I’ve always been curious about Mezzaluna choppers. On the one hand, they seem to be perfectly built for chopping up herbs - on the other it seems like a uni-tasker, and at the price that this one goes for I’m not yet convinced its a worthwhile purchase. It does seem like a good gift to get for a cooking enthusiast, however.

The mezzaluna is basically a curved blade with a handle that you rock back and forth on a wooden surface that’s usually curved like the maple bowl this one comes with. It’s an interesting way to cut things up, and I suspect it might take some getting used to.

Continue reading “Mezzaluna Chopper with Bowl” …

If you’ve never used a pressure cooker before, it can certainly seem like “magic” - presto, and your food is cooked in a fraction of the time it’d normally take. There’s no more room in our tiny kitchen for yet another large pot, but I still often eye pressure cookers wistfully online. It’s a great way to quickly cook “slow-cook” food.

This is the 6 quart stainless stell variety from Presto which looks like a pretty simple device without any unneeded bells and whistles. As with most modern pressure cookers it has a lock-down saftey mechanism that prevents you from catastrophe if you try to open the lid when cooking. It also has the usual valve to release steam.

Continue reading “Presto Pressure Cooker” …

I have to admit that I’ve been thoroughly making use of my Senseo coffee machine lately - so I’m posting about the Biatletta mainly because I just like the way it looks. This is the three cup aluminum version which makes three 2 ounce cups of espresso in 5 minutes. I really like the old school Italian octagonal shape (they say it was originally introduced in 1933).

Continue reading “Bialetta Moka” …

I’ve been using a standard glass Bodum Coffee Press for years now to make the morning coffee. But the sleek lines of their Columbia Stainless Steel line caught my eye the other day. This french press style coffee Bodum is interesting because you also can use it as a warming thermos - supposedly the coffee or tea you brew in itwill stay hot for 2 hours. It’s definitely elegant in appearance with the mirror finish, but I am really curious about whether it will really keep your brew hot for that long. It seems an awful long time and a little too good to be true. I read a few reviews that say that it seems to keep it hot for more like 45 minutes to 1 hour. The lid on the coffeemaker is supposed to keep in the heat. You turn the lid in order to seal the vacuum pot. The pot holds 34 ounces or about 1 liter of liquid.

I’ve been researching a bit on mandolines and came across this interesting alternative slicer by Borner. It’s the Swissmar V-Slicer Plus which has three different inserts that allow you to slice, julienne, chop or shred vegetables and fruits. The blades are German surgical steel and there is a food holder to keep your fingers away from them. You can slice various types of food in different thicknesses, as well as julienne food using the insert attachments - onions, potatoes, carrots, celery and other veggies are good candidates.

This slicer seems to be extremely rugged despite being made of plastic - because of that it can also be a bit cheaper than the pro-models of mandolines. It measure 15 x 6 inches - the inserts all fit within the slicer itself for storage.

After picking out one too many unpopped kernels from those microwave popcorn bags lately, I certainly felt like looking up the electric hot air popcorn machines like this Presto Orville Redenbacher Popper. We used to have a similar one at home long ago but I don’t know what happened to it. There are obvious health benefits of air popping versus oil popped or microwaved corn, and many people who bought this machine seem to really like it (some had the same machine for 15 years!) The machine just uses heat to pop the kernels of corn which are poured into the top. The top has a little measuring cup where you can melt butter - obviously you don’t pour the butter into the machine, but this is good because cleanup is much easier. You just wash the cup, the machine itself does not have to be cleaned. It’s nice to be able to control how much butter and flavoring you put on the popcorn.

The machine is quite fast - popping a batch (or about 16-18 cups) of corn in less than 3 minutes using nothing but hot air. I heard that sometimes in the beginnning you may get a few unpopped kernels coming out, but as the machine heats up they stop. This is probably a good gift for a college student…

Presto, chango - instant cool griddle? Well, sort of. This is a jumbo sized electric cooktop that will give you a whole lot of room to cook hamburgers, sizzling fajitas, pancakes and pretty much anything that requires a large cooking surface. It’s a non-stick surface which is great, but requires a bit of care not to scratch it up with metal utensils. The “cool touch” attraction is a bit misleading - it’s simply that the edges of the griddle are turned up and cool to the touch. The handles are similarly safe to grab - but the cooking surface does remain hot. Keep that in mind when you’re using it. It should be treated like any hot cooking pan, but the cool edges do provide a small amount of safety protection for the younger ones.

This is a cast aluminum pan with a non-stick surface. There’s a grease “trough” that will channel the grease into a tray that you can remove. The whole thing is about 12 x 24 inches so that’s a good amount of space to work with.

The other day I was on the hunt for some kitchen-related Xmas gifts that were a little “different” - the person I was getting them for didn’t like typical kitchenware. On a tip from an online friend, I discovered the Sango Splash line of dinnerware and accessories. Sango is known for making these special handmade-looking types of dinnerware with interesting colors and textures. The Splash line is reported based on the earthy pottery of Java, Indonesia. It features three different colors of glaze on top of a rougher matte brown finished stoneware.

Continue reading “Sango Splash Dinnerware” …

Gotten into the holiday spirit yet? I sure haven’t. And yet, there’s that slightest inkling of Xmas cheer beginning to work its way into my bones. It makes me look up things online like this Snowman Holiday Baking Pan from Baker’s Secret.

Fairly reasonable last time I checked. I think the non-stick surface will be a huge draw in a pan like this where the smaller details really do matter - what’s the point of making a snowman cake if you can’t see the details? This is 2-ply professional weight steel and is dishwasher safe. Dimensions are around 12 x 8 and a 1/2 inch deep.

I’m sorta in the market for a Universal Lid that will fit on top of any size pot or pan. It’s been quite inconvenient to try and cook something that requires a 12 inch skillet or pan and needs to be simmered. What I’ve been doing is taking another 12 inch saucepan and inverting it as a “lid”. Rather precarious, since it rests exactly on the rim of the other - and it uses up my other 12 inch pan.

So I’ve been thinking of picking up a univeresal lid like this model by RSVP. Made of 18/10 stainless steel, it has the concentric ridges that allow you to cover any pot or pan from 7 to 12 inches. There’s also a steam vent on the top that’s adjustable. One thing about this lid is that I wish they made one BIGGER than 12 inches - I guess most people don’t have pans larger than 12 inches so there’s no reason for them to make the universal lid fit anything larger.

I’ll shop around first, but this one seemed pretty decent. There are a few other similarly priced brands (Miu, T-Fal) that I want to take a look at as well before buying.