Wacky Practicals has developed a new take on the conventional tea kettle, a collapsible version that is made of silicone.  The Pack Away Kettle has a stainless steel base that does conduct heat so it will stay hot after boiling.  It is safe for all heat sources, electric, conduction, and gas stoves.  Now you can be sure to have tea wherever you go or have a new way just to boil hot water, be it abroad or even on a camping trip.  This tea kettle shrinks down to 5.5 cm and expands to 14 cm.  It is dishwasher safe too.  The capacity of the Pack Away Kettle is 1.1 litres (just under two pints).  Enjoy your favorite drink wherever you are.  If you are attracted to a tea kettle that whistles, this one will disappoint you.  Pack Away Kettle is FDA food safe and weighs 350 grams.  To get it shipped from the UK to the USA, it will set you back approximately $81, about half is shipping fees.  Please go to http://wackypracticals.co.uk for more information.

Filed in categories: Kitchen Gadgets, News

Tagged: Cooking, Kitchen, Tea

Pack Away Kettle – A Collapsible Teapot originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 8, 2011 at 10:00 am.

My parenting or kid-monitoring skills are simplistic: just shut ‘em up if there is little or no work on my part.  These crust cutters (this one available from Amazon, $7) is the type of gadget that fulfills that philosophy.

For anyone who just doesn’t want to deal with crust (pie crust not included, of course), here you go.  The fact that it also slices your samich into two dinosaurs in this photo is really a personal choice, though: Just like pancakes, I prefer my samiches to be in the shape of airplanes.

Filed in categories: Kid Gadgets, Kitchen Gadgets, News

Tagged: Cooking

Just Indulge ‘Em: Crust Cutter originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 26, 2011 at 11:00 am.

The Paprika Recipe Manager App lets you use your iPad to collect and organize recipes from websites and add your own custom recipes.  You can easily download recipes from some major recipe sites, and you can also copy and paste recipes from any website.  You can create your own categories and use the built-in search to look for just the right recipe.  You can create shopping lists from certain recipes and add your own items to the list.  You can email the recipes or grocery lists, and you can set the iPad to stay on while you’re cooking.  The Paprika Recipe Manager App is $9.99 at iTunes.

Filed in categories: iPhone, iPad, iPod related, News

Tagged: Cooking, iPad app

Paprika Recipe Manager App for iPad originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on October 4, 2010 at 8:00 am.

The A+R Store has a portable grill that will make camping and picnicking more convenient this summer.  The Stainless Steel Notebook Grill has a stainless surface with a waterproof finish.  It has a 250 square-inch cooking surface on a stainless steel grate.  It has cut-out handles for easy carrying.  It’s 21″ X 19″ X 1″ when folded and opens up to 21″ X 19″ X 15″ for use.  It’s $61.20 at A+R online.

Filed in categories: News, Outdoor Gear

Tagged: Cooking, Outdoors, Spotlight Gadgets

Stainless Steel Notebook Grill originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on July 22, 2010 at 11:30 am.

Ok, you don’t wear it while you’re grilling… That would just be crazy What we have here is the Darwin BBQ. It’s an all steel constructed charcoal grill that folds up into a nice little package for easy storage and portability. It looks like it could be the perfect companion on a camping trip for 2. As far as I can find, it’s only available in the UK through I Want One of Those and will set you back £19.99. Mmmmm, I can smell the hamburgers and hotdogs now.

Filed in categories: News, Outdoor Gear

Tagged: Cooking, Outdoors, Spotlight Gadgets

Darwin BBQ – A Wearable Charcoal Grill originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on July 17, 2010 at 1:00 pm.

The Charcoal Companion Steak Station was designed to make your time at the grill more productive and relaxing by letting the Steak Station keep track of the meat temperature while you relax and enjoy your beer.  So does it work?  How does it compare to those digital meat thermometer forks that we have all used for years?  Let’s find out!

First things first… let me apologize for the appearance of my grill.  I am in the market for a new grill because this one is on its last legs.  But it has served me well over about 7 years, so let’s not have any smack-talking on my pitiful looking grill!  Ok, there, I feel better.

