Food We need to talk about cooking and food prep tools and utensils.

Honestly, I don't yet know. The main reason I bought it is it's a steamer, it's Tupperware made in the USA, and it cost $1.25 (I'd like to know what it cost new). At the shop I could tell it was some kind of of multi-layer cooker, but it wasn't until I researched it on-line that I saw what all it could do. Which is why I really wanted an instruction book to go with the Tupperware recipe book that I found (link in post 138). I don't think that an actual instruction book exists,. There are some tutorials on YouTube which I haven't yet watched.

We don't do a lot of microwave cooking, but have been steaming more veggies recently. I'm mostly interested in learning how to use the system to steam a couple of veggies at the same time. The potential problem I see using it for 'main' dishes is it's plastic, and IME over time the liquids (juices, sauces, etc) will rag out the plastic.

 

This isn't the heavy duty plastic Tupperware of yesteryear, but IME heavy plastic doesn't do well in the microwave. Hopefully TW used a chemical formula that makes the pastic stain & grunge resistant; our newer TW divided microwave plate has help-up very well compared to the older TW divided plates. I doubt that we'll use the system very often for meats or dishes with sauces, but we might try a couple of the 'all in one' recipes just to see how it turns out.

 

We have enough baking/cookie sheets to open a small bakery (an exaggeration, but we have quite a few). We've been pulling & donationg the ones tend to "burn" the bottom the bottom of whatever we're baking. For some reason oatmeal cookies seem to burn more easily (???).

My wife is now wanting some airbake cookie sheets.

 

No parchment paper, unless the recipe specifies it. We handwash our baking ware unless it's so old it no longer matters.

 

My wife has been wanting an immersion belnder for a while, and I've been resisting because it'll only get used a few times a year. And we have many gadgets that have never been used by us. Yesterday she got a Rival UltraBlend model IB952 at a resale shop. She's happy now that she has confirmed her thoughts on how to clean it.

EDIT--I'm not entirely happy at the $6.00 price since it's used.........but at least the $$ supports a womens crisis organization and center.

Digression--Wifey also got two pairs of earrings, she's pretty sure they're Mexican silver, with surgical stainless steel loops. She has weird allergies, can't wear just any cheap metal jewelry.

 

She might. I'm still a sharp-knife-and-cutting-board kind of cook.

 

Kind of hard to use a knife to purée soup.

 

We use our cuisinart multiple times every day. S makes protein shakes, protein powder in coffee, etc. I use it to froth hot almond milk and honey for my coffee. Use it every time I make soups or sauces that need smoothing. Great for pureeing frozen things with liquids, powdered anything with a liquid, frothing eggs or milk... You name it. I'm addicted to the thing. We just rinse or wash it and the 18oz container it comes with and leave it by the sink.

 

It requires two knives, great hand-speed, & serious coodination .

Y'all have given me some good ideas on how to put the IB to use. Maybe I'll use it to dissolve the sugar that settles into the bottom of glasses of iced tea , once we get iced tea weather back.

 

Any suggestions for having handles replaced on my Henkels professional S knives? I have 3 of them with cracked or shattered handles. These are older knives that have undoubtably been dropped and run through a dishwasher. I have a note into Henkels; but I do not expect this to be warranty work. I hate to toss em; but I'm thinking that new handles may cost more than new knives.

Ya, I know better; but chewing out guests that insist on helping to clean up wouldn't seem right.

 

I use a cast iron 11" skillet, a rice/veggie steamer ( which cooks perfect rice every time, I use chicken stock ) an enameled cast iron 8 qt pot, a lasagna pan, 98% wooden utensils and some of you may remember this ( Corning Ware ) think I got it covered.