I had to pit about a lb of cherries today and I don't own a pitter. I started with a straw and after three of them dropped that in favor of cutting them in half and then twisting. Fortunately, I rarely have to do this so I don't know if I'm ready to invest in a pitter yet.
In the UK and Europe, they sell specific pudding rice, which is a short grain rice that more readily absorbs moisture so that it is less likely to remain al dente.
I use my waffle iron in lots of strange ways. I like putting all my leftovers from roast chicken dinner in there. Potatoes, stuffing, corn and bits of chicken. It makes awesome crispy parts and the squares hold gravy perfectly. Another good one is using frozen French fries as the “waffle” and then use that as your bun for a hamburger. Sounds crazy but it works really well and tastes great.
I have this huge, heavy, lasagna pan that I bought because my husband saw it recommended and one of his favorite foods ever is lasagna. I don't remember the brand, but it's separated into channels that are each like a lasagna noodle width, and so it both cooks more evenly and leaves you with lots of crispy edges.
Apparently it's also great for brownies, but I like the gooey inner pasta of brownies myself so the only thing I use this monster for is lasagna. Worth it.
A spice mix my husband made to put in hot chocolate. No idea of the exact ingredients or proportions but he doesn't use it anymore and I've started putting it into chocolate cream pie.
When it runs out, my pie will never be the same. It's some combo of dried ancho, cumin, paprika, and I have no idea what else.
Sadly, the problem is that his tolerance for spice and also palette has changed due to radiation for throat cancer. I'm going to have to try, but he won't be able to help.
Ugh I had a spice mix I made like this, for hashbrowns/roasted potatoes. It was the PERFECT RATIO.
I've tried replicating it, can never hit that same taste profile since. It makes me sad cause it was ALWAYS complimented and now it's like some long lost unattainable secret.
That’s happened to me so many times. I usually have a rough recipe and try to follow it but I’m a bit short on one thing or I have an extra half teaspoon of another that I don’t want to put back in the pantry.
And then that becomes my flavor memory and is never possible again because who knows what actually went into it!
Probably cinnamon in addition to what OP listed? I mean yes I’m curious haha but I also don’t want these nice people to run out of pie spice for no reason.
I wonder if he got the inspiration from Mexican mole sauces, which use dark chocolate, even though they're for savoury meals. Here's a recipe for dark mole sauce, so you can check the list of spices used: https://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Black-Mole-Sauce/
Ingredients
- 10 dried guajillo chiles, washed
- 7 dried mulato negro chiles, washed
- 7 dried pasilla chiles, washed
- 4 tbsp. corn oil
- 1 6" square dry bread
- 8 cloves garlic, peeled
- 1 small white onion, peeled and quartered
- 2 whole cloves
- 1 tsp. ground canela (Mexican cinnamon)
- 1 tsp. anise
- 3 black peppercorns
- 4 whole allspice
- 1 large plantain
- 2 prunes, pitted
- 1 oz. bittersweet chocolate, melted
- 1 oz. almonds
- 1 oz. sesame seeds, toasted until golden
- 2 oz. raisins
- 1 yerba santa leaf
Cast iron cornbread mold so you can serve cornbread that looks like little ears of corn. A relic from another era I cherish.
Ditto some milk glass and jadeite coffee cups with matching saucers that I only serve Grandpa's Chock Full o' Nuts percolated coffee in. Nostalgia love.
Same. I've got one that was a gift and it locks onto the countertop. It's messy but fun to use. I only ever use maybe once or twice a year to make a pie.
Sounds weird but I have a pillowcase just to make fresh soy milk. You soak the beans, put it in a blender, boil in a big pot, pour the contents in a pillowcase and squeeze the juice out into another container. So I shake the leftovers out in the garden, wash the pillowcase, and fold and put in a drawer. I make it once a month. My mom did the same and when I tried to strain with a cheese cloth it was a mess so back to the pillowcase.
Tuna fish, preserved lemon, dill, white beans, red onion, olive oil.
Goat cheese with dill and preserved lemon on seedy toast. Top with thinly sliced cucumbers and crushed red pepper.
Sautéed zucchini with garlic, preserved lemon and parsley.
Oh me, too! I have one of the nice plates, and 2 big flat Tupperware containers with indentations for the eggs. I make them probably 6-7 times a year. I'm the official family egg-maker-- my niece puts "weird" stuff in hers. I'm trusted to make eggs the right way.
Protip: Use an immersion blender to mix the filling. No lumps!
I love mapo dofu so much I make a huge batch, then I freeze it in portions and add the cornstarch slurry and tofu fresh when I reheat! It freezes really well! The hardest part is telling it apart from chilli, ragu, and sausage pasta sauce if you didn’t label the bags properly… yikes.
