Cooks Tools and Gadgets Reviews

I am a confirmed sharp knife-aloholic and have experimented with nearly every tool to keep a razor sharp edge on all the knives in my collection. The things I look for in a sharpener in order of priority are:
1. ease of use
2. will it maintain the proper angle without requiring an apprenticeship?
3. will it consistantly produce a razor sharp edge from heel to toe?
4. can it go from dull to razor sharp?
5. can I change angles for specialty knives?
6. overall system design including packaging.
I have never seen a 5 star yet and maybe that system can never be built. I found a Furi to be relatively intuitive to use and easy to switch from one phase to the next.
Unlike a previous reviewer, I had no problem using the system and found that the diamon 'finger' design maintained the correct sharpening angle for both my 22.5 degree and 15 degree knives.(I still have not tried it on cleavers or hunting knives)
Overall sharpening abiliity was much better than the average sharpener with only minor discrepancies(rollovers) along the blade length (which may be operator error). The system did well transforming dull knives to sharp. I have never been a real fan of diamond coated syatems and still fell that a real 'razor' finish on specialy knives(like fine Japanese knives)requires a ceramic touch up.
Overall system design appears well thought out with the exception of the carrying case which is made of cheap plastic and is almost useless for convenient storage. Considering the cost, they could have come up with a much better design.
I will definitely keep the Furi system and find it to be the best sharpener available on the market considering the above criteria.

I bought the Furi knife sharpener to keep my Furi 7-Inch Gusto Grip knife sharp. I also used it on my old knives and what a positive difference it made! Even my cheapo knives are sharp. I used to use one of those electric sharpeners that you pull the knife through but always got poor to mediocre results. The Furi sharpener is so easy to use and does a great job every time I've used it. I'm very pleased with this purchase!

The sharpening system works very well on my good knives and even made my mediocre knives much better. It is expensive but good quality.

I bought this pasta machine 6 months ago, and I've used it at least once or twice a month ever since. I also bought one for my mother and taught her how to use it. This machine really just replaces a rolling pin and a big knife for cutting noodles (how my mom has been making hers).

A lot of people think fresh pasta is better than dried pasta... I disagree. They are just different types of pasta. Dried pasta give you a firmer bite, while fresh pastas are softer. Keep that in mind when you cook. Also, don't be limited to pasta making. I think of it as a better rolling pin, so I also use it to crank out wonton skins.

You should dry your pasta sheet a little before attempting to cut it, especially if you are going to cut them thin (like angel hair), so they don't stick to each other and form a lump. I usually catch the cut noodles in a bowl and mix more flour in to keep them from sticking to each other. You should let the noodles dry out a little bit more before cooking it.

A few words about making the dough: it will take you a while to get a feel of how firm your dough needs to be, to go through the machine smoothly. If the dough is too wet, it will stick to the machine; if it's too dry, your pasta sheet will break. But once you got it down, you can crank out noodles pretty fast. The key is you need to let the dough rest for about 30 minutes, so the flour can fully absorb the moisture.

I took the tip from Alton Brown (Good Eats), and set it up on a ironing board for my mother. This is genius! It's so much easier using an ironing board than trying to do this on a kitchen counter! And you can move it to other places if your kitchen is small.

Many people may complain about the inconvenience of the machine, because it really is easier to have two people working on it (one feeds pasta sheet in, one cranks the handle and guides the sheet coming out). But I make it into a fun little social event, my wife and I have a lot of fun making noodles together, and we have friends over to make noodles together too. It makes eating them later a lot more enjoyable too.

This machine is a little tricky to clean, I usually let it dry out a little, then use a brush (I use an old pastry brush) to clean it. There are lot of places where pasta pieces could get stuck, makes you wonder why they didn't improve the design. I also use a toothpick to clean the noodle cutting attachment. Don't bother with water, it only makes it harder to clean (flour + water = sticky goo on your pasta machine).

Pros:
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- Cheap
- Many attachments available (I like the angel hair one, makes great Asian noodles)
- A lot of fun to use (great to get family and friends involved)
- Much easier than rolling pin
- Stainless steel is nearly indestructable
- Fresh noodles taste great!

Cons:
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- Heavy, might be a problem to some people (like my mom)
- Requires minimal assembly. Again, it's very easy, but my mother and my aunt both have problems getting it right.
(The above two issues are solved by permanetly mounting the machine to an old ironing board)
- Can be tricky to clean
- Not as easy to operate with one person
- Even the thickest setting is still kind of thin, so you may need to press on your dough a little before running it through. I usually use a rolling pint (or empty wine bottle) to roughly roll the dough just so it's thin enough to be fed to the machine. This is troublesome... I wish they made the openings thicker.
- Takes a while to get the right dough consistency to put through the machine

Watch outs:
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- Make sure you clean it thoroughly the first time! Make a test dough, and run it through the machine multiple times. You will get little shreds of metal (I think they are metal), but according to the manual, this is normal. In fact, I had to run two doughs through to really clean it.
- Don't wash it! Other than that it might rust (I don't know because I haven't actually seen it rust), it just makes it harder to clean. Drying it out completely then brush off the pieces is probably the best way to go.

