Infomercial Cookware that Works?

[EarlyBird]

I have recently seen t.v. advertisements for a non-stick skillet with a green coating which is so non-stick that sunny side up eggs practically fly off the pan without oil or fat, burnt cheese peels away cleanly, and generally the pan promises to make one's life wonderful and complete.

This is in the realm of the Ginsu Knife. In fact, the pan(s) ("call now and get an extra pan, free!") come with a Ginsu-type knife ("but wait, there's more!") that can cut through a bolt and then slice a tomato like a surgeon's scalpel.

Has anyone ever bought infomercial kitchen ware and been satisifed?

[law_doc89]

Yeah, and keyboards beat the point and slide illiteracy that is growing by the day!

[ItalianNana]

Bassomatic!!!

Bwaahahahahaha

We're on our second NuWav. I accidentally destroyed the original. *ahem* A frozen whole chicken, well seasoned and cooked inside the see thru dome makes the juiciest, crisp skinned roast chicken I've ever had.

Also own a Bullet, a half circle shaped X Press thingy (which makes killer omelette/frittatas) a food-bag-storage-sealer whatchamacallit, a pasta boat, a steam cleaner, a V-slicer and a brand new set of Orgreenic!

My husband, who is, in all other ways a frugal conservative, cannot be left unsupervised watching late night TV.

But WAIT!

The other rooms of our home are likewise blessed with As Seen on TV goodies...

[MrBigTime]

This sounds like a great venue for the Supertaster to delve into ... Wish I didn't just reveal my great get-rich-quick-by-doing-fun-stuff-and-quit-my-boring-day-job idea!

[KaimukiMan]

you've got some stiff competition with America's Test Kitchen, but go for it! Of course three bags of Lay's are a lot less of a capital investment than a LeCruset, an All Clad, and a Lodge.

[MrBigTime]

K-man -

Glad to see you're a fellow supertaster fan. I used to live in your neck of the woods and got lots of great tips on where to dine - I think at one point you recommended Goma Tei as a good ramen place, it has since become one of my favorite restaurants, just wish it didn't take a 12 hour flight to eat there!

Mr. BT

[ratgirlagogo]

I am a Supertaster fan myself - but I preferred the text blogs to the video blogs. Rarely look at it now that it's so focused on video. Pity since that was my favorite column in Chow (as opposed to Chowhound).

[NonnieMuss]

+1 - More and more sites are moving to video stuff. I actually like to read.

[TraderJoe]

Slap Chop! Mwahahaha

[KaimukiMan]

It started almost before infomercials, sort of an extended commercial, but I have to admit I've been really happy with my Foreman Grill. I got a mid range one about a year ago as a gift. I thought it would join some other appliances in the back of my cupboard (deep fat fryer, ice tea maker, single slice toaster, 10 cup rice cooker- im single, etc.) Instead i've used it extensively. cooks many items in about half the time it would take in a skillet, and the fat really does drain off, just make sure you don't accidently knock that fat catcher away. LOL

[cleobeach]

My mom bought a George Foreman for my grandparents when they got to the point where "real" cooking became too much for them. They loved it and it enabled them to cook hot foods every meal.

[Leepa]

Rice cookers help with that, too. You can cook all kinds of things in them.

[EarlyBird]

I know a number of very happy George Forman Grill users.

[Bacardi1]

I had one of the earliest models & really liked it at first. Ended up tossing it because 1) even though I was extremely careful using & cleaning it, the non-stick coating began to flake off, & 2) those stupid plastic "grease catchers" were far too easy to bump into, & I nearly always ended up with a mess.

[pine time]

Yeah, ours went to the Salvation Army. My own fault, though. Must have bought the version meant for a family the size of the Foreman clan (doesn't he have like eleventy-seven kids?), and there's just 2 of us. Huge surface area, set to cook 2 hamburgers.

