5 Straining Gadgets Tested By Design Expert | Well Equipped | Epicurious
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- čas přidán 5. 06. 2024
- Design and usability guru Dan Formosa returns for another episode of Well Equipped, this time offering up his review of 5 gadgets made for straining liquids in the kitchen. Watch as he tests each device and assesses them for effectiveness and usability, commenting on what works, what doesn't, and how he would improve their design with a few tweaks.
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0:00 Introduction
0:33 Tofu Press
3:58 Spinna
7:08 Clip Strainers
10:47 Pickle Lifter
13:59 Teafu
16:55 Final Thoughts
17:12 “Dreams feel real while we're in them.”
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Dan is the only reason why I'm subbed to this channel,
though they only let him out of his cage once a month to do a video.
I wish this was a weekly series.
SAME!!!
@@ChrisHinners008 Yes
SAME
I mean they have good content on this channel. You could click around a bit.
LITERALLY
As a disabled person with dexterity issues, I really appreciate the left hand with oil test because it does really simulate how it might be difficult for someone without much dexterity or strength.
I think it is so great to see all of the people coming out of the woodwork to defend the Pickle Lifter
Since people always ask about items Dan's designed:
Dan helped design the OXO Good Grips kitchen tools. He also worked on the Smartgauge instrument cluster for Ford hybrids and the Sirius XM radio interface.
Wait that's so cool! The OXO Good Grips can opener is one of the best. I swear by it
That makes so much sense with his emphasis on universal design!
@@alyssashih2895 OXO Good Grips is probably the best all round line of kitchen products for home cooks. While not always best in class, they're almost always very good, though some of their products like their nonstick skillet and kitchen scale are top of the line for home kitchens.
He also helped design the model m keyboard, and is credited with inventing the little bumps on keyboards via that.
That "Pickle Lifter" is originally Tupperware and has been around since the 70s. It's meant for sliced / small things. In Australia they are usually used for pickled beetroot (national delicacy) - which comes in a can, and that answers why you need to transfer it to another container. I think you missed the brief on this one! The modern tupperware ones come in smaller versions and can be used for olives / pickled onions etc.
That's pretty neat that pickled beetroot comes in cans over in Australia, in England ours comes in a glass jar
My family always used it for pickled Jalapeños!! It’s perfect for that!!
Do you know where the pickled beetroot came from? I mean in terms of a country/influence.
That pickle lifter is a family heirloom... my grandmother had one.. for as long as I can remember... and it got used constantly.. had a couple.. and it was the neatest thing when I was young :D
@@Braixie it's actually sliced pickled beetroot not whole beets just for clarification and its quite a large can
He's getting tired of oiling his hands and having to wash them over and over. Choosing to opt out of the oil test as much as possible. XD
I'm just worried his hands are going wither away into ash after this episode.
I have always thought those clip strainers are rather for steaming than cooking. That would make actually more sense like cooking pasta in pot and steaming some veggie clipped on side to save energy/another dish to wash
True!!!
I was thinking the same
I think you're right too!.
You will find solutions like this in the fast food restaurants where pasta is the main the main dish. The pasta is pre cooked and they just submerge for a few minutes in the hot water.
But you wouldn’t be able to close the lid which will make steaming harder
I think you missed a test on the pickle lifter that is mobility related. Opening a pickle jar is rough for some people with arthritis or other mobility/strength issues in their hands. The pickle lifter would absolutely be easier for someone with those issues than having to open a pickle jar every time. Food for thought.
yeah i was thinking that too! I have mobility and joint issues and often struggle to get things out of jars :’)
My family actually had one of those pickle lifter things from tupperware when i was little, it didnt have the plastic tongs though. We used it for sliced pickles not whole ones. It made it much easier for us as little kids to get all the pickle slices we wanted for sandwiches snacking etc without the risk of dropping a glass jar and shattering it. After we all reached an age and size where us handling large glass jars wasnt a risk of broken glass the lifter vanished into a cupboard and this is the first time ive seen one since then.
Because of this i would argue it does have a small niche for small kids but its not something most able bodied people need.
It works great for storing carrot and celery sticks too
The Tupperware Pickle Lifter did come with a little tongs but they got lost easily
I could also see it working well for people who have arthritis, since they could store pickles in a sealed container, without having to keep opening and closing a large glass jar.
For those who eat tofu, tofu press is far superior to items in your house. I have mine done in about 15 minutes. No worry about breaking items or having them off balance and falling. I also find mine does a really good job getting all the water out. I use the EZ Tofu Press.
