Manual mechanics: from the piller to the slicer to the serpentine cutter

The notion of environmentally friendly appliances include, first of all, low power consumption of the appliances. And what could be more economical than appliances that do not need to be plugged in at all??

CLEANING..

The first time I saw such a marvel as a GOOD handheld vegetable peeler was somewhere overseas a long time ago. I bought two, for me and my mom, and if she didn’t like this Bourgeois innovation, then I got on well.

Of course, I had to get used to this device, which distantly resembles a razor blade and proudly goes by the name of “peeler”, but when I did, peeling potatoes, carrots, eggplants and zucchini became a matter of seconds, and the peeled vegetables turned out smooth and beautifully.

But that’s not all – the vegetable peeler was found to cut carrots, cucumbers, daikon, mango, avocado and Parmesan into lovely long and thin almost transparent strips for salads.

Obtain amazingly beautiful unusual ribbons that can go in salads and garnishes or become a decoration of the dish – they make bows, hearts, scrolls, letters and numbers!

The eggplant peeler is an excellent way to cut eggplants into strips for Swiss rolls with sheep cheese, meat, vegetables, walnuts.

Conventional vegetable peelers can also include knives for peeling citrus fruits, which are indispensable for lovers of making mulled wine and baking spiced cakes, where lemon and orange peel are a must. There is also an exotic apple peeler.

The device removes not only the peel but also the core of the fruit and slices the apple in a spiral or “serpentine” style – all you have to do is to clamp the fruit into the device and twist the handle!

In our country it is difficult to find such a miracle on sale. Similar to the vegetable peeler, the fish peeler works. As a rule, several types of knife sharpening are used at once: smooth, wavy, fine- and coarse-toothed – for different types of scales.

The skin is cut very finely, opening up new culinary possibilities.

You’ll have to look for more expensive, properly shaped potatoes on sale.

6 PLUSES OF SMALL MECHANICS: – Doesn’t increase your energy bills. – Doesn’t tie you to a power outlet: you can use it anywhere in the house. – Takes up little space and does not create problems with storing an electric cord. – Doesn’t make a noise when you’re working. – Inexpensive compared to appliances with similar functions. – Makes a great original gift.

CHOPPING..

All kinds of cutting appliances are called slicers among professional chefs. The simplest slicer – the julienne knife – is the closest thing to a vegetable peeler.

There is how many cross blades are inserted into the working area of the machine and the vegetable peeler cuts not wide strips but just shreds.

Garlic presses have been around since Soviet times. It is noteworthy that this technique was made and continues to produce … the defense and aviation industry – as well as manual meat grinders, juicers and other small household items made of metal.

“Economy must be economical”, remember? Who knows, maybe your garlic press’s “mom” is flying in orbit or performing at a parade on Red Square?

Despite the “mono”-name, these things are quite functional: you can often crush seedless olives, radishes, chili peppers, capers.

Many vegetable and egg slicers have the following arrangement: the product is placed on the base and the top is pressed down with a lid that has cutting elements – blades or fishing lines – built into it. This way you can cut the food into slices, julienne, and cubes of different sizes.

Such slicers are also called alligators: they seem to open the “mouth” where they put the product and then close it, pushing vegetables, ham and cheese through the blades into a container or just onto a table board.

There are specialized slicers – for example, for pineapple. This device removes the skin of the pineapple or rather the pulp from its cocoon and cuts it into circles, quickly and easily.

But the hits among slicers are still multifunctional grinders and manual combines. Miracle grinders are often demonstrated in telemarkets, and you can notice that their main trump card is the presence of a holder for the products, which are inserted in this device and do not come into contact with your hands.

Hand grinder with food containers, lots of attachments and a twisting handle is also a great helper. Products are loaded into a special hatch or directly into the container, and cut with knives and attachments, as in a conventional combine or blender, only at a slower manual speed.

Sharp blades and grater themselves with holes of different shapes and sizes can quickly cope with the products and your hands stay clean, and most importantly – do not get hurt. You can use this slicer even after a fresh manicure.

Trust only reputable manufacturers and remember that the grates themselves should be made of high quality stainless steel. If there are no steel markings or the steel seems thin, the grater is too cheap and the plastic and metal joints look flimsy – don’t buy it.

The main difficulties arise with maintenance – for example, replacing broken or blunt cutting parts.

As a rule, devices from tele-shops are not products of famous brands with developed service network, that’s why it will be difficult to find spare parts or to obtain a warranty repair. What’s more, their “incredibly low price” is incredibly overpriced!

Metal especially those not made of stainless steel cutters and graters have a well-known disadvantage: contact with them destroys vitamin C in foods. The best way out is to buy a plastic grater.

For example, such as a plastic grater with a cup from “Axion”: it is convenient, safe and indispensable for the preparation of mashed vegetables and fruits.

Products cooked on the grater retain maximum vitamins, unique taste and juiciness of fresh fruits. It is ideal for preparing healthy and wholesome meals for children. The conveniently clamped 450 ml cup makes it easy to work.

