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Things in your kitchen (or processes) that you think make cooking easier or better, but they don't really.
Like an electric mixer. I bake cakes, and just stir the batter 3-400 strokes with the handle of a wooden spoon, they turn out perfectly. It takes less time than getting out, plugging in, cleaning and putting away a mixer. I remembered from my mom that it was supposed to be 300 -- on he box it just says two minutes with a kitchen placebo.
By the way, the handle of the wooden spoon mixes batter or dough just as well as the spoon-end, and is a lot easier on your arm because there is not so much resistance.
Electric can openers are a godsend for arthritis patients, but if you're young and healthy, all they do is waste counter space, a little electricity, and twenty bucks.
Things in your kitchen (or processes) that you think make cooking easier or better, but they don't really.
Like an electric mixer. I bake cakes, and just stir the batter 3-400 strokes with the handle of a wooden spoon, they turn out perfectly. It takes less time than getting out, plugging in, cleaning and putting away a mixer.
By the way, the handle of the wooden spoon mixes batter or dough just as well as the spoon-end, and is a lot easier on your arm because there is not so much resistance.
Electric can openers are a godsend for arthritis patients, but if you're young and healthy, all they do is waste counter space, a little electricity, and twenty bucks.
If you don't like something...don't use it. Others may have a different view.
Things in your kitchen (or processes) that you think make cooking easier or better, but they don't really.
Like an electric mixer. I bake cakes, and just stir the batter 3-400 strokes with the handle of a wooden spoon, they turn out perfectly. It takes less time than getting out, plugging in, cleaning and putting away a mixer. I remembered from my mom that it was supposed to be 300 -- on he box it just says two minutes with a kitchen placebo.
By the way, the handle of the wooden spoon mixes batter or dough just as well as the spoon-end, and is a lot easier on your arm because there is not so much resistance.
Electric can openers are a godsend for arthritis patients, but if you're young and healthy, all they do is waste counter space, a little electricity, and twenty bucks.
To say "..you think make cooking easier or better, but they don't really.." is a bit of a judgement call. You find a reason that electric can openers can be acceptable for some people but not an electric mixer. Many things can make trying to beat something by hand a physical challenge for some people. Not to mention, things like whipping cream or making meringue require even more effort.
To each their own. If someone has the money to purchase it, the space to store it and it makes a chore easier or more pleasant - then go for it.
My electric mixer certainly makes short work of creaming butter or cream cheese. Doing it by hand is more difficult to get the lumps out when you are blending a cube of butter into your batter.. The food processor reduces the work of grating a 5 pound block of cheese and it does a better job of chopping nuts without sending bits of nut flying all over the floor.
I'll keep my stick blender for making mayonnaise, thank you very much. Making marshmallow by hand, no thanks, I'll keep using the mixer for that.
Hand beat a cake or use the mixer? Both take one mixing bowl and some sort of beater. Either one is going to dirty the same number of measuring cups, measuring spoons, and cake pans. I don't see any more washing up with using the mixer. I don't take mine out and put it away; it lives on the counter top.
I could probably make just about anything you want if I have a bowl, a fork, and a cast iron skillet. But life is easier with the appropriate equipment. I can cut pastry with two butter knives and roll it out with a can of green beans, but I like my silicon rolling pin. I like my microwave. I like my candy thermometer, even though I know how to tell what temperature the sugar is without a thermometer.
(I do mix some cakes by hand because I use gluten free flour that doesn't need the gluten developed. All I have to do is moisten the dry ingredients and I am done. It takes about 6 turns of a big spoon, but doesn't really require any less clean up.)
If you want to do all your cooking using just one mixing bowl, a dinner fork, and a cast iron skillet, more power to you. It requires some cooking skill. But just because you enjoy cooking that way doesn't mean I have to. I'll keep my lemon zester and my specialized tamale pan.
Last edited by oregonwoodsmoke; 02-21-2015 at 03:43 PM..
Electric can openers are a godsend for arthritis patients, but if you're young and healthy, all they do is waste counter space, a little electricity, and twenty bucks.
My kitchen is pretty low-tech, mostly because I don't have room for very many appliances. I have a microwave, a mini food processor, a small waffle iron, and an ice cream churn. Everything else is old-school: stove-top percolator, manual hand mixer, etc. Whether or not having more appliances would make cooking easier... I really don't know, but maybe if I have a bigger kitchen some day I will find out.
ETA: I will say though, my mini food processor has open up a world of possibilities that were too laborious before.
Last edited by Ginge McFantaPants; 02-21-2015 at 04:37 PM..
My big kitchen gadgets are: stand mixer, hand mixer, wand mixer, large food processor, small food processor.
Since I don't bake as much as I used to, the stand mixer gets use mostly as a meat grinder, as the spouse does not like to buy ground meat but would rather make his own. The hand mixer I use a couple times a month (I was really impressed with the little Kitchenaid hand mixer I bought a couple years ago. Light years better than my probably 20-year-old one). Same for the large food processor. The small food processor I use fairly often to make pesto, mirepoix and sofrito. The wand mixer I use primarily for soups still in the big stockpot.
Even though I don't use them daily, I wouldn't call them "placebos" (nor do I think that is really the word the OP was going for). When I need them, I need them. Just like the huge roasting pan that takes a big turkey or makes "company lasagne" - I probably use that once or twice a year.
The spouse has a waffle iron that he uses probably 4 times a year and makes enough waffles to freeze so we have them maybe once a month or so.
And, ooo, I have a Cuisinart ice cream maker than I use once or twice a month in spring and summer. Time to find whatever box I put that in when we moved. It is somewhere in the garage....
If you don't like something...don't use it. Others may have a different view.
Of course. But I have also had tools and small kitchen appliances that didn't work well for me, and you probably have too. This is about personal opinions and experiences. Why not make the thread fun instead of criticizing the OP?
Some of the things I have found kind of useless, or more trouble than they are worth:
Rice cooker. Granted, I did not have a really fancy bells-and-whistles one. But the one I had did not make rice any better than my good old saucepan with a lid. In fact, I prefer the saucepan version.
Garlic press. Again, maybe it was a cheap one. But it broke the first time I used it, and I decided it was not so hard to mince garlic with a knife.
Egg beater. My mom wouldn't have kept house without one. But I am fine beating a few eggs with a fork, or a lot of eggs with the hand mixer.
Electric kettle. Apparently there are whole countries who depend on electric kettles. (Kind of like the rice cooker, as a matter of fact). But my stovetop kettle works just fine for me and takes up less space.
Flour sifter. I never sift flour any more. I do sift powdered sugar sometimes, but I just press it through a sieve.
Edited to add: I've never had an electric can opener. My parents did, though.
Of course. But I have also had tools and small kitchen appliances that didn't work well for me, and you probably have too. This is about personal opinions and experiences. Why not make the thread fun instead of criticizing the OP?
Because that is the opened the thread....they didn't come in saying they found hand mixing easier for them....they came in making general statements that people how use one are wasting time and just aren't smart enough to know it.
Huge difference. We all do things differently...we all have tools we love and hate...but once the OP started by passing judgment...blah...what fun is that?
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