The General Chat Thread

Loire · 10-12-2014 12:28PM

The Slow Cookers is easily the most magic invention to hit my kitchen. I use it every week, Cheap as chips to run, cheap as chips to buy. I'm nearly hoping it packs in just so I can go out and buy another one

Gloomtastic! · 10-12-2014 01:14PM

Loire wrote: »

The Slow Cookers is easily the most magic invention to hit my kitchen. I use it every week, Cheap as chips to run, cheap as chips to buy. I'm nearly hoping it packs in just so I can go out and buy another one

There's a topic!

What's your favourite kitchen utensil/device?

I think mine is a silicon pastry brush we bought years ago. You can stick it in the dish washer and it comes out new everytime.

My most trusted/well used utensil is the sink basin. :rolleyes:

beertons · 10-12-2014 01:36PM

Loire wrote: »

The Slow Cookers is easily the most magic invention to hit my kitchen. I use it every week, Cheap as chips to run, cheap as chips to buy. I'm nearly hoping it packs in just so I can go out and buy another one

I wouldn't use mine as often, maybe every 3 weeks. We get 3 days of dinner out of it. However if mine was to go, I'd get a bigger one. Might freeze a portion of this to have it as a lazy dinner in a week or 2.

iwantmydinner · 10-12-2014 01:54PM

Is it stupid that I'm a wee bit scared to take the plunge and get a slow cooker?! It just seems like a whole new way of cooking that I'm going to have to get used to, or it just goes to waste...

Loire · 10-12-2014 01:57PM

iwantmydinner wrote: »

Is it stupid that I'm a wee bit scared to take the plunge and get a slow cooker?! It just seems like a whole new way of cooking that I'm going to have to get used to, or it just goes to waste...

Go for it - it's so simple.

angeldelight · 10-12-2014 01:59PM

I don't think I can ever get a slow cooker again... I went on about wanting one a few years ago so my husband brought one home one day. It wasn't that long since we had moved in together and I had only started cooking regularly so of course I decided that the best dish to make in it would be.... Chicken fajitas! The chicken fillets dissolved, the peppers turned to slime and the whole thing was even more disgusting than it sounds. Instead of wondering why it was a disaster I just threw out the slow cooker. I've mentioned getting one a few times recently now that I know better but if looks could kill I'd be a goner, husband is not impressed

Loire · 10-12-2014 01:59PM

Myself and my Dad are swapping freezers. Ours is the size of an under-counter fridge with shelves and it's always jammed. He has one of those large chest freezers in the garage that's not used. Can't wait to get my hands on it! Gonna buy lots of soup containers and tupperware boxes and get really organised. Big batch cooking on Sunday afternoons here we come!

pampootie · 10-12-2014 02:30PM

Took me a while to figure out my slow cooker I have to say-there were quite a few watery flavourless slops made in it before I got the hang of it. Love it now though, work late twice a week so it's brilliant having something ready when I get home

Alun · 10-12-2014 02:35PM

I think the thing is that you should use a slow cooker for the things it's designed to cook, and not try to view it as a 'one size fits all' cooking appliance. It's all a bit redolent of the microwave craze of the 80's. There were microwave magazines all over the shops extolling their virtues, along with recipes for cooking virtually everything in them, including things that should never, ever see the inside of a microwave. Horses for courses and all that.

fiddlechic · 10-12-2014 02:43PM

I really want a slow cooker, but there's just 2 of us, and every time I go look at them, I get a bit overwhelmed with the capacity question.
We could always freeze the leftovers, or get 2 days in a row - but we have been unable to make up our minds on which one to buy; so have bought none.
The other issue is if you should one with the fast-slow functions - and some of the crockpot ones allow you to brown in it on the hob
Too many options.

IvyTheTerrible · 10-12-2014 03:35PM

I can't be bothered, I have no space in my small kitchen for one anyway!

fiddlechic · 10-12-2014 03:39PM

IvyTheTerrible wrote: »

I can't be bothered, I have no space in my small kitchen for one anyway!

I've a tiny kitchen too. But use a wardrobe for storage of the variety of baking tins, food processor etc. And occasionally used electronics like the steamer and the george foreman!

Alun · 10-12-2014 03:48PM

fiddlechic wrote: »

I've a tiny kitchen too. But use a wardrobe for storage of the variety of baking tins, food processor etc. And occasionally used electronics like the steamer and the george foreman!

