Spatulas: Why do they make some that can’t handle high heat? Aren’t spatulas made for flipping hot skillet foods (eggs, pancakes, meats, etc.)? I can’t remember which spatula can handle hot and which one cannot. They should ALL be high-heat resistant. If I need to flip cold stuff, I could use my hands. {or leave it unflipped}
If most of the utensils in the dishwasher are spoons, shouldn’t that be a warning that you consume way too much cereal and/or ice cream? {yes, there is such a thing as too much}
Cutting French bread that’s been cut in half and slathered in butter (particularly garlic butter with herbs) creates a dilemma. Trying to slice into individual pieces while butter-side up makes a crushed mess. The better way to get slices without crushing it to smithereens would be to turn it butter-side down, but then you lose buttery goodness. {sigh}
As garlic presses go, I think I have tried enough to conclude that the Pampered Chef one is the bomb. I have had an OXO, Cutco (great knives, crappy garlic press) and other non-recognizable brand presses and the PC one reigns supreme. You don’t need to peel the garlic before sticking it in the press and it gets it ALL minced without leftovers. {I don’t dig waste}
By the way, if you need to peel your garlic, stick it in your rubber husband (that’s what we call our rubber jar opener thingys) and roll it around your hand or on the counter a few times. {instead of buying Martha’s expensive rubber tube that does the same thing}
Tongs in long and short versions are always handy and pretty cheap. I suggest having the kind that have a lever at the bend that locks them closed for easy storage. The kind with the metal ring you push back and forth to lock seem to malfunction and cause me grief. Less grief in my kitchen the better. {which means I might cook more often}
Have you heard of a butter bell? It’s a European thing, that allows you to have room temperature butter without worry of spoiling. There are physics involved, which isn’t my strong suit, so know that it works without needing to know how (the water in the crock creates an airtight seal, which prevents spoiling/bacteria to form). We recently said “peace out” to the perfectly red Fiesta Ware-type butter dish when it accidentally crashed to the floor, so our room temperature butter sits on a mini-plate on the counter. Gross, I know, but we need soft butter at a moments notice. {margarine won’t do}
Anything you want to add or suggest? Stick it in the comments!
{ 9 comments }
Butter bells are the bomb!
I end up pre-cutting all the french bread, melting butter on a plate and then using the bread to soak it up. THen I sprinkle it with fresh parmesan and a little garlic salt, and toast it. Still makes a crumbly mess, but the bread doesn’t get all smooshed.
And I agree-I heart my PC garlic press.
To get rid of fishy or garlic-y smells on your hands, run them under cold water while rubbing something made of stainless steel. It works.
A nice read on kitchen gadgets! Reminds me of one of my favorite greeting card quotes: “Don’t you just love my kitchen? It came with the house!”
I don’t know why they call both the flippy do-hickies and the scrapy utensils both spatulas? How confusing.
I too love my garlic press from Pampered Chef. I too really want a butter bell. And finally, best tool ever came from a wood shop (though now you can buy them in kitchen stores). Nothing does the prep for my sour cream lemon pie better than a rasp.
I want a butter bell! And thanks for the garlic press tip. Mine broke a long time ago and I’ve been mincing with a knife.
My favorite garlic press is my zyliss–for the same reasons you said, so it’s nice to know another brand that does the same cool stuff. Funny story, when my MIL was visiting, I could not get her to believe me about not needing to peel the garlic. Even after I showed her, she still wanted to peel every clove. But hey, that’s fine. At least she was the one doing the peeling, not telling me I had to. I like my MIL.
My favorite thing about this post is that there are no pictures. I’m glad to see you are venturing outside of your comfort zone into picture-less blogging (and making me feel a little less of a slacker for hardly ever having pictures in my blog posts. Thanks!).
I too have had a zyliss garlic press (pronounced suzy) for a couple of decades that I love.
Heat proof rubber spatulas are a fairly new development, so you need to know whether or not it is heat proof. But, the spatula spatulas should indeed all be heat proof.
I had a butter bell and whatever you can do that makes it go wrong, I did. It was moldy pretty fast so I went back to a covered butter tray, or, at times, just on a plate on the counter.
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