For years I have used a digital meat thermometer fork that allowed me to pick the type of meat I was grilling and measure the meat temperature by sticking the fork into the meat.  I have had it for about 5 years now and it is showing signs that perhaps it is time to replace it.  So I jumped at the chance to try the Steak Station.

The Steak Station has a digital display that shows the temperature reading for 4 individual prongs. Each prong has a colored rubber(?) pliable ball at its base, and then a stainless steel cord extends just under 2 feet, with a matching colored connector on the other end of the cord.  You then plug the colored connectors into the 4 jacks on the Steak Station and insert the prongs into your meat, making sure that each prong tip is placed right in the middle of the meat.  You then turn on the Steak Station and it begins to monitor the temperature of the meat.

As you can see from the pictures, the adjustable fold-out kickstand on the back pops out into various positions, so it feels sturdy when sitting on the grill.  It also has some plastic tabs on the back that allow you to wrap the cords around the back of the unit when not in use.  Also, the prongs slide into holes behind each jack so that they are basically stored inside the Steak Station.  The display, which is bright and clear in direct sunlight, shows each of the 4 readings in a scale from “Rare” to “Well”.  The black blocks seen below each scale are an indication of the temperature of the meat.  As the temperature rises, the more black blocks appear toward the right.  Keeping track of which prong is measuring which piece of meat is easy because of the colored indicators.

It only uses 1 AAA battery so it requires very little power.  I used my old temperature fork at the same time to compare the temperature readings with the Steak Station.  I was encouraged to see that the temperature readings on the Steak Station were consistent with my temperature fork.

I wish the temperature gauge on the display screen would actually show a numeric temperature instead of categories of rare, medium, and well.  It does make sense to have these categories because when someone asks you what you want your meat cooked to, you don’t say “150 degrees”, you say “medium well” or whatever.  So the categories do make sense, but it would be nice if instead of the black blocks to signify the increasing temperature, it showed a numerical temperature.

I do believe that the stainless steel cords are not long enough.  More than once I accidentally pulled the monitor off the grill because I was fiddling with cords in the meat.  Also, I wasn’t free to place the meat wherever I wanted to put it… I had to put the meat close to one end of the grill so that the cords would reach.  I also don’t think these cords are long enough to be used with my oven.  I also had to work hard to not get the cords tangled up with each other.  I don’t really count this as a negative though, and over time I think I would get used to managing the cords.  It was just awkward the first couple of times I used it.

Obviously, once the grill gets going, those cords and prongs get very hot.  So you can’t use your hands to move them or adjust them.  This was a problem for me because when you have a large piece of meat, you invariably want to know what the temperature is in various places in the meat, not just one place.  So I found myself wanting to move the temperature prong from one end of the meant to the other, which was difficult to do because I was unable to handle the prongs with my hands.  So I had to use my tongs to manipulate the prongs.  It wasn’t that hard pulling it out of the meat because each prong has a soft rubber ball where the cord connets to the prong.  As you can see in the picture below, it is quite easy to pull it out when you grab that rubber ball.  The problem was trying to get it pushed back in the meat.  I had to use my tongs to pinch the cord right next to the ball so that I could push the prong into the meat.  It was a bit awkward, and my only analogy that I can think of is that it would be similar if you put the end of a toothpick between your teeth and then tried to push the toothpick into something.

Now, for smaller pieces of meat, I don’t think that would have been an issue because I wouldn’t have had a desire to move the prong around to test the temperature different places.  But with larger pieces of meat, it caused me problems.  Perhaps this was unique to me though, because maybe other people don’t have a desire to do that??  In the past, with my traditional temperature gauge I would simply insert it wherever I wanted to test the temp and it was very easy to quickly insert it other locations.  This device works best if you leave the temp prongs alone, which is why I think smaller pieces of meat work best.

I think it is important to state that it only has 4 prongs.  This isn’t really a negative I guess, but since there are 6 in my family, I rarely only have 4 pieces of meat on the grill.  And I am a little paranoid about making sure that meat is not undercooked, so I was forced to use my old temperature fork to test the other pieces of meat.

So what is the bottom line?