[calliope_nh]

I really like my Magic Bullet. I got it for a few bucks at a yard sale. I settled for that since I could not find a place to purchase the Super Bassomatic 76.
http://www.hulu.com/watch/19046

[Bacardi1]

I've had both a Ron Popeil Pasta Maker & a Ron Popeil "Showtime Rotisserie" for many years now - both of which I've been very happy with.

The pasta maker was purchased back in the late '80's/early '90's, & is still going strong. (Unfortunately, they're no longer making them, although they do still sell some accessories & spare parts for it.)

The rotisserie was a sort of joke gift from hubby around 12 years ago because the commercials for it seemed to be non-stop back then. Remember the "Set it & forget it!" phrase? We were practically repeating it in our sleep. But frankly, I now rarely - if ever - roast a chicken or duck any other way. The results are always superb.

[ratgirlagogo]

Mr. Rat bought the Pasta Maker right off the the TV. "Chocolate pasta!" To this day I have NO idea what he found so fascinating about the damn thing. We've used it maybe three times and it just sits there taking up space under the sink. A real Italian pasta machine or food grinder would have been so much cheaper and more compact.

[Coogles]

Back in the late 80's I bought a hand-hammered carbon steel wok called "The Great Wok of China" off a late night infomercial. That thng was GREAT! Used it heavily all through college but it disappeared after graduation and I never found another quite as good. Recently I was in the market for an induction cooker to use in the office (I hate heating things up in microwaves) and was looking at the NuWave Precision Induction Cooktop. Unfortunately the interwebs are full of complaints about their excessive shipping and handling charges that more than double the advertised price ($99.99 for the product and $140 for shipping and handling).

[EarlyBird]

SO funny you mention that. I too bought a "hand hammered carbon steel wok...'The Great Wok of China'...!" (cue the "Gong" sound). I bought it at about 2:00 a.m. The very polite person told me that it would take "6 to 8 weeks to ship." From a warehouse in Ohio.

8 weeks later it had not arrived. I called and they said, "the company we sold your order to went out of business two days after they cashed your check." I had a high powered attorney I worked with at the time write a letter, an oila! a wok arrived shortly thereafter. After all that, all I ever used it for was making popcorn.

[wyogal]

Nah, but I have gotten that little paring knife for sitting through a live informercial at a home show, like it.

[Leepa]

The one with a brushed aluminum handle?

[pine time]

The orgreenics pan is now at places like WalMart. While I won't be buying one, getting it there will save you oodles of s & h charges. And that: "Wait, wait--a 2nd gizzy for just 10 cents more." Except they don't tell you that you'll pay a 2nd time of the exhorbitant s&h charges.

[JerryMe]

SO received an enclosed rotisserie. I don't remember the name of it. You can put a chicken or hunk of beef on the spit and set it inside while it rotates while it's cooking. It actually works quite well and everything has turned out very good.

The downside - It creates a LOT of heat, which is fine while it's cold (like now) but brutal in the summer. It usually resides on the covered porch. Eventually it will start to squeak. SO's solution was to spray it w/ WD-40. AAACK! I refused to eat THAT meal along with any others for about month until the smell was gone. The grease that drips down into the little removable pan almost ALWAYS overflows, so we've lined it with aluminum foil and angled it so it drips into another back up plan. Otherwise, there would be grease all over the porch.

[EarlyBird]

That may be Mr. Popeil's "Set It And Forget It!" rotisserie. My sister had one and loved it until it fell apart.

[Poochinator]

My father in law sent us Mr. Popeil's rotisserie. It lives in our garage on old piece of marble. It makes awesome pork roasts, ribs, and chicken. When the weather is nice, we move it to a small table, pull up chairs and watch it while drinking gin martinis.

[EarlyBird]

Another vote for the Popeil rottisserie!

[drongo]

I have a Ron Popeil rotisserie also... and it's certainly great for the price -- I got the "Platinum" model for $129.99 (they're never going to say $130!) including tax, shipping, handling.

