Diagnosis: KGR

There was an article in the New York Times this week about Kitchen Gadget Regret. This occurs when you acquire cooking or baking equipment that you are sure you can't live without but then never use.  The chefs they interviewed cited things like a salmon poacher, a polenta maker, and a device for cutting a one-pound block of butter into small pieces.  They've got nothing on me.

The only thing I like better than kitchen gadgets is more kitchen gadgets, but I've had my share of white elephants, starting with the potato ricer I used once. The reason that box of discarded items in the trunk of my car hasn't been dropped off at Goodwill yet is that it contains the blender we recently decided we didn't use or need.  But I am reconsidering. What if I need to blend something that the food processor or the immersion blender can't handle?

And speaking of immersion blenders, my Secret Santa came through this Christmas with the exact one I wanted. Haven't used it yet, but it's only March.

Some of my problem is having to go through various types, makes, and models before obtaining exactly the right thing. I recently put the old mandoline in the Goodwill box after doing some serious research and splurging big bucks on the one of my dreams -- and not any old ordinary mandoline either, but a Japanese benriner. Works like a charm. I have already used it. Once.

A good way to avoid Kitchen Gadget Regret is to avoid Pampered Chef parties. It looks so easy when the demonstrator does it, but I've been disappointed at home. I will say in their defense that theirs is the best garlic press I've ever had. And I've had plenty.

And then there is the ridiculous Pasta Boat.*  My partner freely admits she gave me this As-Seen-On-TV plastic thing as a gag. I should be embarrassed to own it, much less use it, but use it I do. It makes perfect pasta.

My partner tells me we need to own a food mill. I believe she got the idea from her Hero-Chef Anne Burrell, who says it's her favorite piece of kitchen equipment. The only thing I've seen Chef Anne do with it is mash vegetables.

Couldn't you do the same thing with a blender?

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*See posting  of January 19, 2011.