It performs exactly as it is purported to perform.  It is compact and easy to store, easy to clean, and provides accurate temperature readings.  For a large family who does lots of grilling, I am not sure that this unit would get used alot, because of the awkwardness of moving the prongs around.  Some grills get very hot, so trying to manipulate those prongs could get dicey.  I think that grilling just a few pieces of meat is what works best with this gadget, and you could even use a couple of prongs for the same piece of meat, on different ends.  I do wish that the temperature readings were numeric instead of graphic blocks, but I can live with that.

The cords need to be longer, and this further worries me because I am in need of a new grill and I have my eye on some of those sweet grills at my local big box store.  A larger grill means that these cords aren’t gonna reach.  And finally, I keep wishing that this thing was wireless instead of having these cords.  I mean, c’mon, for years we have been able to purchase those remote temperature gauges for your house so you can set the part outside that reads the temp and then transfers it to the unit in your bathroom, right?  But I have to remind myself that this thing is only $29.99, which is not a bad price for what you get.

If you grill large quantities of meat on a regular basis, perhaps this gadget isn’t for you.  But I think it does make a great gift for the dad who is a gadget freak, who also happens to like to grill the occasional steak or 2.

Filed in categories: Home Tech, Kitchen Gadgets, Outdoor Gear, Reviews

Tagged: Cooking, Grilling

Charcoal Companion Steak Station Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on July 4, 2010 at 10:30 am.

I really look forward to doing kitchen gadget reviews when the purpose of the gadget is to make something yummy. Today I want to show you the Pizzelle Pro Express Bake 834 from Chef’sChoice. If you are not familiar with pizzelles, they are crisp thin cookies that originated in Italy. Jeanne has wanted one forever, so I was super happy when the folks at Chef’sChoice offered to send one to me to review. Let’s take a look.

Package Contents

PizzellePro device
Cannoli wooden roller
Instruction / Recipe booklet

The pizzelle maker looks like a small waffle iron, which is what it basically is. It has a chrome top and bottom, with a long Black plastic handle.

The handle has a trigger mechanism that you press as you lift the lid.

You can make 2 pizzelles at one time with this cooker. As you see, there are non-stick heating elements on the top and bottom, with attractive snowflake patterns that bake into the pizzelle as they cook.

The heating elements are not removable, so you have to wipe them clean (you can not dunk the whole unit into the sink).

The attached cord can wrap around the bottom of the cooker for easier storage. The instruction booklet states that the PizzellePro can be stored standing upright, but this really isn’t true because it will fall over. Of course, it could be wedged against another appliance in your cabinet.

Ok, let’s get cooking!

The recipe booklet that ships with the cooker only includes 2 basic recipes. Each one makes about 6 dozen 4 inch pizzelles. Since there are only two of us in my house and neither one of us needs to eat that many sweets, we cut the recipe in half. The main ingredients are eggs, butter, flour, baking power and sugar. To flavor the pizzelles, you can use Anise, Vanilla, Lemon, Almond, etc. We decided to go the traditional route and use Anise.

Once the batter is ready, all you do is plug in the cooker and wait for the Red LED on the lid to go out.

Then you lift the lid and place a teaspoon of the mixture in the center of each heated plate and close the lid. At this point you only have to wait about 20 seconds till the baked pizzelle is ready to be removed. I really wish the cooker had some type of timer instead of us having to count out 1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi … 20 Mississippi a bazillion times.

The finished product is a thin lightly sweet cookie. You can remove the pizzelles and plop on two more dollops of batter to cook the next batch. There is no need to wait for the cooker to heat back up.

You can leave them plain or sprinkle some powdered sugar on top.

Click the image above to see a larger view.

The PizzellePro from Chef’sChoice is really easy to use. We made a half batch (around 35 pizzelles) in about 30 minutes, including the time it took to mix the batter and read the instructions. Even better is the the fact that clean up was just a simple matter of wiping down the plates after they had cooled.

I know we’ll end up experimenting with different flavors (I want to try Orange extract) and might even try cannollis sometime (you roll the pizzelle into a tube and fill with icing, cream, etc.). Making pizzelles could be a fun family activity for the holidays or anytime when your sweet tooth starts aching.

Filed in categories: Kitchen Gadgets, Reviews

Tagged: Cooking, Kitchen

Chef’s Choice PizzellePro Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on May 1, 2010 at 1:00 pm.

Finally!