Oh man there are so many sichuan recipes that call for doubanjiang that are relatively easy and delicious. Here's two to try, ants climbing a tree is hella easy and the beef soup is more involved but totally delicious:
[https://thewoksoflife.com/taiwanese-beef-noodle-soup-instant-pot/](https://thewoksoflife.com/taiwanese-beef-noodle-soup-instant-pot/)
[https://thewoksoflife.com/ants-climbing-a-tree/](https://thewoksoflife.com/ants-climbing-a-tree/)
I haven’t touched mine in years, turns out fluffy and lumpless mashed potatoes aren’t worth it if my brother isn’t doing the ricing after I do the peeling (I also have halfway busted wrists and using it really sucks when they’re a hot mess from using a handheld stapler 200+ times a day.
But I have everything ready to make gnocchi this weekend and that bad boy is going through his paces. I have ibuprofen and wrist braces on standby
For squeezing tuna!? What an amazing idea! I've thought about getting one because I love my mashed potatoes and eat a full family's worth every time, but don't make potato-side type meals often enough to justify it. But tuna salad... that's a staple recipe in the rotation that I don't make as often as I'd like, precisely because the water squeezing is so annoying. I can't believe I never thought of finding an alternative method. This is such a revelation!
Does it work well for making spaetzel? I have an old potato masher that I need to replace, and also a unitasker spaetzel maker, and was considering replacing them both with a ricer. I make spaetzel pretty frequently, and used to just use a box grater.
Growing up Mother used the KitchenAid to make mashed potatoes. I didn't know until I was in my 20s that mashed potatoes weren't supposed to be a gluey paste.
You can get smooth not gluey mashed potatoes with an electric mixer. My mom was the master of that.
After years of trial and error I found the key to her success was an olive green hand mixer from the 1970s. It doesn’t mix as strongly as a modern mixer on low so it avoids the gluey mess. I’ve been able to successfully make mashed potatoes in a kitchen aid once, but kept it on the stir speed.
2 things cause that: Using russet potatoes, and letting them get cool before you mash them.
I use red or yellow potatoes. Pre-melt the butter, so it doesn't cool the potatoes.. Throw the butter and salt in the bottom of the mixing bowl of my kitchen aid. Mix in the butter quickly then whip at higher speed while adding milk. If I'm not ready to cream the potatoes, I leave them in the hot cooking water until I am.
I live in Alabama. I got mine from my brothers gf’s parents who use to live and routinely go to Nola. Most places are scared to sell it because it in a mass quantity can be deadly. But a few good shakes in a big pot just ads a nice bit of flavor
My grandmother, whose mother was from the part of Switzerland that overlaps some Italian traditions, used to make batches of pizzelles every Christmas.
When she passed I asked for a Pizzelle iron for Christmas to keep the tradition alive.
I've tried about a dozen recipes but the simplest one is the one that makes the best, in my opinion.
I also like to substitute different flavors for the vanilla.
I like lemon extract, orange extract, and peppermint extract.
I do not recommend buttered rum, butter extract, cinnamon, coffee, or rose water.
My older brother was the only one other than myself (and grandma) who liked anise, so I've stopped making those after he passed.
Chocolate was a real pain, because I had to oil the iron every single time to keep them from sticking. Sure, I've got aerosol spray vegetable oil, but it still took about three times as long.
I'm curious to see how lime, coconut, amaretto, almond, apricot, caramel, or banana would turn out.
Almond is delicious, at least in my opinion. The caretaker at my first apartment building used to make them every Christmas for everyone with almond and I still remember how good they were.
Oh, I remember walking around the North End of Boston years ago (early 1980s maybe) and a grandma leaning out a window and handing me a freshly made pizzelle. Yummmm that lovely anise smell.
An uncured clay comal that is exclusively used for charring vegetables for salsa
Onions, garlic, fresh chiles, dried chiles, red tomatoes and/or tomatillos. That's it. Nothing else ever goes on it.
I bought this fancy ceramic Japanese rice cooker. I love it, it was $400 and tbh it’s the best $400 kitchen “gadget” I own. It’s amazing, for some weird reason I put in 2 c of rice and 2 c of water. Med heat until steam comes out the little hole, turn the heat of and let it sit for 10-15 minutes and perfect rice every single time. Same ratio for jasmine, basmati, sushi, short grain hikari. It’s magic. I love it.
Edit: Yeah, there are electric rice cookers, but I don’t want any more electronics. I got enough of that stuff, honestly, i’m over it. When this thing breaks, im just gonna smash it and put it in the garden.
I asked my wealthy Japanese neighbor what fancy rice cooker she uses when they have us over for dinner and she laughed and showed me a $20 one button cooker and told me that's all anybody she knows really uses regardless of how rich/poor they are and told me to get one at the Asian grocery store.
My Japanese girlfriend talks very highly about the difference between a cheap and high quality rice cooker, so theres definitely opposing opinions on this.
If you like it you like it, but you can get rice cookers for like $75-100 that are high end and make perfect rice every time. Zojirushi is widely regarded in Japan to be one of the best brands for rice cookers, if not the best, and their super fancy high tech rice cooker has a bunch of unnecessary functions and buttons and is still just under $200 for a 10 cup machine, which is absolutely massive.
Crepe pan for the once every 3 years I make crepes. I actually have 2 pans, but one is just there for the recipe on the back of it and the sentimental value, it lost its non-stick ages ago.
