"gadget" news and stories

After a while, if you spend enough time reading food blogs, your computer is going to become a sort of virtual cookbook as you add more and more recipes to your list of favorites. Unless you keep your computer in the kitchen, though, you're still going to have to rely on good, old-fashioned cookbooks (or printed pages) as references. This reliance on the printed recipe probably won't always be the case, as designer Philipp Gilgen, a student at the University of Applied Sciences in Northwestern Switzerland, has just invented a digital cookbook that perfectly suits the kitchen environment. The coo.boo. is shaped like a spatula and synchs with a personal computer via a wireless docking station to download recipes, how-tos and other content. The digital "cookbook" is sturdy, washable and can be stored with regular kitchen appliances so that it is always on hand. It is still in a prototype stage, but it may not be too long before we see a real release, as there is sure to be a demand for such a handy tool/reference.

[via cool hunting]

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Erielle, who blogs at Fancy Toast, wanted to know if there was a mandoline support group somewhere that she could join because she just couldn't get the hang of using hers. A mandoline is a kitchen tool designed to make slicing up vegetables into thin, even strips, almost effortless. Potatoes, apples, cabbage and other firm fruits and vegetables can be placed into a (usually) metal holder and are quickly run across a very sharp blade that neatly cuts them into pieces. It is more precise than a grater, but the concept is similar.

Most find the process of using a mandoline to be very clear cut, but judging from the comments on the post, there are many people who have experienced the same type of frustration as Erielle in attempting to use their mandolines. Coming to the rescue, in the comments section of the original post, was none other than OXO - the maker of the mandoline in question! They are offering mandoline lessons to anyone who needs a little assistance in New York City at OXO in the Chelsea Market and at the upcoming housewares show in Chicago in mid-March. Even if you're already experienced with your mandoline, it might be worth taking up their offer to pick up some extra tips. Check Erielle's comments for the contact info if you have any other OXO tech questions.

[thanks alanna]

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For a long time, I assumed that only some kids and a couple of adults nostalgic for the sandwiches that they had as kids cut the crusts off their breads. I love crust, personally, but now know a number of adults who simply don't car for it on their sandwiches. They don't cut it off in neat, straight lines, but it's obvious when they abandon crusts on their plates - repeatedly - after eating. As a nod to them, and to both kids and nostalgia, here is another crust-eliminating kitchen cutter. We've already seen one gadget for those who don't like crust on their bread, but this one offers the advantage of cutting the bread into shapes, as well as removing the crust. I wouldn't mind using the heart-shaped one from time to time, especially with Valentine's Day coming up. But I'll still probably eat the crusts after I cut them off my sandwich.

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Pasta is easy to cook. All you have to do is open up a bag and pour as much as you want into salted, boiling water, bring it back up to a boil and wait until it is done. The tricky thing about pasta is cooking it to the right consistency.

Al dente, a firm but not hard texture with a small amount of "bite," is usually what is desired and is rarely achieved by following the instructions on the packaging. A more reliable method of cooking pasta is to let it boil for several minutes and then testing pieces of pasta at 30-60 second intervals until you reach your preferred consistency. For this to work, however, you have to stand over the stove the whole time, so another option, this time in the form of a gadget, might present the perfect solution. The Pasta Per'fect Timer is dropped into the pot along with your noodles and changes color according to the level of doneness of the pasta. It gives three indicators, from thin (angel hair) to thick (lasagna noodles) and it will only take a couple of batches before you find exactly the right level of donrness and can hit it every time.

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One of the best ways to practice portion control is to get into the habit of measuring or weighing your foods and the easiest way to do that is to add a kitchen scale to your countertop. Such a scale can be used for weighing ingredients for baking (useful if you like to use cookbooks from outside the US), but more importantly today, they can be used to measure portion size to ensure that you don't break your diet by over-estimating portions. There are even some new scales that come programmed with the caloric value of various foods so you can find out exactly what you're about to eat. The WSJ's Catalog Critic put several popular digital scales to the test to see what worked, what didn't, and which one is really going to work for you.

Three of the scales - the Soehnle Food Control Digital Kitchen Scale, Salter Nutri-Weigh Dietary Scale and the Escali Cibo - all provided nutritional data and all were deemed to be more difficult to use than the standard digital scales. While it was convenient to have the calorie/fat information right in front of you, the testers felt that the difficulty of use would prevent most people from actually using them on a regular basis. Additionally, the caloric contents didn't take into account cooking method, so the counts were not accurate in terms of what food was consumed.

The two top scales - the Cuisinart Precision Electronic Scale and Polder Digital food scale - were both easy to use, with large buttons and clear functions in both standard and metric measures. You'll get the proper portion size quickly and easily and you can always use a website to check the calorie count if you need to.