If you could improve anything about existing piece of cookware

[bluey]

Hi all, hope this is ok here.

I have to decide a Design Tech project for my A Levels and i wanted to do something to do with cooking.
My question is, if you could improve anything about an existing piece of cookware what would it be? Alternatively, what gadget would most simplify/save you time when cooking regularily?

My ideas so far have been 1)A way of cooking both rice and say noodles at the same time for picky eaters. 2)A frying pan that could help beginners toss food like professionals.

Thanks in advance for any replies!

Blue

 

[Half Baked]

Welcome Bluey.

I've seen a pan that makes it easier for beginners to 'flip' on late night sales shows. I will try to find it when I get back on.

 

[TATTRAT]

Welcome to DC!


how about a self cleaning kitchen?

 

[Half Baked]

So I guess you'd better go with the rice/pasta cooker. I like the kitchen cleaning device that Tattrat suggested.

 

[mudbug]

Bienvenue, bluey. Best luck on your A levels.

Think me up a gadget that will simultaneously peel and slice potatoes.

 

[buckytom]

a device that does my thinking for me.

 

[pdswife]

I'd like a mircowave that warms things evenly.

 

[Michael in FtW]

My ideas so far have been 1)A way of cooking both rice and say noodles at the same time for picky eaters. 2)A frying pan that could help beginners toss food like professionals.

There are already a couple of skillets that take care of #2 ... I just can't find the links for them ... the front of the pan is higher than the rest of the pan and curves slightly inward ... although a few times trying to "flip" food in a regular skillet and you'll get the hang of it ...

As for the #1 combo rice/noodle cooker idea ... have you ever cooked rice and noodles? They do not cook the same way ... or for the same amount of time - and there is a vast difference in how you cook the noodles depending on the type of noodle.

You really can't create a product to solve a problem unless you have experienced the problem ...

Humm .. Binford Tools, and the hosts of their "Tool Time" show (Tim and Al) have already come up with the "Self Cleaning Kitchen" ...

Mudbug - Hobart (I think it's Hobart) makes one ... but you probably will not like the price tag!

 

[Chopstix]

Just like there's the microwave for zapping food to high temp, I wish there was a blast freezer-type kitchen appliance that can rapidly bring down the temp of large quantities of food. This would be invaluable in defatting stocks/stews and for keeping them out of the temp danger zone for bacterial growth.

 

[buckytom]

chopstix, that's been on the mind of physicists for a while now.
it's fairly easy to add energy (often becoming heat) to a mass, but so far no one's really found a way of detracting or removing it.

i saw a show a couple of years ago that a kid won a competition where he invented a machine that chilled soda cans rapidly. i spun the can is a ciruclating bath of cool water or something like that, which transferred the heat from the can to the water. not sure how it worked, but the effect was still radiative. heat dissipation through molecular contact.



i't would be really cool to have something like an instant chiller.

 

[Chopstix]

Glad you agree Bucky! Now I wonder why they can't reverse the technology used for microwaves-- like instead of agitating the water molecules in food to heat up, the instant chiller or reverse microwave can slow down the same molecules to freezing point..... Ok, ok. I'll stop here. Brainiac I am not... just a wishful thinker.

 

[Snoop Puss]

A gadget for sterilising eggs for use in the home. Commercial/industrial machines are available but there's nothing for domestic use as far as I can see.

I'd love one of these. I'd start making home-made mayonnaise again and never have to worry about making omelettes that are still slightly runny.

I'm sure there'd be a huge market among foodies and small restaurants and pubs that serve food.

 

[ronjohn55]

chopstix, that's been on the mind of physicists for a while now.
it's fairly easy to add energy (often becoming heat) to a mass, but so far no one's really found a way of detracting or removing it.

You mean something Like This?


John

 

[BreezyCooking]

Since most of the cooking I do is just for my husband & myself, I use a good old-fashioned metal box grater for most vegetable/cheese tasks involving grating/shredding, saving my mandoline & food processors for larger amounts. I would LOVE to find a way to protect my hand/fingers when using a box grater. Maybe there's something out there already that I just don't know about, but it would be nice to have a way to use a box grater without accidentally grating one's flesh into the product - lol!!!

Oh, & SnoopPuss - love your idea about a home egg-sterilization system. Not only would that be great for the regular consumer, but it would be absolutely fabulous for those folks who collect eggs from their own chickens - whether for home use or for farmers market sales.

 

[flukx]

I would like to see the opposite of the ice cube. A "heat cube" would be incredibly useful, especially for those of us without a microwave.

 

[Snoop Puss]

Loved the link, ronjon55. Gave me a good laugh on a Thursday afternoon with the whole of Friday to go before the weekend. Might have to read it again on Monday morning...

Hi BreezyCooking. I'm amazed no-one's come up with something yet. I hadn't even thought of people who keep their own chickens, and there's me hoping I might have some of my own in the spring!

 

[buckytom]

grrr, that's still heat reduction thru radiation, albeit a very cool one .
heat energy moving from a source of high concentration to a lower one. aka entropy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entropy

what we need is something like chopstix said. a wave or particle device that actually slows molecular contact.

need to start thinking about it sorta like "hole flow" theory in electricity.

 

[middie]

how about a self cleaning kitchen?

Tat I love how you think !!

Micheal the one on Tool Time on Home Improvement doen't count !!

 

[Corinne]

I'd like an affordable tomato slicer - the kind that restaurants have. When I 1st saw one I thought it was one of the greatest things ever. Then I found out that they cost a couple hundred dollars, at least.