Best choppers & mincers according to redditors
We found 218 Reddit comments discussing the best choppers & mincers. We ranked the 89 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
We found 218 Reddit comments discussing the best choppers & mincers. We ranked the 89 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
Bench scraper:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00004OCNJ
~$10, best multitasking tool in the kitchen.
Need to put all those chopped onions into the pan? Done
Need to square-off that layer of bread/cake/crust you’re about to bake? I gotcha
Need to cut something but are too lazy to get a knife? Might work.
FOR MY PASTRY
it's more of a technique than a recipe... most pastries are more technique than recipe for that matter! The real trick is keeping the dough gold so the butter won't melt. if your butter melts it won't puff up right.
(oz measurements are by weight)
.. this is very simple:
I normally bake it at 350 for about 35 - 40 minutes, but I use a convection oven, so you'll have to play with the temp and time, 400 for about 25-30 minutes might be a good place for conventional ovens. Center rake by the way.
For the filling:
I simply chop up some onions, carrots, celery, and mushroom, how ever much looks right, I just eyeball it. cook all that in about 1tbsp of olive oil, then when it's all looking nice and tender I toss in a stick of salted butter (8 tbsp) I add some dried thyme, salt, pepper and garlic powder (you could use fresh garlic to get a stronger flavor, but I like the thyme to be the star of the show) then I add some chicken, (just get a rotisserie chicken because i'm lazy) Then I dump in about a 1/2 cup of flour (it gets thick... this is a roux) then I slowly add in 1 1/2 cup of chicken stock, and 1/2 cup of milk. Whisk it up with the fury of god, then let it boil until it's nice and thick.
Put it together
fill some ramekins, porcelain bowls, or whatever, with the filling, then slap some pastry on top... not too hard.
Eating it
Use a fork, get some food on it, insert into mouth. yum.
Knife sets are generally recommended against around these parts, as you'll usually end up with a bunch of medium-quality knives you don't need for an inflated price tag. I'd recommend using the money to get one really nice chef's knife, a paring knife, and a cheap bread knife. Go for other specialty stuff if you need it - but this covers 99% of use cases. I've heard that Shun's are perfectly nice but perhaps a tad overpriced; I have a Masakage Kiri which has been serving me extremely well.
All Clad totally rules. I've been slowly building my collection of tri-ply. Well worth it. Same comment about sets - only go for it if you really want each piece. Cast iron skillets are fun but I'm not sure I would insist everyone go out and buy one.
Can't comment on the Dutch oven - I have a non-enameled Lodge cast iron, and if I had to start over I'd get an enameled one. Either the Staub or Le Creuset will serve you well.
Highly highly recommend the Thermapen, as already commented. Depending on what else you like to do - consider a good wood cutting board, a bench scraper, and some nice baking sheets / trays. Enjoy!
I have this and it does a decent job:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01HC7BNJA/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_xdASAbBYHQA9G
Only in the most dire circumstances. I almost always keep one of these tucked under the bottom right side of my board. For $6 I have all the scooping power of a Chinese cleaver while using any knife and I'm never damaging my edge.
I use something like this and it makes dicing vegetables twice as fast! I found mine at a tjmaxx I think
So I've put together a decent quick-mix meal-prep approach for Vite-ramen: (nice for added nutrition/flavor & to customize to hit your macros for the day!)
Breakdown: (I've been doing two prep days per week, in order to have fresh meat & veggies ready to drop into the ramen)
Procedure:
Because the broth is hot & everything else is either cooked (meat & eggs) or ready to pour in (veggies & flavors), it literally only takes seconds to make a mighty nice nutritionally-complete meal with "bonus" ingredients. The list above may look long, but it's really just a matter of heating up the water for your ramen & grabbing a few things out of your fridge to chunk in the bowl when it's done cooking. SO EASY!!
I'd say the biggest key thing is to have a good container system to store your pre-chopped veggies (and pre-cooked sliced meats) in, whether it's ziploc bags or reusable plastic snack cups or mason jars. The core idea is to simply be able to grab an ingredient & literally dump it in your ramen to let the broth heat it up. In my picture above, I have:
Super tasty, super filling, super easy! Meal-prep for this is Sunday & Wednesday:
Lunch is SOLVED!
yeah, it's just a bench knife. Maybe it has a sharpened edge, which wouldn't be too hard to do, but it's definitely just a bench knife.
I'm not convinced that this is any better than just using a knife, but you seem determined to buy something, so you could try one of these chopping bowls:
https://www.amazon.com/OXO-Good-Grips-Salad-Chopper/dp/B001AEH634/
Like most skills, it just takes practice. Trial and error. If it were easy to nicely decorate cakes, they wouldn’t be so expensive.
My advice is to find a simple recipe and follow it exactly. When you’re more advanced in areas of cooking you know what you can swap in and out, or what steps you can skip. If you’re a more visual learner, lots of people have YouTube how-to’s.
I would not recommend using fondant at all. I also wouldn’t recommend Swiss meringue or types like it (melting egg whites with sugar and stirring over heat until completely smooth, then whipping to stiff peaks); it takes a lot of extra effort (and constant stirring and extra cooling steps) that a simple style buttercream (powdered sugar, butter, vanilla extract) for a simple beginner cake would not require.
You don’t need things like a cake spinner or extra gadgets. You can cheaply buy an offset spatula or a generic scraper that is used for other purposes too.
Don’t stack a bunch of layers, 3 would be the recommended max with an 8” or so pan. Cool your cakes for ~10 mins in the freezer after they’re no longer warm to the touch. Apply crumb coat. This is a thin layer of frosting that is mostly covering seams and generous parts of the top and sides to form a base for the final layer of frosting to sit on top of to minimize/eliminate the amount of crumbs. After crumb coat, put in the freezer for another 15.
