What are your can’t do without items or gadgets?

[Jayb]

Summer time I love my Spong '103' Bean Slicer, it's a bit ancient but slicing runners is such a breeze with it. Also I wouldn't want to be without my passata machine, turns all those lovely oven roasted tomatoes into passata, sauce and puree, without the seeds and skin. Or as Saddad terms it 'tomato slop'!

[Jayb]

[galina]

Summer time I love my Spong '103' Bean Slicer, it's a bit ancient but slicing runners is such a breeze with it. Also I wouldn't want to be without my passata machine, turns all those lovely oven roasted tomatoes into passata, sauce and puree, without the seeds and skin. Or as Saddad terms it 'tomato slop'!

Gosh, you are well equipped!  I have been eyeing up passata machines, but always made do with chucking tomatoes into a briskly boiling saucepan for less than a minute, then sloughing off the skins after dropping the tomatoes into a large bowl of cold water.  Sometimes I halve and scoop out seeds, before bottling, sometimes not.

My absolutely favourite kitchen implement is an ancient tiny 'kitchen devil' paring knife. It is so old and well used that it has a small notch in the blade near the handle and that is brilliant for cutting 'knobbly bits' off any vegetable.

I lost it for a year and bought a new one.  Happy day when the old one was found again at the bottom of a compost dalek.  Good as ever after a thorough wash and with that useful notch that the new one never developed   

[Squash64]

I've got one of these passata machines, bought very cheaply
in Sicily. Is this what you've got Jayb?

[Jayb]

This is the same as mine http://www.harrodhorticultural.com/rigamonti-passa-pomodori-passata-machine-pid8307.html
I find it's much easier to use for tomatoes than a Mouli. The passata goes one way and the skin and seeds another, although I do put the pulp through a couple of times to get all the 'tomatoey' paste. The resulting passata is lovely and thick and very tasty, yum!

[Jayb]

Gosh, you are well equipped!  I have been eyeing up passata machines, but always made do with chucking tomatoes into a briskly boiling saucepan for less than a minute, then sloughing off the skins after dropping the tomatoes into a large bowl of cold water.  Sometimes I halve and scoop out seeds, before bottling, sometimes not.

My absolutely favourite kitchen implement is an ancient tiny 'kitchen devil' paring knife. It is so old and well used that it has a small notch in the blade near the handle and that is brilliant for cutting 'knobbly bits' off any vegetable.

I lost it for a year and bought a new one.  Happy day when the old one was found again at the bottom of a compost dalek.  Good as ever after a thorough wash and with that useful notch that the new one never developed   

I used to do passata that way too , but found it too slow, much prefer them roasted in the oven. I've never bottled toms, I must try sometime.

Lol, are your Kitchen Devils anything like mine? They are my fave's and ancient old, great for stringing beans.  Such a shame they stopped making that shape years ago.

[galina]

Lol, are your Kitchen Devils anything like mine? They are my fave's and ancient old, great for stringing beans.  Such a shame they stopped making that shape years ago.

Snap!  The bottom one with the hole is the one with the useful notch in it, the top shape is the replacement one

[Jayb]

Snap! 

How bizarre 

[Unwashed]

Corkscrew...

[SueK]

Bit big for gadget, maybe, but.... pressure cooker.

[GREGME]

kitchen - tefal actifry, mini slow cooker and corkscrew
allotment- digging hoe, right angled fork 

[Jeannine]

Lots.. but I would cry if  I lost my crab spoon. It is just an old teaspoon that has a narrow shaped handle that is the absolutely perfect tool for fishing crab bits out of the shells, even the skinny little legs, I have had it donkeys years and nothing works like this one.

Paper towels for skimming gravy would be hard to be without.

I too have a favorite paring knife and nothing else comes close.

Daft as it seems, surgical scalpels, I use these quite a lot one way and another.

My big pressure dial type  canner, I could not do fish without that .