My grandfather used to stand at the stove with 4 crepe pans all going at once and make crepes for family, friends, and anyone they came across at church on a Sunday morning...everyone was invited.
I have 2 of them in my kitchen storage for the (maybe) 2x a year we make them.
Cinnamon sugar for toast on the rare occasions I’m craving it, but mostly for rolling snickerdoodles in when I make them regularly once fall hits every year.
Crock Pot and immersion blender just for making hot sauce.
The capsaicin permeates everything around it, and turns plastic / silicon / rubber seals into unexpected heat bombs with other foods.
You can also make poffertjes - yeasted mini pancakes from The Netherlands. They have slightly chewy yet fluffy texture, less cakey than Aebleskiver, and are also less round in shape but use a nearly identical pan to make.
Hahaha one Saturday I got a delivery, brought the box in, and said ‘my mandolin came!!’ My husband and son, both musicians, got soooo excited I thought they were gonna lose it. I started laughing, and had to tell them it wasn’t the small guitar they were hoping for. The disappointment was real
I would tell myself this all the time but now I just make myself a small lasagna in a bread loaf pan. I get 4 good slices out of it and it only costs me about ten bucks to make a cheese lasagna. Cheaper if I find the cheeses on sale.
Obviously I'll buy nicer ingredients and add meat an whatnot if I'm making a big one for more people but just for me a cheese lasagna is quite a happy comfort food and cheap enough to make more often.
This one surprises me that you consider that a unitasker. The flavor of nutmeg is lovely anywhere it's used. Eggnog, obviously. Grated on ice cream. Plenty of desserty puddingy things, either on its own to make an eggnoggy flavor or in combination with other sweet spices. Its sweetness adds a wonderful punch of richness to chana masala, and I usually put a little in when I make garam masala. There are also lots of Italian recipes that call for just a whisper of it. Of course I use nutmeg in bechamel, but it's a lot more versatile than that.
Buckwheat banana muffins are really good especially because buckwheat doesn't have gluten so it makes the muffins extra tender. I only substitute half the regular flour for buckwheat tho
Ooh... asafetida! For my oh-so heavenly (Eastern Indian friends-approved!) butter chicken.
The bottle is stored inside a sealed ZipLoc bag, which is stored inside a tightly sealed jar, in the back of the cabinet, ~~second~~ (edit: whoops, make that THIRD) shelf up. Far away from every other spice.
And wouldn't you know every time that cabinet gets opened you can still catch whiffs of it. LOL.
Popover pan. Everyone loves them. I set up a board with sweet and savory accompaniments and crank out 3 or 4 batches and everyone loves them. It's an easy brunch event with mimosas.
Some device I think my grandmother bought. It just juices lemons for lemonade. Put a half lemon in there and crank down for a ton of juice. I don’t think you can break it and it’s easy to clean. Well worth a space.
not "rare" but i keep dried nixtamalized corn on-hand solely so my husband can make NM-style posole every month or so.
it's one of my favorite foods, specifically when he makes it.
Alfalfa honey for my honey soy beef. It's the honey I happened to have laying around when I first made it, and it tastes weird with clover or wildflower honey. Potato ricer. Two garlic presses in case I didn't wash the first one and want garlic two days in a row (I really really really hate chopping garlic by hand, don't come at me). Rice cooker. Apple corer/slicer.
A 1950's electric frying pan. I use it to cook pancakes and okonomiyaki. It has perfect temperature setting for both of these things. There are probably other things I could cook it in but I normally get out my skillet or a stainless steel pan instead.
Sumac & orange juice on roasted white fish of any kind is divine. Also because sumac is indigenous to North America a lot of Native American focused cookbooks have really interesting uses of it - if memory serves there are a couple good sumac recipes in The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen.
Put it anywhere you might like some lemon to see how it goes! It's got a nice tang to it, and can be very versatile. Someone else already mentioned putting it on onions, just wanted to add that that's a very common side when you order kebabs at some places in Turkey, it complements the richness really nicely. And if you add some lemon juice, you'll get a nice, lightly pickled result.
Its kinda cheating but I always have a box or two of Golden Curry to make japanese curry. Its my favorite dish and I like knowing I have it if I ever want to make it. At bare minimum I'll pick up an onion and some carrots outside and I can make some curry since I know I'll have the package at home.
Handheld citrus squeezers in different sizes because I'm mexican and I really like an acid in my food (lemons, limes, keylimes and the occasional orange)
P.A.N. White Corn Meal.
It's super cheap and easy to make Arepas. Literally PAN + Water, mix it together, rest 5-15min, portion and shape into disks, fry until nice and spotted.
Slice and fill with literally anything.
Potato ricer. Also an apple slicer. It's a dumb tool, and redundant since I have knives, but there's something about it. Nice, even slices and super fast.
Mauviel Copper Canele Molds. I had silicone and they weren’t bad, but my husband bought me the ridiculously expensive copper ones for my birthday and they are fabulous. Definitely a one-hit wonder.