I don't use it often, but it's worked well when I have pulled it out. I used it last Thanksgiving for the turkey -- so I could use my oven for other things. And it is indeed a fun conversation piece when it's running!

[John E.]

I'm more interested in the old piece of marble. I remember watching Julia Child and she said to get a piece of marble, I'm guessing 1/2" to 1" thick, sized to fit on a shelf of your refrigerator to use when making pastry, such as pie crusts or puff pastry, that includes a lot of butter or fat. I guess I'm more interested in it just because it would be cool to have such a piece of marble since we don't make pie or pasty too often.

[Poochinator]

You are correct about the pastry making. My mother gave it to me about thirty years ago. She got it from a large department store. One day I came home and Mr. Pooch was using it as a cutting board...argh. I cannot part with it and thought it was a good way to protect the surface of the table in the garage and class things up a bit.

[Leepa]

Not a lot of refrigerator shelves are built to take the weight of a slab of marble. One that cold would produce a lot of condensation on its surface when taken out into a cold room also. Best leave it out of the fridge.

[John E.]

You may be correct. The TV program in which Julia spoke of putting the piece of marble was produced close to twenty years ago. I don't know either the weight or size of the piece of marble or the weight capacity of refrigerator shelves, now or twenty years ago.

[Poochinator]

Just got back to town to check on the size of the marble: 14 X 18 X 1/2. It weighs about 10-15 pounds. It would easily fit into my counter depth fridge.

I do not know the weight limits for shelves; however, we always have between 12 - 18 bottles of beer; a brita carafe, and a 1/2 gallon of milk on our shelves. You could also chill a pastry on the shelf just above the crispers.

[cleobeach]

Garage spectator cooking plus cocktails! I am interested. We have a weekend cottage and I cannot use the oven in the summer, it heats the house to an unbareable level.

However, that rotisserie sounds perfect. How hard are they to clean?

[Poochinator]

Just got back to town and needed to check out the rotisserie before I got back to you. I have never cleaned the inside of it. It is pretty greasy BUT it lives in the garage so I am not really worried about it. I do clean the glass door so that I have good visibility. The meat is impaled on two large prongs attached to a disc at each end with a small broiler type pan below to catch the drips. We just rinse and throw everything into the dishwasher.

The weather is gorgeous here right now so I will be picking up a pork roast tomorrow. I have the prongs soaking in a large bowl to get rid of any dust or smutz.

Garage spectator cooking.....love. it.

[tcamp]

I've never actually purchased any items, mainly because I'm too lazy to go downstairs to get a credit card, but this one cracks me up. For those times when getting out a paring knife is JUST TOO MUCH TROUBLE:

http://www.asseenontv.com/the-dog-dic...

[EarlyBird]

I love how these commercials gin up a massive problem which doesn't exist, and which only the gadget can solve.

I remember the in-the-shell egg scrambler. They show a harried mom on the floor with six or seven bowls, a dozen or so eggs and shells all over the floor, eggs in her hair, dogs running around, a bent whisk.

"Whipping eggs. The fuss, the muss, the MESS. It's a KITCHEN DISASTER! But wait...!"

[NonnieMuss]

This is a video tribute to infomercial idiots who can't do normal things without accident or injury:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/catrocketship...

I have a ginsu knife I got for a dollar somewhere years ago. It still works pretty well, but I never tried to cut a penny in half or anything. Someone gave me the spatula/whisk/tongs thingy as a gift - that worked fine for what it was, but didn't solve any real problems. And I have a vintage mouli grater - I don't know if that was a TV item, but I think it may have been - I still love mine.

