Unconventional kitchen utensil you can't live without?

A Marijuana grinder. I like foraging for foods, so I tend to use the grinder on things like Staghorn Sumac, or Spice Bush to make a course grind. It allows a lot of control on how much you want to use and how fine, unlike a blender.
Before it's asked, I actually have never smoked weed. It was listed as a "spice grinder" and I never thought it was for weed when I got it.
- My mother in law gave me a spice grinder as she had a spare. This raises some questions.
  
  Your mother in law is a real one. Hopefully this answers some questions!
  
  Hey, maybe she just wants course ground yarrow for tea.
  
  They were spice grinders originally.
- asdfasfasf

A safety can opener that doesn't create any sharp edges, like this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_mLxyIXpSY (a LONG video, but quite an interesting one IMHO).
It's nor even funny how much this thing is better than any other opener I've ever used, it's just so bloody amazing!
- Knew what video it was before I clicked the link. We bought one because of that video!
  
  It's amazing how someone can just tell when it's going to be a Technology Connections video. Such great videos on so many different topics!
- I have an OXO Good Grips one that has been great for 25 years.
- Of course it's Technology Connections.
  Good stuff
- Ordinary wheel-cutting can openers get used wrong - they should be cutting the side of the can and not the lid, with the knurled wheel flat and pressed against the rim of the can.
  No sharp lip, and you don’t need to fish a lid out of the can. Downside is you can’t use a lid cover to “save” the contents if you don’t use them all.
  
  see, i've tried using them the "right" way, but i've found that i'd rather have the lid be sharp than the can most of the time.
- Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
  https://www.piped.video/watch?v=i_mLxyIXpSY
  Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
  I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.
- Like gramathy said, safety openers are just to make it difficult to use the tool wrong. Regular can openers are designed to do the same thing, but it isn't as obvious and limited in the design.

I sometimes find these two in a box in my kitchen, does that make them utensils?
- The top one is obviously tech support for your appliances. Why else would they be wearing a headset?
  
  True, but she doesn't always give the best advice..

A coffee grinder. Freshly grinded beans taste so different from normal preground coffee.
- What kind do you have?
  
  I have the cheapest manual grinder I could find in my local supermarket. It does the job
  
  I've got a Fellow Opus so I can make espresso, as well as less fine ground coffee. It's quieter than other grinders I've used. I've also used a 1zpresso hand grinder and found it effective. Both are overkill for pour over or drip coffee

Small set of whetstones so I can keep my kitchen knives absurdly sharp. Sharp vs "meh" vs dull knives make a huge difference in speed, comfort and safety. I've scuffed my knives a bit getting into things, but at least they're sharp as hell and touching them up only takes a few minutes.
Also it's hardly unconventional, but a quick read thermometer (fold-out type) is almost a must.
- I have a shameful ikea sharpener (you know, one with a sort of a wheel you roll the blade against) but it is amazing.
  Roll roll slice & dice!
  
  Nothing shameful about it. It gets the job done to a satisfactory level. What more can you ask for?
  
  Whatever works, of course. I'm not trying to go all hipster, I just think it's sort of pleasant work with the whetstone, and having crazy sharp knives is weirdly satisfying.
  
  Its okay and does the job, but learning to sharpen on a stone can be done in a spare afternoon with a youtube video and a 5 dollar diamond stone from ali. Your knives will thank you.
  The 2 big problems with pull sharpeners is that they sharpen parallel to the blade, making the knife edge more brittle and they deepen defects in the blade, so if there are even tiny dents in the edge, the pull sharpeners will make them larger over time.
- I haven't figured out how to get a good edge with stones. "it's all in the angle" but without some kind of guide I can't find the right angle. I tried marking the edge with sharpie, it helped a little bit still not as good of an edge as I get with other means.
  On the flip side, I am a professional metallographer so I am extremely experienced in progressive polishing to insanely fine grits. I just don't have a good feel or control of the angle. Metallography has to be perfectly flat.
- Quick read thermometer is essential. Do you not cook pork chops because they come out as dry, flavorless pucks? Thermometer fixes that. No more guessing how many minutes per inch of thickness at whatever temp, just look up what "doness" you want, and check them every few minutes.
  Also, digital kitchen scale, and onion goggles.
  
  For the onion googles:
  Get a USB fan and a powerbank and aim it over your cutting surface.

Osthyvel (a cheese slicer). I kinda miss it every time I'm on vacation and I have no means to get the expected thickness of a cheese slice.
This is the epitome of first world problems.
- Yesss! I grew up with one of these and didn’t realize it was unconventional until I lived on my own and tried to find one in a store. Had to buy it online. I use it nearly every day.
  
  It blows my mind that the ostehøvvel is not a common utensil in most countries. How else would you enjoy brødskive with brunost?
  
