Which kitchen gadgets are actually worth it?
Looking at all of the various things that you need for your kitchen can be kind of overwhelming at times. After all, there are so many things that only ever seem to do one thing and you’re not even sure what that one thing is! And here’s the big secret: a lot of those kitchen gadgets are useless. Let’s be honest, you don’t need a pair of Wolverine-style claws just for shredding pulled pork. YOU CAN JUST USE SOME FORKS!
However, that doesn’t mean all kitchen gadgets are equally pointless. In fact, some of them are downright essential. So, here is a list of the kitchen gadgets that can actually make your life easier when you’re cooking and aren’t just some pointless gimmick.
An air fryer
You’ve probably heard about air fryers from just about everyone recently. They’ve really been the kitchen gadget du jour for the last couple of years. But, you may not have had the chance to learn just how useful an air fryer can really be. So, the first thing to know, the term “air fryer” is a bit misleading. What it actually is is a small convection oven than circulates hot air around the food, similar to a fan oven. But, what an air fryer lacks in the accuracy of its name, it makes up for in a whole lot of other ways. The first is that it’s a great way to take the foods that you would normally fry and make them a whole lot healthier! After all, you’re no longer having to deal with huge amounts of oil. Air fryers are also fast, easy to use, and easy to clean.
A digital thermometer
If you take one piece of advice from this list, make it this: GET A DIGITAL THERMOMETER. There are few gadgets in your kitchen that will change your life quite as much as a digital thermometer. The reality of cooking is that it’s often a matter of getting things to just the right temperature. If your steak reaches too high a temperature, it gets tough and chewy. If your chicken isn’t a high enough temperature, it’s literally inedible. With a digital thermometer, the days of guessing when your food is enough are over. You never have to deal with an undercooked cake or overcooked salmon again. A lot of the digital thermometers available even allow you to keep it connected while food is in the oven so you can be sure to get it at the perfect “done-ness” every single time.
A pizza oven
There’s no meal that’s more of a crowd pleaser than pizza. It’s the kind of thing that everyone in the family can get excited about. But we’ve all had the experience of trying to recreate traditional pizza at home and it just … doesn’t work. Maybe the whole thing comes out as a soupy mess, or maybe the pizza dough ends up as hard as a cracker. Well, the reason for that comes down to one, simple fact. Your oven isn’t hot enough. A traditional oven just doesn’t get hot enough. If you want your pizza to come out perfect every time, you need a pizza oven. And you might be thinking that you need some huge stone oven that barely fits in your backyard but that’s just not the case. The truth is that there are pizza ovens designed to fit in just about any kitchen, letting you bring a taste of Italy home!
Digital kitchen scales
Cooking can often be more of an art than a science, but it’s also fair to say that some recipes need a certain degree of precision to get them right. This is especially true for things like baking. We’ve all had an experience with baking where the whole thing falls apart because of the slightest miscalculation of ingredients. Well, with digital kitchen scales you can be sure that you’re always totally precise with your measurements. Classic kitchen scales might be very pretty to look at, but accurate? Not remotely. Whether you’re baking bread for breakfast or making some desserts for a party, make sure you measure everything out perfectly with some digital kitchen scales.
A sous vide
Now this is where we get to some true gadgetry. For the longest time, a sous vide was purely the domain of professional chefs. But now, we can all benefit from it. A sous vide is essentially a technique that uses precise temperature control to deliver the best, most consistent results with your cooking. The way that it works is that you vacuum seal your ingredients in a bag and then place them in a water bath that is heated to an extremely precise temperature. From the perfect steak to food safe cookie dough, a sous vide will seriously open up the possibilities in your kitchen.
A knife sharpener
Sharp knives are dangerous, that’s something we can all agree on. However, do you know what’s far more dangerous than a sharp knife? A blunt knife. That’s right, a blunt knife is perhaps the most dangerous thing in your kitchen. Blunt knives force you to put a whole lot of force and effort into every cut which raises the chances of your hand slipping and you getting seriously injured. That’s why having a knife sharpener on hand is so important. Being able to keep your knives sharp not only makes preparing food a whole lot easier, but it makes it much safer as well.
A food processor
A food processor is one of the most versatile tools in a kitchen. Obviously, it’s perfect for making everything from sauces to salad dressings, but it can actually go beyond that. One of the most underrated uses of a food processor is in grinding meat. Have you ever wanted to make your own burgers from scratch but you don’t want to shell out the money for a meat grinder? Well, your food processor does the job just as well. All you have to do is place the blade of your food processor in the freezer to get it nice and cold and you can use it to turn your meat into perfectly ground pebbles, ideal for burgers.
A pasta maker
Making pasta is hard, right? WRONG! It’s actually incredibly simple to do, the only challenge is in how much effort you have to put in. Well, with a pasta maker you can remove most of that hard work. That way, you can have fresh pasta whenever you like without having to exhaust your arms rolling out the dough and carefully shaping it. Instead, you can get on with the much more important job of actually enjoying the amazing pasta that you made!
Of course, you don’t necessarily need any of these gadgets. Plenty of people have been creating delicious, home cooked meals for centuries without any of them. But, these are the gadgets that really do make a positive difference for your ability to create the best food possible. You might not need every single one of them, but even a couple of them can make your life in the kitchen a whole lot easier and your food a whole lot tastier!