Once you take it out, work as quickly but don’t be hasty. Put more icing than you think you need, to use the scraper and offset spatula you can’t work with tiny amounts of frosting and hope that things come out level. Use the offset to apply icing to the top, then the sides. Use the scraper to even both out and then the offset again to clean up the edges of the top. Keep your utensils clean as you work. You don’t need piping bags, but you can get a bulk set of cheap plastic ones and if you want to try can use it to apply your icing to your crumb coated cake to make faster work. You can get a small set of frosting tips and make decorations/accents on the top and where the bottom meets whatever plate you have decorated on.
If it gets messy it doesn’t matter, cleanup later with a damp paper towel. Start as simple as possible, then move upward in difficulty.
Garlic Zoom:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00MMQ922W/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1457630072&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=garlic+zoom&dpPl=1&dpID=41SQ01bNGgL&ref=plSrch
I love this thing. No garlic fingers!
uniformity really does give it an awesome presentation.
This is the onion chopper that I use for projects like pico where I really want to control the uniformity and I can hand it to anyone to help out and it's still going to turn out perfect. I also enjoy using it for doing meal prep for salads.
I eat this literally every night and never get sick of it: 50/50 spinach/baby lettuce mix, chopped green and yellow bell peppers (this thing makes salad prep a breeze), cherub tomatoes, shredded parmesan cheese, Grilled chicken (I buy the Tyson ready bags), GARLIC EXPRESSIONS VINEGARETTE (this stuff is seriously amazing. You can find it at Whole Foods. Its seriously what makes this salad)
PART 2:
Prep:
Around the 3 hour mark, you need to start prepping the kitchen for the tasks of cutting, shaping, rising, boiling, cooling, topping, and baking. You need:
Here
> . The thought of spending an hour and more in chopping veggies n cooking tires me out. Plus, I'll have to go buy veggies n stuff so many times a month.
I cant believe I am sending someone amazon requests at 12 in the night when I have deadlines. But in addition to that cooker you added to your wishlist, get this.
And dude, grow up. Making friends is as easy as smiling at people you see everyday and asking how their day is going about. Contrary to what everyone say about the US, no one is going to shoot you for fucking smiling at them.
I have a different one and I overpacked it one time and it jammed but was fine once I cleared it out. This is the one I have and I treat it pretty poorly and it's held up so far.
If you buy it in red you can save 3 dollars
When I moved away to college my mom bought me a Vidalia Chop Wizard and a mandolin slicer and I use them both every day. Vegan cooking requires a lot of prep for fresh vegetables and this cuts down on the knife work significantly! Plus all my food comes out in perfect dices and slices so it cooks and looks better.
Most of our gifts were replacements or upgrades of things we already owned. A really cheap and awesome gift we got was this stainless steel scraper, which makes it so much easier to transfer food from a cutting board to a pot/pan. We also got a matching set of this luggage belt with a TSA lock--I actually gifted one to my husband years ago, but we used this as an opportunity to replace his now worn-down belt. We also replaced our kitchen scale with this Amazon Basics one, which works really well. Another Amazon Basics item we received was this paper shredder, which is a kickass workhorse of a machine.
One of the first gifts we got was a Corelle dish set that I LOVE--it's so much lighter and more durable than the stoneware set we were using. We also replaced our silverware set with an Oneida set that we both picked out, which was a very sweet and meaningful experience. We already have a nice Oneida silverware set, but it belonged to my husband's late mother, and he wanted to retire it so it wouldn't take any more wear & tear.
Those are all gifts that were my hands-down favorite things we received. We were also able to buy two expensive items off our registry thanks to Amazon's completion discount. We purchased a Sonos soundbar and a Miele vacuum that were absolutely worth every penny we spent on them!
I have an OXO stainless steel folding mandolin and I love it. So. Yeah. I just got into Japanese cuisine for work, and am so thankful that I'm an age-old mandolin-er. I also bought a cut-resistant glove at the same time, and would never ever EVER use the crappy guards that come with any mandolin.
OXO Good Grips Mandoline Slicer https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0000DAQ8B/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_DKxRAbXQSZ1J3
NoCry Cut Resistant Gloves - High Performance Level 5 Protection, Food Grade. Size Medium, Free Ebook Included! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MXUHHGK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_pLxRAb8GM0DRT
i have this OXO -- good quality for the price - occasional use.
https://www.amazon.com/OXO-Good-Grips-Mandoline-Slicer/dp/B0000DAQ8B/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1483115714&sr=8-3&keywords=oxo+mandoline
My GF and I have been really happy with our Benriner Spiral Slicer. It gets used about once a week and after 3+ years we're close to needing to sharpen the blade on it. I'm more than a little temped to see if I cant rig up a single-edged razor blade into the stand when the original blade finally dies (but it's easily removable for sharpening and cleaning).
Only complaint is that it is a little flexy if you are really wrenching on it, and it's larger than some of the handheld models. Size is great for spiralizing larger veggies than cucumbers or carrots and the little plugs at the end are around the same size as a thickly sliced pickle so not much waste compared to other models.
I cant say for sure whether it's BIFL but with the blades so easily replaceable and removable for sharpening, it seems like it'll last a lot longer than some other models.
ooooh. nice. I'll have to try that next time.
and yes! the mandolin slicer and a chopper-thing are daily workhorses in my kitchen.
SO USEFUL!
big pain in the ass, you have to work very quickly, the "glass" breaks very easily, very time consuming
If you do try this, here are some tips:
I got myself one of these rolling mincers. I thought it was a bit gimmicky, but I ended up really liking it. It's faster than using a garlic press, and you end up with little chunks instead of a paste.
