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    Home » Recipes » Ramblings

    Gear for Cooks 2015

    Published: Dec 8, 2015 · Modified: Apr 26, 2017 by Mike Vrobel · This post may contain affiliate links · 1 Comment

    Did I write this post so I can reuse my puppet mini-mitt photo? Maybe.
    Did I write this post just so I can reuse my puppet mini-mitt photo? Maybe.

    If you want to support DadCooksDinner, do your Christmas shopping1Or Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa, or Winter Solstice - I don't want exclude anyone's holiday celebrations. through the Amazon.com links on this page. I get a few pennies from each purchase, which helps pay for this site. Thank you!


    I buy a lot of cooking gadgets. (Hello, my name is Mike, and I have a gadget problem.) Most of them aren’t worth it, but a some become trusted tools.

    Looking for a stocking stuffer for the home cook in your life? Here are the inexpensive kitchen gadgets that I love from the last year.


    Instant Pot Mini-Mitts - I love these tiny potholders. (As I talked about here.) The mini-mitts are designed to pull the pot out of an electric pressure cooker, but I use them with everything from baking sheets to cast iron pans. (Honorable mention to the Le Creuset fingertip potholders - which I use only slightly less than the mini-mitts).


    Chef-n Fresh Force Lemon Juicer: I go through a lot of citrus in my kitchen, and I depend on a citrus squeezer to get the job done. (I always buy the lemon size, and use it on lemons, limes, and smaller oranges.) The gear driven lever makes this a easy squeezer2lemon peasy - my wife, with her smaller hands, loves it even more than I do. I worry about the durability of plastic handles, but they are hanging tough after a year of use.


    GIR Ultimate Spatula: The first of two new spatulas in my kitchen. This single piece silicone spatula is firm enough to loosen fond on the bottom of a pot, flexible enough to scrape the edge of a bowl, and goes in the dishwasher for cleanup.


    Victorinox 6-inch semi-stiff boning knife: I didn’t think I needed any more knives in my kitchen. Then I used this boning knife in a butchering class at Certified Angus Beef last June. I ordered one the moment I got home.


    Full Circle Dish Brush: This is my go-to cast iron cleaning brush. The stiff bristles make it easy to scrub the pan; flip it over and the sharp edge of the cap is a scraper for extra-tough jobs. Two tools in one!


    Mercer Culinary Fish Turner/Spatula: This flexible spatula is strong enough to scrape the bottom of a cast iron pan, but bends enough to slide under the edge of a chop or fillet.


    IMUSA Sunburst Tortilla Warmer: The tool that we used the most this year, hands down. This warmer makes it easy to heat tortillas in the microwave, and we do love our taco night.3The kids started making wraps instead of sandwiches once they figured out how easy it was to heat up a single tortilla in this warmer. Put a stack of tortillas in the warmer, and then microwave for the time on the bottom (10–12 tortillas, 1 minute). Let the tortillas sit in the warmer while you finish the rest of the fixings, and taco night is ready to go.

    And, my two favorite geeky cookbooks from 2015:

    The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science: Kenji Alt’s encyclopedia of food science. I’m still working my way through it, and enjoying every moment.


    Liquid Intelligence: The Art and Science of the Perfect Cocktail: David Arnold takes on cocktail science. (Notice a theme?) This one is actually from November of 2014, but hey, I didn’t get it until this year. And, when I say “I” didn’t get it, I mean I got a copy for my wife, the chemistry teacher. It was a gift that kept on giving - she is also the family bartender, so I got all sorts of fantastic drinks out of this one.

     

    Looking for something more? Check out my suggested tools list for the following types of cook:

    Grilling Tools

    Rotisserie Tools

    Pressure Cooker Tools

     

    Enjoyed this post? Want to help out DadCooksDinner? Subscribe to DadCooksDinner via eMail or RSS reader, recommend DadCooksDinner to your friends, and buy something from Amazon.com through the links on this site. Thank you.

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    Comments

    1. Charlie says

      December 13, 2015 at 3:25 pm

      I'm so glad I'm not the only one who uses potholders as puppets.

      Reply

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    Welcome to Dad Cooks Dinner! I'm Mike Vrobel, a dad who cooks dinner every night. I'm an enthusiastic home cook, and I write about pressure cooking, rotisserie grilling, and other food topics that grab my attention.

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