  Where would this be unconventional?

Unconventional in what sense? For westerners? A wok probably
I used to hate wok because it is so big to wash, but then I started understanding its versatility. I still hate washing it tho.
- I feel this. I use my wok for everything. Would like to upgrade to a carbon steel one.
  
  aren't woks usually carbon steel? what's yours?
- Wok is pretty standard here in the UK.
- A giant metal wok spatula is an absolute must-have also.

Weirdly, a dough scraper. It's not because of the measurement conversions, I don't think I'd ever noticed them up until now actually. It's just a really solid dough scraper. I use it for dough, but I've also used it for so many other things, like assembling/disassembling furniture, patching holes in the wall, wrapping furniture in a vinyl sheet. Loads of various tasks.
Every so often you find that you need a solid, flat, steel thing, and this comes in handy every single time.
- Yep! Great for so many things, though I don't think I've ever used the measurements on mine.
- I find it very useful for cleaning as well, scraping off stuck on stuff
  
  Yes!
- That doesn't sound very food-safe...
  
  Do you not clean your utensils?
- I use it to scrape up all the stuff once I've chopped it. Chop onion, use spine of blade to scrape onto this, dump in pot. Saves lifting heavy chopping board, or scraping onto thin knife.

A garlic press - saves so much time and effort over mincing garlic with a knife because I'm not a pro chef, and can be used in about 95% of situations where you need garlic. I don't use it when I want the garlic texture, but otherwise I just adjust the amount or the cooking time versus minced garlic. There's some hate floating around from professional chefs, but I bought one a few years ago to try it and haven't looked back.
- I bought one and hated it. How do you even clean it? The garlic gets everywhere except the dish I want it in. Maybe I'm using it wrong.
  Do you peel the garlic first? I peel by squashing the garlic with the side of the knife to crack the skin and let it peel off, so I'm half done by that point.
  
  Some of those are so crappy it drives you crazy, but some are sturdy with tight tolerances and works wonders IMO.
  
  I use a toothbrush to clean it
  
  Mine goes in the dishwasher after you reverse-press the fibers into the trash. I do peel the garlic first.
  Now to be fair, I hate chunks of garlic, I just want some garlic flavor in the food if it's supposed to be there. So I'm never going to just smash or coarsely chop it. I'm also a garlic-sweater so I don't use garlic at all if it isn't necessary for the dish. But some delicious foods require it, and I just have to try to plan them so I don't have something important the next day.
  
  Just crush it with the peel.
- The taste you get is radically different though. A press vs chopping is not a convenience issue as much as a recipe one.
- I actually stopped using my garlic press because I felt it was more work than finely chopping with the knife. It'd be great if it was just "press and done", but there's always heaps left in the press itself that refuses to go through, which then has to be dealt with by hand anyway.
- But that's not unconventional, is it? Everyone has one.

Bamboo pot scraper. Not a brush, but an actual small wedge of wood that you can use to scrape cast iron, stainless, etc pots & pans.
Great for heavy duty scraping, but usually just use it lightly to get crispy residue off of stuff (well cooked rice, beans, etc).
I like how much easier it is to rinse off, compared to a brush or sponge, that you really have to clean after using

I use a mandoline. It used to take me easily 5+ minutes per onion to dice. Now I can get 2 onions diced in about 2 minutes. Less dramatic time savings are available for other veggies too, depending on how finely I want them chopped up.
- I use one to slice cabbage. But I'm not convinced there are time savings because it tends to be a pita too wash.
  Luckily I'm quite proficient with a knife so chopping an onion is a fast 2 minutes for me.
  
  it tends to be a pita too wash
  I know you're not supposed to, but I just stick mine in the dishwasher, and it seems to work fine.
  Funnily enough, cabbage is one of the few things I don't use it for. It never really even occured to me.
  I'm quite proficient with a knife
  Yeah, I really, really am not. You think you're proficient, then compare yourself to what you'd consider "normal". Then there's me, worse than that normal by a much bigger margin than the margin between you and normal.

Did I miss it or did no one say Rice Cooker yet? A good rice cooker makes rice texture so much better while simplifying the whole process.
- Someone gifted me a Le Creuset rice cooker. I use it at least once but often twice a week. At $200+ it's truly something I never would have bought myself.
  
  Oh my partner's been trying to convince me to accept one because I make so much stovetop rice, but don't want a digital rice cooker with plastic and circuits and all that.
  How does it do?
- A pot is IMO sufficient for single use cooking (maybe once every 1-2 weeks of cooking) if you are not a primary rice household.
  
  I mean I eat rice more days than I don't and I use a pot. 15 minutes + mostly unattended, while I'm prepping some protein or whatever.