It's hard to get every last bit of garlic out, but I don't care too much since garlic is so cheap I just toss an additional small clove in. It rinses out easy, as long as you don't let the garlic dry.
Guess I will add to the "just make it at home" crowd but I would also suggest buying a salad chopper. You will still have to remove bits from vegetables but it will help out a lot.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B004HFR2MS
Also, I find adding pepper, dried minced garlic, and red chilli flakes spices up the most basic of salads. Store balsamic vinegar (the real stuff, not that Kraft crap) at work and put it on right before consumption to avoid soggy salads.
I would get this style for safer handling...
At first I thought this was silly, but there had been so many great reviews (4.5 stars with 251 reviews) that I gave it a go. The Chop Stir has really been of such great use in my kitchen. I have issues with my hands as well, and I need to be able to do things quickly due to my health. I was so surprised when this little gadget ended up saving me so much time. I've found it is useful not just with browning beef, but also with making scrambled eggs, hash browns and generally anything you'd want to both chop and stir at the same time. (Say what? Something that chops AND stirs?! Sign me up!)
Let's do it in the kitchen. Thanks for the contest!
I chop a lot of stuff and I can highly recommend the Progressive International GPC-4000 Fruit and Vegetable Chopper.
Some of them are. Mine is this one and it has an edge sharp enough that I've accidentally sliced my fingers a few times.
I want this pastry chopper from my kitchen wishlist. It will help me make apple pies on rainy days when I don't want to do anything and I'm sad because it's raining. It will also make my roommates really happy because everyone likes pie. I like making pies and knives just don't cut butter like a pastry chopper.
The old man is snoring
Since my eyes water so damn easily when chopping onions, this device has made onion chopping almost harmless; I say 'almost', as you do have to peel the onion skin and chop the onion into fourths if they are too large for the chopper.
I just replaced my first original grinder, I bought a new one off amazon and it is legit.
Kozo Grinders [Upgraded Version] Herb Grinder. Large 4 Piece, 2.5 Inch Black Aluminium (Black) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0795TWFMF/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_jv8GDb2PNBH8G
You said that you have less trouble when the food is "processed". Do you think that getting some kind of chopper that makes the food very regular/precise would help? Something like one of these maybe?
I use this and it’s smallest cut for relish. It turns out very well.
Vidalia Chop Wizard https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000I6JZWA/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_KqGQBbN6Q0EKB
This has been a God-send in my kitchen! No more dicing or chopping, I can just put it in here, give it a squeeze and it's done! I LOVE this thing!
Oooh you should try using this to save time: https://www.amazon.com/Chopper-Vegetable-Mueller-Vegetable-Fruit-Cheese-Onion-Chopper-Dicer-Kitchen/dp/B01HC7BNJA/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1536111128&sr=8-2-spons&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=chopper+dicer&psc=1
I've used it to make pico de gallo and it tastes the same as when I make it by hand!
Here are some tips I learned along the way to lose 110lbs (365 to 255) at age 37.
I did this without counting calories (this would of drove me insane..) and trying to follow some obscure nebulous and restrictive "program" (I'm looking at you keto, paleo..) that I would need to study and constantly think about (losing weight you're already struggling so this is particularly difficult in the beginning) and in approximately 8 months. Exercise was certainly involved - more on that later..
Not eating healthy and or being overweight your living in a fog - your mind and body struggle to deal with every day life already behind an eight ball. You will need something simple and laid out to get started and begin to see results that doesn't require a degree in fitness or nutrition to figure out.
This is a wall of text but hopefully has some bits and pieces that you and others will find useful - I wish I knew what I know now 10 years ago so I am gonna share this as much as I can. I am no expert but I have some experience.
Back story:
----------------
6'3" former high school football player, amateur kickboxer (read: some what athletic) finds girl gains 100lbs over 15 years of flirting with hardcore MMO playing, shitty eating and many many attempts to lose weight the wrong ways. I managed to always lose the same 20-30lbs every time but I always rebounded and always gave up. This is what happens when you go train without eating healthy.
Eating healthy IS 95% of the work. Get it? Got it? Good. Be forewarned - Healthy eating IS hard work and hard work is a GOOD thing. We live in a world that sells us convenience which slowly kills us - Hard work and a daily routine is what will help you help yourself.
My revelation was finding http://www.fit2fat2fit.com this site has 6 months of the meals a personal trainer ate to lose the 70lbs purposefully gained. Most people will tell you to eat right, few will tell you what it actually looks like.
Also included shopping lists and work out plans - I opted to train differently myself.
My tools of the trade:
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How I got started:
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What my days look like:
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You have a child - your routine will obviously be different and around your family but this is my experience. I used to game for 3 to 4 hours - that time is gone spent eating right and training.
What I did differently than F2F2F:
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Lessons learned:
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MOST IMPORTANT LESSONS:
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Exercise:
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I hope this helps you and whomever else is out there struggling - been there, done that, still fighting every day.
EDIT: Fix links / errors
If you really love your earthworms, consider getting one of these to cut your scraps really small.
Oh yeah, it's a pretty useful tool in your kitchen too.
or here, on Amazon
I'm sorry if any of these ideas are stupid or inappropriate . I'm just gonna give you a bunch lol.
You can get them pretty cheap, and it'd let him play video games in bed. And he can play some relaxing ones like harvest moon, pokemon, or animal crossing.
Idk if he has the energy to do that though. Or if he likes video games. But emulated games on my phone have been a lifesaver for bordem and stuff.
Most people with chronic fatigue have trouble with sleep and some with anxiety.
