Chopping gadgets: any objections?

[WaterPixie]

There's so many tools now for chopping. Mincing garlic etc. What's the advantage to using chopping board and knife? I literally took about 45 minutes to 1 hour to julienne some carrots. I find chopping with knife and chopping board very hard.

You can get a oxo julliene'r that looks like a potato peeler I discovered today.

Does anyone have any objection to such tools? Here's one (refer to photo) my mum uses for onions and it's crazy fast. Much much faster than chopping by hand. And it's only more efficient the more onions you need to dice. We are Indian and a kinda big family. In Indian cooking we can use a lot of onions for a single dish. Like. A lot. Even for a single onion it's stupid fast. You still need a chopping board and knife to cut the onion and peel it, but then you don't need a big board because you don't need room for chopped onion. Easier to wash up. Even medium sized boards are a pain to wash due to smallish sinks here in the UK. Unless you're a multi millionaire.

 

[badjak]

Why would anyone object?
Use what you feel comfortable with

Knife and cutting board for me

 

[GadgetGuy]

I sometimes use a knife to chop things, but I now find that using THIS gadget is much faster & easier!! Cleanup is also a snap as long as you don't wait too long. The food just rines off under running hot water!!!

 

[WaterPixie]

I sometimes use a knife to chop things, but I now find that using THIS gadget is much faster & easier!! Cleanup is also a snap as long as you don't wait too long. The food just rines off under running hot water!!!
View attachment 119129

Exactly. I feel like chopping board and knife as very outdated for chopping things now. Even in restaurants, ain't nobody spending hours chopping. They use machines.

 

[TastyReuben]

What's the advantage to using chopping board and knife?

For me, it’s just two things (board and knife) that’ll handle nearly all my food prep needs. I don’t need to haul out this specialty tool for this and that specialty tool for that…me, my knife, and my board, and I cal peel, slice, dice, chop, crush, and in some circumstances even grate what I need.

I find chopping with knife and chopping board very hard.

I did at first as well, but years of daily work with a knife fixed that. Knife skills are about as basic as it gets for kitchen work, and if I were starting out and struggling, I’d do one of two things:

1. Buy a bag of cheap onions, a box of band-aids/plasters, and get to work with my knife, until I felt comfortable with it*, or

2. Find somewhere nearby where I could take a basic knife skills class, in person, so I could ask questions.



*That’s not me making a joke, that’s solid advice, recommended to me decades ago by a woman who was a much better cook than me, and also echoed by Anthony Bourdain in one of his videos. You cut yourself - wash it, dry it, slap the band-aid on…and get back at it.

Does anyone have any objection to such tools?

My objection for my kitchen would be buying something I don’t really need and having to store it somewhere, since my knives will handle just about any task I need.

Why would I buy a strawberry huller when I can use my paring knife to do the same thing (and a dozen other things)?

You still need a chopping board and knife to cut the onion and peel it

…and that’s exactly why I wouldn’t want that chopper - you say the chopper is easier to wash, but you still need to wash the board and the knife, so…is it really any easier?

My sister, bless her, she gave me some gadget once to mince garlic, swore by it, but you still needed to use a knife to top, tail, and peel the cloves, and the board to use with the gadget - it actually made more work, because it was a pain to clean, and I still had to clean the board and knife.

Trash bin, meet garlic cutter. You’ll be fast friends!

In my kitchen, I’m cooking for two, which means quantities are almost always small enough to handle efficiently with a knife. In the event I need to cut up a lot of onions (like for a double batch of French onion soup), I’d use my food processor. Those times are rare, though. Most days…just the knife.

 

[JAS_OH1]

My sister, bless her, she gave me some gadget once to mince garlic, swore by it, but you still needed to use a knife to top, tail, and peel the cloves, and the board to use with the gadget - it actually made more work, because it was a pain to clean, and I still had to clean the board and knife.

Trash bin, meet garlic cutter. You’ll be fast friends!

