# Which kitchen utensils/gadgets do you use often?



## applecruncher (Oct 22, 2019)

_*Multiple responses are permitted!*_

(Add others in your post if you care to)


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## Silverfox (Oct 22, 2019)

It came down to either spatula or tongs. I voted for spatula.


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## applecruncher (Oct 22, 2019)

@Silverfox 

You don't have to choose/vote. Multiple responses are permitted.


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## Silverfox (Oct 22, 2019)

applecruncher said:


> @Silverfox
> 
> You don't have to choose/vote. Multiple responses are permitted.


Then I will try and add more responses. Changed to spatula, tongs, and cooling rack.


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## treeguy64 (Oct 22, 2019)

I flip my food as it cooks, so I don't use a spatula that often. I use a wood one and a metal one, rarely. I do have a giant metal spatula that I use on larger pancakes, as I don't flip with cast iron. I use a flat-ish whisk, that took a long time to find, for pancake and injera batter. I use tongs, with silicone grabbers, for removing some stir-fry foods. I use a spaghetti server for retrieving noodles, and a large, slotted spoon for scooping out soup veggies. I also use my handmade tortilladora for making tortillas, flattening soysage patties and sticky rice (for sushi). All metal utensils and pans are stainless steel. I use a bread machine for my dough prep. I roll my pizza dough with a small, wooden roller on a handle. I used to throw my pizzas, but gluten-free doughs can't be thrown. My pizza peel is aluminum.


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## applecruncher (Oct 22, 2019)

I've never owned an electric mixer; large whisk works great for cake batter.(but can be a bit tough on the wrist)


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## Aunt Bea (Oct 22, 2019)

I use the grater to make cabbage salad and the steel spatula to cook, eggs, bacon, etc...

When I was cooking/baking I used them all.

The grater will probably be the next one to retire, bags of shredded cabbage are really convenient/inexpensive for salads and for cooking.

It won't be long before the telephone is the only gadget I'll need to put a meal on the table.


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## bingo (Oct 22, 2019)

that spatula and me have a love/hate relationship! ...ha!


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## RadishRose (Oct 22, 2019)

I don't bake, so my cheap electric mixer stays in the closet, I'm trying to give it away.

I love my immersion bender and use a food processor for some things now and then.

Recently I found a gadget for 99 cents in a sale bin to stir natural peanut butter... you know how the oil separates.. Amazon asking over 20$ for it, LOL

Just the stirrer, not the knife


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## applecruncher (Oct 22, 2019)

Where's @StarSong ?


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## Butterfly (Oct 22, 2019)

RadishRose said:


> I don't bake, so my cheap electric mixer stays in the closet, I'm trying to give it away.
> 
> I love my immersion bender and use a food processor for some things now and then.
> 
> ...



What's an immersion bender?


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## RadishRose (Oct 22, 2019)




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## RadishRose (Oct 22, 2019)

@Butterfly, they make smoothies too and usually come with a tall beaker and other attachments too, like a small food processor which I love. There are different wattages.

My old Braun blew finally but I had it for almost 20 years.


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## StarSong (Oct 23, 2019)

I regularly use everything on this list except for the turkey baster and cooling racks. When I'm in cookie-baking mode I have no time or space for separate cooling racks.  

I have 8 airbake baking sheets. When in full cookie baking mode:
2 are in the oven baking
2 are on my gas stove top cooling
2 are on my granite counter top doing second stage cooling
2 are loaded and ready to go into the oven next

When the 2 in the oven are nearly ready to come out, I move the (now much cooler) 2 on the stove top to my (granite) counter top.
The next 2 go into the oven.
The 2 that have gone through the full cooling cycle (about 10 minutes on the stove top and 10 on the countertop) are now ready for a rinse and reload.

After many years of baking massive quantities of Christmas cookies, I've got a great rhythm. It takes me 8-10 minutes to cycle all pans to their next station. I've got lots of silicone liners and keep my sink filled with hot, soapy water. When people offer to come over and help, my husband laughs and waves them off. If I have my iPod and speaker, an empty kitchen, and empty blocks of time, I'm a very happy woman.

In addition to spatulas, a bench scraper, grater, corkscrew , tongs and a pastry brush, I regularly use a lot of wooden spoons, my workhorse of a Kitchen Aid mixer, a very cool rolling garlic mincer, digital scale that's accurate down to half grams, and an immersion blender.


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## applecruncher (Oct 23, 2019)

@StarSong 

Very impressive!
I always eat a piece of warm cookie before the cooling is complete. Yum! 
Your baking sheets make mine seem pathetic.


