Am housebound after surgery and so my mind wanders aimlessly with the boredom that accompanies this. So my big thought, I sometimes can manage a big thought, is that over my lifetime, my stick blender has been the utensil that has made the biggest change to the time and effort I put into cooking. It is my "go to" invention. Then I wondered , what has been the most life changing kitchen tool for you?

I am thinking the stick blender may also be my go to most used utensil, saves having to get the food processor out on a number of occasions.

My food processor would be my choice - I don't use my stick blender all that often. The only food processor attachment I don't use are the beaters - have never used them so don't really know their worth. But for larger quantities, grating, slicing, mincing, and mixing it's wonderful! Small quantities I do use my hand grater and knife.

Does anyone use the food processor beaters?

Best wishes and get well soon Stephanie D.
Regards,
Dawn.

Probably my three tier steamer pot from The Warehouse for $12.00 bought many years ago. Pretty much never cook veg in water since buying it and I'm about to try making Steamed Coconut Buns in it for the first time.

Food processor. I bought my first one, a Magimix, about 40 years ago and suddenly I could make fruit and vegetable purées (it was the time of Nouvelle Cuisine), and all those Middle Eastern dips - hummus, taramasalata, baba ganoush etc. I used it for pastry, especially choux pastry, cakes and biscuits.

I don't use one so much these days because I hardly ever bake, but I would never be without one.

I think I am in the stick blender camp - bought mine in Oz about 30 years ago before they were even a 'thing'

I think that the appeal was, and still is, its mobility, easy access and minimal clean-up.

Regards,

Barbara Anne

I just don't love my stick blender like the rest of you! Perhaps it is just the way I cook. I use it maybe once every couple of months.

I don't think there has been an appliance that changed my cooking or time use, but the most valuable tools to me would be a toss up between my kitchenaid stand mixer and a set of very good All Clad stainless pots and pans that I started collecting when I got married 21 years ago. You don't really notice when you're using a good pot/pan, but you sure has heck notice when you're using a crap one. The stand mixer has allowed me to wander through many different areas of baking, breadmaking, pasta making, mincing meat etc, with a great deal of ease. I don't think I would have been so interested in a lot of those things if I had to rely on a electric hand mixer or, quelle horreur, a wooden spoon.

I appreciate the usefulness of a good food processor, but again, the way I cook mine has been mostly used for baked goods such as cutting butter into flour. I think I shy away from using it more because I can't be bothered with cleaning it.

Actually I've just been reminded by Jenna's post about her pots and pans that one of the first things that MOH and I bought together in terms of household items, was a good quality set of knives - that was also over 30 years ago and while they cost a fortune at the time, they are still going strong (just like their owners..!!) They are on a par with the stick blender in terms of being a life-changing tool.

Jenna's right - you don't notice when you're using a quality item, which is why I completely overlooked them earlier in this thread, but when you're in a position of using an inferior one you sure do notice.

...and Jenna, I seem to recall from a thread some time ago that you have the same knives as me - not sure that we are allowed to name brands on here anymore - but they have been brilliant.

Regards,

Barbara Anne

My micro wave. It's nearly 30 years old and I don't think a day goes by that I don't use it for something.

I'm in my mid-70s, and don't have the strength in my hands and wrists that I used to have, so a cheap metal gripping device that works with bottles, jars etc that I can't open is a life-saver. And I also get great pleasure from using my solid old gem irons, my Judge enamel double-boiler, my 'proper' metal bread pans (all purchased second-hand) and the stainless steel pots that I bought 30 or 40 years ago.

I too prefer the food processor as it is very convenient to use and helpful too.

Knives - I think would be my most used and best appreciated. It occurs to me tho' that the accessibility of our tools and appliances is critical. My kitchen space is limited and some things are tucked away in places which make it a full scale production if I decide to use them. I like to think that all of you who have responded above have wonderful butler's pantries where all your gleaming appliances are begging to be used. Sigh.

Stephanie39... My house is a 127sqm 1996 Keith Hay home with original kitchen (we replaced the appliances a couple of years ago tho, phew). It barely has a pantry let alone a butlers pantry! I have 2 stand mixers, one lives on a low shelf in what was our fridge hole, the other on a shelf in a detached garage. FP lives in the same garage, as do all baking pans and other small appliances, except for a Sunbeam mini chopper. Its a massive pain in the neck, and I too lust over beautiful kitchens with heaps of storage.

Barbara Anne - Wusthof knives? Yes, another key purchase. I'm so glad I got all this stuff before we had children or we could not really have justified the expense.

Yes, Wusthof Grand Prix - I hate to think what the set that I have would cost now - certainly out of my price range these days.

I too would love some more kitchen storage space so that things like the food processor could be more accessible - I'm sure I would use it more. Our house was built in the early 80's and the kitchen is original (apart from the appliances). We're planning a makeover soon and I'm currently trying to figure out if or how that can be achieved, given the limited space and scope. I'm having fun looking at magazines and dreaming...

Regards,

Barbara Anne

I tend to use food processor over the stick blender, but I don't use either very often, good knife skills and good knives take care of most. My stick blender does sit on the bench, and the fp under the bench, but I hate the amount of washing up that it creates. Out of the appliances I have I would use the microwave the most often, but I love my Kenwood stand mixer for the ease with which i can bake. I live in a 1950's home, the kitchen has been re-modelled and is quite spacious but no butlers pantry for me either.

Re butlers' pantries (or sculleries which are apparently butlers' pantries without a sink) - it seems that very old homes have/had them probably as people needed space to store bulk food, preserves etc. and food prep was done from scratch. Kitchens in those days were separate rooms.

