All Entries Tagged With: "kitchen gadgets"

Mugstir Lets You Have A Coffee Spoon Without Turning You Into A Pirate

I used to drop my stirring spoon on my mug when I’m drinking my coffee.  Then, I saw a movie where a guy did that and ended up poking his eye out with the end of the spoon.  Arrggh – he became a pirate.
Since then, I always stirred my coffee while standing in the sink.  After I’m done, I would simply drop it in with the rest of the dirty dishes.  Sure, it’s not an ideal solution, especially if you like to sip your coffee with a teaspoon while it’s still very, very hot.
Fortunately, Quirky’s community came up with a crowdsourced fix that’s actually about two brain cells better than what I’ve been doing.  They called it the MugStir and it’s a teaspoon that hangs steadily in your mug.

It’s basically a spoon with a bent rear end, so that it effectively becomes a hook that you can hang by the [...]

Transfer Cutting Board Makes Your Kitchen Chopping And Dropping Duties Faster

Some kitchen innovations really do wonders, turning erstwhile difficult chores into simple tasks.  Others like the Transfer Cutting Board may sound lazy but hey, if you’d like to save a couple extra seconds after chopping piles of garlic and onion for the duck  stew, I’m sure it will help.
Laziness is underrated.  If the masses weren’t so lazy, no one would bother to innovate for them. That’s why I herald the minuscule yet efficient gains this little modification to the traditional cutting board brings to kitchen critters.
The Transfer works much like any chopping board, letting you slice and dice everything you need to prepare tonight’s dinner.   It’s made from solid beech wood (oiled with biological linseed oil) and sports normal-looking dimensions too.  What it does differently is add a slot for a plate (9.1 inches diameter, 1.1 inch height) right under a cut-out area of the board.  That way, you can [...]

Magimix Toaster Vision Lets You See Your Bread As It Burns So You Can Save Breakfast

Hate burnt toast? Join the club. Better yet, petition Magimix to hurry up in producing the Toaster Vision, a see-through toaster oven which lets you see the bread as it bakes for a second time.
Since my mental faculties are also at their slowest early morning, my ability to make decent toast is often severely compromised. I’ve never burned toast bad enough to start a fire (seriously, those people should be locked away from the kitchen), but I’ve probably had more black toast than I could care for. With this see-through appliance, you can see the toast while it browns, allowing you to save it just in time before any of the charring starts.

Magimix calls their Toaster Vision a “luxury toaster” and for good reason. Inside, it uses four quartz tubes to provide eight different levels of browning, with settings easily accessible from push-button controls. [...]

Zoku Quick Pop Maker Shapes Your Icy Treats In Just Seven Minutes

Like to make your own popsicles, but can’t stand waiting for the things to freeze?  Enjoy instant gratification with the Zoku Quick Pop Maker,  a “space-age” (whatever that means) ice pop maker that gets you frozen, lickable treats in just seven minutes.
I know.  Seven freaking minutes to tongue-numbing bliss is pretty awesome.  Even better, the Zoku looks just as easy on the eyes as the treats it creates.

To use it, simply slip the Quick Pop Maker into a freezer, letting it chill.  Once you’ve made your flavors (go conventional or go crazy – you’ll be stuck eating it anyway), pull the compact base out, pour on the concoctions, drive the popsicle sticks in and wait the aforementioned 420 seconds.  That’s it.  You’ll be licking your frozen goodies (that didn’t sound right) in no time.
The box, which measures 8 x 4.25 x 4.5 inches, can make three 2-ounce popsicles at a [...]

How To Cook 2 Lbs Of Fries Using One Spoonful Of Oil – The T-fal ActiFry

Seldom does cooking equipment float my boat.  When it can prepare 2lbs of crispy French Fries using just a spoonful of oil, however, I’d be silly not to take notice.  That’s exactly what the the T-fal ActiFry does, performing cooking feats it takes the local burger joint tubs of oil to accomplish.
How is that possible?  My money is on voodoo magic.  According to T-fal, though, it’s a lot less esoteric than that.   To accomplish the feat, the machine combines a pulse heating system and a unique stirring paddle, mixing things up to maximize the oil (a system the company claims they developed over ten years).  Of course, I’m not convinced – we all know there’s a high priest involved when magical things like that happen.  Regardless, that means a mere 3% fat content on your fries, as opposed to 18% from the traditional “dump it in a pot of boiling [...]

CrustaStun Single Stunner, An Electric Lobster Taser

Does the thought of boiling lobsters alive make you cringe also?  Help may be on the way. Put them through the CrustaStun Single Stunner, electric zappers that will send a quick jolt of power to render the tasty crustaceans dead.  That way, you don’t have to feel guilty about torturing your dinner.
Marketed as a more “humane” way of killing off crabs, lobsters and crayfish, the machine delivers 110 volts of electricity right to the marine creatures’ nervous system, acting as a veritable anesthesia so they meet their demise while feeling “no pain or distress.”  It’s the first commercial products of its kind, able to plug into both North American and European outlets, while sitting on a tabletop as conveniently as a microwave oven.

The Single Stunner, which looks like a clunky scanner or a Xerox machine, renders the future main courses ready for cooking one at a time.  Simply throw the [...]