Friday fun: the "secondary" gadgets you use as primaries

Figured we could use a "fun" topic this chilly Friday. What utensils that are supposed to be the secondary or alternate versions do you use all the time, even more than the "main" version?

I can't remember the last time I used a "real" blender; I do everything with the stick / immersion blender. Same with the sauce whisk, that gets used for everything, especially since the Kitchen-Aid can make whipped cream way faster than I can!

[Robin Garr]

I'm right there with you on the stick blender, Walt. We don't even own an immersion blender. I've been known to use a wooden spoon rather than a whisk to make sauces for quick-and-casual jobs, although the whisk-saucier combination is hard to beat.

I'm right there with you on the stick blender, Walt. We don't even own an immersion blender. t.

I find this un-parsable.
Like Walt, I almost always use a stick (also know as immersion) blender rather than a standard (stationary) blender

I can't think of anything else that's an exact parallel, but I use sous vide device to thaw things. And if volume allows I use mini-processor rather than full size.

Pretty sure I saw my first stick/immersion blender on a Food Network show rather than someone's kitchen. Now I don't know how I could get along without it. I make a few smoothies / margaritas a year, everything else gets the stick!

Never though of using the sous vide to thaw, but it's an excellent idea. I bet the circulating water really does a good job, like the emergency turkey thawing method where you run water over the bird. I read in my scuba class that water is about 25x more conductive of heat than air of the same temperature. So if you have an item just at 32F / 0C, and you circulate 50F / 10C water over it, that's the equivalent of using 450F / 225C air! Which of course would cook the outside and leave the inside frozen. I wonder if I had a sous vide machine if I'd use it to cook hot dogs?

[Robin Garr]

I find this un-parsable.
Like Walt, I almost always use a stick (also know as immersion) blender rather than a standard (stationary) blender

Well, that was stupid! (Of me, I mean.) Don't read what I wrote, Dale. Read what I meant. Because I have a stick/immersion blender, I don't have a stand-up blender.

[Jenise]

I relate to the stick blender, Walt, and even wish to cry a bit in public over the cracked Brun (circa 1986) we c-clamped back into usefulness and used for decades, replacing it with a Viking version we found on sale at Sur La Table. It was better looking but sadly not a better machine, and I was a fool to part with the original.

I do have a Vita Mix which will out-smooth, out-aerate every stick blender made, though it's rarely necessary to get it out (I have a zero-tolerance policy for countertop appliances). Indispensable for making salsas and gazpachos, not to mention 18 quart batches of vichysoisse. But if the stick blender will do, it gets the job.

And I love my toaster oven! Forget toast, when cooking for two it's my other oven or even salamander for things started on the stove and needing a finishing step.

Ah, yes, there we go! Love my toaster oven. Although I do mostly use it for reheating and salamandering (and a little toasting). I tried once to cook a pork tenderloin in it but it took a long time and didn't seem quite right.

I don't own a stick blender.

I can't think of anything else that's an exact parallel, but I use sous vide device to thaw things. And if volume allows I use mini-processor rather than full size.

I'm the opposite. I use a 20 qt. electric roasting pan to do my sous vide, which I will be doing on a corned beef brisket this weekend.

I can't think of anything else that's an exact parallel, but I use sous vide device to thaw things. And if volume allows I use mini-processor rather than full size.

I'm the opposite. I use a 20 qt. electric roasting pan to do my sous vide, which I will be doing on a corned beef brisket this weekend.

A bit of the ol' Irish souse-vide?

I don't own a stick blender.

Interesting, do you own a "regular" blender?

[Jenise]

Speak of the devil: I did a big batch of cream of onion and espresso soup yesterday. This is my own creation and I've never written down a recipe, but I need to as I'll be serving it at a dinner in Los Angeles next month and need to give the hostess a shopping list. Anyway, despite the two-hour sweat, the stick blender just can't seem to process them to the level of puree I need. And being flattish, they seemed to stick to the sides of the pan and escape the blades. Hello Vita-Mix!

I don't own a stick blender.

Interesting, do you own a "regular" blender?

Yes, an old Oster. Does the job for puree soups and the occasional batch of Hollandaise.

