tipped whisks. There are three different lengths to accommodate any task.   These particular ones were ordered online and they arrived were not a disappointment.

 

Generous handle, balanced feel

 Unlike some other kitchen products I've ordered via the
internet, these felt well built and didn't get all bent out of shape after one use.  The cook in me was pleased about that.  The arthritic in me appreciated the generous handles and balanced feel of each tool.

 They work well on most things...taking on thick sauces with ease.  But I must confess that the old fashioned wire whisk still wins, hands down, in the whisking egg yolks division.  For some reason the ball tipped variety doesn't work as well in that area, leaving thready, transparent bits of egg white and membrane unincorporated in the mixing bowl.

Lumpy sauce needing help

But it did wonders on a stubborn  cheese and cream sauce!  What began as a hopeless, lumpy mess was soon tamed....turned smooth and lumpless under this tool's will.

Lumps?  Gon

Don't overlook the other possible uses for these things - icing drizzling was the first thing that came to my mind.  I have a friend who went to cooking school and they had to take a regular wire whisk and lop the bowed ends off to make an icing drizzler.

No need for cosmetic surgery with the ball tipped whisk!

I'll bet you could come up with several new uses too!  Feel free to send them and they'll be put up in the blog!

Rating Scale for this kitchen tool :

Five bowls!  I love them!

KITCHEN TOOLS - Waxed Paper

Waxing poetic in the kitchen

Pardon me if I wax poetic,
though my rhyme might be pathetic...
but if I may I'd like to sing
the praises of a simple thing-
a boon to many a cooking caper....
known throughout as plain waxed paper.

That's a wrap!

It most certainly is!  But seriously folks, waxed paper....which has been around for quite some time, is still as handy as ever. Even more so since the microwave became part of our kitchen's persona!

The invention of wax paper is often credited to Thomas Edison, although according to Wikipedia there are others who could possibly make that claim.  Before 1927, wax paper was sold in pre-cut sheets. Nicholas Marcalus then came up with the idea of putting wax paper on a roll in a box with a built-in cutter.


Waxed paper has been used since its inception to wrap everything from sandwiches to paintbrushes. With such versatility, is there anything this miracle product can't do?


Well, yes.

Wax paper should not be used to wrap or cover dishes in the oven. It'll smoke and catch fire. However, it can be used to line the bottom of baking pans and such, so long as the batter completely covers the paper liner.

Do not line a cookie sheet with the stuff, either.  Unlike parchment, waxed paper will go up in smoke if ANY of it is exposed directly to the oven's heat.  Believe me, your smoke alarm will thank you for taking this advice.

Waxed paper is not recyclable.  Period.  No ifs ands or buts about it.

But its uses far outweigh its limitations.


In the microwave, wax paper can be used to prevent splatters.  Because the paper is mostly unaffected by microwaves, it will not heat to the point of combustion under normal usage. This makes wax paper more functional than plastic wrap which will melt at higher temperatures, or aluminium foil which is not safe for most microwave ovens.

It can also be used in actual microwave cooking....much like one might use aluminum foil in a conventional oven.  Have you tried nuking a hotdog only to have it turn into a hardened stick?  Try the following trick and your franks will be, frankly, moist and yummy.

Hot Dogs a la Waxed Paper

1) Cut a fair sized piece of waxed paper and lay it flat on your counter top or table. Place two hot dogs on it spaced about an inch or so apart. (I've spaced these a little further apart for visual purposes)
  

Roll-folding the franks

 2) Fold the paper over the franks; tuck the paper in under each...make sure to leave space between them.  In a sense you will have "rolled" two tubes, one around each dog.  There will be extra bits of waxed paper on each end.  These are very important, as will be seen in the next step.

 

Fold ends in toward hot dogs

3) Take one of the paper ends and roll it in toward the hot dogs....fold it flat,
then do the same to the opposite side.



4) Tuck the ends in toward the middle, creating a sealed end.

Creating sealed end.

The end game

Do the same to the other side. Make sure you press firmly to insure everything stays put during cooking....the microwave has a tendency to make waxed paper try to open or unfold.

Waxed paper hot dog cooker

5) Your results should look something like this picture.  You'll probably have a little less space between the hotdogs, again I kept them spaced further apart for visual purposes.

Then it's just a matter of putting the packet into the microwave, cook on high for 30 seconds the flip it and cook for an additional 30 seconds
If you like your franks well done, you can cook each side a bit longer.
But keep an eye on them!  These puppies have been known to pop, even explode if left to cook for too long!

When it comes to waxed paper, this humble example is just the tip of the iceberg. The best way to find out what works is to use it.

Let me know your discoveries!

PRODUCT REVIEW- The Slap Chop

Slap Chop

The Sham-WOW guy started hawking another product about a year or so ago...and since it was a kitchen gadget he got my immediate attention.  This tool, he claimed, would make chopping things so much easier, and unlike other similar units the Slap Chop would be safe, easy to operate and easy to clean.

I didn't run right out and get one.  See, I'm one of those weirdos who enjoy cutting their veggies and nuts the old fashioned way....with a knife.  Go figure.

But Jack spotted a display of "As Seen On T.V."  items near the check out line at Fry's Electronics and decided to buy me a present. 