I just don't press my tofu ay all, it's just as good. You don't get as much of a meaty texture to it, but I prefer it without.
@@isaacgates5859 i usually press it and then when I marinate it, it absorbs a bit of the marinade so it also gets its own flavor. I like tofu either way. ❤
@@blaah9999 that's fair, I don't often marinate my tofu, I usually just add a sauce to it near the end of cooking.
The pickle lifter is really useful (5/5) for sliced pickles, especially for storing pickles that come in a tin like sliced pickled beetroot does here. Even if you had a spare jar to store the tinned beetroot, try getting the last slice from the bottom of a jar full of red liquid that you can barely see through. The pickle strainer makes it effortless to lift the slices up out of the liquid so you can easily see and pick the size slice you want or get to the slices when there's only one or two remaining.
My family used to have one for baby carrots, only it didn’t have tongs. We could get the carrots at the bottom without submerging our hands or using tongs.
We use it for canned pickled jalapenos.
Yep! Exactly what I was thinking and they have been around for quite some time now! I think it was made by Tupperware, but we had one when I was a kid and that was back in the 70s and 80s.
Could also make the thing bigger so a person could fit multiple jars of pickles in it.
💯
I don't know who we're kidding about the tongs, but my mom STILL has her original Tupperware® pickle lifter and uses it for actual whole pickles. They're just not enormous. I wish he had tried alternatives like he does with absolutely everything else. I am outraged!
We used the “pickle lifter” for sliced carrots before baby carrots were ubiquitous. We called it the “carrot elevator,” and getting to play with it genuinely encouraged me to eat more vegetables as a kid.
I wonder if there should be a test on these products' shelf life. Like how long will they last or how many times they can be used before breaking down and losing their intended function?
Unfortunately, doing that requires more or less industrial testing equipment, since doing it the potentially hundreds or thousands of times until failure will be insane otherwise
You might like the Project Farm channel! czcams.com/users/ProjectFarm
I was thinking about that with the Spina. How long until that little foot snaps off? 😂
we use what you call the pickle lifter for the metal cans of pickled jalapenos and carrots just store it into the fridge because they come in big cans and they're used at every meal. That contraption is typically found at just about any Hispanic store in the US.
I have no idea that people used it for pickles
I thought he was using it wrong because of that 🤣
We used the pickle lifter for olives when I was a kid ~30 years ago. You just keep them there and lift it up when you take them out. Then you return them to the fridge. No wet fingers. It was great.
The teafu thingy is a "modern" take on a tea infuser, which has been around for a long time now; the original one has a metal mesh basket and wire handles and is designed to stir while in the cup to circulate water (eliminating the bitterness from squeezed tea). I have several old tea infusers (some quite ornate) and love them all.
I was today years old when I learned tea is bitter when you squeeze it. Thank you for sharing your knowledge! 💜
I grew up using metal tea infusers (we call them tea-eggs). There are two types. One that is like a pincher, with a stiff metal bit that hold the two sides of the mesh ball closed, and you squeeze the handle to open
The other has a hinge and a latch, and has a chain with a hook to safely remove it from the hot tea. Of both types there are both small ones for single cups as well as big ones for a pot.
I think the metal mesh makes them superior to any plastic. The mesh provides good contact between water and leaves, allowing the tea to properly disperse into the entire cup or pot. There is no need to stir.
I was thought not to stir my tea while it steeps, as that is an unladylike show of bad patience. It might also cause small injuries to the cup, and the average cup life in our household was already disturbingly short.
Dan has designed tea infusers.
I love how he's so much more honest in the newer videos, and explains things a lot more in depth than he used to
I'm pretty sure he doesn't do brand deals, so what motivation would he have to lie or sugarcoat the actual functionality?
@@lovingthelessloved3679 I meant that the more videos he makes, the way he speaks about it is a lot more like a professor, either because he's more comfortable on camera or the crew felt the extra information was appropriate for the viewers as they've gotten used to it now
Tofu press: I attended a sushi class by a master chef. To press the tofu, he placed the block on a baking sheet, put the sheet at a slight angle, put a plate over the tofu, and a heavy weight (cast iron skillet, cans, heavy books will work). The water drains away from the tofu block.
I’ve also found that freezing the tofu, straight from the store, then thawing, rinsing, then pressing, leads to a much denser, chewier tofu.
Oh, you can absolutely do just fine with a weight like that, but a little press like this (or other designs on the same basic idea) is genuinely quite nice for just set up, easily put in the fridge (quite space efficient), grab when ready.
