What's your favorite small kitchen gadget?

[GB]

I finally figured out what my favorite small kitchen gadget is:

It is sturdier than most others and larger also. The holes are big enough to hold the handles of restaurant turners and spoons, and oxo good grip tools. The slots hold baking spatulas and stuff. And the thing revolves. I have several of them.

OK here is the important question. Where do you get them?

 

[choclatechef]

Well, GB that is the hard part. The gardenway company [the one who makes garden tools] used to sell them years ago, and they don't anymore.

I have found a couple in thrift shops, and a couple on Ebay. They are extremely hard to find even on Ebay. But make a mental note of their appearance, so you recognize them when you run across them.

 

[norgeskog]

China caps are conical shaped strainers with holes -- not wire mesh.

thanks choclatechef, but why are they called china caps, because they are conical? I will call them pointy strainer thingys

 

[choclatechef]

thanks choclatechef, but why are they called china caps, because they are conical? I will call them pointy strainer thingys

Good question, but I have no answer!

You should call them pointy colander thingys, cause they are more like a colander than a strainer!

 

[middie]

right now i'd have to say it's my mini food processor. great for mashing egg yolks and making tuna salads. not as bulky and a lot less parts to clean than a large one.

 

[norgeskog]

Good question, but I have no answer!

You should call them pointy colander thingys, cause they are more like a colander than a strainer!

ok choc, will do.

 

[kitchenelf]

(moved to cookware and accessories)

My favorite kitchen gadget would have to be......my lemon/lime reamer.....zesting plane......can a knife be a favorite kitchen gadget? If it can then it would have to be my "Rachel Ray" knife - can't think of the name but I have the same one - I use it for pretty much everything.

 

[ZoVe]

Mine would be my off set spatula, wet/dry measuring cup, kitchen scissors, metal tonge thingies

 

[tj]

They are called china caps because they resemble (or at least someone thought so) the conical hats worn by Chinese peasants.

Commercial kitchens depend on them.

 

[Claire]

I can't resist adding my goofiest, but very often used, gadget. A grapefruit spoon. Now, hubby and I are both on cholesterol meds and aren't allowed to eat grapefruit. But you'd be amazed how often I use these! Especially for seeding cukes and melons.

 

[licia]

If I had a lemon/lime reamer, it would be one of my favorites, but I haven't been able to find one. I had a wooden one and it disappeared a while ago. I hope it wasn't thrown away. I have quite a few vegetable peelers in my compost pile (accidentally). I enjoy the micro plane, the boning knife more than most of the stuff I have. I like the processor, but it is too heavy to drag about with my arthritis.

 

[corazon]

I love my rubber spatula! It will be a sad day when I have to replace it.

 

[mudbug]

My hands.

No, really - most of my gadgets are at an inconvenient distance when I need to do something RIGHT NOW (I've never mastered the art of the "mise").

If it must be something unconnected to my personal person, it would probably be a cutting board.

 

[texasgirl]

My wood spoons. I can use them on any surface and they won't hurt anything.

 

[YorkieMominFL]

Presto Salad Shooter

Right now, I would have to say my "old" Presto Salad Shooter that I bought back in '94 and never really used until recently, when I read in a forum that a lot of people were using theirs to grate cheese. At any rate, I pulled mine out of storage and started using it to grate cheddar cheese....WOW it works great for that. I have also started using it to grate potatoes for hash browns and I have also sliced potatoes. I swear that now, I could not do without my Salad Shooter. Love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pam

 

[amartin]

I love my Food Chopper. Not only does it save me lots of time cooking but it is also a great stress reliever!

 

[Constance]

Oh Goodness, I love kitchen gadgets. I even have a pickle/olive plucker with little expanding wires that makes it easy to get a pickle out of the jar. It's great for parties...people always get a good laugh out of it. It also works extremely well.
One of my favorite things is an old fashioned church key (cheap bottle bottle opener that they used to giver away at liquor stores, back when you had to really open your beer. I use the pointed can opener end (used to pierce the lids of things like evaporated milk), turning it upside down, to pop the seal on jars so I can open them more easily.
I have some old wooden handled meat forks from my grandmother that are much smaller than what you ordinarily see, and I use them for all sortws of things. I also have a pair of her stainless steel tongs that hang on better than any others I've ever used.
Love my baby food processer for chopping herbs...sure beats lugging out the big one. But the big one is a real cherry. My ex-MIL bought it for me when they first came out, almost 30 years ago. It weighs a ton, but it still does a great job.
We don't use the blender much, but when it's Margarita time, It's invaluable. Last May, we had a bunch of fresh strawberries, and after we'd had our fill of shortcake, it was party time.
One thing I'd really like to have is a mandoline, but my safety record with a knife is very poor, so my husband thinks it's a bad idea.

All in all, it's hard to pick my favorite gadget, because I use most everything I have...and I have a LOT!
But, I'd have to say my churchkey, electric can opener (tall, called the "Penguin", big stainless steel spoons and ladles, small acrylic spoons (the wooden ones are so germy), pairing knives, and Santoku knife (like Racheal's) are the ones I use most.
Ooops! Forgot the cutting boards. I've replaced the wooden ones with acylic for sanitary reasons, using a specified one for meats. They are about worn out now, and I need new ones.
My husband bought a great big cutting board that is made of some new miracle substance that looks like marble and is very heavy. We use it for carving the big hams, turkeys and pork butts. It doesn't even have any knife marks on it...I think it's going to last forever.

 

[licia]

I'm still contemplating a salad shooter, as well as one of those vacuum sealers and also a new food processor. Mine is about 25 years old.

 

[mish]

My favorites are not gadgets I use on a daily basis, but I enjoy:

My won ton/dumpling maker - It's so easy to put any filling in a won ton skin, and pop out a dumpling.

A complete set of silicone utensils - ladles, spatula, big spoon, slotted etc.

Tomato slicer (It might actually be a mushroom or hard boiled egg slicer) - Love those evenly sliced tomatoes.

Pasta machine/maker - Haven't used it in eons, but what fun running the dough through and watching cut strands of dough come out.

Williams-Sonoma is one of my favorite places. I could walk around and look at all the goodies - from cookbooks to you name it - for hours. Use to have a set of copper cookware I bought there years ago, that's now retired.

 

[daisy]

My latest toy, a gift, is a microplane zester. What an absolute dream it is! No cook should be without one. Next favourite is a pizza wheel. Not that I make pizza all that often, but it's an absolute whizz for chopping up small amounts of herbs!