Mark Thorson wrote:
> You can see it he
>
> http://www.gourmet.com/food/2009/02/...e=1#showHeader
>
> I get an error when I click on item 2, but I can
> get to item 2 by replacing 1 with 2 in the URL.
>
> I wouldn't put air conditioning on the list, but
> I've never lived in a place with an air conditioner.
>
> I'm not that keen on timers, either. I used to use
> a clock, and now I use the clock in my computer or
> TV set.
>
> Chimney starter? I use fluid, and before that I used
> an electric starter. Either works fine. The chimney
> starter doesn't provide any new capability.
>
> I'm not going to finish looking at this list. Too much
> of it seems bogus.


I think that the whole list if a crock. Non stick frying pans are handy
for some things, but I would suggest that the cast iron pan was probably
a more significant cooking item than non stick.

Air conditioning?? What the hell does that have to to with cooking?

I so use times. AAMOF, I bought my wife a quadruple timer from Lee
Valley because she had a habit of turning off the oven to reset the
timer for multiple dishes. Timers are handly but hardly a significant
factor.

The chimney starter is a handy gimmick, but it's not as if there was no
other way to light charcoal.


Plastic wrap is handy, but a vacuum sealer???? I use mine but I survived
just fine without one for years.

WTF does a dishwasher have to do with cooking? That's another appliance
I lived without for a long time and one that I don't often use myself,
finding it faster and easier to wash dishes by hand.


Microwave?????? I rarely use mine. It is handy for reheating leftovers
and for heating up frozen prepared foods, which in my mind, might almost
qualify it for a detriment to culinary development.

I might consider food processors to be an even better appliance than a
blender, since an FP can do a lot of jobs that a blender cannot.

Slow cooker? I don't have one and have never had anything cooked in one
that could not have been cooked on the stove top or in the oven.


The microplane is pretty handy, but there were lots of zesters and
grated around before someone adopted a body shop tool for the kitchen.

I am sure that Weber fans might disagree, but I have to wonder why they
mention the gas grill and the Weber grill. They are both basically BBQ
grills. While I use my gas grill as long as it is warm and well lit on
the patio, most BBQs tend to be relegated to putting the guy who can't
cook in charge of cooking the meat.


As for the silpat.... I haev to plead ignorance. I have heard of them
and seen them used on cooking shows. While one of my favourite celebrity
cooks seems to like it, she says you can use parchment paper.
Accordingly, parchment paper would be the one that changed cooking, not
the silpat.