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CNET
16 minutes ago
- CNET
Chefs Advise: Don't Waste Your Money on These 20 Pointless Kitchen Tools
Kitchen gadgets come in all shapes and sizes but that doesn't mean all of them are actually useful. While essential kitchen utensils get used constantly and can speed up your cooking process, some options are just going to take up space and end up collecting dust. Choosing versatile options like a quality knife, or kitchen shears, means that you'll build skills and ensure those tools get used on a regular basis. Instead of chasing every buzzy new appliance, it pays to stick with gear that's functional, reliable and actually makes your life easier. To help you sort the essentials from the excess, we asked chefs and kitchen pros which gadgets are worth the hype -- and which ones are better left behind. When decluttering your kitchen, knowing what not to buy is just as important as knowing what to keep. Don't miss any of CNET's unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add us as a preferred Google source on Chrome. These career cooks are the ultimate authority on which kitchen gadgets should get the boot -- especially when cupboard, counter and drawer space is limited. Each one listed their least favorite kitchen tools and offered their preferred method or tool for completing the cooking task that they're meant to do. Masaharu Morimoto Celebrity chef, restaurateur Masaharu Morimoto shared his pick for the most overrated kitchen tool.1. Mandolin Chef Morimoto encourages beefing up your knife skills to make thin and uniform vegetable slices. Milk Street Why: "While it brings good slices, mastering proper knife skills gives you more control, precision and safety in the long run. Mandolins can be bulky, hard to clean and risky if you're not extremely careful. Relying too much on a mandolin, or tools like a two-in-one apple cutter or a tomato corer can hold you back from developing real technique. Taking the time to learn how to handle a sharp chef's knife or Japanese blade will help you in almost every recipe." What to try instead: Mac 8-inch Japanese chef knife. Lead chef-instructor Institute of Culinary Education, Los Angeles Culinary instructor Eric Rowse knows a gimmicky kitchen tool when he sees one. Institute of Culinary Education 2. Onion holders Why: "These look like a weapon for Wolverine wannabes; it's meant to help you hold a whole onion and "chop" it. Instead, cut the onion in half to create a flat surface so it won't roll away. If you're trying to cut rings, save the $14 and stick a fork in the root and hold the fork." What to try instead: Learn to properly slice an onion the old-fashioned way. 3. Onion goggles Save your money -- and some dignity -- and skip the onion goggles. Rubberball/Why: "A waste of money, as they don't form a great seal around the eyes to prevent the sulfur compounds from getting to your eyes and making you cry. Keep your knife sharp and open a window or turn on a fan instead." What to try instead: CNET's Peter Butler shares tips for cutting onions without crying. 4. Metal, glass, stone and acrylic cutting boards Glass, stone and metal boards are OK for serving but when slicing and dicing, wood is the way to go. David Watsky/CNET Why: "Cutting on hard surfaces is bad for your knives; instead, go for wood or poly." What to try instead: Our list of the best cutting boards features plenty of knife-safe options. 5. Chicken shredder Why: "I can't think of anyone needing a tool devoted to shredding chicken outside a restaurant and even restaurants don't use it. This item only has one purpose so I'd skip it." What to try instead: Two forks. 6. Herb stripper Why: "I love thyme but hate stripping it. When I was young I got suckered into believing this tool would help me … It's been sitting in my cupboard, laughing at me for almost a decade now." What to try instead: For heartier herbs like rosemary and thyme, just use your fingers to slide down the stem, opposite to how the leaves grow. 7. Bluetooth wireless probe thermometer Instant read meat probes work fast and don't require a fussy Bluetooth connection. Chris Wedel/CNET Why: "These are a great tool but can be very expensive. I can see myself losing, breaking, dropping, accidentally throwing away or dropping it in the coals." What to try instead: ThermoPro's Lightning Instant Read