Quick, name a kitchen invention that you really like.

[Denninmi]

Mine is simple today, but as far as I'm concerned a great invention -- baking spray with flour. Especially for intricate pans like some of the cake pans they now have with spires and swirls.

[Angry Dragon]

1. Fire

[Denninmi]

2. Yeah, that's kind of important.

Unless you're doing a totally raw diet.

[NYC_SKP]

3. In college, I'd have said the toaster oven, now it's the microwave cooker.

I dare not call it an oven when my first oven was a firebrick outdoor dutch oven, indoors was a propane Wedgewood.

[pinto]

4. Ice box that became refrigerator.

[hlthe2b]

5. Since my go-to for a very very quick nutritious on the go "meal"

is a high protein (usually with fruit) smoothie of one type or another, I'd have to say a very powerful blender/food processor.

Mine of choice is the (still) US-manufactured Vita-Mix.

[Freddie]

6. Crock pot

I make at least one crock pot dinner per week and am always finding new recipes for it (I love Big Oven). Also great for entertaining, pot luck dinners and such.

[LancetChick]

7. Immersion blender

I dunno if that would qualify as my favorite invention (I can name several), but I'll just say that it allows me to thicken or puree a lot of soups that would otherwise have to go through the godawful step of being blended in batches in a food processor or blender. Gah. What a pain. And then you have to wash the damn blender or food processor parts. The immersion blender has a small 1-piece removable blade that you stick in the dishwasher and that's it. A healthy vegetable or legume soup with no cream that's a little too thin? Buzz it with an immersion blender and you have instant body.

My immersion blender <---

[noamnety]

17. That's what sprung to my mind as well.

I love soup - and prefer the thicker texture, but without adding cream.

[cbayer]

18. I love blended soups of all kinds.

Kinds of like hot vegetable smoothies!

But I do confess that I add cream when I have it.

I'm making a broccoli/leek soup tonight and will add cream. The chicken stock I have is just not rich enough.

[Warpy]

20. That's mine, too

although I still use the standup jobbie for things like Chinese BBQ sauce and the tomatillo/garlic/chile mixtures for the local cuisine. Mostly I jam the stick blender into a glass or pot or even plastic baggie and buzz away. Not needing to wash a heavy glass jar long with everything else is nice.

I use the blenders, stick and standup, more often than I use the food processor, to be honest. If I've got grating or slicing to do, the mandoline is the go to gadget. It's easier to clean than a Cuisinart.

[Major Nikon]

8. Cast iron skillet

[fizzgig]

9. was just about to post this

[Major Nikon]

12. The stove and oven follow

After that it's my old wood cutting board and knives

[fizzgig]

13. i will say i am a fan of the dishwasher

but the stove and over are pretty damn handy

[Major Nikon]

25. I use my dishwasher every day

But I could live without it. Sometimes I just wash the dishes by hand anyway. If it were just my wife and I, I'd probably do that more often.

[cbayer]

10. Hand down the stick blender.

Easy to store, easy to clean, takes very little electricity and does the job perfectly and without mess.

Went to a friends house the other day and was pureeing his butternut squash soup in a regular blender.... while spewing the stuff everywhere and burning his hands.

[GoCubsGo]

11. Immersion blenders.

Being able to make creamy, low-fat soups is so much easier with the invention of the immersion blender. Pureeing gives the sensation of having cream in the soup, without actually having cream in the soup. Mine has rescued a number of chunky soups, too. I didn't like the chunky versions, but when I took the stick blender to them, they became delicious.

[Graybeard]

14. My microwave.

I'll get a lot of grief for this from those who claim that 'zapping' food in it poses health problems. But I use it every day. Every day for everything from my oatmeal at breakfast to a bowl of soup at lunch to frozen veggies at dinner.

I just saved myself from having to wash three pots already!

I love it. (Toaster oven comes in a close second. BTW I'm single and cooking for one.)

[OffWithTheirHeads]

15. The Wok

[Snarkoleptic]

16. Microplane grater.

Made some lemon chicken with linguini last night.
Sooo good!

[northoftheborder]

19. Appliance: dishwasher; gadget: microplane grater

[Retrograde]

30. with the rice cooker a close runner-up

I thought it was superfluous until I got one: now it's "let's start the rice while we decide what the rest of dinner will be", and let it do its thing without any more human intervention.

[Glassunion]

21. Convection for cooking.

The radio to keep me company

But my favorite would be a simple 10" knife.

[boston bean]

22. my keurig coffee maker.

couldn't live w/o it.

[Liberal Jesus Freak]

23. Coffee/spice grinder.

And the immersion blender and the microplane and....did you say just one?

[bif]

24. Celphalon non-stick pan

I use it almost every day.

[mother earth]

26. I am a kitchen gadget junkie, one of my prized possessions is a flatbread electric press that I've

owned for years, but only recently have started using again. (Never truly gave it props, but I cannot live another day without using it and singing it's praises.) Another must have as far as I'm concerned is a panini grill, and a mandoline. Oh don't forget your ice cream scoops for baking cookies, meatballs, cupcakes, etc., and a dough scraper!

[sir pball]

27. Parchment paper.

Not wax paper, parchment. It's kind of hard to find and expensive in "home use" sizes but if you have the space you can get a thousand full-pan sheets for $30-40 online.

That and my Vita-Prep 3...POWERRRRRRR

[kestrel91316]

28. Nutmeg grater

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

29. I'm a fan of many of the things mentioned

Such as the immersion blender (I haven't used my regular blender in over a year). I have two, an expensive Braun with lots of speeds and a cheap Cuisinart with one speed. Of course, the one I almost always use is the Cuisinart.

I do use my food processor quite a bit. For example, last night, I made lasagna verde bolognese, and the easiest way I know of pureeing the spinach is to put the cooked and drained spinach in the food processor with the eggs and give it a few pulses with the cutting blade.

Speaking of pasta, I make my own pasta at least once a week, and I love my pasta rolling machine. If you make fresh pasta, you need one of these machines. I have a 35-year-old Atlas, and it works great. (BTW, would anyone be interested in a thread on making fresh pasta?)

I have some really good knives, but the one I use most often is a 7" Shun chef's knife. Great balance, fits my hand, beautiful looking blade, $200. I keep it sharp with a whetstone and a steel.

[guardian]

31. peeler

[sad-cafe]

32. we have this onion chopper that we could not live without

bought it at a state fair one year and have used it a ton.