You want a jack-o-lantern that looks like it was carved by a 6-year-old, by all means stick with the spoon and kitchen knife combo that you’ve been using since you were a kid. But if you want a jack-o-lantern that will terrify the neighbors until mid-November, you’re going to need a better tool set.
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So you know how you’re cooking, and then you realize that you’ve got way too much (or way too little) of the ingredients you need to prepare the number of servings you had in mind? It’s annoying, not to mention potentially disastrous, if you happen to be cooking for some important people (like your in-laws, perhaps.)
There to save the day is Sharp’s Chop-Syc interactive digital cutting board.
It was the winning design submitted by Siobhán Andrews to Sharp Labs’ #GetItDownOnPaper competition. As the winner, Andrews got the rare opportunity to see her design turn into a reality after her two-month internship at Sharp.
Chop-Syc lets users check out recipes on the board itself as they cut and prepare ingredients. It has measurement tools and diagrams that will guide the user on how much of an uncooked ingredient is needed for a particular portion. Aside from that, Chop-Syc also has a built-in scale that can be used to weigh ingredients, so it’s basically an all-around multi-purpose device.
Chop-Syc remains a prototype for now, but who knows? You might be able to actually buy it one day.
When you’re working your way through all the ingredients in a complex recipe, you can easily lose track of how much of this or that you’ve measured. Or at least Japanese designer Atsuhiro Hayashi does, which inspired him to create a set of measuring spoons with numbers in relief that leave no question as to how much has been portioned.
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With only about one in 11 people actually being left-handed, it’s no wonder why the world is built for righties. Still, this design discrepancy can make mundane household tasks far more dismemberful than need be. Here are five kitchen tools every southpaw should own.
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Personally, I find baking cakes infinitely harder than cooking savories because you can’t really cheat when it comes to the former. By “cheat,” I mean correct mistakes you made along the way. For example, when you’re cooking and you find it’s too bland, then you can just add salt and pepper to taste. You can’t do the same when it comes to baking, because once that tray is in the oven, then all you can do is wait.
Another thing is that you won’t know how your cake will turn out until it’s served, because you can’t exactly cut out a piece to try it before anyone else can get a slice of their own. This is where Nibble Pan offers you a bit of help.
While it won’t let you “fix” bad batches of baked stuff, it will let you know if you whipped up an “off” cake by letting you try it before anyone else does – or let you sneak a bite instead of impatiently digging into the main cake. The Nibble Pan comes with an extra slot on the side, where you can pour a bit of your extra batter to make a cupcake version of your cake. How’s that for baking innovation?
Keep in mind that the smaller baked goodie will probably cook quicker than the main section of the pan, so you’ll want to snag your personal snack-size cake early.
The Nibble Pan retails for about $21.99(USD) over at Quirky.
[via FoodBeast]
Despite being one of the most frustrating games ever made, Operation was also one of my favorite board games as a child. Perhaps it was because it helped introduce me to the world of medical science, or simply the possibility that the game could give you a mild shock. Either way, it’s always been a lots of fun.
The next time you’re cooking, you can reminisce about the many times you caused your patient’s nose to light up and buzz thanks to the Operation apron!
While its plump, nekkid mid-section isn’t exactly the most flattering look, the Operation apron offers up all of the important parts of your real fake anatomy, from your wish bone to your funny bone to your bread basket and those pesky butterflies in your stomach. Though I make no claims that studying this will help you pass your MCATs.
It’s available from Perpetual Kid (though currently sold out) for $19.99(USD), though if you live in the UK, you can grab one over at I Want One of Those for £14.99.
It doesn’t matter what you’re buying, everyone wants to get as much bang for their buck as possible. And what looks like a set of three pieces of plastic cookware actually turns into six with nothing more than a gentle squeeze. It’s like having the Transformers in your kitchen, minus the epic Michael Bay level of destruction.
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Why pay $5 for a tiny bag of beef jerky that’s been sitting on that gas station shelf since the Carter administration? Just because it looks like leather doesn’t mean it has to taste like it. Instead, make your own delectable dried-out meats using nothing more than an oven.
