favouritekitchenthings

[rafletcher]

....And the Jamie Oliver knife block set, adequate for my needs.

Does it come with the obligatory drizzle of olive oil?     

Nope, a dash of red wine vinegar 

[T42]

Some years ago I read a remark made by a bloke entering someone else's kitchen and noticing the knife block: "... a terrible thing to do to good knives".

I can imagine that carbon steel knives shoved damp into a block would rust PDQ, but how else might a knife suffer?

[TimC]

Artificial incarceration. They should be allowed to roam free!

[ravenbait]

Mine are all attached to the wall on magnetic strips. Just letting it all hang out, as it were.

Sam

[T42]

Doesn't the strip scratch them, or is it sheathed in something?

[ian]

I throw mine in the drawer with the other knives. It's survival of the fittest in my kitchen.

[Legs]

Another vote for slow cooker.

[Tim Hall]

I throw mine in the drawer with the other knives. It's survival of the fittest in my kitchen.

I throw mine in the door.

Chefs do that.

[ravenbait]

Doesn't the strip scratch them, or is it sheathed in something?

Nope. It's powerful enough to hold them still, and I'm careful not to drag them but just pull them free. Got ours from these guys:

https://www.bisbellmagnets.com/

Sam

[mike]

 They're all 'things' so its wrong to say I'm attached, but the three things I took with me when I got divorced were a 12" cast iron frying pan that gets used almost every day, an 8" IOShen chefs knife and my aeropress coffee thing.

[Pingu]

Another vote for slow cooker.

Keeping knives in a slow cooker 





 

[spesh]

Artificial incarceration. They should be allowed to roam free!

#KitchenKnivesMatter

[Blodwyn Pig]

Fridge!

[ScumOfTheRoad]

The most useful thing I have is a Breville hot water dispenser
https://www.breville.co.uk/breakfast/hot-water-dispensers/hotcup-with-variable-dispense-gloss-black/VKJ318-01.html#start=3

Mrs Scum has weak hands and could not lift a kettle of boiling water. It is easy to put a cup below the spout of this thing and get a cuppa by just pressing a button.

What's the temperature like?  Barakta may be in the market for such a thing, for broadly similar reasons.

The thing seems to work by siphoning a quantity of water into a heating chamber.
I would say the temperature is hot but not as hot as a kettle on a rolling boil. Perfect for making coffee and tea.

[rafletcher]

I would say the temperature is hot but not as hot as a kettle on a rolling boil. Perfect for making...  tea.

Heresy!

[Mr Larrington]

I would say the temperature is hot but not as hot as a kettle on a rolling boil. Perfect for making...  tea.

Heresy!

This ^^^^.

“Pour boiling water over the tea/How simple and clear can the instructions be?”, as Mr Baker put it.

[citoyen]

I'm sure I read somewhere that the optimum temperature for making tea is 98ºC. The water from those hot tap things is fine for the purpose, IME. Just don't do the American trick of serving a cup of warm water with a teabag on the side. 

In other news, I've been using the pangolin this morning to slice aubergines for involtini. One of those jobs you can do by hand with a chef's knife, but the dedicated tool makes it quicker, easier and gives much neater, more even results.

[Cudzoziemiec]

In other news, I've been using the pangolin this morning to slice aubergines ...

[spesh]

I'd have thought that the scales on a pangolin make it of more use as a grater...

[ravenbait]

I'm sure I read somewhere that the optimum temperature for making tea is 98ºC. The water from those hot tap things is fine for the purpose, IME. Just don't do the American trick of serving a cup of warm water with a teabag on the side. 

I have had that American liquid they describe as tea. It was awful.

Strictly speaking, we are segueing into the realms of tea nerdery. Your standard British cuppa (largely an Assam blend) should be made with boiling water for full flavour extraction, but the full boil is really aimed at loose leaf tea, and not the dust that passes for proper tea in supermarket loose leaf tea boxes (I'm not even all that keen on Twinings). Once you start considering white and green teas, herbals, pu-erh and the like, it becomes more complicated.

The UK Tea and Infusions Associations specifies 90-98 degrees for black tea, but they don't differentiate between large loose leaf, shredded loose leaf, or tea bags, so frankly I don't think they are to be trusted.

Sam

[citoyen]

The UK Tea and Infusions Associations specifies 90-98 degrees for black tea, but they don't differentiate between large loose leaf, shredded loose leaf, or tea bags, so frankly I don't think they are to be trusted.

I imagine an organisation that prides itself on taking tea seriously won't demean itself by admitting that tea bags are even tea (in the same way that "instant coffee" is not coffee).

At my last but one job, the office kitchen was furnished with a Zipp tap, and I found it fine for making tea. Never took the temperature of the water though. The only problem was that the office teabags were PG Tips... and the only good thing I can say about PG Tips teabags is that they're not Typhoo.

I'm rather partial to a cup of lapsang souchong, and that definitely benefits from water somewhat below boiling point.

[ravenbait]

I'm rather partial to a cup of lapsang souchong, and that definitely benefits from water somewhat below boiling point.

I drink a lot of that myself, and I find it depends on the individual tea. A Formosa can definitely be too piney if you go for a full-on roiling boil, but the regular Whittard's stuff seems to need the extra oomph to get the full extraction. Oddly, I find Whittard's Russian Caravan responds better to being just off the boil, but Bird & Blend's Smokey Russian (theoretically the same tea) has a better flavour profile with actual boiling water.

I've gone as far as taking the temperature inside my kettle after it has boiled to see how long it takes to drop, and it's longer than I thought. I've come to the conclusion that bubble vigour and size has a lot to do with it, not just the temperature.

I suppose it also depends on whether you take your tea with milk, which I do not.

Sam

[Mr Larrington]

I'm sure I read somewhere that the optimum temperature for making tea is 98ºC. The water from those hot tap things is fine for the purpose, IME. Just don't do the American trick of serving a cup of warm water with a teabag on the side. 

I have had that American liquid they describe as tea. It was awful.

This Unit hereby endorses this product, service or sentiment, and has acquired the habit of packing a travel kettle and supply of Proper Tea when sojourning in Leftpondia.  Picture, if you will, my despondency when Kettle v1.0 died on its arse in Alpine TX with a Several of days remaining before my return to the land of Proper Tea (and voles sturdy enow to boil water in under 24 hours).  Weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth was just the start.

Though Canuckistani branches* of Safeway do sell Yorkshire Tea, which is a Good Thing if you get your “How many teabags do I need” calculation hopelessly wrong.

* sample size: 1

[ian]

Americans boil water on their 'stove top' with a proper whistling kettle. Everyone knows there's not enough electricity in the US to power electric kettles.

[Jurek]

I'm rather partial to a cup of lapsang souchong, and that definitely benefits from water somewhat below boiling point.

I also enjoy the occasional cup of laspang. I took some into work, a while back.
'Ah!' My line manager observed, 'Tea from the middle ages'.