I got my mom this for Christmas (she has chronic fatigue) She only was able to get 4 hours of sleep or something before (during the night-time) and would never feel rested. Now she sleeps alot better.
-Plants
Plants have shown to improve mood and stuff, so you could get him a low maintenance plant like a succulent. Idk if have the energy for it though...
-Instant pot
Can help him cook by himself? maybe? Again, idk what his energy level is... So idk if it'll be helpful.
-Vegtable chopper and storage thingy
if he can cook by himself, he won't have to tire himself out using a knife, and can store the veggies he easily preps for his meals.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01HC7BNJA
-Googleplay/ Apple Store gift card
So he can purchase games, apps, and stuff.
-Lying down laptop stand?
https://www.thisiswhyimbroke.com/lying-down-laptop-stand/
-Gooseneck phone holder, so he doesn't have to hold his phone https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M1JXNTT
-These cool prism glasses that will let him read laying down and stuff? Idk how to explain it https://www.amazon.com/Skywill-Far-East-Industries-Spectacles/dp/B0006ZZCJI
-Mop slippers??
-Cool night light projector
I see some ones that project ocean waves, or stars.
That's all I can think of right now... I'll edit if I can think of anything else.
Edit so this doesn't get removed for being useless:
OP should look into using one of these instead of a food processor.
This saves me a lot of time on chopping.
As for cooking, just taste as you go and try to achieve balance. Does it need salt? Add salt. Does it need acid? Lemon juice or vinegar will fix that. Is it too spicy? Add some sugar. Does it need to have a more full flavor? Add some onion and garlic.
Make sure you are removing the two filler plates so the bag sits below the seal bar. Then I place a pastry scraper behind the seal bar. This creates a ramp from the bottom of the chamber to the top edge of the seal bar. This helps from keeping the bag from kinking and allow the air to escape.
It's an OXO one, and the "pizza cutter" looking blade is a double blade.
https://www.amazon.com/OXO-Good-Grips-Salad-Chopper/dp/B001AEH634/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1493756774&sr=8-7&keywords=oxo+salad
I took a class on making blitz puff pastry at the King Arthur Flour site in VT, and it was AMAZING. It gave me so much confidence and really helped me learn a technique that I don't know I could have mastered otherwise. You might not be able to get to their site, but I highly recommend taking a baking class or two somewhere. It will be money very well spent. Pastries (and pie crusts) are a good place to start because the results are so impressive and rewarding!
I'm sure you've heard it lots, but baking is much more about precision than cooking. It's critical that you know how to measure and work with your ingredients, because as you saw with your biscuits, you can follow the recipe and still end up with junk. That's where a real education is so valuable.
With that being said, my new favorite baking tool is [this OXO bench knife.] (https://www.amazon.com/OXO-Multi-purpose-Stainless-Scraper-Chopper/dp/B00004OCNJ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1478832207&sr=8-1&keywords=oxo+bench+scraper) It's perfect for cutting through cold butter with next to 0 effort, and really helps make perfectly straight lines. It helps as you're working with dough to slide under so it doesn't stick to your surface. And probably my favorite part is that it also doubles as a ruler.
You'll want a rolling pin too, and I recommend a simple french style pin. The best deal I've found is from Walmart, about $6. Don't spring for the gimmicks like teflon or steel, they're just frustrating and pointless.
SharpStone 2.0
I grind upside down, removing the kief tray first if it has anything in it to prevent it spilling back through the screen. I grind inverted until it is very fine, almost like powder that falls through the capsule openings. I exclusively use the fine screen sets in solid and easy valve. Vapor is better and more even use.
Downside is that the grinder gets gummed up immediately. Can only go 2 or 3 times before an iso bath. I own 7 grinders and rotate which one I am using to save the blades. This is one of my newer ones, but the two SharpStone 1.0 versions were my favorites until this.
Kozo Grinder 2.0
Honorable mention for this one. It is weird, but works, and is easy to use if you have difficulty with your hands, arthritis, etc.
Here's the one I have. Pricy, but works great. Adjustable thickness, which is good if I want potato chips or julianned potatoes, waffle blade, hand guard.
Please tell me more about this mythical sounding gizmo!
Edit: alright, it seems this is one of the better ones:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Benriner-Cooks-Vegetable-Slicer-Professional/dp/B000BI6CZ8
I was just in a store that would probably have had a few of these for sale, if only I learned about this a few hours earlier...
The main thing I use most of the time are just a scale (in grams is best, but it's more about ratios than anything), a dough scraper (something like this, but any flat piece to manipulate the dough will work. It's also very useful for cleaning where you were shaping the bread.). For letting the dough do it's final rise, I cover a flour sack towel (other fabric will work, but you want it smooth enough so the dough doesn't get fuzz in it, but coarse enough for the flour to 'catch' on it) in flour (a mix of wheat and fine rice flour is best, but cornmeal and rice or just lots of wheat flour will work) and line a colander with it. And razors for cutting the dough without it sticking. (putting something like these on a wooden coffee stirrer stick works well, but any razors or sharp blades should be fine.)
Other stuff is nice to have, but not necessary, IMO.
I use my bench blade ALL the time. I bake a lot of pies and tarts, really couldn't do without. I use it anytime I use the cutting board to cut more than a tiny amount - find it easier to scoop up the chopped things than with my knife. It's invaluable in dealing with the aftermath of baking, use it to scrape and scoop the extra flour and dough into the sink.
I didn't have one at first but really would not want to do without. It is one of those tools I have an odd affection for, enough that I admit I sharpened the edge, and use it enough I recently resharpened it (not knife edge sharp, wouldn't cut paper).