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The allure of a shiny new gadget is easy to overcome when it costs hundreds of dollars and comes with a multi-year contract. But cheaper contraptions, like the stuff you’ll find in a kitchen store, are almost impossible to resist. Does anyone really need a salad spinner with a turbo button that promises 50 percent faster rotation speeds? No. But anything with a turbo option is just too tempting. Whether it’s cars, computers, or EMSA’s new Turboline salad spinner.
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With Summer all but gone, there’s not much time left to grill outdoors. Thankfully, just in time for Fall and Winter to set in, T-Fal has introduced this little kitchen godsend – the OptiGrill – not to be confused with the OptiGrab in Steve Martin’s The Jerk. Though unlike Navin R. Johnson’s silly invention, the OptiGrill is a really great idea.
This handsome stainless steel kitchen appliance distinguishes itself from other tabletop electric grills by its groundbreaking technology – which tells you when your food is cooked just right. This sensor can indicate the temperature of meats you’re grilling, as well as when the grill is at optimum temperature to start cooking your food.
Setting up the OptiGrill is super easy. Just take it out of the box, remove the packing materials, and “bless” its surface with a little oil (I used some PAM spray) before cooking to give the non-stick surface an added boost, and to impart some extra flavor into your grilled foods. Once plugged in, simply press the Power button, select the type of food you’re cooking, and “OK”. If you’re dealing with meat that needs defrosting, press the snowflake button first.
You can choose from six different types of food programs to cook: burgers, poultry, sandwiches, sausage/pork, red meat and fish. You can even start off with foods that need defrosting, or set a manual mode where you can cook items as long as you want.
The grill is even smart enough to measure the thickness of foods to take that into account when cooking. Keep in mind that T-Fal doesn’t recommend cooking meat that’s more than 1.5 inches-thick, nor meat with bones which can cause uneven heating.
As it heats up, a colorful LED light show begins – starting with a blinking magenta to indicate pre-heating, then a solid magenta accompanied by a beep when it’s ready to cook – a process that takes about five minutes. Just place your meat or panini on the grill, close it and watch the light show. The light starts off green to indicate that cooking has started, and gradually goes through a range of yellow, orange and red shades to indicate level of doneness.
In my case, I started with a inch-thick, 10-ounce ribeye steak on the grill. In a matter of about five minutes, the light reached the shade of orange that indicated medium rare. And if you can’t tell one color from another, it beeps when it achieves Rare, Medium and Well Done levels.
My steak turned out just right, along with those perfect sear lines you want when grilling foods. Given the fact that I just went to a fancy restaurant with a professional chef last week and had to send my steak back because it wasn’t cooked properly, I’m impressed.
As an added bonus, I found that the amount of smoke that the OptiGrill produced from cooking was significantly less than that I get when cooking steaks on the countertop in a pan. Never mind that the grilled meats are healthier than those soaking in their grease in a pan. I also put the defrost mode through its paces, and it turn a hockey puck of ground bison into a perfectly cooked burger in about 12 minutes from plug-in to chow-time.
When you’re done cooking with the OptiGrill, all you need to do is turn it off, unplug it, and wait an hour (or more). Once it’s cool to the touch, you snap off the non-stick grill plates and slide out the drip tray and wash them. One note – the drip tray isn’t dishwasher safe, so you need to hand wash it.
I’m very impressed with the T-Fal OptiGrill. It’s a must-have appliance for kitchens if you like grilled foods and either don’t have space for an outdoor grill, or don’t want to deal with the hassle of starting up and cleaning your grill. Also, I can speak from experience that it’s no fun to fire up my outdoor grill in the middle of winter in Chicago.
The T-Fal OptiGrill ships this October, and will be available from Bed Bath and Beyond stores for $179.99(USD). It includes everything you see here, including a 72-page book with 32 recipes, offering everything from buttermilk-rosemary chicken thighs to BBQ ribs and herb-roasted potatoes.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
