Reddit mentions: The best cooking skimmers

Your worries are literally adorable! I will do my best to help easy your frying woes!

You can fry in a cast iron skillet, but if you have a heavy bottomed stock pot or something even heavier like a dutch oven, that will help with heat distribution and reduce splatter.

Peanut oil and coconut oil are both great for frying, but most fats other than olive oil and butter will work. soybean/vegetable/canola are ok, but not as healthy as coconut oil.

Oil is ready when you throw something in and it bubbles/sizzles. You can test this with a few drops of water, but I generally will take a little scrap of the "breading" or cheese or whatever I'm frying and toss it in every few minutes until it seems hot. You can use the back of a wooden spoon and if bubbles collect around the spoon its ready.

To reduce splatter you can buy grease splatter shields which are basically flat strainers. I think it's a waste of space/money. I'd spend your money on a special spatula for removing things once they are done.

Good luck and may all your future frying endeavors be delicious and successful!

You have lots of good selections in your list. Dunno about the shoes, do they really have lots of holes? Mosquitos will LOVE that!

Here are some camp kitchen suggestions that add value w/out hassle

Thin cutting/prep surface

Cheap kitchen knife with sheath for easy stowage(pick one or two)

Cheap non-stick frying pan(I got one for a few dollars at a grocery store)

Cheap heat-resistant spatula

Exxxxtra loooong tongs for cooking over a fire. Them coals get HOT.

The amount of different meals you can make with these is amazing. Eat a steak or salmon instead of MRE's... Cook bacon, sausages and scramble eggs for the camp...

I also recommend a small vise-grip for when you're wrenching and need a third hand. I splurged on the Leatherman Crunch and I love it.

And to jump on the bandwagon, go for smaller tent and a hatchet.

Meh, I worked in food for years, and also have had cats my whole life, and also know people involved with cat rescue. It all comes down to what form factor and materials serve your needs best. That, and keeping straight which tools are which in a particular place.

For example, probably the best cat litter scoop I've ever seen is this. I grew up using these, and didn't even know they were actually designed for food. These utensils were common in homes of my youth, and it wasn't until I was old enough to start visiting other people's homes a lot that I realised that most people knew them as skimmers. As you can see, they are still sold as cooking skimmers. (I'm not sure what the name for this particular style is.) But we're not alone in realising that they make better litter scoops than most tools designed for that purpose, and savvy marketers are aware of it, too.

Commercial kitchens are pretty much relegated to tools specifically designed for what they're using them for, mostly for reasons of liability and insurance. If a customer got zinc poisoning and all your pans are NSF approved, you're probably safe from liability. If not, then you might be spending some time in court trying to prove it couldn't be from one your metal pans. (ProTip: Do not use buckets from the hardware store for ice or anything else.) When I ran restaurants, I spent the extra money for all that fancy stuff, for that reason.

But cats are not likely to sue you, so you're much freer to use quality culinary tools, of which there are many thousands of different designs. A great deal of what's designed for cats is either poorly designed, poor quality, or overpriced -- or all of the above.

I just made a huge batch of Spätzle. And I can only recommend getting one of these. All the other contraptions are far messier and bulkier and more expensive. I've tried them all and this simple thing works best.

As for Spätzle: Mix Eggs and Water in a bowl. You need as much water as you got eggs by volume. Add a pinch of salt. Add flour until you have the right texture. What you are looking for is a very wet dough which "climbs" up your dough hooks and yet still drips off. Since this is my grannies recipe this is all by gut feeling. Once you are reasonably comfortable with your dough let it rest for at least half an hour. then check the viscosity again. Add flour if needed.

Then you need to heat up water in a pot. It is absolutely important that the water is hot but you don't want hot steam. If you get hot steam you will steam the dough while you are making Spätzle.

Pass the dough through the contraption. Don't use too much dough at once because you want your Spätzle to cook evenly. Fish the Spätzle at the surface out of the water using something like this.

Drop the Spätzle into a pan with melted butter. You are not looking for a lot of heat. You only want to keep them warm. Ideally you will drop them into a pan of very dark roasted onions. That's how I prefer them. If you've got nutmeg, use some of that. If you feel like granulated garlic, use some of that.

As for cheese: use Emmental or similar cheeses. Do not use weird stuff like Cheddar. I made my last batch with equal amounts of Emmental and not-quite Parmigiano. If you feel your cheese isn't quite melting you can pop the whole thing into the oven at a not too hot temperature. Just enough to melt the cheese.

My girlfriend adds cream before the Spätzle go into the oven.

Be careful with the flour you use. None of the self-raising stuff.


There are variation of Spätzle without adding water to the dough. Those are very eggy indeed and I'm not too fond of those.

how we make gravy in my house:

• Deglaze pan with just enough of the appropriate stock to get all the fond. sure to get all the bits in the corners with your sauce/gravy wisk
  
• Drain deglazed stock/juice/fat from bottom of pan into gravy/fat separator
  
• spoon a few tablespoons of fat back into roasting pan and place pan onto heat
  
• once fat is hot add flour to to fat and being to make a roux.
  
• cook roux until brown or dark brown as my father likes to say "Be Bold... just don't burn it"
  
• slowly reintroduce juices back into the roux while stirring constantly. It is possible that you have enough deglazing juices to make all the gravy you need but i find you often need more liquid.
  