We've a pretty large kicthen, but still have an overflow store cupboard in a built-in wardrobe in the spare bedroom

Gloomtastic! · 10-12-2014 08:12PM

Nobody wants to talk about their favourite utensil then?

Applause · 10-12-2014 08:14PM

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

Nobody wants to talk about their favourite utensil then?

Do pans count? I think I have feelings for my ceramic pan.

fiddlechic · 10-12-2014 08:15PM

I have a long running affair with Joseph. Anything by Joseph at all, at all, I just love it.

dee_mc · 10-12-2014 08:18PM

I love my Kenwood processor like family :P I make alot of chutneys and soups etc and it has helped reduce the number of cuts, grated knuckles and chilli burns I sustain, as well as speeding up chopping so much!
My microplane came a very close second until I broke it by putting it in the dishwasher several times (pure stupidity as it only takes a little rinse to clean it anyway), must buy myself a new one for Christmas!

Gloomtastic! · 10-12-2014 08:54PM

fiddlechic wrote: »

I have a long running affair with Joseph. Anything by Joseph at all, at all, I just love it.

My garlic press snapped in two a few months ago. I'll go for the metal one next time....

MissFlitworth · 10-12-2014 09:18PM

Are knives utensils? If so my favorite and most used kitchen utensil is always whatever my current knife is. Right now I'm using this

It's sharp & heavy and feels great in my hand. A one stop chopping & squashing machine.

beertons · 10-12-2014 09:26PM

I can't pick one, I like them all. Even the stuff that I have never used. It's like naming your favourite spice, favourite veg. It's impossible.

Kovu · 10-12-2014 09:34PM

MissFlitworth wrote: »

Are knives utensils? If so my favorite and most used kitchen utensil is always whatever my current knife is. Right now I'm using this

It's sharp & heavy and feels great in my hand. A one stop chopping & squashing machine.

:eek:

*gulp*

MissFlitworth! I'll never ever annoy you!:eek:

I don't really have a favourite utensil. My skillet perhaps. A one stop pan for frying, throwing under the grill or into the oven. Still working on getting mine non-stick again after mum scrubbed it.

MissFlitworth · 10-12-2014 09:36PM

Kovu wrote: »

:eek:

*gulp*

MissFlitworth! I'll never ever annoy you!:eek:

Hehe

Annoy me all you want as long as you never, ever walk quietly up behind me in a kitchen. I'm both easily frightened and a flailer.

Toulouse · 10-12-2014 09:57PM

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

Nobody wants to talk about their favourite utensil then?

It's a toss up between the potato ricer or the silicone tipped tongs.

LOVE both!

Mrs Fox · 10-12-2014 10:57PM

My wok.
Good all rounder.

The Hill Billy · 13-12-2014 12:47AM

I have to agree with MissF - my cleaver (which I have had for maybe 15 years now - example below) is my most precious piece of kitchen kit.

Which reminds me that I need to bring it down to my very obliging butcher in Skerries - Des Byrne - to ask him to sharpen it up for me. What a guy!

iwantmydinner · 13-12-2014 10:52AM

I don't really own anything decent in the way of kitchen utensils as I am still renting/house-sharing but I do love the big stainless steel pot my mom gave me (it's probably 20 years old, possibly more) and also my potato ricer.

Can. Not. Wait to have my own kitchen... However far away that is

angeldelight · 13-12-2014 11:21AM

I must get a potato ricer actually, my mash is always horrible and lumpy

BaZmO* · 13-12-2014 06:29PM

Potato ricer is my favourite gadget. Makes the best mash. Hate cleaning it though.

Dubl07 · 13-12-2014 07:22PM

Sentimentality: My great grandmother's roasting dish. I only use it once in a while but it's massive and can even take a goose.
Practicality: My Kitchen Devil Rollsharp.

tampopo · 13-12-2014 07:27PM

(what the heck is a potato ricer, I wonder!)

For a long time it's been a hand held blender. Recently I got a copper bottomed pot. I've only used it once or twice. I do just like looking at it hanging in the kitchen tho'!

I also have a sticky rice cooker (and the ton weight transformer) which is handy. Haven't had spuds Irish style for a decade....

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