Food We need to talk about cooking and food prep tools and utensils.

There is a balance somewhere in the middle, and it varies by how often one actually uses specific utensils for what they were designed, and what one's budget is.

The same could be said for knives, glasses, pots, etc. Can you use general purpose tools for a huge variety of things beyond what they are intended for? Sure. Can having the precise tool intended save you time, improve the presentation, or in some cases actually impact the taste (finely chopping herbs, spices, peppers, etc. for example) and final outcome of the dish? Absolutely. Does that mean that it's always worth it to everyone to always have the exact tool at hand, no matter the cost? Absolutely not.

 

I bought a new cupcake tin yesterday. I had this little Baker's Secret mini muffin tin that I'd been using since high school. Unfortunately, it was a little on the small side and didn't fit mini cupcake cups easily, which made it hard to measure out batter and make the cupcakes look pretty and even. So I figured it was time for an upgrade, seeing as I love making tiny cupcakes for parties. I'm looking forward to giving my new pan a try with some basic vanilla cake. I also picked up some new tips for my piping bag (although I need a new coupler for some of the larger tips), a cake leveler, and new cupcake papers.

So I will also add my Frangelico (hazelnut) basic buttercream recipe here:

1 cup butter
1 cup or so powdered sugar (more or less, depending on the consistency you desire)
several tablespoons Frangelico liqueur (or other hazelnut liqueur)

Cream the butter in a stand mixer or with a hand mixer until smooth and fluffy. Add in the powdered sugar and mix well. Drizzle in the Frangelico tablespoon by tablespoon until desired consistency is reached. This may take more powdered sugar or more Frangelico.

What have you purchased recently for your kitchen?

 

That's the kind my mom has. She was given it as a wedding gift several decades ago, and still uses it all the time.
--- merged: Jul 8, 2012 at 9:36 AM ---
One of my friends came over for dinner, she asked to help with cooking. I handed her a peeler (Real A-Peel, pictured below) and a potato.


She floundered around with it for a few minutes, cutting off random bits of skin and stabbing the poor vegetable. I asked her if there was something odd about my potato peeler, expecting her to have some sort of complaint about its design since she's left-handed. But no, her response threw me completely off-guard. She claimed has never seen a peeler, much less used one. She stated plainly, "My family isn't into fancy, specialized utensils."
I have never, ever considered a basic potato peeler "specialized." It is the most basic of kitchen necessities.

 

Yeah. She was a bit better with the paring knife but still incredibly slow. I eventually gave her another task. Nobody should reach adulthood without learning how to peel.

 

It isn't cheap, but it is absolutely worth it if you are a serious griller. I've used Weber kettles, barrel-style grills w/offset smokers, several types of gas grills, there is really no comparison in my mind. It is very versatile, and it's almost hard to screw something up on it.

If you have any questions or thoughts, I'm more than willing to throw in my $.02, though it might be better suited here : Do you grill, bbq, smoke? | The TFP instead of diverting this thread.

 

This reminds me that I have yet to replace my immersion blender. My cheap Oster bit the dust recently.

 

Potatoes were never a really big part of the food offered in my family of origin. Mom grew up in a small New Mexico town, and though not Mexican, was strongly influenced by the local culture. When you're only one Norwegian family in a town full of Mexicans and Indians, you won't get much herring. She carried SouthWest/NewMex cooking into her marriage to my dad. But I digress.

If she peeled them at all, Mom used a stainless steel "scrubber" to peel potatoes, with water running in the sink, or in a dishpan. But they were usually just boiled and mashed, or grated and fried, skins and all.

I do a low-carb eating regime, so rarely eat potatoes at all, BUT I do have a basic cheap potato peeler which I use occasionally on things like carrots, parsnips, and broccoli stems.