Every week on Wednesdays, I'll talk about something that I've just gotta have. It could be anything... Keep up with me, I may throw some curve balls.
You guys will learn that I subscribe to the Alton Brown philosophy: no unitaskers in the kitchen. Gadgets that only do one job have no place in my cupboards. For the two years I lived in an apartment in Downtown Chicago, and even in our small house now, I do not have space in my little kitchen for things that only serve one purpose (there are very few exceptions, and you'll learn about them over the coming weeks. I'll give you a hint - check out yesterday's post re: my obsession with garlic). But more importantly, most unitaskers are gimmicks! A strawberry huller? Trust me, you can pass. Use a paring knife and, at worst, it will take seconds longer than with some gimmicky tool that does no other task and just clutters your kitchen. And they often don't even work that well. I'll create some posts to debunk some of these gimmicks so you can save your money. But it's Tuesday, so we're talking about things I love.
Gotta Have It: Salad Spinner
You guys will learn that I subscribe to the Alton Brown philosophy: no unitaskers in the kitchen. Gadgets that only do one job have no place in my cupboards. For the two years I lived in an apartment in Downtown Chicago, and even in our small house now, I do not have space in my little kitchen for things that only serve one purpose (there are very few exceptions, and you'll learn about them over the coming weeks. I'll give you a hint - check out yesterday's post re: my obsession with garlic). But more importantly, most unitaskers are gimmicks! A strawberry huller? Trust me, you can pass. Use a paring knife and, at worst, it will take seconds longer than with some gimmicky tool that does no other task and just clutters your kitchen. And they often don't even work that well. I'll create some posts to debunk some of these gimmicks so you can save your money. But it's Tuesday, so we're talking about things I love.
Gotta Have It: Salad Spinner
OXO Good Grips Large Salad Spinner
This is my salad spinner, and I could not live without it. Ok, that's an exaggeration. But I would definitely eat fewer salads without it.
My salad spinner is one of my favorite kitchen tools because of how well it accomplishes the one task that it is designed to accomplish: drying lettuce and other leafy greens. But in addition to that, it is versatile in other ways. Tips for the salad spinner are that you fill the bowl with cold water, let your greens take a bath, lift out the basket, drain the water, replace the basket, and spin until the centrifugal force flings the water off your greens till they are dry.
I eat a ton of salads, so this baby gets a work out. Our local grocery store has lately been selling 5 lb bags or romaine lettuce for $1. We also get giant bags of spinach in the spring, and all summer long I clean the kale from my garden and spin it dry for our favorite salad (recipe to follow in a later post. I need to make it once and write down the proportions I use because right now I totally wing it. So we have to wait for the kale to grow in). So it gets an A+ for spinning greens. And after the greens are spun dry, I dump the water out of the bowl, then put the greens right into the bowl, add all my other ingredients, and dress and toss the salad right in that same bowl. After spinning dry, I also will put the lid on and pop the whole thing in the fridge. Being in the basket and not directly in the bowl helps air circulate and it stays crisp for a long time. Another tip is that if your greens are a little wilted when you go to wash them, add some ice cubes to the cold water bath you give them, and let them soak for an hour or so. The veins in the leaves will absorb the cold water and they will get crispy again. I've also used a variation on this trick by filling the bowl with cold water, placing in the basket w/ the semi-wilted lettuce in it, and just putting the whole thing in my fridge overnight. My lettuce was perfect the next day!!
I eat a ton of salads, so this baby gets a work out. Our local grocery store has lately been selling 5 lb bags or romaine lettuce for $1. We also get giant bags of spinach in the spring, and all summer long I clean the kale from my garden and spin it dry for our favorite salad (recipe to follow in a later post. I need to make it once and write down the proportions I use because right now I totally wing it. So we have to wait for the kale to grow in). So it gets an A+ for spinning greens. And after the greens are spun dry, I dump the water out of the bowl, then put the greens right into the bowl, add all my other ingredients, and dress and toss the salad right in that same bowl. After spinning dry, I also will put the lid on and pop the whole thing in the fridge. Being in the basket and not directly in the bowl helps air circulate and it stays crisp for a long time. Another tip is that if your greens are a little wilted when you go to wash them, add some ice cubes to the cold water bath you give them, and let them soak for an hour or so. The veins in the leaves will absorb the cold water and they will get crispy again. I've also used a variation on this trick by filling the bowl with cold water, placing in the basket w/ the semi-wilted lettuce in it, and just putting the whole thing in my fridge overnight. My lettuce was perfect the next day!!
My salad spinner helping me make quick work of 5 lbs of Romaine lettuce tonight
I actively try to eliminate plastic from my kitchen, but this is one bit o' plastic that I'm ok with. That's because food doesn't stay in there for really extended periods of time, and food is never heated or frozen in it, so there is less of a likelihood that the chemicals will leech out.
I also use it to spin dry big leafy herbs like basil or flat-leaf parsley. I'll use the basket as a colander while I'm washing veggies like beans or asparagus. One technique for cooking eggplant is that after slicing it but before cooking it, you sprinkle salt on the slices to pull out moisture, and you let them drain for an hour... I do that in the salad spinner too. So while it may technically be somewhat of a unitasker, a) it does that task REALLY well and there isn't a great alternative to it, and b) there are other things that it can do. Those are the signs of a good kitchen tool, even one that's masquerading as a unitasker.
No comments:
Post a Comment