Many new kitchen tools and gadgets that debut this time of year are touted for making holiday cooking easier—such as detachable roasting racks, three-tier oven shelves, the latest fat separators, and Wi-Fi meat thermometers.
However, there are some tools that make entertaining easier year-round, plus they also make wonderful holiday gift ideas—and some, well they’re just plain fun to use.
Here are a few innovative cooking, baking, and serving tools you just might fancy giving a try.
There are a few automatic pot stirrers on the market ranging in price, size, and simplicity, but it’s probably better to go with a stronger, more robust model that will also work with thicker sauces and foods like risotto. The Ardenté Gourmet Stirrer is one such model that fits two-handle pots from 9–14 inches. No need to worry about burning dishes that need plenty of stirring such as risotto, custard, creamy soups, or homemade tomato sauce. The stirrer has continuous and intermittent settings and works on batteries. Find it at ardentegourmetstirrer.com for $59.95.
If you don’t bake much or haven’t taken a baking class, the idea of baking a multilayered cake may be a bit intimidating. The hardest part is slicing the baked cake into three or more layers, and without much practice, you may end up with quite a mess. Try using the Frieling Layer Cake Slicing Kit. The kit comes with an adjustable slicing mold, 12-inch baker’s knife, and an 11-inch cake lifter, making the job a piece of cake! Right now Frieling is selling the kit through Amazon.com for $40.33.
Not a new concept, but an innovative take on a cake decorating tool, Lékué offers the Decopen (which comes with four nozzles in different sizes) and Decomax decorating nozzle containers, making decorating and adding finishing touches to desserts as well as drizzling sauces on entrees easy and fun. Ranging in price from $15–27, you can order them online at lekue.us.
There are multitudes of cooking websites featuring mouth-watering recipes of all kinds for one to try. With the advent of the tablet PC and iPad, it’s easier to bring those websites into the kitchen with you. But rather than have your device lay on the table or counter vulnerable to spills, you can use the Original Kitchen iPad Rack™ to hold it. Easily a very good invention, if not a great design, this clear acrylic holder is removable and will protect your device from most spills—that is, unless you’re Lucille Ball’s great niece. It can be purchased at kitchenipadrack.com for $25.95.
Where other beverage home-carbonation systems require you to start with pure water, the Isi Twist ‘n Sparkle system allows you to carbonate fruit juices, teas, mixed drinks, and even wine. It eliminates the need for diluting beverages, buying separate soda syrups, and no more lugging soda bottles home. Soda chargers are used only once, but are recyclable and cost about $20 for a pack of 24. The Twist ‘n Sparkle Starter Set is $49.95. Sold at several national and regional retailers. Visit twistnsparkle.com for more info.
Most times, dinner guests are likely to bring a dish of their own to share or a favorite bottle of wine, but there usually isn’t enough time to let a bottle of vino breathe properly. Vinturi’s Essential Wine Aerator claims to speed up the process as well as enhance the flavor, bouquet, and finish of any wine. There are several wine aerators on the market, but Vinturi’s aerator has been given better reviews than most. You can find the aerator at retailers such as Bed Bath & Beyond, Williams-Sonoma, and Neiman Marcus for about $39.
Younger entertainers will want to thrill guests though keeping things simple, while their moms keep things healthier. The Zoku Quick Pop™ Maker makes frozen popsicles in about seven minutes without electricity, delighting kids and parents alike as parents get to choose what goes in them. You can use fruit juice, yogurt, creamsicle, and smoothie recipes too. The ice-pop maker is kept in the refrigerator until use, and can make about nine ice pops until it needs refreezing. It retails for $49.95 at zokuhome.com.
Many shops all over the United States are starting to serve mini cupcakes and we think it’s partially because of their cuteness. The Original Babycakes Cupcake Maker allows you to make cupcakes at home without having to heat up a large oven. Perfect for children’s parties. You can use your favorite boxed cake mix or make the batter from scratch; you'll have eight warm, fresh snack-size cupcakes in about five minutes. The cupcake maker comes with a pastry bag, four decorator tips, and pie crust tools to help shape the perfect size crust for tartlets. Find them at thebabycakesshop.com for $29.99.
If you know of a gadget that you can’t believe we left out, tell us about it! We'd love to hear your ideas and recommendations. Write us at [email protected] Subject: Attn: Dining Editor