Edit: Augh - I almost forgot! Our college team was playing once on some weird channel that no one in town got - our cable company nicely turned it on for everyone for that one day so we could watch a big game. They apparently sold every ad spot to the Meatball Express - this plastic tray thing that you made meatballs with by spinning it around atop a pile of meat. I never wanted anything so much in my life. There was a family gathering the next day, and everyone who had watched the game mentioned the Meatball Express. Did anyone ever try it?
Someone gave me a plastic bag resealer as a wedding gift (probably a gag gift? I wasn't sure) and it did absolutely nothing.

Edit #2: My brother was once directing a production of Beauty and the Beast, and the cast was just a bit too large. They kept adding kitchenware to the "Be Our Guest" number just to give the cast things to do. So there was an oven mitt and a whisk and stuff like that. Then they got crazy and tried to add a pizza wheel. The costumer threatened to quit over the idea of a Rotato outfit.

[EarlyBird]

I just checked out that video. Hysterical.

[John E.]

I would not buy the green pan. The cheese hing is bogus. Cheese is mostly dairy fat. Of course it comes off a non-stick skillet. Cook's Illustrated did a test of the 'green eco' pans and said they did not work all that well. Buy a regular nonstick pan and don't over heat it.

[Miri1]

I was suckered late one night into buying one of those GT Express sandwich maker things. It came with two units and a small spatula. I used it quite a bit and am tempted to buy another as mine seems to have gone missing and I gave the second one away. My only real complaint was that they kept sending me cookbooks, which were really just pamphlets, and charging me something like $13 each. I was finally able to get them to stop.

Oh, and the shipping was ridiculous, too. But I did enjoy the product so I'm not complaining too loudly.

[willownt]

I would try to find it somewhere else, rather than buying directly. Amazon sells some of these things, and so do some brick and mortar stores. Save the outrageous shipping costs.

I was haunted in my childhood by an informercial for a sandwich maker (a different sort), with the woman making all sorts of things, including, most memorably, an apple pie from white bread, margarine, and pie filling. Years later I was so amused to see the same woman selling the same sandwich thing in a new ad, with equal passion for her triangle shaped foods!

[EarlyBird]

Hah! I remember that. I also remember the "pies" she was making from white bread were fairly hideous, including one "that makes the most out of leftovers. Stuff it with day old spaghetti!"

[pine time]

Ugh--I got sucked into one of those sandwich turnover things--2 a.m., hungry, not thinking straight. After it came, realized: white bread with stuff inside. And I paid dearly for the s&h!

[EarlyBird]

They intentionally run those late at night when you're bleary eyed and have weakened judgement. That's how I ended up with a "hand hammered wok direct from China!" that I used once to make popcorn before it disintegrated.

[tcamp]

This website is fun if you're memory needs refreshing on As Seen on TV items:

http://www.asseenontv.com/kitchen/ind...

[cleobeach]

I actually tried those produce bags. I can't remember where I bought them (not from TV). Complete fail and a waste of money.

My husband got suckered in by the Swivel Sweeper, I sent it right back.

My son begged, begged, begged me for one of those Gryo bowels. He was well past the targeted age. I think his mind was blown by the "science" and needed to get his hands on one. Maybe I should have bought one and let him take it apart.

[John E.]

Your son might have a future in medicine if he studies those gyro 'bowels'. ; )

Almost all of this stuff is available at Goodwill or some other thrift store for penniess on the dollar.

[breadchick]

Ha. Well, I know we all make these errors, but that was too funny.

[juliejulez]

My grandmother actually gave all us grandkids (all adults) those green bags for Christmas one year, she thought they were the best thing ever LOL I didn't find them to work any better than regular bags though.

[kbjesq]

+1 Willownt, I share your curiosity about the lady who is passionate about "triangle shaped foods"! Here she is - I had to look this up and to my surprise, it is indeed the same lady that was on the infomercials of our childhood: http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=5FvGah...

[pine time]

Read somewhere that this lady is a gazillionaire, but keeps her persona as the down-home-make-food-from-scraps, i.e., hardscrabble lifestyle. Marketing works.