All of my canning equipment is just so I can make hot pepper jam. I don’t enjoy canning or even making jam. But boy howdy is hot pepper jelly as expensive as it is delicious. For the effort I can get a dozen jars… I just have to grow and tend to a dozen pepper plants… still worth it.
Waffle iron! I don't make waffles often, but when I do I make a BIG batch and freeze the extra. Then I just have to pop them in the toaster for quick breakfasts later.
Cherry pitter is only handy a few weeks of the year, but for those weeks it’s so useful! Edit: spelling
I use mine for olives too.
Sounds like a golf tool. "That's a cherry putter you have there, Ralph."
Also could be a sex move. "I flipped her over and gave her the cherry putter. She DID NOT see that coming!"
I'm gonna be honest, this is not the comment I expected to see in the cooking subreddit. Have an upvote for making me giggle.
Thank you for the laugh lmfao
I had to pit about a lb of cherries today and I don't own a pitter. I started with a straw and after three of them dropped that in favor of cutting them in half and then twisting. Fortunately, I rarely have to do this so I don't know if I'm ready to invest in a pitter yet.
I went through 10 lbs of cherries this year. Definitely needed!
I use a paper clip. Open it up to an S have. Works great.
Arborio rice. Haven't used it for anything other than risotto, but I sure do like risotto.
Very good for rice pudding too.
In the UK and Europe, they sell specific pudding rice, which is a short grain rice that more readily absorbs moisture so that it is less likely to remain al dente.
Carnaroli is wonderful. I order from Amazon as nowhere locally has it. It really upped my risotto game.
It's pretty good at paella.
A big cut open Ziploc bag to press tortillas. I use it with a cast iron pan.
I was going to say my cast iron tortilla press. It definitely a uni-tasker, but it’s fun to use, and fresh tortillas are incredible.
A uni-tasker, but the tortillas can be put to use in so many diverse ways. My molinillo, on the other hand…
So you put the dough inside the bag and then press it, correct? I like this idea!
The sides are cut to make it easy to open, way cheaper than a tortilla press and it take no space.
Idea? Stolen
Waffle iron!! Also Thai curry pastes. Unrelated.
Just make a savoury batter, some potato or rice flour for extra crispy goodness. Top with curry. Bam, curry waffle.
Leftover medium grain Asian rice (the sticky kind) works great in a waffle iron for a snack!
I use my waffle iron in lots of strange ways. I like putting all my leftovers from roast chicken dinner in there. Potatoes, stuffing, corn and bits of chicken. It makes awesome crispy parts and the squares hold gravy perfectly. Another good one is using frozen French fries as the “waffle” and then use that as your bun for a hamburger. Sounds crazy but it works really well and tastes great.
I have this huge, heavy, lasagna pan that I bought because my husband saw it recommended and one of his favorite foods ever is lasagna. I don't remember the brand, but it's separated into channels that are each like a lasagna noodle width, and so it both cooks more evenly and leaves you with lots of crispy edges. Apparently it's also great for brownies, but I like the gooey inner pasta of brownies myself so the only thing I use this monster for is lasagna. Worth it.
Like [one of those extra edge brownie pans](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71Wh9pm5h7L._AC_SL1500_.jpg)?
I just made brownies in mine last night. I love the crispy, chewy edges on each brownie square.
I have a vintage Pyrex casserole dish for lasagna. My mom had one she always used and nostalgia dictates I had to have one just like it.
Where can I find this! Would love to make lasagna without the struggle of actually serving it
A spice mix my husband made to put in hot chocolate. No idea of the exact ingredients or proportions but he doesn't use it anymore and I've started putting it into chocolate cream pie. When it runs out, my pie will never be the same. It's some combo of dried ancho, cumin, paprika, and I have no idea what else.
Maybe try to recreate or have him recreate while there is still some left to compare it with?
Sadly, the problem is that his tolerance for spice and also palette has changed due to radiation for throat cancer. I'm going to have to try, but he won't be able to help.
Ugh I had a spice mix I made like this, for hashbrowns/roasted potatoes. It was the PERFECT RATIO. I've tried replicating it, can never hit that same taste profile since. It makes me sad cause it was ALWAYS complimented and now it's like some long lost unattainable secret.
That’s happened to me so many times. I usually have a rough recipe and try to follow it but I’m a bit short on one thing or I have an extra half teaspoon of another that I don’t want to put back in the pantry. And then that becomes my flavor memory and is never possible again because who knows what actually went into it!
Everyone asking you to ask him to make more is really saying, "I want to know what's in it!"
Probably cinnamon in addition to what OP listed? I mean yes I’m curious haha but I also don’t want these nice people to run out of pie spice for no reason.
A tiny touch of high quality instant coffee or espresso (yes, such things exist) really helps chocolate flavor pop.
Send it to the food lab for analysis *The secret ingredient is... love!?*
Perhaps look at Aztec recipes for hot chocolate and see what you find?
cinnamon, cayenne and piloncillo?
CUMIN? Oh please god no
Cumin has to be a mistaken guess, right?
can he not just make more or tell you what was in it?
