It sounds like at least one RevGal/Pal is headed for the kitchen this coming week of Thanksgiving. So we are talking...kitchen appliances.
1) Do you have a food processor? Can you recommend it? Which is to say, do you actually use it?
I do have a food processor. It is at least 10 years old. I think it's a Hamilton Beach -- not the cheapest but not the fanciest by far. As to whether I actually use it...probably once a year. Although one year I got a bee in my bonnet about grinding my own ground round and pulled it out of its cupboard lair a few times for that purpose. My big issue with this thing is the lid, which requires a graduate engineering degree to get on and off. By the time I've figured out either action, I could have chopped my food by hand.
2) And if so, do you use the fancy things on it? (Mine came with a mini-blender (used a lot and long ago broken) and these scary disks you used to julienne things (used once).)
I do have a disk capable of slicing or julienning. It's lethal -- not only the specialty blades, but the sharp edges of the disk. I've drawn blood numerous times, which is another reason my food processor tends to stay in a dark recess of the cupboard, gathering dust.
3) Do you use a standing mixer? Or one of the hand-held varieties?
I have a mondo cheapo plastic handheld which I very rarely use. My mother, by contrast, had a wonderful, sturdy stainless steel standing mixer that she got for her wedding, which was a good and faithful kitchen servant for about 40 years before the engine finally went kaput. I used to be the family (box)cake maker, so I got out that mixer at least once a week for that task during my 'tween and teen years; on special occasions I also made my mother's very delicious cooked icing, which started out as kind of a roux in a saucepan, then wound up getting whipped into fluffy, caloric goodness. (Where is that recipe, come to think of it?) I am also old enough to remember Whip-n-Chill and Jello 1-2-3 dessert -- it magically made three layers right in the serving dishes -- and used to get a kick making that.
4) How about a blender? Do you have one? Use it much?
We just bought a blender. We've not done much with it; used it for smoothies a couple of times.
5) Finally, what old-fashioned, non-electric kitchen tool do you enjoy using the most?
Hmmm...it's got to be my vintage potato masher. No, I don't whip potatoes with a mixer; please.
Bonus: Is there a kitchen appliance or utensil you ONLY use at Thanksgiving or some other holiday? If so, what is it?
Another legacy kitchen utensil of mine is a 50's-era nut chopper with a spring-loaded top and heavy glass bottom. It works like a charm, and I wouldn't trade it for anything, especially making nut-intensive cookies like Russian tea cakes. That device pretty much only comes out for the Christmas baking season.
7 comments:
ooh - I have that 50's-era nut chopped thing too. I forgot about it (also used mostly for Christmas cookies).
Love the Bass-O-Matic photo.
I'm with you on the mashed potatoes! And I can see how the nut chopper would be a good thing. When I chop by hand, the bits fly off the cutting board and the dog eats them. When I use the processor, it's too easy to make nut butter when you didn't want to.
Well, I admit it--I mash potatoes with a hand mixer--but having grown up eating that dessicated stuff that came in a box as "mashed potatoes" (same era as Jello 1-2-3!)at least now I only eat real potatoes!
When are you coming to the big apple. Time for coffee?
J
Those lids are cursed. Or cause cursing. Something like that.
I have my mom's nut chopper! Glass jar thingy. It rocks.
I recognize that nut-chopper, it was a good one!
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