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## RadishRose (Oct 23, 2019)

StarSong said:


> I regularly use everything on this list except for the turkey baster and cooling racks. When I'm in cookie-baking mode I have no time or space for separate cooling racks.
> 
> I have 8 airbake baking sheets. When in full cookie baking mode:
> 2 are in the oven baking
> ...


OMG, you're amazing!


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## StarSong (Oct 23, 2019)

applecruncher said:


> @StarSong
> 
> Very impressive!
> *I always eat a piece of warm cookie before the cooling is complete. Yum!*
> Your cooling racks make mine seem pathetic.



Of course, plus it's important to taste the dough before putting the first batch in the oven. Don't ask me how I know.  Yes to eating a warm cookie, plus giving one to my official taster (hubs).

I don't use cooling racks and don't think I even own any anymore. Air circulates under the unlit gas burners of my stove top to cool the pans off. By the time the second 10 minutes on the granite counter occurs, the pans are sufficiently cool that I barely need oven mitts to move them along.


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## applecruncher (Oct 23, 2019)

StarSong said:


> *I don't use cooling racks and don't think I even own any anymore*. Air circulates under the unlit gas burners of my stove top to cool the pans off. By the time the second 10 minutes on the granite counter occurs, the pans are sufficiently cool that I barely need oven mitts to move them along.



Oh, okay, you were referring to the cookie baking pans/sheets.  I misunderstood.


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## Knight (Oct 23, 2019)

I'll go with fairly often. My wife does the using I do the clean up. 

Whisk
Bench scraper Both Stainless steel & silicone
Grater both box & hand 
Spatula(s) both stainless steel & silicone
Tongs beats burning my fingers
Pastry brush silicone mostly for bbq sauce 
Cooling rack (separate from over rack) everything from pinapple flan to fresh baked bread
peeler potatoes & fruits 
hand & stand mixers
immersible hand held mixer
food processor
ninja grinder
salad shooter
pyrex measuring cups 
plastic millimeter not really cups just small liquid tube like thingies. 
stainless steel & plastic measuring spoons 
slow cooker
pressure cooker

All those fairly regularly. Every once in awhile the can opener <---- when  not soaking beans for rice & beans


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## 1955er (Oct 23, 2019)

The Spatula was invented by and named after the brother of Caligula, to use in making pastries for the orgies of the day.


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## applecruncher (Oct 23, 2019)

_*aahhh...the great Spatula debate...*_

https://www.seniorforums.com/threads/spatula-or-pancake-turner.35136/


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## win231 (Oct 23, 2019)

I don't do much cooking.  I eat a lot of salad, so a chef's knife is what I use most often.  And, of course a can opener - for the beans.


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## Keesha (Oct 23, 2019)

Many of our utensils are made from my wood by my husband. They are nice.


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## 1955er (Oct 23, 2019)

My most used kitchen utensil is the phone.


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## Ken N Tx (Oct 23, 2019)

Knife
Fork 
Spoon

How many oven mitts or pot holders do you have in your drawer??


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## tortiecat (Oct 23, 2019)

Spatulas(silicone, they last for years), tongs(one with long handles that I can reach items in cupboard with),
immersible mixer for my soups, corkscrew ,wooden spoons, measuring cups, potato peeler( mostly used
to peel strings off of celery) and also for thin slices of cheese, an oven mitt and pot holder are on a hook
beside the stove, and too many other utensils to mention.


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## applecruncher (Oct 23, 2019)

Ken N Tx said:


> How many oven mitts or pot holders do you have in your drawer??



A couple pot holders in drawer, one pot holder on hook, one oven mitt (long, goes to elbow) but I repeatedly forget to reach for it and end up burning my arm.   Go figure.


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## Lethe200 (Oct 23, 2019)

I use commercial rubber spatulas that are high-heat resistant. I buy 4 or 5 at a time from the restaurant supply store. Tried the "home cook" version from Rubbermaid via Amazon, but it's floppier and too much of a bowl-shape. Plus, it's actually cheaper at the pro store, and they last for decades.


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## applecruncher (Oct 25, 2019)

@StarSong 

Do you bake for people who are visiting (family and friends for the holidays, etc.) or do you also bake for events that are held elsewhere, and if so, how do you transport the food?


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## StarSong (Oct 25, 2019)

I bake for family and friends.  We host large parties in our home for which I make pizza all night (usually 24 per party).  During the parties guests of all ages decorate cookies and then take home trays of cookies that we pre-assemble that afternoon plus whatever they've decorated that evening.  

During the holiday season I make roughly 5000 cookies. I know, because one year my husband asked me to count them. We give a lot away as party gifts, plus ship about 20 boxes to friends and family who've live afar.


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