However it has occurred to me that the resurgence of butlers' pantries seems to have coincided with the 'open plan' kitchen concept - you can see right into most modern kitchens from the adjoining living area and therefore there needs to be a place where you can 'hide' the mess and store 'unsightly' kitchen equipment, that shock horror, should never be seen, in polite society, on a benchtop.

If we just got back to having kitchens in separate rooms, then we wouldn't need butlers' pantries.

But I digress...

Regards,

Barbara Anne



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/09/2019 06:29AM by Barbara Anne.

Barbara Anne Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
....
> If we just got back to having kitchens in separate
> rooms, then we wouldn't need butlers' pantries.

Interesting digression. Yes, but we would then also need a breed of domestic cooks who are willing to be sequestered in an enclosed kitchen throughout the cooking period.

I would actually rather like that as I enjoy quietly chopping, stirring, tasting and adjusting and would rather not be interrupted. Ironically I now cook in a huge open plan kitchen (6m of bench) with a scullery.

I’d like to ask which is the best appliance for crushing biscuits. I know the food processor is best but I’ve tried smaller appliances to save getting the food processor out of the bottom cupboard.

The old fashioned way to crush biscuits was to put them between layers of greaseproof paper and crush them with a rolling pin.

I grate them using the coarse grater disc in the food processor and feeding them down the larger feed tube.
Regards,
Dawn.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/09/2019 11:01AM by Dawn.

I use a potato masher in a mixing bowl. About 3-4 biscuits at a time, then when they're crushed, I just put the next 4 in the bowl on top of the crumbs. I used to put them in a resealable plastic bag and roll them with something, but the bag would always puncture and I'd end up with an almighty mess. The masher works well and no mess

I can stand in the middle of my kitchen and touch all four sides without moving. It's tiny so space is limited. I have a Braun Multi-mix food processor and the 'engine' and stick blender sit on the bench and get used daily for various small jobs like chopping up the cat's meat, blending a smoothie, etc.. There is a large bowl that hardly gets used (awful to clean up), a small bowl that I use quite a bit for things like making breadcrumbs from bread crusts, crushing biscuits, mixing sauces and dips, etc. All the other slicing and chopping blades and the whisk are kept in the under-bench cupboard and have never been used. I have a hand mandolin with 6 different blades and that gets used almost daily for slicing and chopping veges to any shape or thickness I want. It lives on the bench in a handy space that also houses my salts and peppers and my tea-bag caddy.

The microwave gets used multiple times a day: cooking my porridge,warming milk for coffee; taking the chill off the cat's dinner, heating soup/baked beans etc for lunch, and I always, always steam my evening meal veges in the microwave unless I have a one-tray baked meal cooked in my little Breville Top Cook, which sits on the washing machine in the laundry. My big oven is used for storing a large casserole dish and some large frying pans. It's very rarely used for cooking anything.

So, the things that are my favourites: stick blender, mandolin, microwave, followed closely by the little oven in the laundry.

Lorna, your cat sounds very spoiled!

Lorna's post has reminded me that I own a mandolin - I can't remember when I last used it, but again, one of those things stuck at the back of a cupboard which is more of a pain to get out than the job is worth, so I just haven't bothered and it isn't even on my radar now.

So I now plan to give real thought to what appliances/gadgets I use (or could use) most/more and rearrange my kitchen cupboards and pantry so that I can get my hands on them quickly and easily. That will then define what I use less or could do without completely and may well influence my planned kitchen makeover.

So thank you Stephanie D for starting the thread.

Regards,

Barbara Anne



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/10/2019 08:30AM by Barbara Anne.

I had a mandolin, the holder broke while I was using it, and I sliced my thumb very badly, several stitches and a couple of weeks off work later (midwives need their hands) I threw it out.

Griz Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I had a mandolin, the holder broke while I was
> using it, and I sliced my thumb very badly,
> several stitches and a couple of weeks off work
> later (midwives need their hands) I threw it out.

That kind of accident is the reason I've never used one. So dangerous.

I don't possess a mandolin and always wanted one but after reading the above posts I've changed my mind. I do, however, have my grandmother's, then my mother's and now mine for the last 50 years, old box grater which I use every single day and night.

TPANDAV Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Griz Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I had a mandolin, the holder broke while I was
> > using it, and I sliced my thumb very badly,
> > several stitches and a couple of weeks off work
> > later (midwives need their hands) I threw it
> out.
>
> That kind of accident is the reason I've never
> used one. So dangerous.

I came to grief too just over a couple of years ago. I needed a skin graft. I could not bear to look at my Boeringer(?) again and gave it away. Bought a Benriner instead and a cut proof glove but have used the mandolin only a few times. That accident definitely left a mark on me. Lorna, what brand of mandolin are you using? I purchased mine in a good kitchen ware shop and the ladies all had one but didn’t use the holder and just were vigilant.

My stick blender has replaced my fp because of ease of use. I always wanted a mandolin so bought one 2 years ago, it has been used twice-time for it to be on sold me thinks.
Crumbing biscuits is done with my stick blender as it has a cup size attachment like a mini fp.

Mine is a Borner, a German brand, which I bought at the Auckland Food Show around 20 years ago. It's still going strong, and I purchased a couple of extra blades to give me the full set which means I can slice from very fine julienne strips right up to chunky potato chip size. I also bought the Borner fancy cutter with which I can cut lattice, crinkle or spiral shapes. They are also available in some kitchen shops around NZ but I like browsing the Kitchen Adventures website (the company that exhibits at the food and home shows round the country), because they've got lots of other interesting kitchen stuff, too.
[www.kitchenadventures.co.nz]