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another gadget I've not seen before

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Re: another gadget I've not seen before

Postby jeral » Sun Jul 26, 2020 3:30 pm

Did you buy the happy gadget as a threat to the kids to chop their fingers off if they didn't stop nicking the choccie biccies? ;)
It should work for halving stoned glace cherries for inclusion in scones and light cakes, or for olives maybe.

As for chestnuts, I did a test of some boiled, some oven grilled, some microwaved. The microwaved ones (per instructions on web) were by far the best, despite not having that lovely charred-over-coals taste, but then neither do boiled or grilled ones. I think I just pierced those with a knife tip as my knives aren't sharp enough for Xs through the shell without slipping. (Edit: Hadn't heard of sand.)

As we're sort of on kitchen scissors, I bought a pair a year ago from Ocado I think labelled ProSharp. These Smart Sizzors look identical:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/AnySharp-Sizzo ... 361&sr=8-5
They're heavier than £1 cheapies, but really comfortably balanced and the curve is so useful. Plus the rivet doesn't rust through in the dishwasher.
Another PS: Best thing I've got for cutting open those impossible vac-pac fridge items or elec bubble packs.

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Re: another gadget I've not seen before

Postby Sakkarin » Mon Aug 31, 2020 3:43 pm

Just ordered one of these for making homemade chickpea sev "noodles" on my Chickpea Project. Another "use it once then it collects dust at the back of the cupboard"? Homemade Bombay mix sounds like a good idea though.

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Re: another gadget I've not seen before

Postby scullion » Mon Aug 31, 2020 4:21 pm

let me know how it works out - i keep looking at them with desire.
i keep wondering how easy it would be to hold the handle while pushing through a stiff paste, rather than just holding the barrel.

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Re: another gadget I've not seen before

Postby herbidacious » Mon Aug 31, 2020 8:43 pm

It looks fun! I too will be interested to hear how it turns out. Did you get it from Amazon? They seem to have a lot on there, some of which are advertised as pasta makers!

I could try the chestnut thing on tomatoes, but I suspect it will result in tomato being squirted all over the place. An experiment for the garden, perhaps.

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Re: another gadget I've not seen before

Postby karadekoolaid » Tue Sep 01, 2020 2:11 am

Oooh yeah!! I need one of those, right now!
Every time I order Indian spices (about once a year - not available over here), I always order some "snacks", as they categorise them on the website. Many of the snacks contain "sev", and some South Indian ones are "sev", fried mung dal, a few nuts here and there and about 4 tonnes of red hot chile powder :shock: :shock: :lol: :lol:

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Re: another gadget I've not seen before

Postby ZeroCook » Tue Sep 01, 2020 7:44 am

ZeroCook wrote:
Speaking of gadgets not seen before I recently got a manual pasta noodle gadget extruder that I've had a couple of goes with. I bought it after pasta disappeared from shop shelves. :o Thought it might also be good for Asian noodles as we like Asian soups. Had toyed with the idea of a getting a pasta roller machine but thought it might be too much action in the gadget department and that I might rarely use it so went with the hand extruder instead ... will post report


I got one of these on page 2 of this thread - sorry forgot to post, then my pasta roller came ... which I've been using a lot ...

I've used this extruder a few times - it's pretty heavy duty tubing and probably all but indestructible - I think you could drive a tank over it and carry on making noodles no problem -it's a Peoples' Noodle Maker I think :D Actually very clever if lacking in finesse :lol: It does requir a fair amount of brute force to push the dough through, especially for stiffer 55 - 65% hydrations. I'm pretty strong and it was a work out. It does push pretty much all of the dough through pretty cleanly, no waste. Fairly easy to wash except for the hollow pasta/noodle die.

