Kitchen Gadget you can not live without?

[mayuchico]

From pepper mill to stand mixer, I would like to hear what is your favorite kitchen gadget(s) you can not live without.

[aliinnc]

Microplane!

[grampart]

Without a doubt, my I-Roast2 coffee roaster. https://www.i-roast.com/asp/pro_01.asp

[CocoTO]

Hey grampart ... I have the i-Roast2 coffee roaster as well and want to love it but am having difficulty getting the "perfect" roast ... I can't use it indoors because it sets off my smoke detector, so I have to use it on the back patio. I live in Canada, and because of the wide changes in seasonal temperature between summer and winter, the roast is never consistent. Have you had to deal with that and if so, how?

[grampart]

I deal with it every winter. For the most part when it's cold (under 45), I roast in the garage and, if needed, add time to the roasting cycle by pushing the "up" button until the beans are the right color. I only use Colombian Supremo and always go to a Full City ++ roast. If the temp is cool but it's windy, I roast on the front porch which is protected from the wind, but wait for that time of the day when the sun is shining directly on the roaster. The rest of the time (like you) I roast on the back patio. There have been a few times when we've had very cold temps, little or no sun, and pretty high winds. During these times, I go to the store and buy some wholebean coffee. This year it's been Peet's. I should mention that I'm retired and have enough free time on my hands to "do what I have to do".

[CocoTO]

I use my $10 truffle slicer everyday to shave garlic (wish it was for truffles every day, but alas that is not the case). I like it much better than a garlic press

[tanuki soup]

My top five (in no particular order):

Microplane graters
induction rice cooker
induction hotplate
Shapton ceramic waterstones
WMF ceramic pepper mill

[mayuchico]

Wow! You can make oatmeal in rice cooker? I didn't know that. What is the ratio of water and oatmeal?

[dessert_diva]

These might help :-)

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/441463

http://www.seriouseats.com/talk/2010/05/steel-cut-oats-in-3-cup-zojirushi-micom.html

http://www.zojirushi.com/user/scripts...

You can tweak the oats/water ratio to your personal preferences of course, once you see how the starting point ones come out.

Note that this is for STEEL CUT oatmeal; don't try it with your typical Quaker rolled oats, or you'll get inedible mush.

The steel cut is healther and tastier anyway. The rolled oats have been relegated to baking recipes only!

I put the oats and water in the Zoji before going to sleep, and it's ready at whatever time I set it for the next day. There are two programmable timer settings, so I use Timer #1 for my typical schedule and Timer #2 for those mornings when I need to drag myself out of bed early. Either way, the oatmeal is ready and waiting.

I love my Zoji. :-)

[dessert_diva]

Oh gosh, just ONE? That's a toughie.

Sorry, I'll have to divide it into two categories: Electric and Non-Electric.

ELECTRIC: Zojirushi Micom rice cooker. It's used every single morning, without fail, to make steel cut oatmeal; plus 2 or 3 times a week for perfect rice. I am seriously thinking of buying a second one to keep in reserve against the day when this one finally dies and they no longer make this, LOL! p.s. I did buy a second bowl insert, simply to always have a clean one ready to hand at a moment's notice.

http://www.zojirushi.com/ourproducts/ricecookers/ns_lac.html

NON-ELECTRIC: I'd have to say that right now it's my Rosle ceramic-grinder peppermill, because again it's something that's in constant use.
http://www.amazon.com/Rosle-16681-Pepper-Mill/dp/B0000YOMTG/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

However, with any luck it will get bumped out of the #1 slot by a Shun Bob Kramer chef's knife in another 8 days (if Santa is good to me ;-) ).
http://www.surlatable.com/product/cut...