As luck would have it, I was in the midst of a baking binge so had been chopping, cutting, clipping and cracking my way through nuts, spices and the like. If it worked, the Slap Chop had the potential to cut the job time in half, pardon the pun.

Once home, I unwrapped my new tool and read the instructions.  It looked simple enough; a spring action chopping blade, a plastic extender for using on a cutting board and a black plastic bottom cup for more contained work. And unlike similar products the Slap Chop claimed to be easy to clean, due to its unique "butterfly" casing design. This feature, more than the others, was important to me. 

I'd had a similar product years ago in my arsenal of gizmos and suffered a severe injury trying to clean it.  Needless to say, the thing ended up in the garbage, wrapped in the towel I used to stem the bleeding.
According to the Sham WOW guy, the Slap Chop people had solved that problem, and I was interested....albeit a little nervous....in checking the facts.

Looking it over, I kept thinking....this thing feels cheaply made.  The spring felt firm, but the rest of it felt  light weight. The blade itself seemed flimsy, the case was light weight plastic....real light weight.  I wondered if it might be too light weight for the job it was supposed to do.

This feeling continued as I washed the components in warm water in preparation for first use.  But I pressed on, wanting to put the thing to the test on some nuts that had to be chopped for cookies.  

Following the instructions, I first tried the tool with the chopping cup.  It seemed to do the job, after a fashion.
The problem was, nuts kept getting stuck in the blade.  And not just plain stuck, I mean stuck real bad.  I had to use a knife to get those nuts loose.

After the third attempt, I noticed the blade was getting bent.

Nut stuck, blade bent....during maiden voyage.

Undeterred, I next tried the tool with the clear plastic ring for use on a cutting board.  The same thing happened and the chopper got jammed. All this within the first 15 minutes of the maiden voyage.

Needless to say, I set the thing aside and finished the chore with my favorite knives, breezing through the pile of nuts with ease and no injuries. 

At clean up time, I tried cleaning the Slap Chop according to the directions.  After cutting my finger,  I stopped.  Hey, I'm a musician, my fingers are important and I need all of them!  No hunk of plastic will ever be worth me changing my name to Lefty!

To make a long story short, the Slap Chop did not live up to its advertising.  Personally I think it's dangerous and shouldn't be sold in its present state.  Perhaps the spring could be sold separately for use in factories somewhere, but as a kitchen tool, I find the Slap Chop to be cheaply made and unsafe.   I wouldn't recommend it to my worse enemy. 

I believe that every Slap Chop should be recalled, burnt beyond recognition and their ashes sewn with salt before being consigned to the bottom of a very deep pit in a very remote location. 

Of course that's just my opinion.

On a scale from one to five mixing bowls, one being yuck...five being yum, I don't think this product deserves even a shard of a mixing bowl. Mixing Bowl Scale - Zero.  Zip. Zilch.

This is one of the few times where I find no redeeming qualities whatsoever in a kitchen gadget.  
Sad.  Very sad. 

If you have tried the Slap Chop, please feel free to share your experiences...positive or negative.  Hey!  I'd love to hear that the thing works right for somebody!

KITCHEN TOOLS - Bowls Part 2

The "shiny stainless" bowls

As if you weren't bowled over enough from our previous encounter with the things, here we are...back in the kitchen, bowling again.  And why not?  There's so much more to say on the subject.
 
Some folks are asking if I use anything other than stainless steel.
Yes, I do.  My bread making bowls are made of Pyrex, stoneware or other crockery-this for a very simple reason. When curing or raising, the dough bowl is set in a warm place for a couple of hours.  You'll  need a bowl that will "find" and maintain an even temperature throughout the process.

Crockery, stoneware or Pyrex will do that.  Stainless, not so much.  There are warm, cool and cold spots to be found in them, and this can adversely effect the rising.  Yeasties are living critters, and quite particular about their surroundings. They don't like to be chilly!

My yellow Pyrex mixing bowl is perfect for letting those critters rise in the warmth and comfort they deserve.

Memory Lane yellow Pyrex mixing bowl

I've had it for a number of years, a garage sale score.  I was drawn to it for strictly nostalgic reasons; Mom had one just like it back in the day.I remember it was part of a set she got with her Sunbeam table top mixer. I scarfed it up for $1.50  before anybody had a chance to think twice!

But once home, the bowl was instantly pressed into service.

Through the many changes life's brought, this bowl has,so far, remained intact and ready for action on the front lines of my cooking endeavors.  "Old Yeller" garnered the respect of every other vessel in the kitchen, including the stainless steel ones-who are not so easily impressed.

So although the "shiny stainless" are used for a great many culinary purposes, my yellow Pyrex will always hold a special place in my heart, and will remain on active duty in my kitchen.

Apple bowls

One of my other favorites is actually a set of apple bowls that I got as a gift from one of my dearest long-time friends.  Not only are they handy and practical, they're beautiful.

I use these apple bowls for mixing...and serving fruits, side dishes and snacks as well. They're great in any setting, formal or informal.
They sure brighten up a table!

So look around your kitchen....give those useful, often unsung heroes a nod of acknowledgement.
Bowls are an intrinsic part of the food preparation process. They've been with us since before recorded history. No matter what else happens with technology, they will always be part of our lives.

Feel free to share your thoughts and ideas!