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In-Depth Product Reviews: Silicone Spatulas, Turners, and Scrapers Comparison

BACKGROUND

In a busy kitchen, nothing beats universal utensils for ease of use; you don’t want to think about whether a spatula is going to scratch nonstick cookware or not. Thus I’ve gone almost 100% silicone.  Plastic and (most) wood utensils won’t scratch up your nonstick pans, either, but they generally don’t tolerate heat and/or moisture as well as silicone.  In particular, nylon plastic utensils can soften and melt when exposed to temperatures above 400 degrees Fahrenheit (the exact temperature depends on the plastic).

Furthermore, some manufacturers coat their entire utensils in silicone, instead of just the head of the utensil. A seamless silicone covering does a few things:

  • No seams = no place for food/grime to build up
  • Makes the handles impervious to heat as well. (Uncoated plastic handles can melt if you rest them onto the rim of hot pans.)

DEFINITIONS

Let’s get definitions out of the way.

  • Turners are for cooking.  The head of a turner will be angled, to allow you to reach the bottom of a saute or fry pan more easily to flip food.
  • Spatulas are mainly for baking and food prep.  They are relatively straight from end to end and allow you to scrape the sides of bowls/jars/cans/etc. effectively.
  • Scrapers are small spatulas you can use to scrape food from the insides of narrow jars.

WHAT MAKES FOR A GOOD SILICONE SPATULA/TURNER/SCRAPER?

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In-Depth Product Review: KitchenAid KCH112KLKD Hard Anodized Nonstick 12″ Skillet with Glass Lid Cookware – Black Diamond

KitchenAid KCH112KLKD Hard Anodized Nonstick 12 Inch Skillet with Glass Lid
KitchenAid KCH112KLKD Hard Anodized Nonstick 12 Inch Skillet with Glass Lid

THE COMPANY

In 1897, Clarence Charles Hobart started the Hobart Electric Manufacturing Company (Troy, Ohio). The company sold motorized coffee mills, meat grinders, and (starting in 1908) stand mixers for commercial bakeries.

In 1919, after World War I, Hobart formed the KitchenAid division, which produced smaller-scale stand mixers for residential customers. Hobart continued to sell non-residential products under the Hobart brand. The overall company remained profitable and independent for decades, occasionally adding new product lines to the KitchenAid brand, such as dishwashers.

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In-Depth Product Review: Iwatani ZA-3HP Portable Butane Stove Burner

Iwatani ZA-3HP 12000 Btu Portable Butane Burner
Iwatani ZA-3HP 12000 Btu Portable Butane Burner

BACKGROUND

Iwatani Corporation of America is a subsidiary of the Iwatani Group of Japan, a conglomerate of over 250 companies employing 11,000 people worldwide.1  Iwatani is the market leader in Japan for liquefied petroleum gas, hydrogen, and helium, so they know their gases well.

Iwatani sells various consumer, commercial, and industrial products.  On the industrial side, Iwatani makes gas valves, hoses and pipes, heat-resistant paints, piezoelectric igniters, oxygen sensors, etc.  Some of Iwatani’s well known consumer/commercial products include the Iwatani butane cooking torch CB-TC-PRO (which uses the same 8-ounce (227g) butane canister/cassette size as the stove) and the Iwatani ZA-3HP Portable Butane Stove Burner, which is the subject of this review. (NOTE: as of 2020, it’s been cosmetically redesigned and renamed the Iwatani VA-30 butane stove; still performs the same and is still made in Japan.)

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The Best Blender: An In-Depth Review of Vitamix vs. Blendtec vs. Oster vs. Also-Rans

Blendtec Total Blender, Vitamix 6300, Oster Versa 1400 Blenders
Blendtec Total Blender, Vitamix 6300, Oster Versa 1400 Blenders

Why Would Anyone Pay For A High Powered Blender?

Drinking green smoothies each day for breakfast is a quick and easy way to eat an entire day’s worth of vegetable and fruit. The leafy greens (e.g., spinach, kale, chard, collard greens, etc.) give you a ton of vitamins and minerals, and the fruit sweetens the smoothie so that it doesn’t taste bad. The fiber in whole fruits and leafy greens help smooth out the sugar rush. We’ve personally been drinking green smoothies for breakfast since 2010 and sometimes even drink them for lunch.

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In-Depth Product Review: ANOVA Precision Cooker (an Immersion Circulator for Sous Vide Cooking with Bluetooth)

Anova Precision Cooker Thermal Immersion Circulator for Sous Vide
Anova Precision Cooker Thermal Immersion Circulator for Sous Vide

If you’d like to learn more about sous vide, please visit my introduction to sous vide page here.

This is an ongoing review of the Anova Culinary Precision Cooker/Immersion Circulator, which–ironically–I got not for sous vide but for thermal testing purposes. But it also does its intended purpose quite well.

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Garlic: anti-cancer and cardiovascular health benefits

HISTORY:

Garlic Bulb
Garlic Bulb

Garlic (Allium sativum) is a species in the onion genus, and thus genetically similar to onions, leeks, shallots, and chives. Garlic originated in central Asia, and humans have grown garlic for at least 7,000 years throughout Eurasia and Africa for use as a panacea for gastrointestinal and other health problems. Garlic has long been treasured for its ability to flavor foods, but what makes garlic especially potent is how it stimulates production of antioxidants.

How it works:

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