I finally realized I was being silly in not getting a bowl scraper. Same thing: why didn't I get one sooner?
Writing this makes me realize i should just go order the danish dough whisk I've been eyeing forever. Like for years.
A suggestion: Don't get this kind: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000SSZ4Q4
Get a bench scraper with a solid handle, not one that is simply rolled over metal. I got that first and the rolled hollow one invariably collects crud in it or retains a few drops of water that get on my hands as I work with pastry dough. Eventually I got one with a solid plastic handle (that's the one I sharpened).
Everything that has been said - crumb coating, cold cakes, rotating cake stand - but also get a metal bench scraper, or something similar. Makes it easier than using a spatula.
I have both of these, but I still prefer my bench scraper over the Wilton thing.
https://www.amazon.ca/AmazonBasics-Multi-purpose-Stainless-Scraper-Chopper/dp/B07255T6SW/
https://www.amazon.ca/Wilton-417-1648-Icing-Smoother/dp/B007E8KCJA/
From Season 9: Fish Made Easy
Testing notes
WINNER
OXO Good Grips V-Blade Mandoline Slicer - $49.99
> Razor-sharp V-blade made short work of a variety of fruits and vegetables, with a wide, sturdy gripper guard that felt exceptionally safe. Extra blades conveniently stored beneath the frame. Measurement-marked dial sets slice thickness.
BEST BUY
> "It looks like a toy, but it works like crazy!" exclaimed one tester, who pledged to go out immediately and buy one. No julienne or waffle blades, but this slicer is razor-sharp, adjusts easily, and fits in a drawer. Plus the price is right.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
> Reasonably priced model comes close to the performance range of the top-rated OXO minus the safety perks. Some testers argued its julienne was the best, if you could brave the supersharp blade with the dinky hand guard.
> A close relative of the winning slicer, this model was intuitive, simple, and an all-around solid performer. Testers loved the "idiot-proof" dial to set slice thickness and change blades, the smoothly functioning hand guard, and the sturdy, soft-grip handle and feet. Would have been the winner, but its straight blade struggled to slice tomatoes.
2 others were RECOMMENDED
4 others were NOT RECOMMENDED
you deserve a mandoline you'll put it to good use. fantastic for making a ratatouille as well.
A good way to store flours so they aren't exposed to humidity or bugs. I use these. Also a pastry mat and pastry scraper. And a kitchen scale is a must. Some of the best bread and pizza dough recipes rely on weight rather than volume, and having a kitchen scale will allow you to do British and European recipes, as they go by weight and metric measurements most of the time.
It never pops up on the "handy kitchen gadget" lists people come up with, but I would be lost without my board scraper.
Ooh! It's Prime Time!
For under $10, you totally need this Oxo Good Grips scraper/chopper and all-'round kitchen gadget. Measure with it! Scrape stubborn things from other things with it! Make even slices of things with it! The uses are endless. Well, I'm sure they end, but there are a lot of them.
I use this tool and it works great for dicing vegetables or cheese. Cut a slice of whatever you want and just arrange and press down. There's a small and large dice blade depending on what you're making.
I find it most useful with potatoes cut into rounds.
http://www.amazon.com/Vidalia-Chop-Wizard-VOWR-2/dp/B000I6JZWA
Good food just makes camping so much better. Glad to see someone else who embraces that.
> Fry up your bacon first
I'm trying out costco's "precooked" bacon for the first time. Its so annoying to cook bacon for 20 minutes in a pan with terrible heat control. Precooked bacon is smoked and fry's up all nice and crispy in like 3 minutes. Hoping it will be good enough for lazy mornings.
Bringing this guy too. I'm pre skining the onions, then i'll just cut the root and slice it in half, press, bam diced onion. Works on potatoes, peppers, carrots too.
Probably the most important factor in working with pie dough is keeping it at the right temperature. If it's too warm, it'll get sticky and hard to work with, the butter will melt, and your crust won't turn out flaky. In order to keep my dough from warming up, I put a marble slab in the fridge ahead of time to get it cold, then take it out and roll out the dough on it. If you do this, then I recommend rolling out your lattice strips/top crust immediately after finishing your pie shell and putting it in the plate. (If you wait too long between those steps, the slab will warm up.)
Of course, if you don't have a marble slab, you can do other things to keep your dough cold - refrigerate the ingredients, chill the dough in the fridge periodically as you go, and use bags of ice to cool off your countertop. But keep in mind if your dough is too cold (like if it's straight from the fridge after being refrigerated overnight), it'll be difficult to roll out and will crack as you do so. Based on various sources and my own experience, I think the best temperature for rolling out dough is around 60-65°F. If you have to brutally attack the dough with your rolling pin to get it to budge, it's still too cold and needs to sit out longer.
Other advice:
King Arthur Flour also has some good tips for pie baking here and here. Good luck!
If you don't already have one, my top recommendation would definitely be a food scale!
Other than that, I've found that Amazon often has good deals on some of my favorite snacks (I often order protein bars and beef jerky through the site). I've also bought some dumbbells for at-home strength training. There's also lots of good cooking tools you could get, although I suppose it depends on your needs -- I recently bought this chopper (because I'm trying to cook with more veggies and I have terrible knife skills) and this mini cast iron skillet (because I do a lot of cooking-for-one).
I've been making tons of these smashed burgers for the last few months. I don't think what you use to press the burgers matters that much as long as it is wide and flat and you use enough pressure, its going to be 99% the same.
In terms of scraping, you do want something that can definitely get between the burger and the surface to preserve all of the char on the burger. I recently bought this scraper from Amazon and it works perfect: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00004OCNJ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Temperatures would be helpful, if you don't have one, get an oven thermometer and make sure the oven is at the temperature it says it is.