• add additional liquid until gravy is the consistency you like. When i say additional liquids i mean the water leftover from cooking your potatoes/veggies (you didn't drain those down the sink did you?) also you can use stock to add more meaty flavor but honestly the deglazing juices should be enough
  
• season to taste
  
  It may seem like a lot of steps but once you have it down it takes maybe 15-20 minutes and is so so worth it. I find that gravies thickened by a slurry don't have the same depth of flavor you get with the roux method.

Not sure if this is helpful or not, but you could buy something that isn't meant for only one purpose.

A dutch oven is great for deep frying, and obviously braising, simmering, roasting, and even baking bread.

If you go this route, you will also need a spider and a thermometer

Edit: I know you said you would rather see it in person, I'm just sharing the links so that you know what to look for. You can find these things in most "mega marts"

Instant Pot Chipotle Black Beans (so easy!)

Canned beans, schmanned beans. Nothing is better than cooking your own DRIED beans from scratch! These Chipotle Black Beans are SO easy (and cheap!) to prepare in your Instant Pot and the flavors outperform any can of beans. It’s a win-win.

Full recipe (with notes) found at....https://veggiechick.com/instant-pot-chipotle-black-beans/

• 2 tablespoons water (or vegetable broth)
  
• 1/2 medium Spanish yellow onion, diced
  
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
  
• 3 cups water (or unsalted vegetable broth)
  
• 1 cup dried black beans, not soaked beforehand*
  
• 2 teaspoons cumin powder
  
• 1 teaspoon Spanish paprika
  
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon chipotle powder (adjust amount for desired spiciness)
  
• 1 tablespoon lime juice, optional
  
  

  INSTRUCTIONS
  

  
  

1. Set the Instant Pot to Sauté. Add the 2 tablespoons water (or vegetable broth), chopped onion and garlic. Sauté for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until the onions are soft and translucent
   
2. Next add the water (or 3 cups vegetable broth), dried black beans and all spices.
   
3. Press Stop to reset the Instant Pot and then press the Bean/Chili button (or Manual/Pressure Cook) and set the time to 35 minutes. The Instant Pot will start to build pressure and after pressurized, it will cook for 35 minutes. After cooking, it will need to sit for awhile to release pressure (about 15 minutes).
   
4. When the pressure is released, remove the lid. The beans will be sitting in some liquid; taste to make sure they are cooked through and to your desired spiciness.** If desired, add a little more chipotle powder and/or lime juice and stir. 
   
5. Use a handheld strainer to remove the beans. Save the liquid for adding to recipes if desired. Makes 3 cups.
   
6. Store these beans (with or without liquid) in an airtight container in the fridge for 4-5 days. 

Codename Duchess

• item 1 $4.58
  
  
• Item 2 $3.33
  
  
• Item3 $4.09
  
  
• Item 4 $5.08
  
  
• Item5 $3.73
  
  
• Item6 $4.18
  
  
• Item 7 $3.49
  
  Thanks so much for the awesome contest!!

I always scoop the pasta out of the boiling water into whatever sauce I've prepared - that way, the pasta can't escape, you can't accidentally burn the shit out of your hands if you over-pour, and you get to keep the pasta water if you want to loosen your sauce.

One of these guys for long pasta: https://www.amazon.com/OXO-Grips-Nylon-Spaghetti-Server/dp/B003L0OOWQ/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1511551830&sr=8-3&keywords=pasta+scoop

One of these guys for short: https://www.amazon.com/Hiware-Stainless-Spider-Strainer-Skimmer/dp/B071D8R93Y/ref=sr_1_4?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1511551855&sr=1-4&keywords=spider+strainer

May I ask, is this what metal wire spider looks like?

Is it safe to use steel utensils on an aluminium (I mean steel) pots and pans?

My Full Home Fryer kit


Container and strainer in one

​

Fryer - Easy to clean and use/cheap (Dishwasher safe)


Spider - Do not use the crappy basket that comes with the fryer, use this to remove things instead


Thermometer - Never trust the built in one.

I started using a spider strainer utensil for this purpose. It works really well because you can lower like 4-5 eggs safely at a time!

I couldn't find what that one is called but I found this style which seems like it would work.

These look like an Asian style strainer sometimes called a spider. A larger version came with my wok.

https://www.amazon.com/Strainer-diameter-732W7-Craft-Wok/dp/B01KTMP3EG

Something like this? Letrue Hot Pot Fat Skimmer Spoon - Stainless Steel Fine Mesh Strainer for Skimming Grease and Foam https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XP8LPCL/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_FzZXzbJ8A38MQ

There are fat skimmers available on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/Strainer-Skimmer-Stainless-Spaghetti-Noodles/dp/B07G326GTL

Brass Wire skimmer for Chinese Hot Pot

https://www.amazon.com/Brass-Wire-Skimmer-Wok-Shop/dp/B00012F3PO

http://www.wokshop.com/HTML/products/steamers/steam_hp_wireskimmers.html

or 12.99 for 3 with prime

Have some spiders

Deep Fry Skimmer

it's called a skimmer, you moron

It's a wire skimmer. https://www.amazon.com/Stainless-Steel-Wire-Skimmer-Qty/dp/B00012F3Q8

bam!

You could buy a skimmer like this one. I picked up a cheapo one from an Asian grocery and it does the trick. Problem is that it's small so it takes a while to get it all. But it's nowhere near as laborious as using a ladle.

Broken piece of a metal "fryer skimmer" or something like that.

like this maybe?