Wednesday, June 29, 2005

Utensibility; my suggestions!

I need to make a confession.....I'm a kitchen gadget/appliance addict. The funny thing is, in France, the kitchens are small. I've moved some 'stuff' out to the garage, back to a guest room (my cookbooks, xtra spices, appliances that won't fit in the kitchen, etc). When my husband goes away for a trip, he usually comes home to something new in the kitchen. He (smartly) does not complain, because I rarely repeat a meal. Complaining would upset his apple cart, ME.

When the Ultra-Hip Sam, of Becks and Posh, wrote about Utensiblity Week, I thought.....hmmmm.....so many things to buy, so little space.
Let me start with 3 splurge items: The first two items are super splurges, but give me so much pleasure.

My Simac Ice Cream Maker, well, this baby churns it out. Makes silky smooth sorbet, creamy ice creams! Since it has a built-in fridge unit, you really don't have to chill your custard and wait till the next morning. When you finish with one batch, just add another custard or sorbet mix.

Next item is my Kitchen Assistent dough machine. This kneads dough forever! Not quite a Hobart like they used in the Cordon Bleu, but it is a fine 'home-machine'. I was tearing up my Kitchen Aid Mixer (small version) making brioche dough and decided upon this, no regrets, as I'm always making bread!

















The third item really isn't much of a splurge, but a necessity for the sauce makers.
The copper pan, well, if you like to make sauces (beurre blanc, hollandaise, creme anglaise) this is a MUST! It must be copper of 2.5cm, it must be inox (if you buy tin, you'll need to re-tin eventually), the handle should be iron! Sorry about the state of my copper pot, you know, not being shiny, but what can I say about the kitchen help!
    My budget item is such a simple thing, I'm sure every kitchen has one. A pair of tongs! You can use these for everything!



    Have fun spending, Sam!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

what a coincidence! i'm getting my post ready for utensibility and i'll be suggesting the assistent! aren't they wonderful?

Sam said...

thank you Melissa - I am most flattered at being described as 'ultra-hip' - ha ha ha - if only you knew the truth.

I did suggest an icecream maker to Fred before he rightly pointed out that we never eat ice cream.

Since I am so new to my Kitchen Aid - I am kind of wondering why it isn't good enough for the brioche dough? I hadn't ever imagined I would need a dough machine as well as my KA

And as for the tongs - well I didn't have any until about 2 months ago and since then I have been wondering how I ever ever lived without them, so good call on that one!

thanks for joining in
I will try and round up by next week some time

Sam

Banlieue Blog said...

---Stef, Can't wait to read your post to see what you say about the Assistent! I love that machine.

---Sam, Just bask in the Ultra Hip title! I taxed my KA with a double brioche recipe. You have to put little dabs of soft butter into the dough at the last, piece by piece. My KA runs on a transformer....and the dough was so thick that it was coming up out of the bowl, I could hear the motor slowing down and it was getting hot (probably due to overworking on the transformer). Anyway, I needed an excuse to buy the Kitchen Assistent! Now my little KA works on other projects! It is a great machine, I should have bought the pro-version, tho!

Cate said...

Melissa - glad you like my new banner. It's been a lot of trial and error. If you send me your e-mail address, I'd be happy to send you some of the notes I took.

Cate said...

Melissa I tagged you for the newest meme floating around:
http://sweetnicks.blogspot.com/2005/07/tagged-again-double-post-alert.html

Anonymous said...

Melissa - I think I knew it, but I love your selections - I'm curious about the Assistent, it sounds great! Your copper pan looks beautiful too, it might be the one I'm considering at the moment... could you let me know which make it is?

Banlieue Blog said...

--Keiko! The Assistant has been a great tool and I've never regretted the purchase! Take a look at
stefoodie.net....she did a large write-up about this machine!
My copper pan is a Mauvial, 20cm. You MUST own this pan! Inox inside, iron handle! It is beautiful to cook with!