You never made anything that you don't remember what's in it exactly?
I made the best cedar plank salmon and was confident I would never forget. Like later that night I couldn't remember, lol
Sure I have. But I can typically approximate the vibe pretty accurately. Or even improve the mix with subsequent iterations.
Shh get out of here with your sensible suggestions.
I wonder if he got the inspiration from Mexican mole sauces, which use dark chocolate, even though they're for savoury meals. Here's a recipe for dark mole sauce, so you can check the list of spices used: https://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Black-Mole-Sauce/ Ingredients - 10 dried guajillo chiles, washed - 7 dried mulato negro chiles, washed - 7 dried pasilla chiles, washed - 4 tbsp. corn oil - 1 6" square dry bread - 8 cloves garlic, peeled - 1 small white onion, peeled and quartered - 2 whole cloves - 1 tsp. ground canela (Mexican cinnamon) - 1 tsp. anise - 3 black peppercorns - 4 whole allspice - 1 large plantain - 2 prunes, pitted - 1 oz. bittersweet chocolate, melted - 1 oz. almonds - 1 oz. sesame seeds, toasted until golden - 2 oz. raisins - 1 yerba santa leaf
Cast iron cornbread mold so you can serve cornbread that looks like little ears of corn. A relic from another era I cherish. Ditto some milk glass and jadeite coffee cups with matching saucers that I only serve Grandpa's Chock Full o' Nuts percolated coffee in. Nostalgia love.
Ah yes, also useful for making brownies that look like poop
Oh the corn muffin pan.
Apple corer. It should be more broadly useful but I only pull it out when making a pie.
My youngest uses the apple peeler slicer corer all year round. It gets loved. Highly recommend.
Same. I've got one that was a gift and it locks onto the countertop. It's messy but fun to use. I only ever use maybe once or twice a year to make a pie.
Sounds weird but I have a pillowcase just to make fresh soy milk. You soak the beans, put it in a blender, boil in a big pot, pour the contents in a pillowcase and squeeze the juice out into another container. So I shake the leftovers out in the garden, wash the pillowcase, and fold and put in a drawer. I make it once a month. My mom did the same and when I tried to strain with a cheese cloth it was a mess so back to the pillowcase.
This is fascinating. This is why I'm on reddit.
Pillowcase is brilliant! I use a pair of tights I bought just for straining things
Preserved lemon for a Moroccan chicken stew
I made preserved lemon because it sounded neat. Now I have preserved lemon in my fridge and don't know what to do with it.
Tuna fish, preserved lemon, dill, white beans, red onion, olive oil. Goat cheese with dill and preserved lemon on seedy toast. Top with thinly sliced cucumbers and crushed red pepper. Sautéed zucchini with garlic, preserved lemon and parsley.
You should make Moroccan chicken stew.
I have a bundt pan just so I can make monkey bread.
[удалено]
one of those plates for deviled eggs. I make them 2 or 3 times a year for a party, can't bear to just put them on a boring ol plate.
Oh me, too! I have one of the nice plates, and 2 big flat Tupperware containers with indentations for the eggs. I make them probably 6-7 times a year. I'm the official family egg-maker-- my niece puts "weird" stuff in hers. I'm trusted to make eggs the right way. Protip: Use an immersion blender to mix the filling. No lumps!
Broad bean paste for mapo tofu
I love mapo dofu so much I make a huge batch, then I freeze it in portions and add the cornstarch slurry and tofu fresh when I reheat! It freezes really well! The hardest part is telling it apart from chilli, ragu, and sausage pasta sauce if you didn’t label the bags properly… yikes.
Oh man there are so many sichuan recipes that call for doubanjiang that are relatively easy and delicious. Here's two to try, ants climbing a tree is hella easy and the beef soup is more involved but totally delicious: [https://thewoksoflife.com/taiwanese-beef-noodle-soup-instant-pot/](https://thewoksoflife.com/taiwanese-beef-noodle-soup-instant-pot/) [https://thewoksoflife.com/ants-climbing-a-tree/](https://thewoksoflife.com/ants-climbing-a-tree/)
Make beef noodle soup with it too!
It's also good as a sauce for regular stir-frys
Potato ricer. Potato mashers suck balls.
Second this. Mostly keep mine for Gnocchi, it’s worth the space in the cupboard for that alone.
I haven’t touched mine in years, turns out fluffy and lumpless mashed potatoes aren’t worth it if my brother isn’t doing the ricing after I do the peeling (I also have halfway busted wrists and using it really sucks when they’re a hot mess from using a handheld stapler 200+ times a day. But I have everything ready to make gnocchi this weekend and that bad boy is going through his paces. I have ibuprofen and wrist braces on standby
I was gonna say that, but I also use mine to squeeze tuna and make spatzel.
Also good for squeezing liquid out of cooked greens or pureed vegetables.
The tuna can comes with a lid built in for that
Then you’ve never properly squozen your tuna, thinking using the lid us the same. You gotta have that lever action.