[C. Hamster]

That's Cathy Mitchell!!! I watch her like a train wreck

[pine time]

I'm sure it was her I saw years and years ago, about 2 a.m., and Mr. Pine and I were both insomniacs and hungry. She made some pastry shells (and some from plain ole' white bread, if I recall correctly), plopped them in some cookery thing, added sweet or savoury fillings and baked. So, OF COURSE we ordered one.

Weeks later, we realized we bought a gloried toaster.

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

My neighbor absolutely loves her Ogreenic (sp?) frying pan.

[JayL]

The green pans are not good. Can't imagine cooking anything w/o oil in that thing. They also scrape just as easily as any other non-stick pan.

Save your money.

[law_doc89]

These "not sold in any stores" pans were being sold at my grocery, and seemed cheap enough, so I bought one. Very light weight, poor outer quality, finish scrapes right off. Inner non-stick works, but it has all the problems of aluminum cookware.

[FriedClamFanatic]

The vacuum pack machines work well when you go to places like costco

[kirikara]

My mil swears by the magic bullet for her daily smoothie because it is the perfect chop/blend size for 1 smoothie. I will give that to her, making my smoothie in my regular blender is not working well and i could see it working better in a smaller container.
But she bought at BBB, not on tv..

[cleobeach]

I know several people that LOVE their Magic Bullets due to the size (single serving) and the ease of cleaning.

That green pan haunts me. I am tempted to buy one just to see if it actually works like on TV.

[EarlyBird]

I too, am haunted by the green pan.

[cleobeach]

I have no need to cook fried eggs (or burn cheese) but I have an almost uncontrollable urge to prove the commercial wrong.

[tcamp]

I don't know, the melted cheese puddles look kinda tasty...

I was sort of repulsed by the green pan, though. I found myself wondering WTH they coated it will to get that degree of non-stickability.

[cleobeach]

I know! Surely there must be a CH out there that can educate us. (responding to tcamps comment about the coating of the green pan)

And +1 on the cheese, I love a nibble of cheese with the right amount of burn/melt!

[Leepa]

I've been doing the melted cheese things and adding bits to my tomato soup. Yum.

[DuffyH]

Every NS skillet ever advertised via infomercial shows those 2 items. Eggs and cheese patties. I'm in the camp that believes ANY new-from-the-box NS pan will do that. But will it do it 6 months later? For most, the answer is no way.

[Chemicalkinetics]

Yes, I heard very good things about magic bullets too. Easy to use, inexpensive, easy to store. The main problems I heard are that they are not very powerful and that their motors get burned out.

<But she bought at BBB, not on tv..>

Doesn't matter. They are still infomercial products.

[Leepa]

My friend used one to puree her cat's food when it was ill. It was the only way she could get it to eat as it's illness was preventing it from eating food that contained any minute amount of solids. It worked great for that.... so, if you have a sick cat.....

[Chemicalkinetics]

Unfortunately, I have not, but I heard "ninja" really works.

http://www.amazon.com/Ninja-Kitchen-S...

[Chowrin]

I'll vouch for the Ninja. very sharp blades, I don't use it daily, but a year later and the moter is still running, and it still pulverizes stuff.
Plus, costco sells it.

for once, something that works!

[wattacetti]

The Ronco Patty Stacker worked - your hands never touched the meat.

[redips]

I think the Magic Bullet has taken on a life of it's own. I don't own one, but if I did I'm sure I would eat a whole lot better and be a more well rounded home cook.

[INDIANRIVERFL]

At South Hills Village Mall during Chrismas of 1965, Ron Popeil was selling Chop o matics and Veg o matics. Chop o matic fit this 11 years old budget. Mom actually used it for years.

[scubadoo97]

Gave my mom a veg o matic for mothers day when I was a teen. She gave it back to me when she moved out her house about 20 yrs ago. I still have it somewhere. It does a great job of cutting potatoes for French fries

I use a turbo oven to roast coffee