Tips:
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- Try open ravioli, it's very simple with this machine
- If you made thin angel hair-type noodles, and you are planning to serve it in hot soup (like some Asian noodle soup), I found out that I don't even need to cook the noodles. I just pour the piping hot soup over the thin angel hair noodles, and they are cooked to perfection! I made a ginger-chicken noodle soup, and placed a small bunch of fresh noodles in each bowl, and pour the boiling hot soup over the noodles in front of the guests, it's a great WOW factor.
- I was hoping to get a fettucini attachment, but for some reason I was unable to get it from Amazon (they told me the part is no longer available). After looking at the width (6.5mm), I decided that I can just use a knife to cut it into the width I want.
- Use a toothpick to clean the hard-to-reach parts
- If your surface is too thin (as in an ironing board), you might need something to "pad" it. I used a stack of old business cards.
- I use the rack from my oven to dry pasta, although I am thinking about getting a Norpro drying rack.

We've enjoyed this pasta machine for several months. It's hard to imagine that we ever enjoyed boxed pasta from the supermarket, since it's so easy to make your own, and the taste and texture of your own made pasta is out of this world. This is a great starter machine, simple to use, easy to clean, and one that is built like a Sherman Tank, and can easily be passed on to the next generation. The only reason it is not getting 5 stars from us is the thickness selection knob. Oh how very frustrating it is trying to turn it when your hands are coated with flour, as they would be when making pasta! The know is stainless steel smooth, and virtually impossible to turn without deliverate and hard pressure. It's hard to imagine why by now the manufacturer hasn't put some cross-checkering design to allow to have some traction. Other than that, we highly recommend it.

This machine is great. I use it all the time to make homemade noodles for soup and peorogies for my family. My grandmother used this same kind of machine all my life to make her peorogies, it brings back alot of memories.
I strongly recommend this machine !!

My husband bought the OXO salad spinner (the only one available in most of the local stores) when my previous salad spinner, a Zyliss, was lost in a move.

I was disappointed from the beginning. The OXO spinner's action is inferior to the Zyliss, which spins in two directions and gets the greens much drier in less time. Also, the construction of the lid allows water to collect between two "layers" where it is impossible to wash properly or to dry, allowing mildew to grow.

After two years of almost daily use, the push-down mechanism in the lid became completely inoperable and I had to discard the lid as useless. (I'm keeping the inner basket to plant summer bulbs in to make them easier to lift and store in the fall.)

I have just purchased another
Zyliss Salad Spinner from Amazon and was astounded to see that it is only half the price of the OXO. It arrived this week and I couldn't be happier with it. Don't spend twice the money for an inferior product!

Sora Colvin

This is a great unit for washing salad. If you don't like soppy wet leaves resisting the coating of dressing, then you can wave your washed lettuce in a French collapsing basket dramatically on your deck (habit of a very nice friend of mine from France) or you can use this salad spinner.

This spinner is attractive, the knob is easy to manipulate and the bowl works as storage. It is a lot better than others I've used and really essential to our salad-o-mania at home. Dinner is frequently grilled something or tuna-from-the-can and salad, so we put this through its paces. I recommend it to anyone who likes romaine lettuce or Boston lettuce, or red-leaf. These need washing like mad, and the spinner dries them afterwards easily. Great item, and pretty as well.

I LOVE IT! I absolutely love this Salad Spinner! We grow our own lettuce and let me tell you how dirty it is when I cut it and have to wash it off! It was a pain to try and dry the lettuce before now. This is so easy and works great! I would recommend this to anyone!!! This is a must for anyone who loves to cook! Enjoy!

This is a great product, and you can get it, along with any other products on Amazon up to $500 Free! Participate in this special promotion and get a free $500 Amazon Gift Card at this web site: nocoststuff.biz/amazon

As a reluctant cook who loves good food, this is a major discovery. Moreover, judging from the three tries I've had at it so far (meat, fish, chicken), it lives up to its hype. The flavors of the marinade not only are suffused throughout the fibers of the meat, but they're peaked. That is, powder spices that usually go barely noticed, assert their presence like never before. What's more, the moisty succulence is something I've tried to achieve for a long time. Anyone who is not getting these results might not be doing the vacuum part right.

In my anxiety to try new marinade ingredients, it's likely that frozen dinners will become a thing of the past.

The best home cooked meat I've ever had. In fact, if it weren't for my poor presentation skills, I'd rate my recent experiments among those from the best restaurants. Really, really good. One warning though...use the vac times that they suggest. I ran some pork chops through 3 20 minute cycles. The meat was totally disguized by the marinade. So, listen to the directions, don't buy their overpriced spices, and enjoy chicken again...or for the first time. Great product.

Being new at canning I purchased this home canning kit, as I have the pressure cooker at home already. I quickly learned that pressure cookers are NOT considered safe for the high pressure canning method. So purchase this canning kit only for canning small batches of food using the hot water bath method of canning.

I love the funnel! Very sturdy and durable. The canning rack fits into one of my smaller stock pots which is nice for smaller batches. This is a nice set. They include a book with some recipes and color pictures. Beware if you've never canned before, The pictures under the "steps for pressure canning" were taken by someone who had no clue. Step 2. shows jar of food with someone removing bubbles, step 3. wipe rims of jars... shows empty jar turned upside down with someone wiping it, step 5 shows how the magnetic lid lifter works... except they are using it after the ring is on!. Anyway this is a great set anyway.

it's not only the best canning tools, it's also compact enough to utilize the small spaces I have in my apartment.