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Gary350
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Kitchen Gadgets

What does the knobs on a Mandoline kitchen food slicer do? Some slicers have several knobs & selector switch? What is the cup shape for does that hold a potato so you don't cut your fingers? ADs show pictures but no information how it works. How would you get 6" long cucumber in that little cup?

There are other type Food Slicers with no adjustment knob? Some have replacement blades. I see, disadvantages & advantages of both type slicer?

We have the crank type food slicer with only 3 blades with no adjustments. It works great but I wish I has a thicker slicer & a corrugated slicer.

My mother & grandmother had a food slicer with no adjustments and blade was not sharp. It would cut, potatoes, carrots, cucumbers if you push hard enough. Blade was not sharp it would not cut tomatoes it made crushed tomatoes.

We need something better than a kitchen knife this summer to cut corn off if the cob, 250 ears is a lot of work with a knife & hard to cut even. I would like to make double thick & triple thick potato chips sometimes.
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imafan26
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My mandolin has a different design, but I assume the knob does the same thing. The knob should be adjusting the blade for the thickness of the slice. There are usually different types of blades and some of my screws are there to replace the blades for different cuts like thin slices, julienne, ripple cut (I don't know what that cut is really called).

I usually use a box grater for most things or a vegetable peeler. If I have a lot of things to grate or slice, it has to take me longer to do it by hand than to clean the food processor or it isn't worth it for me. I usually have to be making pancit for a party for me to pull that out. I would use the mandolin only if I need really thin slices or curls.

The food processor or my mix master is great for kneading bread as long as it is only one loaf. I am terrible at hand kneading, but I am getting better. I discovered that you have to know what the dough should feel and look like when it is done, more than the number of times you knead it.

I have a regular blender and a ninja blender for smoothies. Learned the hard way not to put the ice on the bottom when it the ice are large ice cubes and to put the fruit and vegetables in the blender frozen.

I don't have an instant pot, but I do have a slow cooker, 2 rice cookers, pressure canner, water bath canner, pasta pot, aluminum steamer, bamboo steamer ( I've burn't a few of these when the water ran out, a couple of carbon steel woks + wok tools, and one of my more vesatile pieces a universal cover that has a see thru lid, and is about 14 inches so it can fit almost any pot, frying pan and even the wok. Not to mention contain grease fires. A pot lid and baking soda are a lot handier than the fire extinguisher ( I have 2 of those in the kitchen). My least used appliances are the toaster and coffee maker.

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applestar
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I have no idea how effective these are, but remembered seeing them — fyi

Corn Stripper, Choppers and Cutters - Lehman's

https://www.lehmans.com/product/corn-stripper

https://www.lehmans.com/product/old-sty ... orn-cutter
Last edited by applestar on Wed Jan 27, 2021 1:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: added 2nd gadget link

imafan26
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Corn stripper is probably one gadget I don't need. I like corn on the cob and there won't be any left for anything else. I do have a set of those corn cob holders somewhere. I don't use those either.

pepperhead212
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Imafan, Funny you should mention those corn cob holders - I just took some out of a drawer in my kitchen, and put them in an out of the way place in a dining room drawer, because I can't think of the last time I used them! They're in there if someone wants them, but they're out of my way now.

I have countless kitchen gadgets that I accumulated through the years, not to mention countless pots and pans. How many people do you know that have 5 woks? :lol:

imafan26
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I have a small galley kitchen. I remodeled it in 1989 and turned a broom closet into a pantry and created a shelf for the microwave so I would not have to keep rolling it in and out of the kitchen to use it. I have very little cabinet or counter space. I have boxes of stuff in one of the spare bedrooms that I use for storage and that is where things I use once or only a few times a year are stored. Now, that I don't have parties or club meetings, I use them even less. I am thinking of doing more homemade things like baking again. I used to like to do that, and now I actually have time to do it. I need to make room in the freezer though. My sister gave me a cookie jar for Christmas once. It is somewhere in the room. I laughed when I got it. Cookies in my house never make it to a jar.

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Gary350
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I pulled out some of our kitchen gadgets and find a vegetable slicer that I did not remember we have. It looks like stamped metal slicer from Dollar Tree with black plastic handle it is not very shape but if you push hard enough it slices vegetables. I have my grandmother's grader it could be 90 years old. I like all the old kitchen gadgets from the 1940s & 1950s it is quality made with wooden handles and it all still works. We have a lot of these same items in the camper trailer. I use to have a vegetable slicer that belonged to my mother not sure what every happened to it.

I will test this slicer to see how well it works tomorrow . It is double sided, flat slices on 1 side then corrugated slices on the other side. I can sharped this slicer with a chain saw file it might be easier to use. Slices are not thin enough for potato chips and not thick enough for pickles.
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Gary350
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Harbor Freight has electric slicers $63 and up. A friend has 1 of these I think he has the $63 model it will slice anything to any thickness. Turn the dial you can have any thickness from paper thin to thick as a pencil. It will slice lettuce excellent for tacos. Cabbage to any thickness you need for coleslaw. Potatoes cut thin for potato chips. Carrots cut long way paper thin for salad. Apple cut 1/8" thick are nice. This would be great to slice onions. I bet it will cut corn off the cob. Fun gadget to play with but our kitchen is too small. This will be nice for large quantities of food but clean up will be more trouble than its worth to slice 1 onion or 2 potatoes then have to clean up. I might like to have this slicer for 250 ears of corn but it is still a lot of work to clean up every day for a week until all the corn is ripe & picked then keep it in the attic for a whole year until we need it again. Harbor Freight has about 20 different slicer models. Slicers are electric 120 volts. Home Depot has electric slicers too. I will buy 1 if someone else cleans it & keeps it at their house. LOL
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imafan26
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That would be good for slicing deli meats or other meats very thin. I am with you about the cleanup. If it takes me longer to clean it than to slice it by hand, it isn't always worth the bother. It is worth it if you have a lot to cut or you really need uniform thin cuts. The smaller mandolins don't take up much space and it is good if you shred or grate a lot of vegetables, but the blades are very sharp so it can be tricky to clean.

