6 Useful Kitchen Gadgets Under $10
By J. Kenji Lopez-Alt (from Serious Eats) on June 14, 2010
Magic Choppers that slice, dice, even make julienne fries! Instant Pasta Extruders that also make perfect omelets! We've seen and tested every kind of kitchen gadget imaginable. Truth is, most of the time, you're better off with a plain old knife, cutting board, pot, and wooden spoon. But every once in a while, one shows up that is every bit as useful as it sounds. Here are six of our favorites, each one of them rings up at under $10. 
1. A Milk Frother
A full-sized handheld immersion blender is a powerful tool and useful for, say, pureeing an entire pot of soup in the pot, or whisking up a half dozen egg whites. But what about for smaller, quick blending jobs?
Asides from the obvious task of frothing milk, a handheld milk frother is the best tool for making single servings of drinks. Squeeze the lime, add some sugar and water, froth, pour over ice (or just tear open that packet of Crystal Light, if that's your thing). Need to whip up a vinaigrette for a single serving of salad? Pour the ingredients into a little bowl, and emulsify it in seconds. It's also perfect for homogenizing creamy soups just before serving or ensuring that your cornstarch slurry is completely lump-free before you pour it into your stir-fry.
High-end models like the Aerolatte ($29.95) feature more powerful motors and better styling, but even cheaper versions like the Bonjour Milk Frother ($9.95 from Amazon) will get the job done.
2. A Wine Preserver
What do you do when you've used up half a bottle of red wine for your ragù Bolognese and it's just a little too early in the day to start drinking the rest? If you're most people, you stop it back up with the cork and toss it in the fridge where it's left to oxidize, making it good for only one thing a few days later: dumping down the drain. If only there were a way to remove that pesky oxygen from the bottle! Well the Metrokane Houdini Wine Preserver ($9.95 from Amazon) does just that with a pump-action rubber-gasket that removes air from the bottle in just a few quick strokes. And at under $10, it'll pay for itself in saved wine after just a couple of uses.
3. A Serrated Peeler
Peeling ripe tomatoes is a pain. Either you have to take the tedious steps of boiling them and shocking them in ice water, or you go at them with a regular vegetable peeler and end up with a mass of tomato pulp with skin mixed into it on your hands. Enter the serrated peeler. With a shark-like array of tiny serrated teeth, the Swissmar Swiss Classic Serrated Peeler ($6 from Amazon) zips through even the ripest tomatoes with ease. Even height-of-the-summer drippingly-fresh peaches slip out of their skins without a single bruise or drop of lost juices.
4. A Garlic Peeler
I know - how hard is it to peel garlic, right? I didn't believe in this one either until I tried it, and as much as I loathe uni-taskers in the ktichen, I use enough fresh garlic that I'm willing to make an exception. The E-Z-Rol Garlic Peeler from Zak Designs ($8 from Amazon) is nothing more than a little tube of silicone, but what goes on inside is nothing short of magic. Put a few unpeeled cloves of garlic in the hollow tube, give it a 2 second roll on the countertop, and your cloves emerge out of the other end completely intact and skin-free. The only easier way to do it is to buy the pre-chopped garlic-in-a-jar, and even I'm not that lazy.
5. A Digital Kitchen Timer
I can't remember how many times I've burnt the top of a casserole, overcooked a roast, or smoked out my kitchen with a batch of cookies. But all that is in the past, now that I've got my digital kitchen timer. Fancier models, like the Polder 898-90 ($15 from Amazon) feature a clock, count-up timer, and count-down timer, along with a handy neck-strap. But even a simple one-timer three-button version like the Extra Large Big Digit Timer from CDN ($9.75 from Amazon) will successfully prevent you from ever pulling out a blackened yellow cake from the oven.
6. A Microplane Zester
It's hard to imagine life before the microplane. When it comes to stripping the flavorful zest off a lemon, mincing a half dozen cloves of garlic, or reducing a hunk of parmesan cheese to a pile of feathery shavings, it leaves the competition looking as old fashioned as, well, a box grater. With thousands of razor-sharp, laser-cut teeth, the Microplane Stainless Steel Zester ($6.99 from Amazon) makes short work of chocolate and hard spices alike.
What's your favorite kitchen gadget? Tell us below in the comments...
See more from Serious Eats:
===================================================================
Serious Eats is a website focused on celebrating and sharing food enthusiasm through blogs and online community.Our unique combination of community and content brings together the distinctive voices of food bloggers, compelling original and acquired food video, and spirited, inclusive, conversations about all things food- and drink-related.
Comments