I unironically love cooking with my steel chopsticks.
- I use the longer steel ones that are used for deep frying foods. They are about 12-14" long.
- Cooking chopsticks are the best!
- I'm not as confident with chopsticks so I use a long set of stainless tongs and find them quite useful
  
  Best way to get confident with chopsticks is to use them more! They're much easier to clean than any tongs. Nothing beats an egg better than a pair of chopsticks.

A danish dough whisk. Somehow it’s easier to mix dough and it won’t have so much gunk sticking between the wires like in the balloon shaped whisks. It can be cleaned easy by hand. It’s pretty large though.
- Holy shit. That seems so helpful

Steel tea pot - I drink a pot every day but last couple pots were both glass and only last a couple months before breaking (both my fault) so upgraded to steel and so far my clumsiness hasn't yet managed to break it
- This! I recently got a steel French press and it's fantastic! The best part is I'll have to drop it off a cliff to break it.
- Having my tea pot for about 6-7 years now made of glass.
  Mind you I am not using it 24/7 though.
- If you are into tea, you might want to consider an electric kettle with variable temperature. Nothing is more of a shame than burning good leaves or having to be limited to leaves that can handle a near boil. It’s tricky & a futz to watch a thermometer for boiling water to a specific temperature for your tea—especially if you are relying on that cup to help your mood & concentration.
  
  Yep! I have a Cosori kettle that's been working great (and outlasted my first two pots lol)
  
  Kettle != tea pot
- You must be Elizabeth from Keeping Up Appearances!

Probably unconventional now, but one of those old can openers. Not the turning ones, the manual single-piece ones. Every can opener I have had dies after a year or two, but this one has been going strong for like.. 50+ years.
- Boy oh boy have I been waiting for the opportunity to plug my favorite can opener. It’s a “turning one” as you call it, from a company called OhSay. American made, and built like a brick shit house, I have no doubts it’ll outlast me. Google it, I think they’re like $15-20
  
  I love the passion for your can opener! I'll definitely take a look at your recommendation.
  In return, here's a pepper grinder my ex-chef dad raves about that seems to be pretty tough:
  !(OXO Good Grips Radial Grinder Pepper Mill, 0.385 lbs, White)[https://www.amazon.com/OXO-Good-Grips-Lewis-Pepper/dp/B003L0OOQM/)]
- I have an old Soviet wheel-cutting can opener that is still doing good after 40 years and lots and lots of exploitation

I'm famous for loving my air fryer.
- As lemmy crashes for me when i try to dm you (idk why you are the only one i have this issue with) may i ask why you speak a minimalistic language natively ?
  
  That's not my native one, there were ones even before that one.

My tiny 1" silicone spatula is one of the handiest utensils I own.

Strawberry cutter. That stupid looking plastic strawberry with the little blades in it? Turns out it can do basically evening I don't like cutting, mushrooms, berries, olives, all in tiny perfectly uniform cuts.

A microplane grater - it's been really great for dealing with ginger, and even garlic (although for garlic I mostly prefer to just squish it with the flat side of my knife). I've also used the slicer end to make chips out of baby potatoes and turnips.
Another go-to for me is a conventional pressure cooker - I use it when I'm feeling lazy, I just chuck everything in it - lentils/beans + rice + veggies + condiments, and it's all done in one go, only takes 15-20 minutes and there's no need to soak stuff beforehand. The best part is that I put all my ingredients in just a single ceramic bowl, so cleaning the cooker is super easy (just rinse it with water), and I can eat directly off the bowl, which saves me from having to use a separate dish.
- This was going to be my pick since I have used it quite a lot & needed to import one. I asked around at some local shops but was told it “looks too Western” & was pointed to these tiny, dinky local versions.

Egg slicer.
Can't get medium eggs in nice slices on sandwiches so well with a single point of pressure on the egg. That is even with a really sharp knife cutting soft-ish eggs is annoying and just not as good.
Everything else, knife.
- That's considered unconventional where you are? I don't think I've ever seen a kitchen without one here in the Nordics.

I have a tiny whisk instead of a regular-size one, and I have convinced myself it is objectively superior in every way
- If you hold your pinky finger out when you use it, then it definitely is
  
  This made me smile hard

A standalone egg steamer / boiler / poacher (like https://www.sunbeam.com.au/kitchen-and-home/cooking/pie-waffle-snack-makers/poach-and-boil-egg-cooker )
Yes I can boil or poach eggs on a stove or in the microwave, but the sheer ease of use and that it's always perfect is a life changer.
- I'll add to this: an egg topper/cracker. One simple thunk breaks a perfectly round crack in the egg shell, meaning you can behead it with ease. It's a simple tool, but I wouldn't want a kitchen without it.

