Hi, friends!
I hope your day is going well.
I’ve been thinking about unitaskers this week. If you watched “Good Eats” during the giant run that cooking show had, you could hear Alton Brown’s disdain for those kitchen tools that did 1 thing only. Like the avocado scoopers. Or spatulas that only get used for pancakes at Christmas and live in a drawer the rest of the year.
There’s definitely an available space implication for these, too. My house is about 700 sq ft. I have 1 drawer in the kitchen and only a handful of cabinets. My lazy ass isn’t going to store a bunch of stuff in the basement and do steps for things like that. I’m sure if I had a big kitchen I’d fill it up with all sorts of things. One friend has 6 different dish sets and I’m like whyyyyyy you don’t even entertain.
But admittedly there are some unitaskers that are so convenient when you need them that it’s worth having, even if not in regular use.
For me, hands down it’s a cookie scoop. I don’t make cookies all that often, maybe 6 or 8 times in a year. But the scoop makes it so fucking easy to portion out cookies consistently and quickly!! I have friends that can use a pair of tablespoons and the sizes are perfect, alas not me.
Do you have a unitasker in your home or workplace that is essential? I have a few coworkers who I might consider unitaskers too, bless their hearts.
industrial dish washer
if there is such a thing as a positive experience i can take away from working the kitchen…its that thing
Brings back memories! Although the area where that guy is working the sprayer seems awfully small to contain all the runoff.
It’s over the sink with the garbage disposal. At any rate they don’t give a shit how wet you get. That’s what plastic aprons are for.
garbage disposal is a wierdly american thing…..ive worked in one kitchen that had a proper food waste murderer
mostly there was just a bin to scrape the food waste in to before stuff got dumped in the big dishy washer
My house doesn’t have a garbage disposal and I don’t miss it at all!
never had one in a house i live in…lol
i just learned to aim for no leftovers…or so many its worth freezing
also… you are not leaving the table till you finished all the shit you put on the plate your damn self child!
i swear to glob…i will leave you there all fucking week pouting away….
(do not leave the room if you use that threat……food ends up in vases…..)
Kitchen? No. Tools? Oh, dear.
1. Hammer drill. Used it to install my toilets. Haven’t used it since.
2. Pressure washer. Now this gets used a couple of times a year, but honestly, I could get rid of it and just rent one when necessary.
3. Leather punch. Used to add holes to your belt.
4. Pex plumbing clippers, wrench, and clamp. Hardly ever used, but when you need ’em, you really need ’em.
5. Tin snips. I’ve got four different types, bought ’em as a set. I don’t really trim that much sheet metal.
6. Knife sharpening kit. Awesome kit, but how often do I sharpen knives? When I do, though, I can use those bad boys for surgery.
7. Shower valve extractor. It does ONE job. But it’s a job I’ve had to do three times now. Shower valves suck.
I could go on just about forever. There are a LOT of very specific tools.
Tin snips also work well as wirecutters, and you always need to cut wire when you least expect it.
Absolutely. And I have. But I have four with four different angles on the blades. Makes me want to go find some sheet metal and cut shapes out. Just because.
My pizzelle iron. I only use it a couple times a year and it doesn’t make anything else. But you can’t make pizzelles without one so I’ve got to have it.
I like my cookie scoops too.
My dead blow hammer is known as the magic Mallet and can fix anything! Kitchen gadgets? It is my instapot. I use it as a crockpot, pressure cooker, steamer, etc. Making spaghetti in it right now.
Mine would have to start with my Ginghers–i can’t exactly remember which size mine are, the 7″ or the 8″, but the bent-handle, knife-edge, Dressmaker Shears are hands-down one of the tools I ADORE, even though they are *only* fabric scissors!😉
A good old-school olfa cutter, too!–(the doofus who put together the one at this link TOTALLY put the blade & housing on the wrong side of the cutter**…🤣🤣🤣)
BUT, that “hollow back” style of cutter is the one I prefer above the “solid” handled ones, because if I’m cutting for hours at a time, the hollow one is thinner & fits in my hand better (same reason that I prefer a 6″ chef’s knife &/or Santoku in the kitchen, over a standard 8″ knife!😉)… as for the “automatically retracting/ergonomic ones? TRASH, *and* they fatigue your hands waaaaaaay faster than the original does!😁
I agree with Brighter–Cookie scoops are AWESOME, and I’d also argue that a GOOD Spritz cookie press is excellent to have, too!