In my kitchen, I’m cooking for two, which means quantities are almost always small enough to handle efficiently with a knife. In the event I need to cut up a lot of onions (like for a double batch of French onion soup), I’d use my food processor. Those times are rare, though. Most days…just the knife.

Oh, one of those garlic presses? I don't like them and yeah they are a pain to clean. Last time I used mine I had broken my claw cracker when cracking some lobster or crab claws (can't remember which it was) and used the garlic press to break the crab shell!

I did buy a manual vegetable chopper recently but it's still in the box! If I have just a small amount of onion, peppers, etc. to chop I just use a knife. I am cooking for two like you are, so...

 

[TastyReuben]

Oh, one of those garlic presses?

Nope, even worse - imagine a little Matchbox/Hot Wheels toy car, about that size, but instead of four little plastic wheels, two larger metal ones.

You had to trim and peel the clove, cut the clove into smaller pieces, then run the little gadget thingy back and forth over it several times, then take the piece of apart to get the garlic out, because being so sticky, it all stuck to the blades and went up into the plastic housing. You couldn’t have designed it to be any worse if you tried.

 

[msmofet]

Nope, even worse - imagine a little Matchbox/Hot Wheels toy car, about that size, but instead of four little plastic wheels, two larger metal ones.

You had to trim and peel the clove, cut the clove into smaller pieces, then run the little gadget thingy back and forth over it several times, then take the piece of apart to get the garlic out, because being so sticky, it all stuck to the blades and went up into the plastic housing. You couldn’t have designed it to be any worse if you tried.

My mom had a Mezzaluna

 

[JAS_OH1]

Nope, even worse - imagine a little Matchbox/Hot Wheels toy car, about that size, but instead of four little plastic wheels, two larger metal ones.

You had to trim and peel the clove, cut the clove into smaller pieces, then run the little gadget thingy back and forth over it several times, then take the piece of apart to get the garlic out, because being so sticky, it all stuck to the blades and went up into the plastic housing. You couldn’t have designed it to be any worse if you tried.

And your sister swore by it? I know you have said she didn't/doesn't cook, but...dang. Wasn't she the only girl? I can't imagine how she learned nothing from your mom.

 

[WaterPixie]

For me, it’s just two things (board and knife) that’ll handle nearly all my food prep needs. I don’t need to haul out this specialty tool for this and that specialty tool for that…me, my knife, and my board, and I cal peel, slice, dice, chop, crush, and in some circumstances even grate what I need.


I did at first as well, but years of daily work with a knife fixed that. Knife skills are about as basic as it gets for kitchen work, and if I were starting out and struggling, I’d do one of two things:

1. Buy a bag of cheap onions, a box of band-aids/plasters, and get to work with my knife, until I felt comfortable with it*, or

2. Find somewhere nearby where I could take a basic knife skills class, in person, so I could ask questions.



*That’s not me making a joke, that’s solid advice, recommended to me decades ago by a woman who was a much better cook than me, and also echoed by Anthony Bourdain in one of his videos. You cut yourself - wash it, dry it, slap the band-aid on…and get back at it.


My objection for my kitchen would be buying something I don’t really need and having to store it somewhere, since my knives will handle just about any task I need.

Why would I buy a strawberry huller when I can use my paring knife to do the same thing (and a dozen other things)?


…and that’s exactly why I wouldn’t want that chopper - you say the chopper is easier to wash, but you still need to wash the board and the knife, so…is it really any easier?

My sister, bless her, she gave me some gadget once to mince garlic, swore by it, but you still needed to use a knife to top, tail, and peel the cloves, and the board to use with the gadget - it actually made more work, because it was a pain to clean, and I still had to clean the board and knife.

Trash bin, meet garlic cutter. You’ll be fast friends!

In my kitchen, I’m cooking for two, which means quantities are almost always small enough to handle efficiently with a knife. In the event I need to cut up a lot of onions (like for a double batch of French onion soup), I’d use my food processor. Those times are rare, though. Most days…just the knife.

Lots to talk about, but I don't have much time right now so just two things quickly.