Thermometer Cookbook author and lifestyle expert Cookbook author Peter Som didn't hold back when asked about his least favorite kitchen tools. Peter Som 8. Electric can opener A manual can opener is cheaper, works great and is less likely to break. Nelson Aguilar/CNET Why: "Most of us grew up with an electric can opener permanently stationed on the kitchen counter, like it was a vital appliance. But truthfully, they're more nostalgia than necessity. They take up space, can be a hassle to clean and often struggle with irregularly sized cans. A good manual opener is compact, reliable and gets the job done without needing an outlet or a user manual." What to try instead: Oxo's soft-handled can opener. Richard Ingraham Personal chef to Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union and author of Love: My Love Expressed Through Food Richard Ingraham avoids certain kitchen tools when cooking for celebs like Dwayne Wade and Gabrielle Union.9. Avocado slicer Why: "A knife and spoon do the job just as easily and the specialized tool rarely fits all avocado sizes properly. It's a one-trick pony that clutters drawers." What to try instead: A good paring knife like this $35 Wusthof 10. Egg separator Separating an egg by hand isn't so difficult that it requires hardware. Yipengge/Getty Images Why: "A tool just for separating yolks is unnecessary for most home cooks." The only exception may be this one, and even that is just for yolks. Err, I mean yucks. What to try instead: Cracking an egg and using the shell halves or your fingers works just as well. 11. Garlic peeler tube Why: "Rolling garlic cloves in a silicone tube may work but requires storing a single-purpose gadget." What to try instead: Smashing garlic cloves with a chef knife is quicker and more reliable. 12. Pizza scissors Chef Ingraham says skip the scissors on pizza night. Zoranm/Getty Images Why: "A pizza cutter or knife works better and faster. These scissors are gimmicky, awkward to clean and take up more space than they're worth." What to try instead: KitchenAid's stainless-steel pizza wheel. 13. Herb scissors Why: "They're hard to clean and don't offer a huge advantage over a sharp chef's knife. Plus, they tend to crush delicate herbs more than slice them." What to try instead: Made In's 8-inch Chef Knife. 14. Electric egg cooker Why: "Boiling eggs in a pot is straightforward and flexible. The electric version just adds clutter unless you boil eggs constantly and hate using a stove." What to try instead: This 1-minute hack for making poached eggs in the microwave. 15. Butter cutter and dispenser A good butter knife works just as well and requires less space and maintenance. Williams Sonoma Why: "It slices sticks of butter into pats … but why? A knife works instantly and you don't have to load and clean a plastic gadget for it." What to try instead: Williams Sonoma breakfast butter blade. 16. Pasta measurer Why: "It's a plastic disc with holes to tell you how much spaghetti to cook. Just eyeball it or learn the rough weight by experience. It's not worth the drawer space." What to try instead: A kitchen scale for precise measurements. 17. Oil mister Why: "Often clogs, sprays unevenly and requires constant cleaning. A small spoon or brush does the job with less frustration." What to try instead: World Market's olive oil cruet. 18. Electric potato peeler A sharp vegetable peeler is all you need to skin a batch of potatoes. Capelle.r/Getty Images Why: "Takes up a surprising amount of space and peels slower than a regular peeler. Plus, it's overkill unless you're peeling dozens of potatoes at once." What to try instead: Oxo's Swivel peeler. 19. Bagel guillotine Why: "Sold as a safer way to slice bagels but takes up a ton of space and is awkward to clean. A serrated knife does the job just fine." What to try instead: Opinel's 8-inch bread knife. Jackie Carnesi Executive chef, Kellogg's Diner Jackie Carnesi StarChefs 20. Oven mitts There's a reason pro chefs don't use oven mitts. Webstaurant Why: "Oven mitts are the most useless item in a home kitchen. A sturdy kitchen towel does the same job, and odds are, it's more likely to be washed regularly. I don't know many people who wash their oven mitts frequently enough ... it seems many have deemed it an item that doesn't warrant regular cleaning. It does." What to try instead: Stock a plethora of kitchen towels.