And one “dream unitasker” I’d LOVE to have in my kitchen?
A Presto Pizazz!😉😁🤗
My last homeowner-roommie had one, and it was AWESOME, because it cooked a pizza in the typical time the oven will, BUT you don’t heat up the whole house–so it’s PERFECT for hot days, or honestly ANY time you want pizza–as long as you have counter space for it to run!😉💖
**the CORRECT way to put the blade & guard on, is to have the cutter laying like it is in the initial picture–BUT the blade & black guard should be on TOP of the handle–and the nut & spring-steel washer/tension-thingy that you see “on top” in the picture *should* be on the back/”hollow” side of the handle… those “slots” you see, on the lower part of the yellow plastic, are where the stops for the black guard will fit, as you slide the guard down (past the blade, so nothing gets cut), OR pull the guard *up* so the blade is clear/free to work.
The doofus *also* managed toinstall the blade ENTIRELY wrong, even installing it on the back-side of the handle!😂🤣🤣🤣
Because that large flat piece with the writing on it? That’s the “axle” that the blade is supposed to ride on. The *correct* order for assembly is: 1. Yellow handle, black guard, 45 blade, black “axle” on top. Then once you’ve slipped the axle *through* the round hole at the bottom of the handle, you flip *everything* over, pop on that spring-steel washer, and lastly, twist on the nut, to hold *everything* together…
NOT difficult–but obviously the seller has never used it properly!🤣🤣🤣
Two electric hot pots. I make Shabu Shabu once a year for usually 6-8 adults plus kids. It is totally worth it for me to have the two hot pots. That way I can easily accommodate vegetarians or those who don’t eat pork etc. If it’s my siblings I’m hosting, this helps avoid food guarding tensions. My brother will always eat what’s in the pot and not replenish it. He gets his own pot now.
I love Shabu Shabu! Never seen it called that in Seattle but was big in Hawaii! Have you tried to find it here or just Chinese hot pot version?
I haven’t looked for it here but I have seen lots of Chinese hot pot restaurants. My mom learned how to make it from a Japanese friend and taught me. I mean it’s fairly simple, I just make Kombu dashi with dried mushrooms for extra umami flavor and serve trays of fresh veges and thinly sliced meats. For me, the grated daikon dipping sauce is where the magic is at. Uwajimaya is awesome because it sells pre-sliced raw meats and has leafy veges that are otherwise hard to find like chrysanthemum leaves and naga negi.
My friends have Korean wives that make it & I have seen all the stuff to do it at our local Asian stores. I just haven’t tried making the broth yet. Please do a FYCE after life settles down. Lynnwood has a ton of similar places I need to check out but less Japanese & more Korean/Chinese style hot pot.
I doubt that I will get around to posting a FYCE for a long while…
It’s super easy to make the broth/dashi. Here’s a link to the Shabu Shabu recipe that is like the one I make. It’s well written in that it also explains how to serve and eat it. I usually mix Kombu dashi with shiitake dashi (3:1 ratio). I make this ponzu sauce and which my guest pour over their individual bowls of grated daikon and green onions. We usually go to town on the ponzu and daikon sauce. I advise to make more than you think you’ll need. It is worth picking up a daikon grater at Daiso (for 2$). As for the noodles at the end of the meal. I’m not a fan of udon though they do absorb the delicious broth very well. I use mung bean noodles/glass noodles. That’s just my preference. Plus I never have much room in my belly by the end because I serve mountains of meats and veges.
Now I want to make Shabu Shabu… It’s usually what we eat on Xmas Eve. But probably not going to happen this year because I’m still pregnant and at this rate I won’t recover in time to be able to host a gathering and dish out Shabu Shabu.
Mrs Butcher has a pasta maker. I think she’s used it twice in 20 years.