I actually have the Clip Strainers! Though when I bought them they were sold for steaming stuff :D I wonder if they were meant for boiling at all, but for steaming they work well when making small portions :)
I had no idea the pickle lifter was still made. Those things were a staple of tupperware parties back in the 80's. I loved that thing when I was a kid. Its effectiveness really came through with sliced pickles. Instead of reaching way down into the jar to get those last few pickle slices, you just lift them up with no problem.
Yes...I'll defend it all day long just because it's a nostalgic part of my childhood!
Usually agree with him. Definitely disagree with him on the pickle one.
We always used it for storing carrot and celery sticks in water
@@petersaurusrex9135 Yeah I can see the use for it maybe not with those large pickles he got but we get the baby dills and when the jar isn't so packed they can be a pain to pull out. I would of also like to have seen him do the left handed test on the jar of pickles and then based his score on that as well.
my mum had the pickle lifted back in the 90's. Had one for pickles, one for pickled onions and another for tinned beetroot. Love all three to this day thanks in part to the fun of that silly little contraption
This man is brilliant. The facial expressions, his tone and slight sillyness. im not interested in kitchen gadgets at all but i could watch this for hours
The tea squeezer at the end was so that you could squeeze any liquid left in the tea leaves once you lift it out of the tea, kind of like squeezing a teabag once it’s done steeping
That makes a lot of teas really bitter
The pickle lifter is somewhat present in Europe as it is often integrated into picke jars themselves (they just have a little lift you can use to pull the picke up)
Dan, once again being the greatest thing to bless CZcams and doing it so effortlessly.
The inception reference with the trombone noise is everything 😂
I might actually get the Spina. I don't have a salad spinner because it's a huge unitasker, but the fact that it also works as a regular colander really ups its value.
you can take the sieve part out of almost all salad spinners to use as a colander, and the case can be used as a bowl
It’s also good for washing vegetables and fruits (grapes/cherries). My salad spinner has a strainer at the top to empty the water and an opening that allows you to drizzle dressing as you slower rotate the inner basket. My spinner uses a crank that you turn so it’s easy to reverse the spin to help wash and to spin it slowly. It’s all self- contained so I don’t need to look for big pot or wash out the sink.
@@user-ur2po3vp2u Yeah but they're usually awkwardly large and cylindrical which just doesn't work right
Yes!
They're a good unitasker. My rule is if something does one job that is hard to replicate well, it's worth my time.
The pickle lifter is great for pickled onions or cornichons. Those huge dill pickles don't really need help getting them out the jar.
Dan, I would love to see you test jar openers. My tricks are no longer working on large jars, especially those with plastic lids.
So I grew up with a pickle lifter in the house. The pickle lifter is not for whole pickles but sliced sandwich pickles. Like having a bunch of burgers for the family is makes it less clean up grabbing pickles
Used to have a job a hospital kitchen that had metal versions of the clip strainers. It was great for cooking multiple portions of veggies/pasta/etc. without having to use more than one pot of boiling water. And the food could go straight from the pot to the plate when it was done. And on top of that, it was way easier to keep track of individual portions of food
Epicurious needs to go back through all of Dan's videos and read the comments on gadgets he may have used incorrectly and have him retry them !!!!!! Who else is with me?!
Agreed. A take 2 video!
YES! Can they just give us an email address so we can copy and paste some comments with the videos and timestamps??! I need an Epicurious email address to reach out! :)
To be honest if he can't figure out how to use them, I don't think it's worth buying cause I ain't gonna figure it out
@@Catssonova True, but I want to know how often he even reads the instructions!
@@danielleking262 in a more recent video he went through the instructions that were only written in Japanese. Some of those products were really weird though
Love this series! The technical engineering side of food gear is endlessly fascinating… and informative when making decisions on what to buy! Keep up the great work.
That Dan-ception ending though..
Can we have a video of Dan's kitchen inventions , from his 40 years of work ?
Every episode they include one of his own designs to critique. You're just not in on the joke.
@@WryRy that"s such a lovely conspiracy theory
Missed Dan so much! Love seeing this series ❤️❤️❤️
One of the best series on epicurious 🤝
Whenever I see a gadget video from Dan it brings a smile on my face 😊 Thanks Dan!
My mother had a pickle lifter. It worked great and was on the table for any gathering. To use it better, Throw away the tongs.
My family has had a pickle lifter like that for probably around 10 years now. Personally I find its worth in getting pickles (especially chips) out without needing tongs or getting your hand stuck in a jar.
I think those were steamer baskets, not boiling baskets.
I still question how useful they are, since those looked like really tiny holes, but they might not be as desperately bad as they seemed.