I got this one weird ass meat mallet from a Brian Lagerstrom video and I use that shit for my black bean burrito filling. It works like a dream chopping and mincing anything especially if you are cooking it.

Fish spatula
- @Drusas@kbin.run How's that different from a normal one
  
  They're very different, in fact. A fish spatula is almost completely flat, slightly curved, and has a thin, long, slotted metal body. It's fantastic for picking up delicate or stuck-on foods, not just fish.

A measuring jug (from oxo) that allows you to see the marks when looking at it from above.
Also I have two timers, and I need and use both.

Souper Cubes, which are basically silicone containers with a lid for freezing food. I’m trying to do more batch meal prepping, and 1 cup sized blocks are waaay easier to store in the freezer than a bunch of freezer bags whose contents may or may not have frozen completely flat. It makes portioning easier too. I haven’t tried baking in it but I do like that they’re oven safe too if I ever want to do that.
- I use them for making big ice cubes for cocktails
- Love these. I make my own stock, refried Beans, chili, etc. Anything feeezable.

Electric knife sharpener.
Maybe more of a splurge purchase and it works so much better than those janky acoustic sharpeners.
- Acoustic?
- What? It in no way works better. It's faster, and takes less attention, but the edges they give are crap, and don't last well.
  Even the workshop belt systems aren't better than stones.
  Hell, if you want to factor in damage to the knife, any of the motorised home sharpeners are horrible. Until you get into stuff like a tormek, you're heating the edge as you work, and that means you have to sharpen sooner, which can reduce the life of the knife by years over time.
  I'm not saying you can't do what you want with your knives, but there's too much actual data on the various sharpening methods to call any of the available electric sharpeners better by any criteria other than speed.
  
  People who buy electric sharpeners also buy cheap shit knives and store them loosely in a drawer with all the other kitchen stuff so it all balances out in the end.

Pizzelle maker - like a cookie iron. It was the only thing I asked for as a HS graduation present, my parents thought I would never use it. 20 years later, I still whip up pizzelle every few months

I've got two - a potato ricer, basically a big garlic press you put a boiled potato in, instant perfect mash.
And one of those spiral apple peeler/corer/slicers, makes cooking anything with apple in so much faster (it's a fiddle to clean though unfortunately)
- Those rotary slicers are great. I make apple pie and those make it a breeze.

I don't know about unconventional but I use the absolute heck out of my half width spatula, the skinny one.
Also got a silicone fish spatula and that thing rocks. I thought it would be too bendy to work, and I don't have any nonstick pans (cast iron all day every day and one steel pan we call the stick pan, sometimes you want fond) so usually use metal but the edge on this thing is knife sharp and it squeezes under fried eggs like nothing else.
I really want a stovetop milk steamer. Sure would use it every day.

Box cutter for removing can labels. That way, they don't get soggy and awful when you have to rinse the can before recycling. Or rinse before opening, if you store your cans in a semi-outdoor environment like me.

Huh. No one has said ground meat breaker/chopper.shen my wife got one, I said it was a waste, a spatula was fine, etc etc. Then I used it once....holy crap so much better and easier to get exactly the chunkiness you want from ground beef, turkey, etc. Love the the thing now.
- What does it do and what does it look like?
- Wait... What is this thing you're describing? Like a modified spatula of some sort?
  Edit: do you mean this?
  https://www.amazon.com/Chopper-Multifunctional-Resistant-Hamburger-Cookware/dp/B08JM5FJ7Y/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.ISsk9opr9uxXMUMbAd8SxaYcKxdtW8rhexW9EJRHpW7IzKDVWhJNk_zjv-Ey98ShUHMuSVOhVi8ctl-WDNfdC6ykzlWxtXwNDBLyZxRhpybfrQ4oQgULb7wNMikATijh5caZ2d7WtpL_KpQra9EqRE-2dD8ex5gvBFu5UvD9ewzo4LXo8c-GOWRR86CexQPV0g3PIYlJlXxnHCuecJJzm_DcTAzFg2dHc5-zO5roYb3a97cQ788UsxwVWrZVGSlxtISD82GWxqufMP4-y7eHGI_LA-k5DceZPX3XVvbdRQw.L4QxORmVdkaNc7AnHeoxM-LD5bSi15GADOcxL2hq7j8&dib_tag=se&keywords=meat+mallet&qid=1712953146&sr=8-2-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1

Spiral pineapple slicer. Thought it was dumb but now i love it.

Grapefruit knife!
- I'd think a knife made out of steel would be more practical, but I'm not an expert.
- Grapefruit spoon?

My boiled egg slicer. It seemed really frivolous when I bought it, and I probably only use it five or six times a year at best but man if it doesn't cut down prep time for any salad with boiled egg in it, it also works with avocados!

Apple watch siri set timer