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Useless kitchen tools! - Page 3

post #61 of 87
1/22/10 at 7:36pm
Pete & Grace: You're both persactly right. It's a specialized tool, used in processing plants and on factory ships, rather than a restaurant or home-kitchen gadget. With the double row of teeth, and the hook-like blade, you can really make some time gil & gutting.
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post #62 of 87
1/22/10 at 9:41pm
The slap chop is identical to the thing that my grandmother has used to chop nuts for decades. It is probably useful, to some extent at least.
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post #63 of 87
1/23/10 at 3:51am
You're just supposed to leave marks in the pie so you can cut even slices with a knife, not actually cut the pie with it. Though, I do agree, sharp knife and an eyeball or two work just fine.

Also, those wire cake cutters. They're barely wider than a standard sheet cake, so you can't really get a good sawing action down, and the wire is way too flimsy to just force through the cake.

I also can't stand those griddle scrapers. You know, the ones that look like a bench knife on a stick. I'd rather use an un-dinged spatula, or a bench knife. No need for a handle, thanks.
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post #64 of 87
1/23/10 at 7:26am
Wire cake cutter? Do you mean an Angel Food cake cutter or the tool used to torte?
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post #65 of 87
1/23/10 at 7:37am
I've had this in my drawer for years and never knew what it was for. I was thinking about throwing it out until I made stuffed mushrooms one day for a dinner party. I was looking around in the drawer to find some kind of spoon or tongs that could be used as a serving utensil for the mushrooms and tried this one. Wouldn't you know it, this makes a perfect serving utensil for stuffed mushrooms, and probably stuffed tomatoes and other stuffed items as well.

Aside from that I have no clue what it's actually for.
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post #66 of 87
1/23/10 at 7:45am
^ To pass wine glasses across the table?
<edit, hmm I think you need the same mental image as me for that to be funny ;) >
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post #67 of 87
1/23/10 at 8:11am
Similar to the Pot Passers the Beverly Hillbillies used in their Billi Ard Room
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post #68 of 87
1/23/10 at 8:40am
Koukouvagia, what you have there is a spoon for removing olives from a jar so that the brine can drain back in.

I wouldn't have known that except I had a recent Duh! moment, when somebody suggested using a melon baller to remove capers from the jar. The hole in the middle serves the same function.

Who'd a thunk it!
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post #69 of 87
1/23/10 at 9:08am
Melon ballers are multi-taskers! Who'd a thunk it? First, their intended purpose, then caper dipper---and now...gonna use mine to smack JJ upside the head!!

I admit to watching the Beverly Hillbillies, but don't recall what they used for a pot passer. (come to think of it...what did they use for the pot? :look:)
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post #70 of 87
1/23/10 at 11:11am
They thought the billiard table was a formal dining table, and used the pool cues as pot passers.
They also thought the rhinocerous head on the wall was a Billi Ard.
"If this is the Billi Ard room, thatthere must be the Billi Ard".
Yeah, I was raised by the boob tube.
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post #71 of 87
1/23/10 at 4:25pm
Probably the thing I only used maybe once or twice was the microwave omlette maker. Just a piece of plastic.
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post #72 of 87
1/23/10 at 5:17pm
Does an intern count as a piece of equipment?? Because most that I have known were useless!
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post #73 of 87
1/23/10 at 5:55pm
a Spoon Rest.

why not just use a plate instead
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post #74 of 87
1/23/10 at 6:14pm
Probably a microwave omlette maker. Never used it more than a couple of times.
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post #75 of 87
1/23/10 at 7:56pm
Hey...:mad:!! My spoon rest is actually kitchen decor. I have copper accents. The spoon rest is a beautiful solid copper maple leaf. I don't know what its intended purpose might have been...candy dish, accent piece, ashtray?...but it fits perfectly and accomodates a couple of utensile. Into the DW to wash it.
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post #76 of 87
1/23/10 at 8:03pm
Can I use a melon baller to make cookie's?
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post #77 of 87
1/23/10 at 8:05pm
I agree about the spoon rest...although you can use a plate, it does add to the decor
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post #78 of 87
1/23/10 at 8:10pm
Yes you can!! in fact that is the beauty of the melon baler!! Of course your cookies might turn out the size of Dip'N'Dot ice cream, but hey! That could be the new thing!!!
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post #79 of 87
1/23/10 at 8:35pm
So kitchen infomercial pretty much piss me off. This entire thread should have been littered with them, but I have been amazed at what everyone has come up with! Good example I never would have posted was the measuring spoons! Haven't used one in probably 10 years!!! If a recipe calls for a teaspoon of whatever, who has time to find where the retard put it this time! If I learned anything from Justin Wilson it was how to measure ingredients LOL.

But the most useless kitchen utensil available on the market has to be the fondue pot! There used to be this one infomercial that not only included "the double non-burn melting devise", but also came with a (and I **** you not) "Dip and pour ladle"!!! Plus a bunch of molds and crap!

Basically they wanted you to buy all the things you already own again!!!!!
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post #80 of 87
1/23/10 at 8:52pm
If there are any entrepreneurs out there that have read this and want to make a buck or two......make this!!!!

One utensil that cleans calamari, de-bones salmon, peels a potato, removes the foot from a scallop, and pulls the shell and poop off a shrimp while leaving the tail attached. And it also has to retain the smell of a grease trap to the dishwashers nose only ,as well as give some sort of artificial intelligence to the wait staff.

If anyone can create this product, Bill Gates will be mowing your lawn!!!
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post #81 of 87
1/23/10 at 11:00pm
Sure! scoop, plonk, squish, bake :D

Edit: Oops that was in reply to melon baller. I see some posts came in as I wasted time elsewhere.
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post #82 of 87
1/24/10 at 5:45am
Re: melon ballers as cookie scoops.

Personally, I wouldn't use one for that purpose. Two reasons. First off, the width to depth ratio is such that you'd spend a lot of time fighting to get the dough out of the spoon. Second, the cookies would be awfully small.

I'm wondering, too, if when you scoop the dough it won't extrude through the bottom hole, which could be kind of messy.

IIRC, the "standard" dishers used as cookie scoops are 1 1/2-2 tablespoons. I've no idea what the capacity of a melon baller is, but even the larger of a two-spoon baller is a long way from that.
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post #83 of 87
1/24/10 at 5:47am
Brizzel, other than your last two criterium, there is such a device. It's called a knife. :rolleyes:
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post #84 of 87
1/24/10 at 7:14am
No, I meant something to do it for you. Probably my least favorite tasks right there.
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post #85 of 87
1/24/10 at 7:24am
Yup: I use an old ashtray as a spoon rest; what's nice is that the handle can sit right in the slot where the cig used to go. Also use a fancy ceramic spoon rest I got as a gift, and a sleek metal one I got at a conference (it advertises Kikkoman). All very handy.

Of course, if I didn't have them, I'd use a small plate or bowl. :lol:
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post #86 of 87
1/24/10 at 8:47am
Of course, if I didn't have them, I'd use a small plate or bowl.

Occurs to me that it's probably this kind of chicken & egg thing with many gadgets. Because we have them---for whatever reason---we use them. But if we didn't have them we'd make do with something else.

It's interesting, too, how one person's useless gadget is another's must-have tool. All goes to personal cooking style, I reckon. To me, a gadget should make the job easier, faster, safer, or more efficient. Otherwise, what's the point?
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post #87 of 87
1/24/10 at 10:54am
paper plate as a spoon rest, I hate doing dishes :lol: use the melon baller to make mini cookies to top ice cream!
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