Are there too many high tech kitchen gadgets?

[Mike Nolan]

Here's an amusing article in the Wall Street Journal:

Cooking Gadgets

Full disclosure: I do own #3 of the items shown at the end of the article.

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[RiversideLen]

I am usually careful about buying gadgets, not because I'm not intrigued by them, but because I have limited storage space. My biggest regret is buying the Spiralizer for the KitchenAid stand mixer. It works alright but I have found little practical use for it.

[Mike Nolan]

As Stephen Wright has noted, "You can't have everything--where would you put it?"

I was looking at a $99 immersion circulation heater last night, I'm not sure which would be the bigger question--where would I store it or how often would I use it?

[aaronatthedoublef]

I developed a tangential theory this summer... We spent a week on Nantucket which has become mini-Manhattan in the summer. All the restaurants server overly complex dishes with loads of local ingredients.

First, on a small island without much land for farming there is a limited amount of stuff you can grow and grow well. It's just a fact of life. There are many wonderful things about Nantucket but it is not a great place to farm.

Second, there are a lot of mediocre chefs who try to up their game by putting tons of different ingredients into their food.

Next, the simpler a dish, the harder it is to make well. It took me a few dozen baguettes before I could make and shape them well. Biscuits and scones are basic and simple and hard to make well so most people dress them to excess to make up for what they cannot do when making them simple.

I read an article that talked about millennials drinking from Ball jars because it's authentic. It's only authentic if you drink from them because that's what you have that will hold liquid. If you buy them to drink from it's affected.

I find myself going back to basics more and more. I barely use my kitchen aid mixer any more because it's heavy and noisy and my favorite time to bake is 4:30 am. Bowls and spoons are much quieter. The thing I like best about no-knead breads is that I don't need my mixer or muscle.

Sorry for the rant.

[aaronatthedoublef]

BTW, I have two bread recipes I want to try but they call for TWO different clay bread bakers. Does anyone know a good substitute that is something I might readily have in my kitchen?

Thanks

[BakerAunt]

I agree with Aaron about overly complicated food. Rarely have I eaten something complex that is truly memorable. I don't own any of the items on the list--unless we count my electric krumkaake griddle (that I have yet to have time to try!) that could be used for a kind of ice cream cone. If I want to bake doughnuts, I have doughnut pans (regular size and mini) that take up a lot less room, and I don't have to worry about the electronics malfunctioning. I do regret buying the blender attachment for my Cuisinart 7-quart mixer. After reading about what happened to pmiker on the BC (his blender leaked blueberry smoothie into his Bosch mixer and ruined it), I've been afraid to try it, as it would be positioned directly over the motor.

Other than the krumkaake griddle, I actually use all of my appliances frequently enough to justify having them. When I think of gadgets, I think of all those little devices. I do like my "waffle tongs," which have silicone tips and helps me remove waffles from my waffle maker.

I am going to need to get back to making some bread dough by hand, since my younger stepson has asked me to teach him how to bake bread.

[Mike Nolan]

Remember the video of the French guy throwing the baguette dough down on the counter hundreds of times? That might be a good recipe to teach a younger baker, with all that youthful energy!

I've made dough that way twice, the baguettes were really good.

I looked (briefly) for that video on the Internet, haven't found it yet.

[Mike Nolan]

My 'go to' recipe for teaching someone how to bake is the Austrian Malt Bread recipe, it's easy to make, and no matter whether you use a mixer or hand knead, nearly foolproof. The only question is whether you've got the malted milk powder in the kitchen.

The Clonmel Kitchens Double Crusty recipe (posted originally by PaddyL), which has been the recipe I've made the most often in the last year, would be another good teaching recipe, though since it has egg in the dough it's not one I would recommend tasting raw dough on. (I still find tasting the dough a good teaching tool, though the official recommendation is not to eat any raw flour products these days.)

[Mike Nolan]

Found the video of the French guy throwing the bread dough on the counter:
Hand Kneading Dough

[Mike Nolan]

I read an article recently (probably on either the Wall Street Journal or Washington Post website) that said that taking the time to develop nuances of flavor is what separates restaurant food from home food.

I'd say it's what separates GREAT restaurant food from home food, and I agree with Aaron that too many restaurants try and fail at it. It isn't necessarily that they use too many ingredients, it's that they don't do so skillfully. I've seen Rick Bayless's mole recipe, it uses something like 27 different ingredients and well over a dozen major steps. I've also had the duck with mole at the Frontera Grill in Chicago, and it was superb!

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