Well I think this is legit.  While most postings for a see-through toaster make note that the designs are just concepts, I found the Magimix Vision see-through toaster (“coming to Williams Sonoma stores in Spring 2010″) on actual web sites, for sale as of right now.  JohnLewis.com claims it has “more than 10 in stock” and Williams Sonoma‘s web site is also listing them now.  So it must be available.

Its street price has been touted at 300 dollars (US) and JohnLewis’ web site lists it as 190 pounds (UK).

Filed in categories: Kitchen Gadgets, News

Tagged: Cooking, Kitchen, Spotlight Gadgets

See Through Toaster – Don’t Believe it Till You See it originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on May 1, 2010 at 11:02 am.

You can buy the Autonomous Saucier from Hammacher Schlemmer. It’s a battery powered sauce stirrer. No longer will you need to slave over a pan of gravy when you have this little gadget. It sits in the pan and automatically spins and revolves around to keep everything mixed and smooth. The three legs made of stainless steel with silicone feet can be removed and washed in the dishwasher. Freeing yourself from the tyranny of stirring will cost you $39.95

Filed in categories: Home Tech, News

Tagged: Cooking, Kitchen, Spotlight Gadgets

When stirring is just too much trouble… originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 14, 2010 at 9:34 am.

You really gotta love our redneck brothers and sisters and all their wacky gadgets. Case in point: 14.5 inch long butane backyard BBQ lighters shaped to look like a rifle or a fishing pole. I guess you have to love Nascar racin and possum huntin to figure this un out. Get one now for $9.99 from Bass Pro Shops.

Filed in categories: Home Tech

Tagged: Cooking, Outdoors, Spotlight Gadgets

Set your grill on fire with a rifle or a fishing pole – No lie originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 26, 2009 at 5:57 pm.

Hogwild Beetle Spoons and Sporks have a wacky design that allows the folded wings to rotate 180 degrees from the closed position to the extended and ready-to-use position. They are dishwasher safe and come with an individual travel case that slides neatly into backpacks, lunch boxes or picnic baskets. They just might help you bribe your kids to eat their veggies… maybe.

Filed in categories: Kid Gadgets

Tagged: Cooking, Kids

Crazy folding spoons for kids originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on July 14, 2009 at 6:41 am.

I like to cook, but I don’t really enjoy all the clean up tasks afterwards. The Trudeau Utensil Pot Clip from ChefTools puts an end to one messy source – your stove top. This little stainless steel clip attaches to the edge of your pot, so that it can hold the stirring spoon while it’s not stirring. I think it’s a much more elegant solution than just leaving it on your stove dribbling a puddle of sauce all over it.

Filed in categories: Home Tech

Tagged: Cooking, Kitchen Gadgets

No more mess on your stove top while cooking originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on July 11, 2009 at 10:03 am.

There aren’t too many things that taste as yummy as a freshly grilled burger or hotdog on a warm summer day. Strangely, I have a charcoal grill in my garage that has barely been used though. Every time I think about using it, I change my mind because I don’t want to drag it out and clean it up afterwords. The EZ Grill is a product specifically for lazy people like me. It’s a 100% recyclable disposable instant grill that is great for summer beach gatherings, camping, dorm and apartment dwellers. The grill comes complete with foil pan, grill grate, stand and 100% natural charcoal without the additives, chemicals and fillers associated with traditional charcoal. EZ Grill’s all-natural ingredients include carbon from rice, corn and wheat stalks, corn starch for binding and mineral oil for ignition. It is supposed to light with just one match and consistently cook for up to 1 ½ hours post ignition. The EZ Grill is available in regular size (1.81 lbs) and party size (3.31 lbs) for $4.99 and $9.99, respectively. It can be purchased at Winn-Dixie stores and at www.ezgrill.com. Who is up for a cookout?

Filed in categories: Home Tech, Travel Gear

Tagged: Cooking

Make grilling easier with the EZ Grill originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on June 23, 2009 at 10:45 am.

You’ll never shed another tear while chopping onions. However, you will look like a big dork.

Filed in categories: Uncategorized

Tagged: Cooking, Kitchen, Spotlight Gadgets

Spotlight Gadget: Onion Goggles originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on September 25, 2006 at 5:36 am.