I didn't say the chopper is easier to wash. Someone else did.
I said having to only use a smaller board due to etc etc (I'm not going to type it all again), is great because it's much easier to wash than even a medium sized boards in the average UK sink. American sinks may be much larger.
My mum and aunty use small boards for peeling and the onions and cutting into smaller chunks to go into the manual food processor. They use a tiny knife. Cheap one which is very very typical of Indian females to use. Can't remember what they're called. They're thin, kinda flexy and very short in height, and small. They drag the blade across the chopping boards though to cut things, and these knives have pointed ends and are otherwise flat. So they've totally shredded every board, wood and plastic they own. Plus all that micro plastic would have gone into the food...

Anyhow. They make rapid work of 20 onions or more. They cook for 7 to 8 people daily. Only dinner. Indian families are big and tend to live close to each other or even together. Aunties uncles etc. Especially in western countries as they don't have the luxury of hand of down property and money etc, being immigrants. So often big families share a house. In my case, my parents own 3 properties on this street. Aunty and uncle and they're family live in one of the buildings pretty much next door. Cookware is often juggled between the 2 properties. Pain to try to find one item when I don't know where it is, as my stepmum and aunty don't talk to me. Won't go into that as its not relevant to this forum.

Indian females never use western style knives. More modern, aka newer generations do. But not older generations. They also don't know anything about blades, sharpening, etc. They just buy those cheap knives I spoke about, and trash them once they wear out.

Also, how are you peeling garlic? I use a glass jar, but then I have to clean it. Today I discovered (photo inserted) this silicone thing. Didn't buy it. Is it any good? The jar is a major hassle to have to wash each time. But I can do as many garlic as I want in one go. But major hassle to wash as I said.

 

[TastyReuben]

I didn't say the chopper is easier to wash. Someone else did.

I was referencing where you said “easier to wash up” and I didn’t specifically mean the chopper, just that the amount of washing up is increased by having the chopper, because you’ve still got to wash the board and knife…and the chopper.

I’m not trying to convince you not to use that chopper, I was just answering your question as to why I would object to using that chopper. If it works better for you in your kitchen, that’s what you should use.

Also, how are you peeling garlic? I use a glass jar, but then I have to clean it. Today I discovered (photo inserted) this silicone thing. Didn't buy it. Is it any good?

Garlic, depending on what I’m doing with it, I’ll cut off the little root end (that’s helps release the peel), then give it a good smack with the side of my chef’s knife (another good use for a wider blade), and that’ll loosen the skin and the (slightly broken) clove will fall right out. Then it’s just a matter of mincing or crushing it. You can Google “Pepin garlic” and find probably a hundred videos of him demonstrating the technique.

If I need it grated, I just remove the root end and grate it on a microplane - no need to peel, as the grater won’t chew up the peel, it’ll just fall away.

I have no idea if that silicone thing is any good. I’ve never owned one and can’t imagine I ever would.

 

[TastyReuben]

And your sister swore by it? I know you have said she didn't/doesn't cook, but...dang. Wasn't she the only girl? I can't imagine how she learned nothing from your mom.

My sis is the Queen of Gadgets. She doesn’t even care if it works, she just loves the idea of having a specific tool for a specific task - like Batman and his utility belt. She’s actually opposed to having one tool for many tasks.

No, she cooks a lot, more than I do.

 

[JAS_OH1]

My sis is the Queen of Gadgets. She doesn’t even care if it works, she just loves the idea of having a specific tool for a specific task - like Batman and his utility belt. She’s actually opposed to having one tool for many tasks.

No, she cooks a lot, more than I do.

Okay, my mistake...but maybe I'm remembering that you aren't fond of her food? I dunno.

 

[TastyReuben]

Okay, my mistake...but maybe I'm remembering that you aren't fond of her food? I dunno.

That may be it. She’s not very disciplined, so she has wild swings with what she makes. Excellent one day, very much not the next.

 

[GadgetGuy]

One of these will do it!! The Cuisinart only gets used if I have large prep jobs.