First round I tried a soft Spaezle dough which came out perfectly. Next round was a lowish hydration seriouseats fresh pasta dough made on the smallest round extrusion die. See pics. Thought it would be spaghetti like but they cooked to an udon thickness which was great for udon. I've tried the flatter fettuccine die for sesame sticks I made the other week. All good, requiring good wrist strength and the noodles expand quite a bit after cooking - not as thin or neat as the rolled pasta machine if that's what you're after. Was thinking it might be good for Bombay mix fried sort of besan flour extruded snacky things. As I said, I've been using the pasta roller/cutter a lot .... a doddle :)


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Last edited by ZeroCook on Tue Sep 01, 2020 6:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: another gadget I've not seen before

Postby Sakkarin » Tue Sep 01, 2020 12:00 pm

I missed that, Zero. Mine was the cheapest I could find as I am on a budget of nil, but there are ones which have a "gun", similar to a DIY grout/beading applicator. In the first sev video I watched the lady uses one (link below), but it was after I'd already ordered the windey one. Looks like mine's the same as yours, hopefully my hands will be strong enough for another year or so (arthritis lurking in the wings), but surely you need at least three hands to make spaetzle with it!?!

"Gun" sev maker...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hr1lxPr0Vo

Here's my spaetzle maker - it's my old pizza tray, the holes are the perfect size, and it fits right over my "spaghetti pan".

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Re: another gadget I've not seen before

Postby ZeroCook » Tue Sep 01, 2020 6:13 pm

Sakkarin wrote:Mine was the cheapest I could find

Me too on ebay! Didn't know if it'd be any good! And you're a bad man for posting that bad mama's easy sev recipe - now I might have to make some! So many calories! :o And never knew sev guns existed either! Nice spaetzle maker btw :D

Any ideas what you want to try when your shiny new gadget arrives?

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Re: another gadget I've not seen before

Postby Sakkarin » Tue Sep 01, 2020 6:48 pm

It's really only for the sev, as part of my current chickpea flour derivatives obsession. There is another recipe on YouTube for baked sev, which looks just like the Bombay Mix sev anyway, without the calories...

Today's Ebay buy, 500 sheets of 20 x 30 white chip-wrapping ("newsprint offcuts") paper for £16.95, for wrapping up my food waste. I usually use 14 x 18 brown paper bags , but they've gone up from £4.99 to £11.99 for 100 since I last bought them, that's 12p each.

Daft local council ruling: Old paper bags from flour/sugar etc can't go in the green bin - I used to use them for food waste too, but the binmen refused to empty it.

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Re: another gadget I've not seen before

Postby herbidacious » Tue Sep 01, 2020 8:08 pm

What sort of pan do you use to fry the sev? I don't own a chip pan. (Scared of deep fat frying.)

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Re: another gadget I've not seen before

Postby Earthmaiden » Tue Sep 01, 2020 9:08 pm

Staggered that you have to BUY paper to wrap food waste in! :o.

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Re: another gadget I've not seen before

Postby Pepper Pig » Tue Sep 01, 2020 9:23 pm

Can you not just use newspaper? I nick the free local ones from the supermarkets, supplemented by my “free if you spend a tenner” Times or Telegraph from Waitrose. Although I guess as you’re not near a Waitrose it’s not worth your having a Clubcard.

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Re: another gadget I've not seen before

Postby Pampy » Tue Sep 01, 2020 10:20 pm

Sakkarin wrote:Daft local council ruling: Old paper bags from flour/sugar etc can't go in the green bin - I used to use them for food waste too, but the binmen refused to empty it.

What's the green bin for? Most councils have their own colour scheme for their bins - ours are grey - glass, plastic, foil; blue - paper and cardboard; brown - garden waste (but not food); burgundy - landfill waste.

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Re: another gadget I've not seen before

Postby Renee » Wed Sep 02, 2020 9:28 am

My mum always used newspapers to wrap food waste in. We only had one bin back in those days! The free newspapers are a good idea.

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Re: another gadget I've not seen before

Postby Sakkarin » Wed Sep 02, 2020 9:33 am

I don't get any newspapers! Back when we got a free newspaper delivered I used to use that...