News24
an hour ago
- News24
National Dialogue: we can't outsource democracy to the state
Be among those who shape the future with knowledge. Uncover exclusive stories that captivate your mind and heart with our FREE 14-day subscription trial. Dive into a world of inspiration, learning, and empowerment. You can only trial once. Start your FREE trial now Show Comments ()
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
OPINION - If you think A Level results are unfair, I've got some news for you
If teenagers haven't already absorbed that life is unfair, they'll register it by the time they're 18 and find that everyone around them thinks that their entire future hangs on three little letters, or maybe four, these being the grades they got at A-level or its equivalent today. You may well live for eight decades but for those who got their results at 10am – unless they made it to school earlier – it's the six or so hours they took sitting their exams which determine what follows between now and death. That's how it feels. It was fine, chez McDonagh. There were whoops this morning from my daughter's bedroom, which frightened the cat, once she found she's got the grades to get into the Courtauld. But she's tiptoeing round her friends, some of whom fell short of the results they wanted. It's all the more awkward, since it turns out that there are record numbers of A grades this year: 28 per cent of students got an A or starred A, which looks remarkably like grade inflation. There are in fact marked gender and regional disparities when it comes to A levels. Many more girls – 440,000 - than boys – 380,000 - took A-levels than male students. The boys were concentrated in subjects such as maths, physics and economics in which they did slightly better than girls, but it's striking, that disparity in numbers. As for the regional imbalance, it's even more marked, and London is on the right side of the divide. Some 32 per cent of entries here got a starred A or A; a little under 23 per cent in the north east of England did so. I hate to say this, but London doesn't have a premium on native intelligence over Sunderland I hate to say this, but London doesn't have a premium on native intelligence over Sunderland; there's something else at work, and it's probably the enhanced pupil premium that the capital was so good at demanding and getting in previous years, though the number of private schools may also have something to do with it. Private schools are genius at producing top grades. And there are tricks to getting them: A levels are to a dispiriting extent nowadays a matter of jumping through hoops, in giving examiners the chance to tick boxes (it's not a figure of speech) when they see candidate using the formulas and language that they are looking for. In the humanities, and I've been through this twice now, you aren't marked on your engagement with the subject or your knowledge of it, so much as your ability to make the requisite number of points in the required fashion. And if you don't, you're toast. Notwithstanding the inflated A grades, there are lots of young people out there who are feeling like failures because they didn't measure up to a narrow standard of performance in a narrow range of subjects. You want to bring them together for a collective pep talk to say that, actually, once you're at work, no one cares what you did or where you went. No one has ever asked for proof of my university qualifications, ever and certainly not A levels. What matters is whether you're good at your job, a decent worker, a pleasant colleague. People may ask where you went to university by way of conversation, but there's quite a bit of kudos in not having a degree, the currency now being so widely spread. This year, about 38 per cent of 18 year olds will go to university. It carries zero bragging rights. My father left school in Ireland at 14 and went straight to work in a pottery. It's possible to flourish outside higher education. And yet one of my daughter's friends is trying to find a way to tell her parents that actually, she doesn't want to go to university; she wants to join the armed services. I mean, which is cooler, having a daughter who's an RAF pilot or a girl who, after three years of media studies, still isn't quite sure where she's going, only she's going to be taking an awful lot of student debt with her? The more important aspect of A levels is that it's the culmination of about 15 years of education, in my children's case, courtesy of the state. And it's those 15 years which matter, not the exams that mark their ending. That schooling takes up most of a young life, in the course of which an individual is formed by school, teachers, friends, the state and that intangible thing, the wider culture. In other words, A levels may be the culmination of a lifetime's schooling but they're not the measure of it. They're a narrow assessment of a narrow range of subjects, useful chiefly as an entry to higher education, which isn't for everyone. Other aspects of the years at school matter more. If you've done well, congratulations. But if you didn't, it needn't matter. The adventure of life isn't defined by the letters A to C. Melanie McDonagh is a columnist for The London Standard