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Gary350
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We reorganized the kitchen. We decided it is good to have 3 metal spatchalas & 2 plastic but not good to have 3 potatoes mashers. We don't need any manual potato mashers wife uses the electric mixer. After weeding out several items we put them in a large pot next to the stove where then are used & needed. Items get used 1 by 1 all day then go into the dish washer where they get cleaned after dinner about 6 pm. Measuring spoons & measuring cups go in the drawer. Less used item on in another location so they are out of our way. I don't like any of the plastic stuff or wooden spoons but wife does. I think it is good to have these old hand operated kitchen items if electricity is ever off we will need them. I have 3 Coleman camps stoves & fuel we never use for camping any more if they are ever needed in the kitchen.
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imafan26
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One of these days I have to seriously go through the stuff in my house and decide what I really need to keep. I know I have stuff but I don't know where it is. I have things in boxes in the storeroom, I have not used in years. I just took some things I had been keeping during the pandemic down to the Salvation Army. I was saving it for the thrift shop, but it does not look like they are going to reopen. I am starting another box to collect things I find that I can purge.

I am having a hard time finding my favorite vegetable peeler that was made of metal and looks like a triangle with a peeler on top and a grater on the bottom. I am left handed so the normal potato peeler is very awkward to use. I did get a plastic peeler but the blade falls out of it a lot. It is not hard to put it back in, but it means I have to squeeze the top of the peeler so it won't stretch and drop the blade.

The nutmeg grater is very good for grating things very fine. The zester, did not come with instructions and I haven't figured it out yet. The small grater gets the zest off but in paste form.

Everyone talks about how they love their instant pots. That is one thing I really don't need. I have a slow cooker, a couple of pressure canners, water bath canner, and a couple of rice pots. So, I already have the pots that the instant pot replaces. If I need a fast meal or make beans or soup, I could just use the smaller pressure cooker. It isn't something I would use everyday. I don't use them all that much either except for the rice cooker. Around here a rice cooker is a necessity and not optional equipment. In my rice cooker, I can boil eggs, steam vegetables, make a 30 minute one pot meal, or make seasoned rice all at the same time while cooking rice. It does have a steamer tray, but I have never used it. The microwave is used more for reheating and steaming vegetables, but I have made meals in it also. I usually plan meals way ahead of time and I will cook once and eat leftovers for days so I don't mind having to watch a pot for a couple of hours or putting something in a pot and setting a timer once a week. Most of the time my diet works better with the least cooking and complexity. So, it doesn't take long to prep, a lot of ingredients, or equipment. I only make the more involved recipes for potlucks. There weren't that many of those during the pandemic, but I have more functions coming up and opportunities to try new recipes and revisit old ones now. I am also making freezer meals, but I am not used to doing that and I forget they are in the freezer taking up space. Most of the time I only cook breakfast on the range, everything else is done in the microwave for the rest of the day. If I make an omelette, then I can make it once with leftovers for a few days and I won't have to use the range at all especially when I have precooked meals that only need to be reheated for 4-5 days.

I just replaced my microwave oven. I loved the cuisinart microwave, it needed a fuse, but it was impossible to find and it would have cost half the price of the oven to send it to a dealer to get it repaired. My new microwave oven has multiple functions. It is an inverter microwave, air fryer, convection oven 7 in 1 function tool. It also cost a lot more, $389, than a simple countertop microwave without the bells and whistles. I got spoiled by the cuisinart. I always thought the rattle of the turntable was normal in the cheaper microwave ovens.

This oven with the convection and inverter features is noisier than the cuisinart especially since the fan continues to run after it turns off and the case is much hotter than the other microwave ovens I have had, even in microwave mode.

I never had an air fryer and I really don't need one, but it could replace the countertop oven. Well not quite, the countertop oven can handle a 9x13 inch pan, the microwave can't and that is the size I use the most. It takes longer to cook with it, but it takes less power than the range oven and has come in handy when I needed to have more than one oven at the same time.

The microwave also does not replace the oven for baked goods like bread, biscuits, or cakes that need bottom heat. Those still come out better in the countertop or conventional oven. Those pans won't fit the microwave either. Thankfully, I don't make those often either.

I did have to get more oven safe glass ware. I need to find another casserole with glass lid, that will fit in the microwave. They are so expensive! There are plenty of open casseroles and oblong ones but I need a cover and a round casserole not oblong so it will still turn on the turntable. I don't need it right away and my old casserole can still be used even though it has a chipped handle. I just wanted to find something a little bigger so it won't spill over as much. I like a cover with a knob on top not flat. It is harder to get the eared covers off when they are welded to the casserole by the sauce. I found microwave oven safe plates, but not that many oven safe ones. There weren't many plates at the store. It may be just not the right time to look. I don't need a whole set just a single plate. I did find a plate that was big enough and microwave, not oven safe, but it will work for now.

Hmm! Looks like I am still collecting more stuff than purging.

The other thing about microwave ovens that I wish they would improve is to have the door be reversible. It is a right handed door and it would have been better if it opened the other way. I have to go around it to put the dish on the counter.



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