GRIND ..

Pepper grinders are a must in any tavern in sunny Greece, as well as in the Balkans, the Mediterranean, the Caucasus and Asia Minor.

It’s good to have one at home too: tall, beautiful and very useful, especially if you don’t trust store-bought ground spices. Your own mill allows you to grate spices quickly and, importantly, in batches – always fresh, fragrant and unadulterated.

When milled just before use, the pepper brings out all the facets of its flavor. Mills come in a variety of styles and designs, but even more striking is the size.

Souvenir but quite working mills can be more than half a meter high – well, real hot men with the appropriate temperament adore spicy.

For such people this is a great gift – of course, an intimate one, because, as the saleswoman of such things told me in a Bulgarian bazaar, they are the most real… phallic symbols!

Such mills are produced not only by oriental craftsmen, but by very serious companies, which develop grinding technologies and are responsible for the fineness of the grind and for the reliability and design of the mill. One of the most famous manufacturers is Peugeot, the most famous car brand!

Mechanism of the device has been developed by engineers of the concern especially for grinding peppercorns and is not suitable for other spices: two rows of tines direct peppercorns to the lower part of the mill, and there they are fixed for grinding.

The degree of fineness can be adjusted for every dish: from coarsely ground pepper for grilled meat to the finest veil for delicate French sauces.

Aesthetically pleasing, comparatively inexpensive, a must for gourmets.

Not universal for all spices, mostly suitable for peppers and coarse sea salt, with separate mills for salt. Many spices require an elementary mortar and pestle.

EXCLUSIVE..

Hand-operated juicer-presses, often attached to the table, are very common in some southern regions and countries-for example, in Israel they are found at every step, and you can charge right outside for carrot, pomegranate, or orange juice.

In the Kuban, the Stavropol Territory and the North Caucasus, it was also quite possible to buy a similar one in a Soviet hardware store. Now this trend is returning: convenient and economical for processing large harvests.

But there are also small manual citrus presses with a height of no more than 30 cm. In them you can squeeze the juice of the same pomegranates and oranges, but compared to electric citrus presses, they squeeze less juice: still here the lever pressure force is very important, and not everyone has enough of it.

Besides, if the pressure is uneven for example, the device moved when you pressed the lever , the parts can bend, and then the device will work even worse.

There are also large manual juicers that work and look like meat grinders with twisting handles also hello from the defense industry – they are mostly designed for apples, berries, grapes, tomatoes.

A manual press is probably the only device where you can squeeze pomegranate juice well and without risk of clogging it.

A large appliance requires a lot of space and a lot of physical strength to work with it, while a small one is not efficient enough.

If you buy a cast-iron device, remember that it rusts and must be thoroughly cleaned. Also, contact with cast iron parts is detrimental to vitamin C.

FORMING..

Fashion and classics collide here. The latest trend is towards making Japanese dishes, such as sushi and rolls, at home. For the latter there is a special machine which can stamp out these Japanese rolls no worse than a printing press can do for bank notes.

But Japanese cuisine is a recent addition to our culinary consciousness, which can’t be said about dumplings and pelmeni.

If “meat dumplings without a rush” is not your thing and you fancy home-made dumplings and dumplings, but still want to save time and effort for their preparation, then the special appliances to bind the dough edges are useful.

No, you still need to roll out the dough and cut out the circles from it yourself, but you can mold the items on “one-two-three”.

One – we put a circle of dough, two – the filling, three – we close the device and press the edges of the dough against each other.

There is a little secret: for the edges to stick well, the side of the dough, which will be the filling, should not be generously sprinkled with flour take it into account when rolling out .

Accelerating the process, the same size and shape of all products.

In my family, when my great-grandmother was alive and her apartment was a gathering place for the various branches of the “clan”, dumplings were made by everyone, from small to large, seated at a large table in the kitchen. With your hands, of course. A template molding deprives the process of soul and a lot of fun.

GARNISH..

You know, there are curlers not only for hair? If you want to decorate a dish with a garland or a streamer of vegetables, you need vegetable rollers…

It is suitable for cylindrical shape fruits, which can be placed on a special pin and turned into thin spiral garlands by rotating the handle of the device. You can arrange them nicely around the perimeter of the dish or create intricate compositions.

Another helper for culinary creativity – a cone-shaped “serpentine cutter”: it is used to make beautiful shavings of vegetables and fruits, of which it is easy to make “flowers” and even bouquets.

The calibrating knife for corrugated slicing of vegetables, fruits, butter, cheese and other homogeneous products with fluted plates and bars will help you decorate salads and desserts for the festive table.

The joy of creativity, accustoming children who do not like them to the beautiful “toy” vegetable dishes, raising their culture of eating, accustoming them to the process of cooking, the indispensability for celebrations.

The pleasure is expensive, and if the holiday table is laid in the house very rarely, it is quite unprofitable.

WASH AND DRY..