The next thing would be, your loaves appear quite white in the photos. Are you using a flour blend for the final dough? It may just be the pictures, but it looks like you're using only white flour. Whole wheat and rye, I've found, tend to soak up more moisture and the original country loaf recipe calls for 100 g of whole wheat.
Here are some shots of my own bread:
I'd recommend this OXO Good Grips Salad Chopper and Bowl.
This is eerily fun to use, and has increased my salad consumption dramatically. I bought it because long spinach stems annoy me and this makes short work of them!
Your birds should be fine , but one of these will get you through 10 pounds of onions in no time. And might not burn as much.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000I6JZWA/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1452620125&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=onion+slicer&dpPl=1&dpID=41vOwo0pfvL&ref=plSrch
I'm a little embarrassed to admit that just this past weekend, I got myself a Vidalia Chop Wizard, a hokey "as-seen-on-TV" kitchen gadget, and what Alton Brown would call a unitasker.
My favorite keto recipe is Caveman Keto's Caveman Chili. I cooked it maybe 7 or 8 times throughout 2015. The problem is I would always dread the time and effort it takes to chop up the peppers and onions. I decided I needed to get something which would make the whole prep quicker and easier, so that I would be less discouraged from making the chili. I chose to go with the Vidalia Chop Wizard just because it's what /u/CavemanKeto recommends, to keep things even simpler.
Also, I want to recommend fatCoffee, which is a special premade butter coffee mix that you can buy here: https://www.ninjagoatnutrition.com/ I love so-called bulletproof coffee but, once again, the time and effort involved in mixing all the ingredients in a blender (not to mention the cleanup) was prohibiting me from making it as often as I would like. Now I can just brew my coffee like usual, add a packet of fatcoffee to my thermos, shake it up, and head to work! Shoutout to the guy behind it, he's on reddit somewhere (you might've seen a reddit ad for it) but I don't know his username.
http://amzn.com/B000BI6CZ8
I do it if I want them to essentially disappear into whatever I am cooking. I generally prefer larger pieces than a grater will do though. I have a Vidalia Chop Wizard thing my mom gave me for faster prep when I want a fine in-between chopped and grated. It's a bit of a hassle to clean, but for large pots of soups and stews it is pretty handy. I love my kitchen knives though, so I only really resort to it when I cook in quantity.
Dooger! (And other people that have trouble chopping onions): I'm really bad with crying while chopping onions; I can't do more than half of a single onion without having to leave the room. This is slightly off-topic, but it was discussed, so it "should?" be relevant. Probably. I think...
There are food choppers that push the onion through a grid of blades, and with it, I can chop as many onions as I need/want. The only down side is that the only options are chopping food into squares, or chopping food into little squares. There are a bunch of brands out there now, just be sure to get a sturdy one. Mine is a Vidalia Chop Wizard ("As seen on TV!") and I've used it for years. https://www.amazon.com/Vidalia-Chop-Wizard-VOWR-2/dp/B000I6JZWA
this is the exact same tool. https://www.amazon.co.uk/AmazonBasics-Multi-purpose-Stainless-Steel-Scraper/dp/B07255T6SW
They come with wood handles too and in different widths/lengths. Some bakers do not use this tool.
you don't need something like this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/KitchenCraft-Plastic-Dough-Cutter-Scraper/dp/B00BPU5PSG
but it can be used to mix your ingredients, scrape ingredients or dough from a bowl or scrape dough off your hands.
If you want perfect cubes each time, use a large mandoline slicer to slice the tomatoes into discs, then use a vegetable chopper to cube the discs.
If you don't care about perfection, quarter the tomatoes and pulse a few times with a good food processor.
You're welcome! As far as cutting the butter, first we dice it by hand as small as we can. Then we put it into the flour and use two zig zag cutters in one hand and chop like crazy. In a pinch, I've put some flour and the butter into a food processor and cut it down like that.
I can't figure out how to link properly on mobile, but this is the type of cutter we use.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000THCXZO/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_c_api_tbqIxbJMJHK1S
I was told by my SO that I have a huge butt....I'm a guy...Regardless, I think butts are funny. I'd love to get this chopper. I cook a lot and sometimes it's nice to have something to chop with and be broad enough to scoop it up and throw it in the pan. Plus, it's good for cutting pastries as well, so it comes in handy for baking as well.
Congrats on the Prime!
I love this dish!
I'd love to be surprised, but if you aren't into that, this would also be nice!
Riced Cauliflower stir-fry
Serves 4ish
1/2 head of cauliflower
1 cup mushrooms
1 cup cooked chicken (Cubed or shredded)
3/4 onion
3or4 slices of bacon (Cooked and broken into pieces sized to your fancy)
1 pablano pepper
1tbs(at least) fish sauce
Dash (at least) of garlic salt
Dash (at least) of black pepper
Take the cauliflower and break it down using a processor until it is in pieces about as big as rice. I use a hand processor like this, and it's pretty easy to do.
Then I throw that in a big pan and do the same thing to the onion. Throw that in the pan too.
Do the same thing to the pablano. You can throw it in the pan now, or with the other ingredients later. It's really up to you on how you like your peppers cooked. hubs and I like them firmer, so we usually add them later.
OPTIONAL: Add some oil to the pan. Both cauliflower and onions are pretty moist, so if it's a nonstick pan, if you are stirring it a lot, you don't really need oil. If you want to turn on the heat and ignore the pan for a while add a tbs of oil to make sure nothing sticks or burns.
Heat on med heat until onions are see through ish.
Throw in sliced mushrooms (whatever size you like), pablano (if you haven't already), the meats, the fishsauce and spices. Stir a lot for another 5-10 minutes.