The bin rules are as confusing here as the Government's advice on Coronavirus. Here's a couple of flyers I've got when they've refused to empty a bin. The "plastic bag" was an expensive council-approved one bought specially, but unfortunately the council logo is only on one side, so if you put it in the bin at the wrong angle, they think it's an ordinary plastic bag and won't empty the bin. And surely a dead animal (bottom of the green bin leaflet) is the ultimate in recycleability!

Green - food and garden waste and other stuff
Brown - cardboard, bottles, recycleable containers and other stuff
Blue - paper, but only approved paper, certainly not brown paper
Black - other stuff

Having a look at those two flyers, it seems there's a possibility my white paper will be considered illegal - anyone want 10 kilos of newsprint paper?

http://www.sakkarin.co.uk/foodforumpix/bins.jpg

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Re: another gadget I've not seen before

Postby Earthmaiden » Wed Sep 02, 2020 9:51 am

I think that's quite possible. Brown paper bags are like gold dust, as is newspaper now that many read news online. I understand why there are recycling rules but do think if they're too complicated that people won't bother. The paper seems very complicated. We just put all paper and cardboard in one box, plastic in a bin liner, glass, tins, clothes etc in another box. Simple. The hardest thing is shredded paper which has to be put into a paper bag or something like a cereal box to contain it. When I was going to the USA a couple of times a year I used to bring back stashes of the large paper grocery bags. I think Morrisons do them but now I am just doing one weekly shop it won't be at our depressing Morrisons, especially as they just closed the one that was nearest.

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Re: another gadget I've not seen before

Postby Linnet » Wed Sep 02, 2020 10:05 am

I have the same problem with shredded paper, and rarely eat cereal so no boxes, but now I collect one of the empty wine boxes from local supermarket - good capacity and quite easy to empty into.

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Re: another gadget I've not seen before

Postby herbidacious » Wed Sep 02, 2020 10:59 am

I am sure I read that one of the big supermarkets was going to replace plastic bags with paper, but perhaps I dreamt it. Safeway used to do them years ago. It made me, freshly down from the North, and newly in London, feel very cosmopolitan. Not very practical, though, if you want to do a big shop and have no car. (Which in those days, of course, I didn't on both counts.)

We have a some weekely newspapers which are essentialy for lining the bag in the cat litter box. We used to get a free local paper, but not seen it for a while.

We put food waste in compostable bags. I think the council gave us a starter roll, but after that you have to buy them. Ones I have have a tendency to leak and start to break down, even, within days. They go in their own 'caddy'. (The one that was full of maggots last week :? )

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Re: another gadget I've not seen before

Postby Stokey Sue » Wed Sep 02, 2020 11:18 am

herbidacious wrote:I am sure I read that one of the big supermarkets was going to replace plastic bags with paper, but perhaps I dreamt it. Safeway used to do them years ago. It made me, freshly down from the North, and newly in London, feel very cosmopolitan. Not very practical, though, if you want to do a big shop and have no car. (Which in those days, of course, I didn't on both counts.)


Morrison's went to paper before lockdown - they are tote bags, not like the old American style Safeway sacks. I haven't had one as I take my wally trolley

Apparently the new trend is for old style wicker baskets on wheels instead of the bags. Very few seem to have lids :? and all are expensive

https://www.etsy.com/uk/search?q=wicker ... %20trolley

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Re: another gadget I've not seen before

Postby scullion » Wed Sep 02, 2020 12:31 pm

if i lived in an urban situation and walked to the shops i think i would go for a trolly but as i don't i have a collection of freebie fabric bags, morse bags and three large ones of these (i think the most i've paid was £20 for one). one of them comes shopping with me to put in the more squash-able things like salad, bread and softer fruit and veg.
i used to use the strong paper cartons (which were also an alternative in Sainsbury's and tesco a few decades ago) and went over to their waste cardboard boxes when available. (they get composted here - along with food waste - in the garden. we don't have a food waste collection).

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