21 Kitchen Gadgets You’re Using Wrong
This post may contain affiliate links.
For most people, the kitchen is the domestic focal point filled with numerous gadgets that supposedly help in culinary chores. Sometimes, however, you may find yourself using them incorrectly and, as a result, get poor results in cooking or waste so much time.
For each appliance, we explain how to use it to get the best of your culinary experiences. This way, you can improve your cooking and get the most out of your equipment and utensils used in the kitchen.
Garlic Press
Although garlic presses are useful to mince garlic, you should not use them since it crushes the cloves and has less flavor. To use the press correctly, one has to peel the clove and place it on the press flat side down. Then, apply a little pressure to the handle and you will notice minced garlic pushing through the holes. This method will enable you to get all the flavor and aroma of the garlic without leading to the destruction of the nutrient.
Vegetable Peeler
It is natural and almost inevitable to think that the efficient use of a vegetable peeler is limited to the removal of skin on fruits or vegetables; and this can actually be used in other tasks within the kitchen. For instance, a vegetable peeler helps to make fine shavings of cheese or chocolate for garnishing, serve shaved vegetables for salads or slice the needed amount of carrots or zucchini for a stir-fry. This is because, for example, when using a light pressure when peeling and even more so if using a varied angle, you are quite capable of achieving a thin, solid texture of the food you’re preparing.
Citrus Zester
A citrus zester is not only useful to add zest to the foods; it’s also equally useful to make wonderful garnishes. Another motion used while testing leads to creation of long strips that are curled or twisted adding a certain flair to your meals. A zester is also used to form thin slices of cheese for instance, for garnishing. It’s easy to get caught up in using only lemons and limes with this tool, use different citrus fruits like Oranges or grapefruit to add more natural flavors and texture.
Egg Slicer
To most people, an egg slicer will only be frequently used when slicing hard boiled eggs to use for sandwiches or salads. Perhaps you realize that using an egg slicer can be useful to cut soft fruits like strawberries or kiwis into uniform pieces for fruits salads and much more. It can also be used for cutting mushrooms, avocado or even soft cheese for a sandwich or cheese board like mozzarella.
Pizza Cutter
You might guess from its name that a pizza cutter is meant for cutting pizzas into slices, yet its thin metallic blade and a handy grip on the handle means it has many more practical applications in a kitchen. Looking for an efficient and clean approach to cutting quesadillas, brownies, pancakes, omelets, or any number of other foods in half, or into bite-size portions elsewhere on the plate? Better grab a pizza cutter. That is why this tool has become standard and an essential part of any kitchen.
Tongs
Tongs may seem like a simple utensil with one purpose: It is very common to find culinary ironmongery products designed for holding and tossing foods during cooking. But they can also be utilized in other operations like turning salads, pasta, delicate food processes like fish or tofu and even serving appetizers at a given party. Due to their long handles and well designed grip tongs are a useful all-rounder when it comes to preparing and serving food.
Lemon Squeezer
When life gives you lemons, squeeze the most out of it by using a lemon squeezer! These are small hand held instruments intended for squeezing juices out of the fruits, with the seeds remaining intact. But, do you know that the same petal leaves can also be used to juice some other fruits such as berry or pomegranate? To crush garlic for instance if you do not have a garlic press you can use a lemon squeezer.
Box Grater
To some people, a box grater is simply used when grating cheese or zest citrus fruits but it is also used when grating vegetables such as carrots, potatoes and squash. People might need to grate food to get different sizes or texture for the particular dish, and for this, it is possible to choose among four sides of this instrument. It is versatile to a level that you can use it to grate chocolate or nuts for garnishing or to do deserts.
Apple Corer
An apple corer may seem like a tool with only one purpose: to remove cores from apples. But as you will shortly find out the tipped side can be useful in other ways because of its edge. An apple corer will help to core bell peppers or tomatoes, place holes in cupcakes for fillings, or even make a doughnut from apple slice coring the middle out.