You can do it by science, in a special device – a washer-dryer. It helps to gently wash and immediately dry lettuce, basil, parsley, dill and coriander leaves, tender berries and grapes, mushrooms.

Products are placed in a mesh drum, which is rotated by means of a handle and the centrifugal force causes the water to flow onto the walls and the bottom of the dryer.

Basically, it’s a spin, like a washing machine, only very gentle. Sometimes such a sink is also combined with a sharp-alligator, such a variant is much more expedient.

Gourmet and aesthetic “trimmings”: lettuce should be dry and not damaged by washing, berries – not lost their shape and not watery after washing.

The toy costs about $40-50, and, for example, I prefer to use a paper towel for gourmet purposes.

STEAM, BOIL..

Electric steamers were unknown to Soviet people. Instead, thrifty industry produced special grates that were inserted into pans and could even be multi-tiered and installed one above the other – just like the baskets in modern electric steamers.

Provided the stove is gas-powered, steaming in an ordinary pot has indeed been and remains a matter of economy, another thing is that it is more inconvenient and dangerous in terms of scalding with steam or boiling water. Steam cookers-grids can be bought even now in some hardware stores.

Heavy-walled pressure cookers, in which the food was cooked under high pressure with the lids on tightly closed, have also “lived” and still do so in many of our kitchens.

For a long time, hostesses could not adapt to electronic counterparts – primarily because of the lack of space in the kitchen for another household appliance and, of course, “out of economy”.

Economical, but that’s where the pluses end.

Griddle steamers are dangerous, not very handy or roomy. In addition, all modern electric steamers have a timer function with auto shutoff, some do not mix smells of different dishes cooked simultaneously, some have forms for steaming rice, omelets, casseroles, puddings.

Non-electronic pressure cookers do not have different cooking modes

Different products, do not have timers and auto-off, do not release themselves when necessary steam ie, do not watch the pressure , do not have non-stick coating forms for cooking.

OPENING AND CLOSING..

A former Polish ambassador to the USSR, who lived in New York for a long time, said that he once picked up a dog from the street and it became his faithful friend. She had an amazing ability: she could open cans.

However, there are easier ways than the ancient sickle opener or the dogtooth. Many inventors and engineers have tried to make the process easier and safer and their hard work has not been wasted.

The new bottle opener leaves a clean cut without metallic burrs, it does not require physical force: just fix the knife on the jar and twist the handle: the blade will run around the circumference of the lid cutting it open.

Safety.

It costs a pretty penny. When the knife dulls, it needs to be replaced.

REMOVE..

“You have to, Fedya, you have to,” I persuade myself in the summer, when a friend or family member brings home a basket of cherries.

I love cherries passionately, as well as cherry jam, compote, dumplings, and cherry-filled pies. Love it as much as I hate removing the pips from it..

But it is necessary to do it, because there is a strong poison in them – hydrocyanic acid, which during the long storage of cherry pips. Without the device for removing pips there is nothing to do! It is better to remove pips with an ordinary knife from slightly dried in the oven or in an electric dryer berries.

But there is a better way out: a bone separator with a vacuum suction cup O-11 “Aksion”. This is a pump-type mechanical device, designed to remove pips from cherries, sweet cherries and plums.

It quickly handles large amounts of fruit, easily removing pips from fresh or canned berries without damaging the flesh and without losing juice.

Processed fruit is perfect for making pies, desserts or preserves.

An additional advantage of the “Aksion” multicooker is the presence of a stable rubber base, which is fixed by turning the lever.

No similar electric appliance. This thing is indispensable!

The cherry and cherry season is short, so you only have to use it in the summer.

MAKING COFFEE..

The coffee press has many names: French press, Cafetiere, French piston coffee machine, Melior the name of the company that patented the future hit .

It can be a real godsend for all those who can’t afford a coffee maker for example, there is no space for another appliance , but who consider drinking instant coffee beneath their dignity.

Of course, nobody cancelled making coffee in a decanter, but the presence of grounds in a cup also inspires a few people, except fortune-tellers. The heat-resistant pitcher with a piston sieve that holds the grounds while pouring coffee into a cup was developed in 1920 and has become increasingly popular ever since.

Experts of the company “MagicTest”, the official distributor of coffee brands Compagnia Dell’Arabica, Saquella, Bar Italia, Costadoro, note the following advantages of French presses:

1. You can brew coffee at the table and make a nice, aromatic beverage for several people at once.

2. The thermos effect: in a good coffee press, the coffee will not cool down for a long time! If you’re having coffee get-togethers, there’s no need to constantly rush to the kitchen and brew new drinks: serve yourself and your guests a hot coffee from the French press.

3. Mobility and the ability to make coffee in the absence of electricity: in the country house, on a hike, on the road.

4. Compact, lightweight especially the plastic models .

5. No consumables, such as disposable paper filters.

6. Extremely easy to use: even a child can cope. Coffee machine handle does not get hot.

7. Unpretentiousness to the quality of grinding and always a great taste of the drink: with this most experts agree.