To be fair to the pickle lifter, it’s much more appropriate for tinned foods, rather than jars. We use them for sliced beetroot.
“✨sPinAH✨”
“…Spina”
“Sorry, I’m from New Jersey…”
Absolutely floored me 😂
Clip strainer: if you have to almost fill the pot with water, it’s going to be very dangerous to move a heavy pot filled with boiling hot water off the stove to drain. Either that, or it will take time to scoop out boiling hot water to get the level down to where it’s comfortable to move the pot.
In México, maybe in the 80s my mom bought something similar to the "pickle lifter" (Tupperware), but the seller told her that it was a gadget for getting stiff-peaks from egg whites... The results are really amazing, I still have it.
Now I would have never thought of using it in that manner! Someone was thinking “outside “the box!
the pickle lifter is excellent for hamburger slices. Tupperware made them back in the ‘70s and I know because I have an olive drab one I love.
I remember I use to see this videos and skip them. Now I’m obsessed with them and Dan! 😁
Hey Dan, I see that you are using the same oil bottle I used to have but I always found it greasy after some time because some oil would inevitably end up on the bottle.
I recommend Tescoma Vitamino bottles, if you can find one. Their cap is cleverly designed and will hold the oil away from the glass.
I’m addicted to these videos, i wish we had a video with Dan’s own creations
16:55 Side-note for anyone trying to buy tea infusers: Bigger holes are excellent for circulation when using the infuser to stir, but can be undesirable depending on the type of tea you drink. Certain types of tea can excessively "escape" if the holes are too big. - Especially Rooibos and Honeybush are well known for escaping through the holes in many infusers making them often frustrating teas to prepare. - I am yet to find an infuser that doesn't give me a cup full of loose rooibos/honeybush needles, and I am really not a fan of using disposable teabags due to the flavour they tend to leave behind.
It's ironic, I may decide to check out the Teafu exactly because of one of the "areas of improvement" that made Dan un-recommend it.
*Edit: Ouch, that is one expensive tea infuser, especially if you need to pay for shipping when you don't buy inordinate amounts of stuff from the people who make it. Nope, not happening.*
The pickle lifter is good for tinned beetroot & pineapple and is can be used to dunk sponge cake when making lamingtons. 😋
That salad spinner reminds me of them old school toys, they worked in the exact same way. Push it down and it spins :D
I love this man... I searched this channel just for his video. Really enjoy watching him testing those gadgets.
We had a pickle container when I was growing up and it's actually fantastic, especially for sliced pickles. Still love watching this guy!
I would add a suction cup to the bottom of the spinner to gain better control. It slipped around quite a bit. I still liked it, though.
And I wonder what Dan would say to the turnable pickle jar that is the latest TT craze.
I'd remove another half point for usability for the clip strainer because it forces you to work short-handled clips directly next to boiling water, which introduces a potential for injury that's normally avoided.
The pickle lifter is actually great for small pickles, like onions or gerkins, that are really hard to grab from an almost empty jar of brine
I want to see the left handed oil test on the pickle jar
The inception at the end! 🤣🤣🤣
With the pickel lifter. My mum had one in the 80s. For things like pickled onions, olives, and sliced gkerkins etc its good as it is.
I feel like the clip strainers were made by someone who looked at a multi-layer steaming basket, and a deep fryer basket, and said "Hey what if we made something like that for boiling, except worse?" I think I might actually buy the tofu press though... I eat a lot of tofu, and that takes up way less space than stacking my heavy kitchenware on a plate.
16:36 That drawing uhhh.... Looks interesting 😂
We had a pickle lifter thing when I was a kid, it was great for pickle chips not whole pickles.
My mom had a Tupperware pickle lifter in the 80s. It didn't have the tong thing though. It was convenient for hamburger sliced dills. It eliminated chasing the slices around in a mostly empty jar with a fork.
Always nice to see good ole Dan!!🫶🏼
Regarding the saladspinner, i dont think its useful. My sink at home is wider than the container they used, but only 3/4 as deep, and Dan already had water splashing everywhere. Let alone in something that isn't deep enough, you'll be changing your shirt every time you use it, meaning you'll use it once
My mom uses these pickle lifter stuff for jalapeno and carrots because if you have any cuts the jalapeno water hurts and since they are smaller pieces it kind of works as a strainer. it's nice that way
We had a pickle lifter but for feta cheese in brine. It worked great for us!
My tofu press solves the pulling issue by not having bands at all, but instead putting a spring on the bottom, and you just push down the whole tofu holding bit and flip clips on the side up.
What kind do you have? I am thinking of getting one but maybe I should just use the grate method here.