Silicone Baking Mats
Silicon baking pots are one of the best inventions in baking; they give one an easy time in baking a cake, pies, cookies or any food that needs a flat surface to shape; you do not need parchment paper or oil the surface before baking. Here are five things you may not have known about these very handy mats The mats have other uses. You can use them as holders for hot dishes, as non-slip working surface when preparing food, especially rolling dough or as trays for other creative projects requiring spills of paint and other fluids.
Can Opener
Twisting a metal ring may sound like a children’s game, still, many people have difficulty with using a standard manual can opener. How to use a can opener is the following way: applying the can to lip and placing the blade on top. Next tighten the knob in an anti-clockwise direction till you make a full circle around the can. Lastly, to fully use the lever, plug it into the hub and pull the lid out. This method will help to avoid rough edges when you are opening your lid and hence safe to use.
Mandoline Slicer
At first sight, a mandoline slicer might look hard to handle – but don’t be deceived! Once you learn its function, it will be so useful in preparing meals! Try using this to get even portions of vegetables or fruits if you’re planning on preparing gratins or even salads. There is also a blade setting that allows for thin or thick julienned vegetables to be added as texture and flavors to your foods. However it comes with a hand guard so be keen and always ensure that you are cutting towards your body.
Microplane Grater
This tool is ideal for zesting or grating the outer skin of citrus fruits or fresh nutmeg but the fine cutting head is also ideal to create rich snow-like texture of parmesan cheese or even grating garlic or ginger for use in marinades or dressings. She explains that it’s a very useful item to create subtle patterns of mouthfeel and flavor in foods and beverages.
Immersion Blender
According to Kitchenaid, an immersion blender is handheld and is usually employed when making soups in a pot but can also be used to blend fruits and vegetables for juices, prepare sauces, beating eggs for omelets in a bowl etc. Due to its small size and the simplicity of its control, it has become a household fixture in the kitchen where only short blending operations are required.
Mortar and Pestle
A mortar and pestle is usually a flat-base bowl surrounded by a heavy, rounded base; it is used for grinding spices and herbs but can be used to prepare a paste such as pesto or guacamole. Using handbook to perform crushing enhances the satisfaction of cooking process as well as enhances control of textural and taste note.
Whisk
For many, whisks are only used for beating eggs or cream, but there is much more to those little tools. They can be most beneficial while whisking dry mixtures, making sauces with dressings or even folding air into batter for cakes or pancakes.
Colander
According to Carawayhome, besides rinsing pasta or wash vegetables in it, a colander may also be used as a steamer basket for steaming the vegetables on the top of a pot of boiling water. It can conveniently be used for sifting dry ingredients by just shaking it gently for a classy sifter in the absence of the actual tool.
Kitchen Shears
Using a pair of kitchen shears goes further than just chopping green herb leaves or slicing through the food packaging. They can be utilized for slicing chicken, or tearing dried fruits or even slicing the dough to required size. Their shape and thickness can be more effective considering it’s a specialized kind of scissors in comparison to general ones which makes them sever times sharper.
Potato Masher
What most people are unaware of is that potato masher is not only restricted to mashing potatoes but also can be used in other tasks. Being geometrically shaped to resemble half of a pear, the appliance is optimally designed to press down and smash avocados for guacamole, beans for refried beans, or break up ground meat while it cooks in a skillet, thus offering a tool for variety of food textures.
Meat Thermometer
Originally used for checking whether the inside temperature of the meats is safe to eat, a meat thermometer can also be used to check whether baked products, sugar syrups, are at the ideal temperature to get improved results from cooking.
Salad Spinner
In addition to drying lettuce, salad spinner helps to dry herbs after washing or to spin the water out of blanched vegetables. It’s a great tool needed in any situation where you require to eliminate water component without compromising the delicate components within the food.
Disclaimer: This list is solely the author’s opinion based on research and publicly available information.
Affordable Home Entertainment: 11 Must-Have Finds For Enhancing Your Family Movie Nights
Affordable Home Entertainment: 11 Must-Have Finds For Enhancing Your Family Movie Nights
How to Clean Your Smoker Grill Combo Like a Pro
How to Clean Your Smoker Grill Combo Like a Pro
15 Common Mistakes That Unknowingly Make
15 Common Mistakes That Unknowingly Make Your Home Look Bad