Cooking Tool Reviews

Just decided to pop 'Perfex' into the Amazon search engine on a whim, and was very pleasantly surprised to see it pop up. I've been using my trusty Perfex for years (bought it in Boston, actually), and have given many away as presents to friends, who are always delighted with them. Lightyears past the various Peugeots, advantage no. 1 over all others is the easy loading (and changing) of pepper(s), independent of the very precise adjustment of the grind. Only caveat is that with time (like 20 years!), the spring weakens a little and you might have to adjust the nut somewhat more often. But they last forever and work...simply. A real kitchen 'tool' that also looks good on any table.

flawless operation; no worries here.

For some reason, this tapered rolling pin excels at rolling out pastry dough. I think you can apply more pressure in the middle of the rolling pin and that makes the dough spread out more easily than just continuous even pressure of a normal rolling pin.

I tend to use both the old-fashioned traditional rolling pin and this one. I use the traditional one for rolling out dough I need in a square/rectangle shape and the tapered one for rolling out pastry dough and tortillas.

So, if you are wondering why it is so hard to roll out circles of dough, try this rolling pin and I can promise you will have a smile on your face! French pastry makers have this one covered!

Much easier to use than traditional rolling pin because instead of gripping the handles, your handles glide over the top making rolling much less effort. The tapered thin rolling pin enables me to have more control over the thickness of the dough. I can press down hard or use a light hand.

The remote sensor is the selling point on this one. The utility of having the alarm unit in the house is wonderful, especially for us year round cooks - no more running outside in the snow to check the meat. Luv it. Got 2 - one for the charcoal, one for the gas. Note: when you screw up and let the probe cord overheat, you can buy replacement probes from manufacturers of similar reading digital temp sensors.

Ever had a meal go up in smoke because you got pulled away from the grill? This solves the problem. Also, I grill a lot about 3 times a week and that's just in the winter. This saves a lot of those trips out to the grill to probe the food and eliminates the need to open the grill cover and lose all that heat. Just stick it in put it on the grill and forget about it.

I really works.

1. Just to test things out I wheeled my grill to the far edge of my property then went down to my basement. I still got a full signal about 80 linear feet away through a brick wall and two thick plaster-lathe interior walls.

2. The monitor warns you when your food is within 5 degrees of your desired doneness so you have time to react..

3. It really really cooked my steak medium rare.

4 Minor annoyance: It has handy preprogrammed settings for rare, medium rare, medium etc. for beef, veal and lamb. But it assumes you want hamburger, fish and poultry well done. In case you don't want these foods cooked that well you need to find an appropriate temperature setting from one of the other foods. For example If you need to turn a turkey and want to be warned when it raches 145 degrees you'd need to set the monitor for beef and medium rare, which happens to be 145 degrees. Would have been nice if it had the option to directly set the monitor for a specific temperature.

Still this thing is absolutely great. Just what I always wished I had.

I was looking for a hobby and wanted to try cake decorating. This set got me started with everything I needed. I was able to make my first cake within days and am very happy I bought this. Great for a beginner like me.

This is a great cake decorating kit. The materials include all the things an amuture cake decorator would need to create world class masterpiece cakes. The booklet included in the kit gave such good tips for making the perfect cake for frosting, things like how to creat the uniform shape of the cake just like the pros do. The booklet even goes as far as to point out the specific consistances needed for the frosting decorations, something which would be very hard as a beginner to figure out on one's own. The kit also teaches the teckniques required for an assortment of different styles. Another good thing about the kit is that included in the box are frosting dye colors for the professional look to all cakes. The how to guide gives very explicet instructions on the use of such dyes, so there is very little room for error using them. I like how the pastry bags that are included are disposable, so it is less hassle during clean-up. The kit also comes with an abundant amount of these bags, so you don't have to constantly turn around and buy more. I tried this kit with high hope and expectations, and i was not dissapointed. I am not the greatest cook in the world, but the cake turned out beautifully! Beginner's luck, perhaps, but I doubt it. I felt like a true artist when making the cake for our Fourth of July party, and I got rave reviews myself!

This pizza wheel comes via Ideo's design studio as a new line of kitchen stuff from Zyliss that I've been seeing Alton Brown using every now and then.

The idea is simple...put the blade under your hand, where you are pushing down, rather than the standard pizza cutter lever device. The result (while contrary to the seemingly immutable laws of physics) is you don't have to push down very much at all. It boils down to it is more natural to push down in this manner than to grip and use a standard pizza cutter.

The wheely blade itself is larger than my past pizza cutter (from Park Bike Tools) -- so it feels happier rolling while cutting through the bowl-of-cheese they call a pizza here in Chicago.

The wheel snaps apart in about 1 second, fully exposing the interior, so you can scrub away, or just set it in your diswasher resting on a rail -- that does the job almost as well.

Great product...great fun to use.

I bought this pizza wheel after having read about the design of it (and the other new Zyliss kitchen items) on IDEO's website. Last night I used it, and it was amazing: super fast and easy to cut, without requiring a ton of hand pressure.

The design places all of your hand pressure onto the blade, instead of at the end of a handle, like every other pizza wheel out there. The handle is big, so one's hand can grip it easily.

If you like pizza, you'll love this pizza wheel.

As a pastry chef, I have always had to scale out recipes to use in the kitchen. Customers who wanted a recipe from me would always get one that may or may not work. With this tool I can make sure that the recipe can be scaled down to a single measurement and will be right every time. This tool is easy to use and easier as you use it. I love mine and use it regularly. Ever have a recipe that is in ounces and grams and don't have a scale? No problem with this calculator.

If you must have the best, this is it. I have yet to see a set of outdoor cooking tools that can beat the quality of this one. The tools have a solid feel to them, and a nice shape with all rounded edges. The stainless steel is polished to a mirror finish. The one piece solid steel construction makes these sure to last a lifetime. I challenge anyone who can locate a better set of tools to post the link in a review below.

This whisk is excellent; it is well made and easy to clean. I use mine all the time to beat eggs for making omelets etc. It is excellent quality that will last a lifetime. Highly recommended! A+ !

I love the All-Clad cooking tools and this Soup Ladle comes free with the All-Clad 3.5 QT Soup Pot (which is also very nice). I managed to pick up the kit for 1/2 price on special from another retailer. 80% of my All-Clad cookware has been purchased on these kinds of sales, so I sit around and wait for them to come up!

The great part about the ladle is that it goes with the 6 piece Stainless Tool Set: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00005AL7U/cm_aya_asin.img/102-2562220-1448913?v=glance&s=kitchen

The ladle follows the rest of the All-Clad equipment in that it is constructed with a very substantial handle and is solid stainless steel. As long as its not lost or stolen, this will be the last ladle you'll ever need to buy.