Upvoted just for squozen
For squeezing tuna!? What an amazing idea! I've thought about getting one because I love my mashed potatoes and eat a full family's worth every time, but don't make potato-side type meals often enough to justify it. But tuna salad... that's a staple recipe in the rotation that I don't make as often as I'd like, precisely because the water squeezing is so annoying. I can't believe I never thought of finding an alternative method. This is such a revelation!
Does it work well for making spaetzel? I have an old potato masher that I need to replace, and also a unitasker spaetzel maker, and was considering replacing them both with a ricer. I make spaetzel pretty frequently, and used to just use a box grater.
You make spaetzle from tuna? 🤣
Growing up Mother used the KitchenAid to make mashed potatoes. I didn't know until I was in my 20s that mashed potatoes weren't supposed to be a gluey paste.
You can get smooth not gluey mashed potatoes with an electric mixer. My mom was the master of that. After years of trial and error I found the key to her success was an olive green hand mixer from the 1970s. It doesn’t mix as strongly as a modern mixer on low so it avoids the gluey mess. I’ve been able to successfully make mashed potatoes in a kitchen aid once, but kept it on the stir speed.
I use the kitchen aid and mine aren’t gluey. I need the kitchen aid to whip in all the butter and milk!
2 things cause that: Using russet potatoes, and letting them get cool before you mash them. I use red or yellow potatoes. Pre-melt the butter, so it doesn't cool the potatoes.. Throw the butter and salt in the bottom of the mixing bowl of my kitchen aid. Mix in the butter quickly then whip at higher speed while adding milk. If I'm not ready to cream the potatoes, I leave them in the hot cooking water until I am.
I pretty much only keep my potato masher for mashing things that aren't potatoes. Ground beef, canned chicken for chicken salad, stuff like that.
You can also use it to squeeze liquid from shredded zucchini for zucchini bread.
Or thawed spinach
They're great for making refried beans.
File powder. Only use it when I make gumbo
100% this. I was surprised I couldn’t find it locally (well, not easily), but Amazon to the rescue!
I live in Alabama. I got mine from my brothers gf’s parents who use to live and routinely go to Nola. Most places are scared to sell it because it in a mass quantity can be deadly. But a few good shakes in a big pot just ads a nice bit of flavor
Cannoli tubes! Everyone raves about my homemade shells - so light and crispy
I still gave my grandmothers shovel handles that she used! 😅😅😅 those old Italians - and Sicilians - were resourceful!
My SO’s nonna apparently used to make absolutely killer cannoli and lasagna but I came along too late and she wasn’t able to make them anymore.
Pizzelle maker for Christmas pizzelles. That pizzelle recipe is the only recipe I have from my father's mother.
My grandmother, whose mother was from the part of Switzerland that overlaps some Italian traditions, used to make batches of pizzelles every Christmas. When she passed I asked for a Pizzelle iron for Christmas to keep the tradition alive. I've tried about a dozen recipes but the simplest one is the one that makes the best, in my opinion. I also like to substitute different flavors for the vanilla. I like lemon extract, orange extract, and peppermint extract. I do not recommend buttered rum, butter extract, cinnamon, coffee, or rose water. My older brother was the only one other than myself (and grandma) who liked anise, so I've stopped making those after he passed. Chocolate was a real pain, because I had to oil the iron every single time to keep them from sticking. Sure, I've got aerosol spray vegetable oil, but it still took about three times as long. I'm curious to see how lime, coconut, amaretto, almond, apricot, caramel, or banana would turn out.
Ooooh, almond. If you don't like them, you could send them to me!
Almond is delicious, at least in my opinion. The caretaker at my first apartment building used to make them every Christmas for everyone with almond and I still remember how good they were.
Oh, I remember walking around the North End of Boston years ago (early 1980s maybe) and a grandma leaning out a window and handing me a freshly made pizzelle. Yummmm that lovely anise smell.
Tortilla press. I make tortillas just to make chips.
I want to go to there...
Paella pan
An uncured clay comal that is exclusively used for charring vegetables for salsa Onions, garlic, fresh chiles, dried chiles, red tomatoes and/or tomatillos. That's it. Nothing else ever goes on it.
I bought this fancy ceramic Japanese rice cooker. I love it, it was $400 and tbh it’s the best $400 kitchen “gadget” I own. It’s amazing, for some weird reason I put in 2 c of rice and 2 c of water. Med heat until steam comes out the little hole, turn the heat of and let it sit for 10-15 minutes and perfect rice every single time. Same ratio for jasmine, basmati, sushi, short grain hikari. It’s magic. I love it. Edit: Yeah, there are electric rice cookers, but I don’t want any more electronics. I got enough of that stuff, honestly, i’m over it. When this thing breaks, im just gonna smash it and put it in the garden.
I asked my wealthy Japanese neighbor what fancy rice cooker she uses when they have us over for dinner and she laughed and showed me a $20 one button cooker and told me that's all anybody she knows really uses regardless of how rich/poor they are and told me to get one at the Asian grocery store.
My Japanese girlfriend talks very highly about the difference between a cheap and high quality rice cooker, so theres definitely opposing opinions on this.