@@5fingerjack I got it years ago, on I think Amazon. Not some specific brand, just a hunk of plastic that has a spring at the bottom, and is a convienent size to just setup and put in the fridge
I will vouch for the clip on strainers that keep all your pasta in while you pour out the water. Those things are amazing.
For the pickle strainer, we have a similar gadget at work, it's round and taller but fundamentally works the same way. But instead we use it for quail eggs. We cook them ourselves and fill the container with water and salt, put the eggs in there and throw it in the fridge. It is actually very useful in this context cause we don't have to wet our hands or struggle with a spoon to get the tiny eggs out.
Love Dan lol cheers from your biggest fan in Colombia amigos!
The pickle lifter is great for pickled jalapeños which are sold in a can. Best thing I ever bought from Tupperware.
I love the nod to Inception at the end. x)
I think the pickles drainer is for homemade pickles, not store bought. I don't know if the plastic container can handle the heat of the pickling liquid though
i love this guy, id watch him talk about anything
I love this guy, more, please. :)
I always used the "pickle lifter" type things for stuff like pre-chopped jalapeño
the "pickle" lifter is great for small picked things, like olives, now you don't need to fish them with a fork every time you want to get them, just lift them up a lil bit and get as many as you like
i think Chinese restaurants and Ramen shops have been using a better version of those Clip Strainers for ages; basically a metal or bamboo basket with small holes, with a long handle that has one or two hooks to hold it on the pot rim, in which they place dry noodles, plunge it into boiling water, and a few minutes later the noodles come out fully cooked
I was watching the video and my husband said “Oh, you’re watching the oily hands guy” hahaha
Wowowowo Dan, keep it cool with the pickle lifter, here in México we use that thing for canned jalapeños.
The Pickle Lifter is just a redesign of a similar design for cutlery from Tupperware. We used to have those as a kid and I am now in my 30's.
We use the pickle lifter for pickled jalapeños, which normally come in a can.
Loved the Inception reference at the end!
Lots of other people have said it, but the pickle lifter really shines for sliced pickles. The tongs are new / not necessary. The selling point is not needing a fork to get to those bottom-of-the-jar pickles (especially if they're sweet pickles that make the fork all sticky!)
Yay another one of these videos
Alright, I'm a fan of channel, and I love pickles. Two things about that pickle lifter... try it with small pickles. I think it would be easier to retrieve the last few pickles with the device if those pickles were smaller. The smaller the pickle, the more value the pickle left would have. The second issue is the guides.They do have a reason. If you had small pickles in the device, and no rails on the lifter, the lifter would be able to tilt and you would lose small pickles to the bottom. I believe the pickle lifter deserves a revisit, after all, it's somebody's dream.
Well from my pov I think the pickler can be useful if you like to pickle things at home like pickled onions, radishes, jalapenos etc
But for normal cucumber pickles I think thats a bit redundant
Y’all really got ol’buddy out here drawing glizzys 😂
weve got a salad spinner, but its a lot simpler and less bulky that that one. its really handy and stores really well
as a person that owns the spinah...the only thing that is bad for me is the little suction cup at the bottom. if you have an actual flat surface like the box he was using it in...it's great. if you use it in a sink...you might have slipping issues due to the angle of ur sink once you really start spinning the stuff. It is definitely only something you want to get if you have a deep kitchen sink; Preferably a farm house sink. Overall I'm happy with it. It helps me dry off not just leafy stuff but things like fruits, cherry tomatoes, canned beans, etc. Not as much drying off is needed as if I were to wash my stuff under water then dry it with towels or whatever. Also...it doubles as just a plain old strainer so you don't need as many bulky things in your kitchen.
I feel like Dan has never had to chase the last pickle around a jar of baby dills. ;-)
I need him to do the pickle lifter again thinking about mobility issues with a jar and using smaller pickled things
Pickle lifter. Make the lifter part slide with one ot the sides so you don't have to reach around the handles. Also give the tongs a few small spikes to keep the pickle for alipping.
i'm livid he didnt rate the pickle lifter higher. I have one that I use for sliced pickles and it's one of the most useful things I have in my fridge. I dont even know why you'd use one of these for full unsliced pickles. That was just a major L to me.
That was a perfectly good soft-boiled egg!
i had no idea that lifter thing was for pickles, had one in my family since as far as i can remember and we only ever used it for beetroot.
The watched pot segment was hilarious 🤣🤣🤣
I’ve been waiting for a new video!!!! FINALLYYYYYY
no left hand oil test for the gadgets that don't deserve it! Great episode!