Kitchen gadgets 2021: our experts recommend the best time-saving kitchen gadgets
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Indeed, if a worker is only as good as their tools, then our experts have tested and curated the best tools to help make cooking a pleasure, not a chore.
For those of you who adore the wiz-bot gadgetry of shows like Master Chef, there are entries that can help elevate your cooking from prosaic to professional. Ever coveted a sous vide machine, or watched Nigella hand-roll pasta and wanted to match her culinary prowess? We have you covered.
These products have been independently reviewed by our team of experts. We’ve done our best to ensure that there’s nothing too faddish included, though as with most things, these gadgets are only useful if you continue to use them. In each case, we think it’s worth the outlay.
It is something of a struggle to avoid hyperbole when describing the AnySharp Knife Sharpener, an appliance that did revolutionise our experience of cooking. Odds are high you may not be aware how blunt your kitchen knives are. Sharpen them with this sharpener (no skill required) and you’ll be delighted by how freshly capable and razor-sharp your knives now our.
The super-sucker secures it to your work surface, then simply pull your blades through the Tungsten carbide sharpening tool. Terribly satisfying.
Marcato are the market leaders in the pasta maker industry (with 80 years of experience). If you’re after a pasta machine, this is the premium offering.
It turns the work of making homemade pasta into an absolute doddle - we were impressed with the ease of ease - and while we were originally uncertain it would be worth the effort, we found the noodles crafted in our Marcato to be more tender, silky, and absorbent than store-bought pasta, soaking up the flavours of our sauce gorgeously. It’s well worth it if you want to create Italian dishes a Nonna would be proud.
Another point that sets the Marcato aside from other pasta machines we trialled - the roller combs on the machine are removable, making this easily the simplest machine we used to clean-up.
This is not a necessity, no. But, if, as we do, you seem to be cooking potatoes in some iteration every second evening, then it will make your cooking endeavours much more pleasant. Instead of hours over a sink with a potato peeler, simply pop your tatties in the rumbler, switch on, and it will peel them for you - up to a kilo in just one minute.
If roast potatoes, shepherd’s pie or mash are in your regular cooking rotation, you’ll be delighted by the time this nifty machine saves you.
Sous vide, meaning “under vacuum” in French, refers to the process of vacuum-sealing food in a bag, then cooking it to a very precise temperature in a water bath. The results are both more tender and more reliable than conventional cooking methods.
If you’ve watched Master Chef, odds are you’re familiar with this method of cooking, which was previously the preserve of the culinary elite, and now is available to be done at home.
The Anova Precision Cooker sous vide has two actions - first, it vacuum packs your food into a plastic bag, then, it turns any cooking pot into a water bath
It works by heating and circulating water in a pot or pan until it reaches the correct temperature for cooking your chosen food. From there you simply cooked your vacuum packed food according to the app’s instruction.
The results are impressive - it’s great for turning cheaper cuts into tender marvels, and the accompanying app provides fool=proof instructions. Unlike most sous vide machines, too, this is small enough to slot easily into cupboards when not in use.
If you’ve seen enough freshly baked sourdough loaves on social media to last a life time - but still melt at the scent of a freshly baked loaf of bread - this Morphy Richards bread-maker will set you up.
With 14 pre-sets to utilise, making bread is as simple as placing ingredients into it, and pressing a button. You’ll be rewarded with flavourful, well-risen bread, with impressive crusts. The timer means you can leave it to do its work over night and wake up to a still-warm loaf.
It does a great job of pizza dough, too. We’re converted - we use it every day.
We again have strayed into the arena of extravagance here - but if deep, intense flavour is what you seek, you’ll adore this handheld smoking gun.
While hot-smoking consumes space, time, and can be rather aromatic (we adore the scent, we confess, but it is rather consuming), this gun is small, hand-held, and transforms the flavour of your food in minutes. By cold-smoking, it imparts a rich, smoky flavour to whatever you fancy, but will not affect texture at all (and requires no woodchips).
We adore it - indeed, we’ve been going mad trialling it on everything - it works well, we’ve found, on cheese, butter, to seafood, beef, and - delightfully - martinis.
The expert review: You can always rely on British kitchenware brand Lakeland to produce excellent products that are reliable and simple to use, and the Lakeland Digital Ice Cream Maker 1.5L is no exception.
It was the easiest to use of all the machines we tested: all we needed to do was freeze the bowl in advance, while all the other bits and pieces were incredibly simple to slot together.
For an ice cream maker on the more affordable side of the spectrum, we were also impressed by its digital display complete with a timer, and its generously sized bowl, perfect for making ice cream for the whole family - plus friends!
It comes with recipes too - and most importantly, it makes a truly tasty frozen treat.
(Deborah Cicurel)
