What is the most unusual cooking utensil/item you own?

[hlburi]

Apologies if this is posted somewhere else. I looked through this forum and didn't see anything similar.


Mine would probably have to be my gnocchi paddle.

I bought it when I took a gnocchi workshop not too long ago. It actually works pretty well. I just don't make gnocchi very much. Everyone ALWAYS asks what it is.

[shotochef]

I try not to have too many one function items in the kitchen, but I do own (and use) a spaetzle maker.

[terrytoons]

Mine is my tailor's tape measure. I use it for everything from measuring rolls, crusts, baking pans etc. I also have a spaetzle maker and haven't used it for years, but when you do need it, it does a perfect job.

[Jenn]

Olive picker. It is a little claw that will pick the olives out of the jar!

[Niagarahost]

I think mine is probably my needle nosed pliers. They are great for picking out bones in fish. My hubby tried to steal them!

[moly02]

Probably my Savory Jr. roaster. It is one of those blue and white speckled enamel ones that they stopped manufacturing in the 70's. I had to bid for it on Ebay because my original one sprung a leak. Makes the best roasted meats that I have ever eaten. I don't care if it is nearly an antique.

[Fortyanna]

My most unusual item is a hanging utensil set. It has a mini rolling pin for pastries, a mini pastry cutter, a small mortar and pestal, and a few other pieces I can't remember right now, all are wooden. I bought it at an auction years ago, "in a box". God knows it's probably an antique.

fortyanna

[YNLover]

Now that I have learned how to post a picture, I thought I would show you my most unusual cooking item. Its called a La Caja China. It cooks like an oven and when you put the lid on it, the lid begins to seal itself from the heat. So you have an airtight box. That makes it cook in less time and the food is really moist and tender. Here are some pictures...I have cooked three pork roasts and show how they look before and after cooking. Yum they were good too! I love cooking in this!

[Half Baked]

I've never heard or seen such a thing, YNlover! That's pretty cool.

[Kaitlyn]

I have about 10 or more Savory Roasters. My mother had one that was her grandmother's. When I left home, I was lost because she WOULDN'T GIVE IT TO ME!!! When my daughter was 4 and my son was an infant, while traveling through central Missouri on our way back to Texas from Illinois, I found 2 roasters in the same town. They traveled back to Houston under my children's feet. It took me another 12 years to find another. The best are the enamel glazed roasters that come in white, blues, red, yellow, green. They come in 3 sizes - regular large, junior and a tiny one. When my children get married or go off on their own, they'll be given their own roasters so they'll never say anything bad about me -- at least regarding my hoarding of the Savory Roaster. I cannot dry out a turkey or chicken no matter what I do. They're wonderful. I don't mind sharing since I'm sure I have plenty in my own stock!

[Old Pa]

The plastic hospital urinal I use to fill the drip coffee machine. While never employed for its intended purpose, it followed me home from a hospital stay almost thirty years ago and still gets look from the noobs to my kitchen.

[LisaSD]

YNL, I saw that box on Bobby Flay's show. They have a couple of different sizes...I can't tell if yours is the larger one or smaller one. The food he cooked in there looked wonderful! (As do your roasts! BTW, what did you do with THREE roasts? have a party? How come we weren't invited? LOL!)

[LisaSD]

Another question might be: do you own an unusual kitchen item that you picked up at a garage sale or estate sale and don't know what it is? I have a couple of those. I think I'll take a picture and see if our Forum Sleuths can figure them out!

[gadgetqueen]

Good idea, Lisa. I have some that I just received. They are old and came from an estate that my aunt was helping to settle. No one wanted these, so I grabbed them, even though I don't know what they are! I'll take a pic and post here later.

[harrycanyon]

My wife...

Hard to say... Probably 'the Twins': a double beer can chicken rack made of 1/4" steel. Not difficult to figure out, but not a common item.

We also have an old tomato slicer (looks like a bunch of saw blades in a frame with a handle) and melon corer. (Old as in they used to belong to my folks.)

Take care,

Derek

[sob8864]

When we moved here a year ago, to a MUCH smaller house, I decided, if I didn't know what it was right away, I tossed it. And, of course, I threw away the extra blades for my ricer, & I don't know what else, til I reach for it & it's not there.

sob

[yeti]

I gotta say it's my Chinois. There is just something about it that cracks me up every time I look at it. It just looks so funny sitting there, all pointy and shiny, just waiting for some Chinaman to come along and claim his hat.
Or maybe it's because I have been an over the road trucker for 30 years, and I can just see the faces of some other drivers if they even knew, I know what a Chinois is, let alone owned one!

[Niagarahost]

Now that I have learned how to post a picture, I thought I would show you my most unusual cooking item. Its called a La Caja China. It cooks like an oven and when you put the lid on it, the lid begins to seal itself from the heat. So you have an airtight box. That makes it cook in less time and the food is really moist and tender. Here are some pictures...I have cooked three pork roasts and show how they look before and after cooking. Yum they were good too! I love cooking in this!

O.K. I'm confused. In the first picture it looks like you have three roasts on a rack that has been covered in foil. Then, in the 2nd. it looks like you've lowered into a stainless "box" and then you put the charcoal on top of it? Gotta 'splain it better for me, you know, like I'm a 5 year old.

[yeti]

That is exactly what it is, meat on a rack, on a foil covered sheet pan, lowered into an air tight SS box and covered with charcoal.

[Niagarahost]

Guess I've been told........................I thought there was something sinister, exotic, mysterious about it, and here I got it right away. I guess I am quite clever after all. Sometimes one can't see the forest because there are too many trees in the way, Right?????

So, basically it is an upside down grill!