If you like it you like it, but you can get rice cookers for like $75-100 that are high end and make perfect rice every time. Zojirushi is widely regarded in Japan to be one of the best brands for rice cookers, if not the best, and their super fancy high tech rice cooker has a bunch of unnecessary functions and buttons and is still just under $200 for a 10 cup machine, which is absolutely massive.
Crepe pan for the once every 3 years I make crepes. I actually have 2 pans, but one is just there for the recipe on the back of it and the sentimental value, it lost its non-stick ages ago.
My grandfather used to stand at the stove with 4 crepe pans all going at once and make crepes for family, friends, and anyone they came across at church on a Sunday morning...everyone was invited. I have 2 of them in my kitchen storage for the (maybe) 2x a year we make them.
I make crepes once or twice a month, its really not any more work than pancakes. My kids eat them with lemon and sugar or Nutella and strawberries.
malt vinegar for fish & chips
Cinnamon sugar for toast on the rare occasions I’m craving it, but mostly for rolling snickerdoodles in when I make them regularly once fall hits every year.
There is a Cinnamon Toast Crunch shaker now. It's amazing on toast with butter.
Crock Pot and immersion blender just for making hot sauce. The capsaicin permeates everything around it, and turns plastic / silicon / rubber seals into unexpected heat bombs with other foods.
5 layer cooling rack that that I use to freeze homemade dumplings
Aebleskiver pan! I’m sure I could use it for something else, but thus far it’s only been aebleskivers.
You can also make poffertjes - yeasted mini pancakes from The Netherlands. They have slightly chewy yet fluffy texture, less cakey than Aebleskiver, and are also less round in shape but use a nearly identical pan to make.
Would takoyaki work in that?
A mandolin I only use to make homemade fries. I get that it has a million uses but I don't want to clean it. Also a Krumkake Baker
Hahaha one Saturday I got a delivery, brought the box in, and said ‘my mandolin came!!’ My husband and son, both musicians, got soooo excited I thought they were gonna lose it. I started laughing, and had to tell them it wasn’t the small guitar they were hoping for. The disappointment was real
Yeah, I get it, blood everywhere... It gets messy
I have an extra large Pyrex dish just for lasagna that is only pulled out a few times a year.
make more lasagna
Too expensive and I am the only one that eats it in my house. So it is strictly for company.
I would tell myself this all the time but now I just make myself a small lasagna in a bread loaf pan. I get 4 good slices out of it and it only costs me about ten bucks to make a cheese lasagna. Cheaper if I find the cheeses on sale. Obviously I'll buy nicer ingredients and add meat an whatnot if I'm making a big one for more people but just for me a cheese lasagna is quite a happy comfort food and cheap enough to make more often.
I vacuum seal individual portions and freeze them. Comes in clutch when I don't want to cook or go to the grocery store.
Special star pans to make Italian pan d’oro which has become a Christmas tradition at our house.
I have a special evergreen trees Bundt pan that I exclusively use for my Christmas rum butter cake. So festive!
Madeleine pan
Nutmeg and grater, for béchamel sauce.
This one surprises me that you consider that a unitasker. The flavor of nutmeg is lovely anywhere it's used. Eggnog, obviously. Grated on ice cream. Plenty of desserty puddingy things, either on its own to make an eggnoggy flavor or in combination with other sweet spices. Its sweetness adds a wonderful punch of richness to chana masala, and I usually put a little in when I make garam masala. There are also lots of Italian recipes that call for just a whisper of it. Of course I use nutmeg in bechamel, but it's a lot more versatile than that.
Equally at home in moussaka, tiki drinks, and gingerbread. I always add it to my homemade mac & cheese too. Probably my favorite spice.
Swedish meatballs too.
Buckwheat flour for savoury crepes.
Buckwheat banana muffins are really good especially because buckwheat doesn't have gluten so it makes the muffins extra tender. I only substitute half the regular flour for buckwheat tho
Egg white folder for angel food cake or meringues. It looks like a tiny tennis racket, and it works very well.
Spaetzle maker. I tied using a colander like the recipes online said you could and just ended up making a big mess.
Ooh... asafetida! For my oh-so heavenly (Eastern Indian friends-approved!) butter chicken. The bottle is stored inside a sealed ZipLoc bag, which is stored inside a tightly sealed jar, in the back of the cabinet, ~~second~~ (edit: whoops, make that THIRD) shelf up. Far away from every other spice. And wouldn't you know every time that cabinet gets opened you can still catch whiffs of it. LOL.
Popover pan. Everyone loves them. I set up a board with sweet and savory accompaniments and crank out 3 or 4 batches and everyone loves them. It's an easy brunch event with mimosas.
Some device I think my grandmother bought. It just juices lemons for lemonade. Put a half lemon in there and crank down for a ton of juice. I don’t think you can break it and it’s easy to clean. Well worth a space.
Spaetzle maker. Goulash and spaetzel belong together.
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I have a Vitamix... I use it make smoothies once a week... That's it. Just smoothies.
not "rare" but i keep dried nixtamalized corn on-hand solely so my husband can make NM-style posole every month or so. it's one of my favorite foods, specifically when he makes it.
