I used to scoff at the aisle in the Asian grocery store that sold the cheap-looking household/kitchen stuff (who wants a waving Lucky Cat statue?), but recently, after my electric thermos died, I found myself skulking down that very aisle, glancing with envy at the Tiger, Tatung, and assorted Japanese versions that were out of my desired price range. I also discovered that, aesthetics aside, the aisle actually contains some rather useful kitchen gadgets and tools at very reasonable prices. They may be pink or covered with Sanrio (hello kitty!) cartoons, but they do the same job and cost less than those glistening versions at Bed Bath and Beyond.
Some useful/cool finds:
-splatter guard- a big round screen with a handle that you use to cover your pan when cooking to prevent grease from spitting out and ruining your nice shirts (my poor blue blouse when I was making pork chops)
-long handle wire basket "dippers"- I don't know what they are, but we use them for hot pot, to fish yummy bits of meat and veggies from a boiling broth. The bigger sizes are useful for fishing boiled dumplings out of the cooking water.
-I don't even know WHAT to call this thing, but it has expandable "claw" that you can use to grab the edges of a plate and lift it. My family used to steam things in the rice cooker, so we'd use it to lift the plate out rather than burning our fingers (more on improvised steamers in a future entry).
Useful Kitchen Gadgets
October 26th, 2006 at 01:42 pm
October 26th, 2006 at 03:41 pm 1161877286
October 26th, 2006 at 03:47 pm 1161877677
October 27th, 2006 at 02:21 pm 1161958913