Eat.
Note: this is a stirfry, so you can really add whatever veggies you have on hand. We're pretty into using this for leftovers, or random small amounts of things that we couldn't make a whole meal out of. Zucchini is really good if cubed and thrown in.
note^2 : I use way more fish sauce than this - like 3 tablespoons. Something about fishsauce and cauliflower is amazing. I just feel like probably not everyone would be as into it as me and hubs are though.
I did edit it. I had to think about it for a moment.
I've never used a potato ricer mainly because I'm too cheap to buy one. Yes, it does result in a slightly lumpy end product, but I don't make gnocchi often enough to care. I just mash with the usual 'murrican potato masher.
I do the flour addition in a big bowl, and keep kneading. The flour soaks up water from the potato (I boil mine, btw) and will form a dough as you knead. That's what makes it difficult - adding flour won't make the dough less sticky. You have to really mix/knead it to assess how much progress you've made. There's really no endpoint here - if you read around, some recipes ask for quadruple the amount of flour that the flour-stingiest recipes do. My guess is it depends on the exact amount of potato you have, the type of potato you're using, and your personal tolerance to stickiness. Obviously, the problem is that the more flour you use, the heavier your gnocchi will be. That said, noodles are basically all flour and everybody loves noodles, soooooo... do whatever you want.
I've never used oil. I have, however, used a bench scraper to help move the dough around. http://www.amazon.com/Norpro-577-Stainless-Scraper-Chopper/dp/B000SSZ4Q4/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1372134408&sr=8-2&keywords=dough+scraper
I'll leave most of the dough in a big mixing bowl and work with a fist-sized hunk at a time, generously flouring my work station. Work with a light touch; it helps keep things from sticking too badly. Your hands will still be a potato-crusted mess by the end, but at least your table/countertop will be okay.
Also you can add a raw egg or two help bind things together. I've tried both ways (with or without) and typically do the egg thing now. I don't think it affects the final product noticeably but it does make it much easier to knead.
Finally - the "gnocchi" texture I chase in my dreams is, sadly, based on something I had on a cruise ship. It was my first time having gnocchi ever, and they incredibly light. Like, melt-in-your-mouth sort of light. I think, after heavy experimentation, that those gnocchi were likely the bastard child of food + chemical leavening agents, but I could be wrong. After all, what do I know? I'm just an Asian guy making gnocchi from cookbooks and random food websites.
In that case, a high quality version of this would serve you well. It's worth spending a bit more on this if you use it often, as the cheaper ones break really easily. And a chopper for salads and herbs is nice.
Speaking of cutting things into small pieces, the Vidalia Chop Wizard is awesome. It looks like it would be one of those crappy seen-on-TV gizmos, but it's well-built and works great. We use it all the time for dicing things small. http://www.amazon.com/Vidalia-Chop-Wizard-VOWR-2/dp/B000I6JZWA
This (on my kitchen list) isn't overly creative, but I think it's super handy and everyone should have one.
I cannot stand huge chunks of ground meat when I am cooking. and trying to break it up with a cooking spoon is a tedious pain in the ass.
Thanks for the contest!
https://www.amazon.com/Kozo-Grinders-Upgraded-Version-Aluminium/dp/B0795TWFMF/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=kozo+grinder&qid=1562026775&s=gateway&sr=8-4
Choppy chop. Life changer!
https://www.amazon.com/Chopper-Vegetable-Mueller-Vegetable-Fruit-Cheese-Onion-Chopper-Dicer-Kitchen/dp/B01HC7BNJA/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?keywords=veggie+chopper&qid=1563770638&s=gateway&sprefix=veggie+chop&sr=8-3
Occupational therapy assistant here, I would recommend an adapted cutting board like this: https://www.alimed.com/etac-food-prep-board.html
Unfortunately most good adapted cutting boards aren’t cheap, so another options might be something like this: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01HC7BNJA/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_D6cHDbJXFE7FT
It looks like you bake so if you also cook this would be a lifesaver! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0764HS4SL/?coliid=I29G1BTRIOAMON&colid=14KMRH28SWSIQ&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it I'm dying to get it lol I hate chopping veggies!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0764HS4SL/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_4qYACbE30K32X
I’ve been thinking one of these would be awesome in the kitchen! I spend so much time chopping stuff up for soups, stews and other meals that it would be super helpful!
Have you tried doing any crockpot recipes? I have a few which boil down to: "Toss in a shit ton of ingredients in under ten minutes, let sit for four hours, and bam. Magic." Then eat that for dinner and have more for leftovers. (With feeding myself and the boyfriend, we get two meals each out of most of these, and we save the 'lunch' portion for the day after so we don't get sick of it.)
I've had this vegetable cutter for a year and it has made the prep stage go by in a blink. Best buy of my adult life ngl.
On something like this years back https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004HFR2MS/ref=asc_df_B004HFR2MS4809270/ and it's interesting to get a mouthful of wax?
They make much nicer ones than the on in OP's video.
But you can not beat a vegatble chopper for making french fries or basic chopping of onions.
Personally I can prep 3 carrots, and 2 onions in about 3-5 minutes with a veggie chopper. Cut the carrots into thirds, press through. Cut the onions top and bottom off, in half, press through. Clean up. I still cut veggies but for some, it reduces the prep to a few minutes vs 5-10 minutes.
I have decent knife skills. I can cut semi fast. I choose not to rapidly rock the knife feeding in veggies to chop. Because it's still risky for hurting yourself. These will save you lots of time for basic onion and carrot prep. And its seriously nice to not tear up manually chopping onions. Also not clunky. Not hard to clean. Just rinse it out after using or put it in the dishwasher. Op's video one is dumb but more "versatile". But really the only use case is onions, potatoes, carrots and a few other jullian veggies.