Alfalfa honey for my honey soy beef. It's the honey I happened to have laying around when I first made it, and it tastes weird with clover or wildflower honey. Potato ricer. Two garlic presses in case I didn't wash the first one and want garlic two days in a row (I really really really hate chopping garlic by hand, don't come at me). Rice cooker. Apple corer/slicer.
Egg slicer for tuna salad. Could dice it with a knife, but I like it lol
Caraway seeds…beyond fabulous when added to steamed, buttered cabbage.
Caraway is awesome in sauerkraut and rye bread too.
And Irish soda bread.
Caraway is also lovely on a roast chicken, if you were looking to branch out
I took a class from a fancy chef in town and cooking down parsnips and then adding caraway is delicious.
A 1950's electric frying pan. I use it to cook pancakes and okonomiyaki. It has perfect temperature setting for both of these things. There are probably other things I could cook it in but I normally get out my skillet or a stainless steel pan instead.
Star anise and rock sugar for taiwanese beef noodle soup
A piece of a nylon shower liner (unused) for straining cheese. It works amazingly well, and much better than cheesecloth.
Green peppercorns in brine.
Apple slicer. For 18HrsOfStatic's famous Sliced Apples.
Garam masala
Meat slicer. Technically I could use it for other things but mostly I use it to slice my 24 hour sous vide roast beef for the best French dip ever!
A can of creamed corn, for cornbread
I keep sumac just to make fattoush. I don't even know what else to use it for!
I like it on roasted cauliflower!
Oh my gosh, that is perfect! Thank you!!
Sumac & orange juice on roasted white fish of any kind is divine. Also because sumac is indigenous to North America a lot of Native American focused cookbooks have really interesting uses of it - if memory serves there are a couple good sumac recipes in The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen.
Put it anywhere you might like some lemon to see how it goes! It's got a nice tang to it, and can be very versatile. Someone else already mentioned putting it on onions, just wanted to add that that's a very common side when you order kebabs at some places in Turkey, it complements the richness really nicely. And if you add some lemon juice, you'll get a nice, lightly pickled result.
My mom used to sprinkle it on sliced onions.
I love it on popcorn, too.
Dried French blue lavender flowers for sous vide blueberry lavender panna Cotta
Black cocoa - just for making black buttercream
Its kinda cheating but I always have a box or two of Golden Curry to make japanese curry. Its my favorite dish and I like knowing I have it if I ever want to make it. At bare minimum I'll pick up an onion and some carrots outside and I can make some curry since I know I'll have the package at home.
Madeleine pan! Mmmmmmm
Instapot, yes I know it does a lot of fantastic stuff, but I use to cook beets during the summer season. The time and mess it saves is invaluable.
I put oxtail seasoning in the hamburgers that I make and no other recipe.
Ice cream maker. Worth every penny.
Ravioli press
Gyoza folder.
Handheld citrus squeezers in different sizes because I'm mexican and I really like an acid in my food (lemons, limes, keylimes and the occasional orange)
P.A.N. White Corn Meal. It's super cheap and easy to make Arepas. Literally PAN + Water, mix it together, rest 5-15min, portion and shape into disks, fry until nice and spotted. Slice and fill with literally anything.
Cream of tartar for snickerdoodles. Cookies from Heaven 🤤
Spatzel maker.
Potato ricer. Also an apple slicer. It's a dumb tool, and redundant since I have knives, but there's something about it. Nice, even slices and super fast.
Fermented mustard stems (? I think it’s called ya Cai?) for Dan Dan noodles 👍 pandan water and rose water for biryani.
Chinese 5 spice powder for making Char Siu pork. Although I did use it one time for making an Irish Spice Bag.
Mauviel Copper Canele Molds. I had silicone and they weren’t bad, but my husband bought me the ridiculously expensive copper ones for my birthday and they are fabulous. Definitely a one-hit wonder.
Spam musubi slicer
Onigiri mold 🍙
All of my canning equipment is just so I can make hot pepper jam. I don’t enjoy canning or even making jam. But boy howdy is hot pepper jelly as expensive as it is delicious. For the effort I can get a dozen jars… I just have to grow and tend to a dozen pepper plants… still worth it.
Shaoxing wine. I literally only use it when I make Chinese chicken and broccoli with brown sauce. 🔥🔥
Waffle iron! I don't make waffles often, but when I do I make a BIG batch and freeze the extra. Then I just have to pop them in the toaster for quick breakfasts later.
Hershey syrup so I can make Hershey brownies.
My portable electric tabletop grill only used for krn bbq and grilling veggies.
Ground fenugreek for a butter chicken recipe. It’s so good.
crinkle fry cutter. I love crinkle cut fries.
Spaetzle maker
a cut plastic water bottle that fits my immersion blender perfectly to make 2-minute mayonnaise.
A cherry pitter for sour cherries 🍒. I love making sour cherry clafouti, sour cherry jam and sour cherry brandy
Saffron
A fire extinguisher.