I'll give you another shock... I don't own a food processor. Not even a mini. But other than chopping, which I can do with a knife myself, and the occasional pesto (...which I'll admit is a pain to make by hand...), what other use will I get from it?

[Jenise]

Wow, I use my FP all the time. Yesterday I grated a small vat of parmesan cheese (I prefer the 'sand' consistency best, and keep a tub in the fridge at all times), and today I mixed the stringy eggplant custard for Bill's eggplant charlottes along with a bit of skin for color bits and textural interest. I have well above average knife skills, but the Cweeze can chop (nuts, cheese), grate (cheese, carrots), and mix (doughs, farces, other fillings)--you name it. I usually make my coarse-textured salsas in it too.

Hummus and pesto alone justify a food processor for me, but we often use for mayo, dressings, pastes,etc. And as Jenise mentions chopping nuts and grating large quantities of veggies (we don't use for chopping veggies as much as we probably could). For cheese more likely to use microplane but FP great if doing big quantities.

You make your own hummus?

I don't own a stick blender.

Interesting, do you own a "regular" blender?

This'll mark me down as heathen in this august company, but I don't have, and never have had, a blender.

I have got a tiny Moulinex processor I use for one recipe only, to liquidise ginger and to chop coriander (US = cilantro) for a Madhur Jaffrey recipe of chicken cooked in a ginger/lemon/coriander sauce...

I don't own a stick blender.

Interesting, do you own a "regular" blender?

This'll mark me down as heathen in this august company, but I don't have, and never have had, a blender.

I have got a tiny Moulinex processor I use for one recipe only, to liquidise ginger and to chop coriander (US = cilantro) for a Madhur Jaffrey recipe of chicken cooked in a ginger/lemon/coriander sauce...

See, that's exactly the sort of thing I'm asking about! I don't think I could get by on a mini-chop. How would I make hummus? My wife uses it to cut in the fat for pastry crust, though it's a lot of parts to wash. I realize, our mini-chop broke a few months ago and I haven't replaced it. We'll see if I end up missing it.

On spices I go both ways - sometimes use a large granite mortar and pestle (thanks Jenise) but often use a repurposed old Braun electric coffee grinder. Depends on what I am grinding and whether I need to meld wet ingredients with dry.

For blending in a pot, especially soups, it is normally the Brain stick bender but in cases where you want really smooth, then the Cuisinart food processor steps in.

The Kitchen Aid mixer, with all the attachments is very useful in a lot of different ways - fast grating of a lot of volume, sausage stuffing, pasta milling without having to turn a crank etc.

Jenise - how did the charlottes turn out? I used the mortar and pestle to grind the freshly toasted cumin seeds for that recipe!

You make your own hummus?

Definitely. It's fun to vary the spice mix and lemon/garlic ratio. I've been doing for years but lately as blood pressure was creeping up it's a good way to control sodium (I pressure cook a batch of chickpeas from Armenian grocery rather than use canned, though you can find low-salt canned). I tend toward a lemony/cuminy style but vary it a bit each time (cayenne, sumac or za'atar- though sometimes those are added as topping- or occasionally blend in roasted peppers, carrot, or olives).

Yes, we have a coffee grinder that is a dedicated spice grinder. We have mortars/pestles, but when you need to do a lot fast. ...

What Bill Spohn said regarding spice grinding. I mainly use a Braun coffee grinder for dried spices that are to be ground to a powder, such as garam masala. I use a granite mortar and pestle for Thai curry pastes and other such wet spice preparations. I use a Cuisinart mini-food processor for things such as grating parmigiano cheese. I have a Braun immersion blender for pureeing.

-Paul W.

As an aside, my Kitchen Aid mixer came with a smaller work bowl, presumably for use if you have small amounts of material to chop/mix. I have never used it - the time to assemble, use and wash never seems worthwhile so I just use the large bowl.

[Jenise]

Jenise - how did the charlottes turn out? I used the mortar and pestle to grind the freshly toasted cumin seeds for that recipe!

Because the eggplant is stringy, I whizzed the eggplant/egg mixture in the Cweeze, cumin seeds and all, plus a few strips of skin for additional texture.

Yeah, mine were sliced about 1/4" thick and the skin just seems to disappear.