Mandoline Slicer

My Favorite Kitchen Gadgets

Mandoline Slicer

What I Use It For

When I need to slice cabbage, onion, potato for gratin. Also I use it for a very special task of julienning carrots for Korean Spicy Carrots or julienning zucchini or mango for salads (there is special toothed insert for this).

Why I Like It
I was searching and could not fine better tool for julienning vegetables and fruits. Also I cook a lot with cabbage and this makes task of slicing cabbage an easy one. Big plus is easiness of cleaning.
I have also expensive stainless steel mandoline for which I paid five times more than for this one and guess what - I don't use it! Stainless steel one is heavy, bulky and does worse job than this one.
Also, for julienning, I wish I would like my another tool, smaller toothed handheld peeler-like thingy I have. But again, I prefer my plain mandoline pictures above!

Note
This mandoline, as well as all mandolines, comes with toothed vegetable (fruit) holder to protect your hands from cuts. I do not use it. Please be careful if you are not going to use it also. After some practice, after two really bad cuts, I'm comfortable with it now. This type of cuts may be severe ones, so again, be careful - slow down when your hand is closer to blade.

Rice Cooker

My Favorite Kitchen Gadgets

Zojirushi Rice Cooker

What I Use It For

I cook white rice, brown rice, buckwheat, quinoa and all other grain-based side dishes.

Why I Like It
I can cook perfect rice without rice cooker. But convenience of programmable,
high-tech machinery beats tiny difference in quality. I'm not sure even if there is any difference in quality of cooked rice. Load cooker with rice at 11pm, set to be ready at 6:50 and you'll wake up with a great aroma of cooked jasmine rice under childish melody that lasts several seconds and tells you "I'm done". Right away it switches to keep-it-warm cycle which last for a few hours. Usually I turn cooker off completely at this point because, kept warm for a long time, rice lose its quality. Anyway, just closed, cooker keeps rice warm for at least hour and a half without being on keep-it-warm cycle.
Although there is something that I could never possibly do without this rice cooker. It is brown rice preparation. There is unique to this cooker function - GABA rice preparation. GABA rice is brown rice cooked in such a way that it starts processes of sprouting when all nutrients are activated and nutritional values are at its pick. Besides that, brown rice cooked on GABA setting is delicious, its not that plain brown rice which I was eating before just because "it's good for you". Now "it's great for me" because it is delicious.

Note
I invested big bucks in this cooker about 6 or 7 years ago and still do not regret any cent.

Handheld Dough Mixer

My Favorite Kitchen Gadgets

Handheld Dough Mixer

What I Use It For

I use it to mix tough dough, ground meat or anything that has dense consistency and requires ingredients to be mixed thoroughly. It's a tough little guy that does a same job as whisk does but in, let's say in a more resistent environment.

Why I Like It
It's a very sturdy tool. With it, I mix, stir faster and better than I would do this with spatula or spoon. I felt need in this tool all the time when I wish I could mix stuff with whisk but whisk was too flimsy for the task.
Before I was digging my hands into mix to incorporate ingredients better, now my hand are clean and happy.

Note
No need to say that cleaning is not a problem also?

Handheld Juicer

My Favorite Kitchen Gadgets

Handheld Juicer

What I Use It For

Mostly I use it for quick juicing of lemons, limes and oranges which I use often for dressings and sauces.

Why I Like It
It get all juice out of fruit and does if fast. Also super-easy to clean. No bulky citrus table-top juicers ever again.

Note
As it is in contact with sour juices, I probably needed to get plastic version of this...