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My Mouli. They are nearly impossible to find in the U. S. I got my previous one on a trip to Canada and it is nearly worn out. My new one a few years ago was a gift that was purchased on EBay. I haven't seen one to buy anywhere else.
small food processor. Even when I sold the house and was moving between furnished apartments, I kept it with me. It's perfect for creaming a small amount of butter and sugar together, or chopping nuts (I make a lot of apple crisp).
Yaaaas, we cannot do without our food processor. Still have the original baby size one (10 years old now) but have replaced the bowl twice using ebay parts. Husband finally ordered a larger processor because he makes hummus every week and the little one cannot do the quantity he needs.
When our nephew and fiancee came to visit she used the processor to make dinner. She is Iranian and it is a "must have" for her. Wonderful Persian meatballs with herbs and sauce came forth. Yumm.
A German manual meat grinder with cookies attachment. Love the cookie attachment - it makes great tea biscuits. It also has sausages attachment. I make my own and it comes very handy to me.
Similar to this: https://www.amazon.com/LHS-Meat-Grin...c_dpcp_b_1_m_3
My Mouli. They are nearly impossible to find in the U. S. I got my previous one on a trip to Canada and it is nearly worn out. My new one a few years ago was a gift that was purchased on EBay. I haven't seen one to buy anywhere else.
I had a Mouli hand grater like this one.
It finally gave up the ghost, and I replaced it with a Microplane grater of the same style, which I have to say actually works a lot better.
I also have a mezzaluna knife, cherry pitters, an Ebelskiver maker, a footed trifle bowl, a bunch of piebirds, Madeleine pans, and several large drawers of other specialty baking pans.
Rice cooker-- I can never get it right in a pan on the stove, so I love it.
Not really something uncommon, but a bread machine, which I know some people look down on.
I've had sandwich makers in the past and liked them; much easier than trying not to make a mess in a pan. I've had a steamer I liked, though when it died I didn't replace it.
For the most part, though, I pass on speciality appliances, in part because I simply don't have space in my small kitchen and would probably rather spend my money on other things. I might like a waffle maker now and then, but wouldn't use it often enough to be worth the price of buying it or the pain of trying to find a place to store it.
I do have a juicer which I used a few times and pretty much haven't used in years. I realized it seemed pointless because I hated throwing away the pulp generated, so I'd find myself eating it with a spoon or adding it back into the juice to make a sort of smoothie (everyone suggests using it for doing things like making muffins or whatever, but I don't make muffins and wasn't about to start just to use up the pulp)... so I figured, why not just eat the whole fruit and be done with it.
I also have a Keurig I don't use; I prefer other methods for making coffee. It was a gift; I didn't buy it for myself). I took it to work where it gets used by my coworkers (but almost never me. For one, it doesn't make coffee as strong as I prefer and there's really no way to adjust that by using more grounds). I inherited my mom's but haven't used it in years; I basically kept it in case I ever wanted to use it, but I never have.
I once thought of buying one of those "countertop convection ovens" (saw one at a garage sale, never taken out of the box). I hate heating up the whole oven for just a little bit of food, and thought something like that would be easy and quick for roasting vegetables and stuff. But after googling about them, it seems that they don't last very long and I wouldn't have been happy throwing out an entire appliance just because the light bulb it uses died. Also, it would have taken up a LOT of space and I have absolutely no idea where I would've kept it.
My basic Sunbeam countertop mixer. I bake cookies and quick breads. I love it. And my toaster oven. Good for quick warmed up lunches and to melt cheese on anything. I got a bread maker for Christmas last year and haven't used it yet! Somehow it intimidates me even though I wanted it badly.
We've had several threads about the appliances/utensils you would never give up, and the appliances/utensils you can do without, but not the special/unusual ones.
I don't have an air fryer or food processor or sous vide, but I have a raclette grill, originally recommended by our family in Munich. It's electric and has a metal plate on top for grilling thinly sliced meat and vegetables, little pans underneath for melting cheese, and a heating element in between. When the cheese is melted, you scrape it onto small boiled potatoes or whatever you like. Or you can arrange bread or vegetables in the pans and put cheese on top, then slide it under the heat. It's fun for a family or a get-together. My family loves ours and now that it's finally cooled off, I'm about to break it out again.
What "specialty" appliance / utensil / kitchen gadget which most people don't have or would find unnecessary, do you love?
Years ago (in the 1970's) I enjoyed using my WMF stainless steel fondue pot (not electric)
a lot to heat cooking oil in order to make beef fondue, along with chartreuse-enamel plates with long grooves to hold the various sauces for dipping. It was a delicious meal to share with friends. I hated cheese fondue, though, and the fondue pot got moved to the back of a drawer. I'll have to dig it out and use it again this winter.
In 1990, I was introduced to raclette at a private residence in St. Gallen, Switzerland. I didn't like it at all, neither the gooey hot cheese like fondue, nor the cleaning of the appliance later. Is there anything else you can make with the raclette appliance that doesn't involve fondue-style (i.e. melted) cheese? I am a cheese lover (love camembert and brie), but not a fan of melted swiss-style/swiss-taste cheese.
Years ago (in the 1970's) I enjoyed using my WMF stainless steel fondue pot (not electric) a lot to heat cooking oil in order to make beef fondue, along with chartreuse-enamel plates with long grooves to hold the various sauces for dipping. It was a delicious meal to share with friends. I hated cheese fondue, though, and the fondue pot got moved to the back of a drawer. I'll have to dig it out and use it again this winter.
My family had one in the 1970s too. It used little cans of Sterno, or something like that, for heat. I was just a kid and thought the idea was fun, and I do like melted cheese, but my parents always put wine in theirs and and I didn't like that taste. What I did like was CHOCOLATE fondue! My mom would make a thick chocolate sauce in the fondue pot and cut an angel food cake into squares to dip in it. I remember having that as dessert for my 11th or 12th birthday party.
I haven't thought about fondue for years and the pot is long gone.
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In 1990, I was introduced to raclette at a private residence in St. Gallen, Switzerland. I didn't like it at all, neither the gooey hot cheese like fondue, nor the cleaning of the appliance later. Is there anything else you can make with the raclette appliance that doesn't involve fondue-style (i.e. melted) cheese? I am a cheese lover (love camembert and brie), but not a fan of melted swiss-style/swiss-taste cheese.
Well, "raclette" literally is a type of cheese meant to be served melted so if you don't like that, there isn't much point to the grill. You could use just the top to grill meat or vegetables at the table but the little pans underneath would be useless, so I wouldn't bother with it if you don't like melted cheese. There are probably other kinds of tabletop grills that would be more appropriate for you.
My Mouli. They are nearly impossible to find in the U. S. I got my previous one on a trip to Canada and it is nearly worn out. My new one a few years ago was a gift that was purchased on EBay. I haven't seen one to buy anywhere else.
We still have ours. It's a hand-driven food processor that does everything but chop.
We also still have a hand-driven, teeny Donvier ice cream maker.
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