What's your favorite NEW kitchen gadget?

I've always been a kitchen gadget junkie. I admit it and the drawers of my kitchen can attest to it.

Got to thinking about what is my favorite doodad and, more specifically, which of my newer items is my favorite. Things that weren't possible or available for the home kitchen a few years ago.

I think today my favorite is the silicone oven mitt:


They come in a variety of lengths and colors. It's waterproof and will protect your hand from direct heat, charcoal, boiling water and hot oil up to 500 degree F AND it's dishwasher safe. Just stick it in with a load of dishes (I stand mine up on the prongs of the lower rack). It comes out "squeaky clean". No more stained oven mitts. No more dangerous holes or thin spots that leave your hand vulnerable.


I also like the silicone handle covers. They're perfect for slipping over the handle of your big, heavy cast iron skillets!

The flat silicone pot holders are nice and make great trivets, but I prefer the oven mitt because I've been burned a dozen times too many and need all the protection I can get.

SOOOOO, what's your favorite gadget of the 21st Century?

Lois

That mit has intrigued me and I intend to get one. But, the bake ware that is made out of the same thing (silicone) creeps me out. Heating a rubber-like substance around food (like muffins) just seems like a nuclear night mare. I have read the cook ware works well with no chemical smell or flavor, but I don't think I will be trying it. Reminds me of Teflon when it gets too hot or nuking plastic ware with food in it! Yikes!

Where did you find your mit, Lois?

The silicon bake-ware isn't bad even if it is a bit floppy. I put a cookie sheet under what I use. My current can't live without has got to be my silpat mats. I use them for making candy, cookies, parmesan cheese crisps the list goes on. The only other thing I use as much is my 20 year old 10" cast iron skillet.

SECOND the SILPATS!

MY next favorite is the microplane, it makes grating things over a dish so easy, and fast. They also come in different sizes!

Yup! Microplanes are like ubergraters!

I don't think of silpats and microplanes as new since I've been using them for quite a while. One product that came out a couple years ago that I really like are silicon brushes. They come in sizes from pastry size up to BBQ size and are so much simpler to wash and store than old fashioned brushes that get all gunky.

I really like the silicone brushes too. They're greyt for basting, grilling and BBQing. I like how well they clean up. The little collar around the brizzles keeps them off the counter. Very well thought out.

I have a piece of the silicone bakeware and I'm still leary of it too. I've only used it a few times. Just automatically grab my glass 8x8 pan instead. I've probably had that thing 25 or 30 years.

Lisa, I got my Orka mitt at Linens and Things. Same with my hot pads (which I use as trivets and in my candlemaking) and my silicone brush.

I HATE to shop generally, but I have a weakness for the gadget department in houseware stores.

Lois

My favorites that I could not live without:

Microplanes (all sizes and the new box grater)

Silicone BBQ brush
Silicone Pastry brush (how did we ever use the old ones- yuck!)

Parchment paper

Silicone Spoonula (Heat resistant spon/spatula combination- I never use anything else any more)

Digital kitchen scale

Instant read thermometer

Silicone Oven Mitts (I like Duncan Kitchen Grips- more flexible than the orca and they also have a gripping/ slip-proof texture that makes them handy for opening jars).

Deb

[Robin Garr]

Microplanes (all sizes and the new box grater)

You may recall that I got my microplane box grater from you, Deb! I love it love it love it.

Silpats are mighty nice, too.

We've been less pleased with the silicone bakeware, though. Not the floppiness but that fact that, at least in the muffin pan, the food doesn't seem to brown as well. There's a small but perceptible quality difference, and that's not Good Eats.

I don't think of silpats and microplanes as new since I've been using them for quite a while. One product that came out a couple years ago that I really like are silicon brushes. They come in sizes from pastry size up to BBQ size and are so much simpler to wash and store than old fashioned brushes that get all gunky.

Do you have a particular brand of silicon brush that you like? I had a version of one and threw it away because I thought it was too "floppy" and didn't hold liquids well. Now I'm back to the regular "paintbrush" type and thought I bought a good one, but it drops bristles, which is annoying.

I believe all of mine are Oxo,but, embarassingly I can't say for sure.
The brushes did seem a little floppy at first until I got used to them.

Jay,

Mine is a "Grill Friends" brand bbq brush (Elizabeth Kamel's line of BBQ elements). It works great; just don't expect any of them to hold liquid as well as bristle brushes- I don't think it's possible as they are non-porous.

Deb

Robin,

You may recall that I got my microplane box grater from you, Deb! I love it love it love it.

I had forgotten that. Yes, I love it too, even more now that I've been grating hard boiled eggs for potato salad- it does them so quick and easy!

We didn't carry silicon bakeware (except for muffin cups) even though they were/are the rage as everything I've read about them (Fine Cooking, Cooks Illustrated) says the browning is poor to uneven. I'm with you, that's not Good Eats.

Here's another favorite: good old-fashioned 9x13 Pyrex glass baking dish. I read it just won a "bake-off" test in one of the test kitchen mags (? Cooks Illustrated?) against all the fancy baking dishes including one for $90. I have several.
Deb

I don't own it yet, but the tomato peeler at Campbell's Gourmet Cottage works fabulously.

I've never liked the way parboiling tomatoes to loosen their peel affects the outside texture of the fruit by cooking it slightly. That is, when I want to use the tomatoes raw. This gadget avoids that picky problem.

As for silicone products, I read an article about how the quality varies depending on how much filler is added to the silicone. One way to tell is by bending it. If there's too much filler, you'll see a small white crack. Also, the testers concluded that it performed less successfully when used as muffin tins or other molds. Browning was the major issue, as was sticking.

I have a set of silicone oven mitts that I like, but what you gain in heat resistance you lose in flexibility. It's a little harder to get a grip on that hot baking dish.

I would go ditto on the silicone bbq sauce brushes. The old paint brush style never survived in my house, the bristles would either harden together or fall out.

My favorite gadget is the Thermapen. It is a bit pricey, but as far as instant read thermometers go, you can probe the temperature layers in a piece of beef with a reading time of under three seconds. Finally I can cook a medium steak with confidence. I had never cooked enough red meat to learn that tap-tap thing.
http://www.thermoworks.com/products/the ... _home.html