Methods of Cooking

[Grauntie Mag]

Looking through the Lakeland catalogue I notice all the wonderful cooking machines they offer. If I was young and single these would be a Godsend it seems.
When I moved to my first bedsit I had an electric ring provided. It wasn’t long before I scorched the Lino! When my friend and I moved to our first flat (attic room 😆) we had a Baby Belling. She cooked up some marvellous meals on/in it.
No excuse for not turning out a cordon bleu meal nowadays it seems. Every kind of cooking seems to have a machine to do it!
Incidentally there is good novel called ‘Cooking in a Bedsitter’ by Katharine Whitehorn, also on BBC Sounds. Very amusing. 😁

[Gemini]

I remember having a paperback called The Paupers Cookbook. Much used in my student days, and in the early years as a young mum of two!

[Nanto2girls]

I have had all kinds of cooking gadgets, but got rid of a lot of them.
Sandwich toaster,steamer,george foreman grill and other stuff, all gone.
Love my slow cooker though,no way would i get rid of that.
A couple of years ago, i bought a gadget for cooking poached eggs in the microwave, which i use quite often.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=morphy+...f=nb_sb_noss_1

[Gemini]

I love my soup maker.

[Daisy]

I love my bread machine. I'm on my second one now and wouldn't be without it.

[Plantaholic]

I love my soupmaker, I have a bread machine which I use mainly for proven dough to make pittas and banana bread. I do have a slow cooker but don't use it very often. We had a sandwich toaster but mainly used by my son, I hated cleaning it, I am sure they are much improved.

[Lizzie48]

I have a slow cooker, I should use it more often though. I do have a bread maker, that is down in the shed at the moment as I didn't use it enough! When the boys were younger I had a pressure cooker, I have had a GF grill, not into cooking "fashion" really, a lot of people here have Air Fryers? With being on my own I won't bother, I do have a frying pan that I can use without fat and I really love that, this is my second one and I do use it daily. My sister has one of those halogen ovens, I was there a few years ago and thought it looked good, returned home and bought one, not for me, luckily I sold it as they were popular at the time.

I have a Nespresso, a present from DS1 and DIL, I do use it but usually just the filter coffee.

I do think that if I was young with a family I would treat myself to a Kitchen Aid mixer, they do look smart on the worktops.

[Enfys]

Over the years I’ve had all sorts of gadgets but the one I wouldn’t be without is my slow cooker. I have a Nutribullet which is great for making smoothies and a liquidiser/blender that I use when I make soup. My DD has just bought an air fryer, she really likes it but I don’t think I would use it. Different when you’ve got a family........and a daughter who’s a chef, I think it was GD who really wanted it.

[Plantaholic]

I have a foot processor which I use quite a lot

[Daisy]

I do use our other gadgets, but the bread machine is the last one I'd give up.

We've got a Tassimo coffee thing, which we use all the time. I don't use the Nutribullet as much as I thought I would. I got a Magimix food processor in the early 80s when they first came out. I've had to have a replacement bowl recently (you can still get parts for it!) and it's brilliant. I've had a Bamix (stick blender) for about 20 years and that's really useful. I was given a Kenwood K mix a couple of years ago, but find it's not worth it unless I'm doing a batch of baking. It sits on the worktop, and it does look nice, but I feel a bit guilty because I don't use it a lot.

Lizzie - we had a pressure cooker when I was a child, and my mother wouldn't go near it - it was dad who 'drove' it, and mum and I would keep a safe distance!!

The non-electrical thing that I don't use often but there's no easy substitute for it is a huge preserving pan - jams, chutneys, punch, gluhwein etc

[Lizzie48]

I was slicing red cabbage the other day and remembered I had a food processor in the shed, so, I brought it up yesterday, it is old but works, in fact it is a very strong one, only aged. I sliced my veg in it and thought I should use it more often but not exactly smart in the kitchen, I went on-line and treated myself to a Kitchen Aid food processor, a black one, very neat.
When GD1 was here I was telling her about it and she said " well nan you do right, the old one isn't even retro it is antique"! She is right, it must be at least 30 years old.

[Plantaholic]

Sounds very posh Lizzie.

[Lizzie48]

Not really plant, not like those magimix or whatever they are called.

[Daisy]

Lizzie - my much cherished Magimix is very old and battered, and although I've got a new bowl for it the colour has changed so it doesn't match. But it works really well. I don't keep it on the work surface though, partly because I like to try and keep the surfaces as clear as I can, and hate having to clean things just because they've got grimy from sitting there whether I've used them or not!

Your Kitchen Aid one sounds lovely, and well worth keeping out.

[Lizzie48]

If this works this is it. Not a big one as there is only me most of the time.