Anyways. Here's a video showing the power of prepped veggies and a chopper. No way to beat this with a knife when it comes to onions and potatoes. So long as you need them cut into squares.
A vegetable chopper like this is great to use one handed, and doesn't require a lot of dexterity in your non-dominant arm and hand. Maybe it'll work well for your situation?
My mom always uses one of these (I personally don't own one):
https://www.amazon.com/Pampered-Chef-Cutting-Edge-Chopper/dp/B000GU49HY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1496415075&sr=8-1&keywords=pampered+chef+chopper
I got something like this a few years back https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004HFR2MS/ref=asc_df_B004HFR2MS4809270/ and it's pretty awesome for certain things that I hate chopping with a knife (like onions).
I have this Oxo one and I'd say it works pretty well for me.
Meh, that's a unitasker. Get one of these. Smash garlic clove, pluck out the skins, a few rocks with a chef knife, use scraper to quickly relocate garlic to where it needs to go.
Bench scraper
This food chopper would really come in handy!
Where's the aspirin
Agreed on gloves. But I'm also lazy and bought this chopper thing so I don't need to dice veggies anymore. Downside is will need to cut up veggies in half first to fit in it.
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B004HFR2MS/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_nZauybS5E4F4Z
https://www.amazon.com/OXO-Vegetable-Brussels-Radishes-Mushrooms/dp/B01EY9TZFS
Like that?
I realize that's nothing like a benriner. But I can't seem to find. Small one of those
I find a chef's knife to be my best and cheapest food processor. :)
Seriously, though, I am a fan of these manual food choppers. You control the speed by how fast you crank, which means you have more control over the appearance of the final product.
Add a good mid-line blender to this and an inexpensive immersion blender and you'll have practically any need take care of for about $100.
This has been my go to for veggie prep. Especially for Chili items like onions, peppers, cauliflower, etc. Saves tons of time
http://www.amazon.com/Vidalia-Chop-Wizard-VOWR-2/dp/B000I6JZWA
I've seen those!
I inherited one of these a few years ago, and like you said - when making chili - it's been great:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Pampered-Chef-Cutting-Chopper/dp/B000GU49HY/ref=pd_bxgy_79_img_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=1VRZ7S4EVMGFAW6HMVP2
Same concept, a bit of an arm workout depending on how much you chop :) But much easier and faster than a knife
The boiled egg maker, makes 7 boiled eggs in under 10 mins.
Crock pot
Dehydrator
Slicer, I was using one of those choppers but after not even 6 months of use the blades are dull and don’t think I can sharpen.
I found a slicer and originally got it to make chicken jerky for the dog. It didn’t work as it needs an actual meat slicer. But I now use it for all my veggies and they can be paper thin and it’s so easy to use. slicer
Go Cops!
I've been upgrading my kitchen lately, so here's a few things I found while browsing yesterday:
pizza cutter
Just how gross are your counters? If they really need a good scrubbing (I'm not judging; I have a child and cats...) before you can use them for food, a scraper is a good thing to have. (Then just go over it with a damp paper towel.)
I personally would get the following way sooner if I was building my kitchen all over again.
Also if there is a place you can get bulk spices near by I would go there for your spices, because if you havent already noticed spices are pricey at your local megamart.
Lavatools Thermowand - Same form factor as the much more expensive thermopen but at 1/3 the price.
Lodge cast iron skillet - great for searing meats or as a good starting pan.
OXO Bench Scraper - Makes prep work much easier and safer as you don't use your knife to scrape your food off the cutting board.
Immersion Blenders - When you dont want to use your big blender or want to blend something in your pot or pan.
Stainless Steel Cookware - Has a little bit of a learning curve but is great after the fact.
Aeropress - Life is too short to make shitty coffee.
Edit: added a thermometer/spelling
You realize that these are all just ingredients, right? Like, if you wanted to go buy a 50lb bag of black beans you could do that. There's no need to get the freeze dried ones, they aren't any easier to use. I guess the vegetables come pre-chopped... but you could also just get one of these.
A tool to dice vegetables in one go. It’s got a screen and a thing you use to push down on the veggie, and then a plastic container at the bottom.
Like this
I’ve only used it once or twice. It’s not storing enough to do onions and cleaning it is a bitch. Also I cut myself on the sharp part. Not a fan, much easier to dice by hand.
Also a scissors with multiple blades, to finely cut up herbs. It’s very hard to clean in between the blades and doesn’t save much time.
I use a ChopStir (https://www.amazon.com/ChopStir-20611-Chopstir-Nylon-Chopper/dp/B004N7E174).
I never thought I would say something like this. What about one of these? Or something similar.
Something like this http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000I6JZWA/
This is cheaper but I got one a little while back and love it.
Chef'n VeggiChop Hand-Powered Food Chopper, Arugula
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004HFR2MS/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I like OXO scraper. Do you plan on leaving out the sipping stand? If so, this one is what I have. Ateco and Wilton are my go to for tips and bags. Here are some links.
Also, come check out r/baking There are a ton of helpful people there ♥️
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000BVFYUO/ref=ox_sc_saved_image_8?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01EXHJCTA/ref=ox_sc_saved_image_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A35NO8HBZ6S6IT
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B008VMATVO/ref=yo_ii_img?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00004OCNJ/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1502920863&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=oxo+bench+scraper&dpPl=1&dpID=311FAYKN2DL&ref=plSrch
wow, never thought to look online (I'm an idiot). one of these
Just get a couple of these
And maybe one of these