What Unusual (i.e. "Necessary") Cooking Gadgets Do You Have?

[Yorky]

Yorky. What differentiates a curry bagger from a funnel ?

The diameter of the discharge "pipe".

My wife bags curry, mushie peas, chili, sauces, etc. for freezing. You name it, she bags it. However, she never uses the curry bagger. Strange.

Bagged mushie peas:

 

[buckytom]

Oh, thanks. I have one like that for canning tomatoes, except of plastic.

I've heard the name a thousand times, but just what are mushy peas? I looks sort of like a chunky pea soup.

 

[Yorky]

I've heard the name a thousand times, but just what are mushy peas? I looks sort of like a chunky pea soup.

Ignore Jamie Oliver (he hasn't a clue). Dried marrowfat peas soaked in water with a little bi-carbonate of soda overnight. Thoroughly rinsed then simmered in water for some 90 minutes then add salt and a little sugar. Mint sauce optional.

http://www.food.com/recipe/yorkshire-dhal-522118

[Just a word of warning. A good friend of mine in England was ordered to the spare bedroom for the night whenever he ate them at my house.]

 

[buckytom]

Thank you,and thanks for the link. I'd forgotten that I had an account there.

I saved the recipe to my box.

I'll have to post my recipe for slow cooker pea soup here.

 

[Morning Glory]

Yorky. What differentiates a curry bagger from a funnel ?

Its a jam funnel really. It has a wide tube part to it so it fits neatly into the tops of jars and can 'funnel' lumpy thick mixtures. I also use one to decant spices from bags into jars (I buy spices in bags from Asian shops as they are much cheaper).

 

[Yorky]

....(I buy spices in bags from Asian shops as they are much cheaper).

There's a plethora of Asian stores on Chapletown road in Leeds. Whenever we went visiting in-laws I always looked forward to a visit to those stores to stock up on spices. Liverpool had a similar area but it wasn't the same.

 

[Morning Glory]

quail egg scissors (a quail egg PEELER would have been useful, however)

What are quail egg scissors, @The Late Night Gourmet? Please tell! Regarding peeling quail's eggs, if you submerge them (hard-boiled) in vinegar for 10 minutes, the shells partially dissolve and can be easily released!

 

[zuludog]

BUCKYTHORN

Mushy peas? I was about to give you a description when I realised that The Internet does a good job already

Search Google; Wikipedia; and YouTube for marrowfat peas, and mushy peas. But ignore any silliness involving lemon or mint

 

[Elawin]

Its a jam funnel really. It has a wide tube part to it so it fits neatly into the tops of jars and can 'funnel' lumpy thick mixtures. I also use one to decant spices from bags into jars (I buy spices in bags from Asian shops as they are much cheaper).

My one is an accessory for my dishwasher! It's supposed to fit in the bit where you put the dishwasher salt in so you can add the salt without spilling it all over the bottom of the dishwasher. I've never used it for that, but it fits nicely in the tops of jars and the like. It came very much in handy when I bought a huge bag of coriander seeds from Tesco's a little while back - it was on offer for just pennies more than the cost of one of their normal spice jars, but it is more usually used for pouring cooking oil back into the bottle.

 

[Elawin]

I don't think I've got anything particularly unusual in the way of gadgets, except maybe for the dishwasher accessory which I use as a normal funnel.

I have got a large pestle and mortar which my brother brought back from Thailand, which is now an ornament. It's far too big for me to use - I'd have to stand on a box to be able to use it properly, so instead I have two grinders - an old one which I just use for small quantities of spices, and one which is an attachment to my food processor which I use when I fancy making a pound of curry powder etc.

I've got an early 1970s Moulinex Jeannette mincer, shredder and juicer - see picture (courtesy of eBay), but I don't use it very often now because it is difficult to clean. Also all the metal bits in the mincer are iron and go rusty very quickly, unless you wash them, dry them and oil them straightaway. Too much fiddling about for my liking and too noisy. It has all sorts of other attachments but it takes too much time to dismantle and reassemble compared to a modern food processor. It was very good in its day though. I still use the juicer occasionally as I can leave that assembled - handy if I'm using my food processor for something else at the same time.

I use a good old-fashioned potato peeler instead of a spiralizer - not as fine but adequate for my needs - and a good old-fashioned cheese grater, and a potato masher. And I couldn't live without my bread-maker, although it is only used for mixing dough, and my coffee-maker.

As you've probably guessed, gadgets are not really my thing - I only treated myself to a toaster last year and that was to save putting the one in the oven on.

 

[Yorky]

I have got a large pestle and mortar which my brother brought back from Thailand, which is now an ornament. It's far too big for me to use - I'd have to stand on a box to be able to use it properly...........

The Thais use them sat on the floor!

 

[Elawin]

The Thais use them sat on the floor!

Probably best to do with the one I've got too, except the mutt would probably try to muscle in and help, and the cats

 

[GadgetGuy]

I have a cheap ricer. but it's made from a tough plastic and does the job. Also a Ziploc vacuum sealer. However, I DO have a pressure cooker.

When my tax refund comes, I plan to get this Cuisinart food processor - which I can use to chop meat for burgers & meat loaf. Also to dice & slice foods to perfection!.

 

[Yorky]

This arrived today. I ordered it to possibly aid in the neat cutting of my quesadillas (and possibly pizzas in the future).

If anyone has any suggestions how to extract it from it's plastic sarcophagus I would be eternally grateful (excluding any financial donations).

 

[Cinisajoy]

A pair of heavy duty scissors should open the package. If not, try a knife.