It's been awhile since we featured some solar cooking, and with the cold Winter upon us - a nice thought to look forward to this Spring. There's a really amazing site where we found this parabolic cooker with loads of plans to build your own - SolarCooking.org. The parabolic cooker above involves a reflective dish that concentrates sunlight to a point where the food is cooked. This approach is very dangerous since the sun's energy is focused to a point which is very hot, but which cannot be seen. So if you're making one of these ovens - make sure and know you can't see where the heat will be until you TEST TEST TEST. Click on through for more details and also visit SolarCooking.org for the latest in Solar Ovens.
Favorite Kitchen Tools and Gadgets - What are yours?
One of our favorites - a micro-plane lemon zester,
which is great for grating cheese too.
Kitchen Contraptions reader Ann wrote in about this amazing round-up of kitchen gadgets and tools. We have to say - it's really impressive, and we've featured many of the same gadgets here at Kitchen Contraptions.
We'd love for you to sound off in the comments on what your favorite kitchen gadgets and tools are as well.
We make bacon just about every weekend for the kids, and we always have a little sample as well. It's always a mess with our current microwave setup, and the WowBacon Cooker looks to make bacon easier and with less cleanup. It's small, takes up little space but no bacon cooker can make bacon faster. You can broil a pound of regular or thick cut bacon in less than 10 minutes (we typically do 2 - 5-6 minute runs). Check out the video for more details, but this looks to be the real deal on bacon in the microwave.
It's cold, and a little fresh squeezed orange juice will keep those nasty colds at bay. This heavy-duty compact juice fountain with centered knife blade assembly, comes with a 700-watt motor that operates at 14,000 RPM for maximum extraction of cold killing orange juice. It features an extra-large 3-inch centered feed tube; stainless-steel micro-mesh filter, and has dishwasher-safe parts. A custom cleaning brush is included, along with a 1-year limited warranty.
Doing some Valentine's Day baking? These silicone molds won't absorb odors, flavors, or stains and the baked goods come right out. Your options include 8 mini-hearts, 20 mini-hearts, or a large heart. You can also get a gift set with a large heart and two 8 mini-heart sets.
We love steamed vegetables. This steamer has a digital display, and you can program it to delay cooking for up to 12 hours. You can also steam two things at once. It includes a 3.8 quart steaming bowl and a 2.3 quart steaming bowl as well as 8 egg holders.
Make applying ketchup or mustard more exciting with a condiment gun. You simple fill the cartridge with your favorite condiment, put the cartridge in the gun, and squeeze. It comes with two cartridges, so you can have two different condiments handy.
We eat a lot of garlic in our house, so we like an implement that can press a lot of garlic at one time. This garlic press can supposedly crush up to six garlic cloves at one time with just a light squeeze. You don't even need to peel the garlic beforehand.
This two-piece keeper features a top that lifts up and flips over to become a server and a water filled base that helps preserve and keep butter soft and spreadable. Clear glass lets you monitor water and butter levels at ensuring no butter-geddon.
This cold weather has me thinking about soup. This pot is made from enamel with a carbon steel core and can withstand extreme heat changes, so it can go from the freezer to the oven. The enamel is chemical free and naturally stick-resistant.
Usually microwave popcorn comes in a bag. But with this jar, you can microwave your own popcorn by filling the bottom with kernels and adding the desired amount of butter into the melting lid. The butter lid strains the butter over the freshly popped popcorn.
This is an interesting space saving device. This cookie cutter makes six different cookie shapes with one cookie cutter. It makes heart, 4-point star, clover, cross, diamond, and spade shapes. Made from chrome-plated stainless steel.
As we set the fire alarm off the other night while grilling with our grill pan, we think we might need a grill with a lid. This George Foreman grill has five cooking plates, so you can use it as a deep-dish pizza oven, a quesadilla press, an omelet maker, a pancake griddle, or a grill. In addition, you can adjust the cooking surface to be angled, in order to channel the fat away from the food. The grill also provides adjustable temperature control and a 1-1/2-inch floating hinge to accommodate thicker items.
Typically each day we feature a new kitchen contraption, but today we thought we'd pass along the Top 10 Elements of Basic Kitchen Knowledge to you our loyal readers. It's interesting to note after an informal quiz around the test kitchen, many folks here had the wrong answers for many baiscs below. Go figure. We of course scored 10 out of 10, and think these are all really solid points to know. Do you know of any others? Sound off in the comments.
1. Salt dissolves in water.
2. Salt does not dissolve in oil.
3. Oil does not dissolve in water.
4. Water boils at 100 C (212 F).
5. Generally foods contain mostly water (or another fluid).
6. Foods without water or fluid are tough.
7. Some proteins (in eggs, meat, fish) coagulate.
8. Collagen dissolves in water at temperatures higher than 55 C (131 F).
9. Dishes are dispersed systems (combinations of gas, liquid or solid ingredients transformed by cooking).
10. Some chemical processes - such as the Maillard Reaction (browning or caramelizing) - generate new flavors.
The Aerogarden has been a huge success, so there was bound to be some competition. Prepara has introduced another countertop garden. This planter sprouts almost any seed and doesn't require any soil. You put your seeds in the spounge and the planter automatically dispenses nutrients. It also has a rotating grow surface for maximum light exposure.
This oven uses 1800 watts of power to cook. It has cool features like nine customizable presets and a rack that auto-ejects halfway when the door is opened. In addition, the top doubles as a warming tray. It comes with a pizza pan and baking tray.
I've been reading Little House in the Big Woods with my daughter and it got me thinking about butter churning. With this churner, you can make fresh butter by pouring cream into the jar and then turning the hand crank until it stiffens.
Hamilton Beach Countertop 1.1-Cubic-Foot Convection Oven with Optional Rotisserie
We love convection ovens in our house. This convection oven is extra large and can hold a 5 pound chicken or two 12-inch pizzas. It has four settings: broil, convection, bake, or rotisserie. It comes with two oven racks, two baking pans, a broil rack, and a rotisserie skewer and rotisserie lifter.
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Solar Funnel Cooker - Make Your Own Solar Oven