Then probably my Kenwood Major ( with it's attachments)

XX Jeannine

XX Jeannine

[peanuts]

Like Jeannine, I have  a large number of items in my kitchen that I really wouldn't like to do without.  Probably the one I use the most, several times a day frequently is my Braun food processor, not in its first youth!  But another item that is so good, as it does its job so well, is the non-stick jam funnel I bought some years ago from Lakeland Ltd, particularly when I am filling jars for bottling, so this way the rim stays nice and clean.

[Obelixx]

OH.  Need him to do digging and hefting and turning the compost heaps and picking fruit.

In the garden, Wolf system of tools and handles, Felco secateurs, anti histamine pills and cream for bites and itches.

In the kitchen, dishwasher, filter coffee machine, food processor, decent knives, jam funnel, measuring cups, mixer and decent pots and pans in assorted sizes.

[Jeannine]

Oh I bought a new Paella pan a couple of weeks ago, my old one got damaged in my last move and is not dead flat anymore. I was gutted without it. Oddly enough it is  specialty pan but I missed it like crazy.


I was so lucky too, I wasn't looking for the replacement but found one in a charity shop, brand new, top of the line quality, huge size and came with a glass lid..oh boy I couldn't believe my luck $5 only..the girls in the shop asked me what it was, It was worth $200.


Maybe paella may be on the menu soon again.

XX Jeannine

[Jayb]

I've never cooked with a slow or pressure cooker, I read lovely recipes and hear how good they are, but price has put me off so far. I'd also like a pressure canner one day, hoping someone starts selling them over here.

Oooh I've a lakeland jam funnel too 

[Jayb]

Forgot to say I've just bought a Zyliss corn stripper! Although not a proven can't do with out item, it was my rational for buying it!   I've used it once so far, quite good. I'm hoping it will make stripping cobs ready fro the freezer a little easier and neater than using a knife!

[Paulines7]

I've never cooked with a slow or pressure cooker, I read lovely recipes and hear how good they are, but price has put me off so far. I'd also like a pressure canner one day, hoping someone starts selling them over here.

Oooh I've a lakeland jam funnel too 

My slow cooker cost about £10 in Tesco, two or three years ago.
http://www.tesco.com/direct/tesco-scss12-3l-slow-cooker/173-0852.prd?pageLevel=&skuId=173-0852#reviews.

Every now and again they have them on special offer again.  Mine is worth every penny, so too is the steamer I bought from them recently.  There are three large vegetable dishes as well as one for cooking rice. 
http://www.tesco.com/direct/tesco-st11-3-tier-steamer/212-4974.prd?pageLevel=&skuId=212-4974&kpid=212-4974#

It is very handy when we are touring in the caravan because it is so light compared to carrying several saucepans. 

I have a passata machine which we bought in France and it is the same as Jayb's.  I bake the tomatoes in the oven first with a mixture of herbs and onions. 

I also have a Lakeland jam funnel.

[BarriedaleNick]

My Kenwood Chef is an absolute must have for me - esp with the passata attachment.  It gets used so much that I would struggle without it - Ice Cream, Bread and cake mixing (though  still do most bread by hand), mincing, liquidising etc..

I love my micro food grater which was an impulse buy in Brussels and never a regret was had!

I also couldn't do without my Cast Iron Casserole dish like in peanuts post above

My set of Global knives is also a must have..  I cannot stand blunt knives!!

Lastly I'll take my Gaggia Titanium Coffee machine to the grave - cannot live without my coffee fix in the morning.

[Yorkshire Lass]

Has to be my Magimix food processor and my potato ricer which gives me lovely lump free creamy mash.

[peanuts]

I hadn't thought of my cast iron casserole dish, until you mentioned it, BarriedaleNick!  Yes, that is essential, too.  I've just been using it again, plus the jam funnel, preparing yet more apples for bottling.  They are now heating up in jars . . . . but it is such a quick job preparing apples with our apple corer and peeler and slicer thingey, that my husband operates while I do the finishing touches, before adding them to the pan.  We worked through pounds and pounds of apples so quickly.