New Metro Pouring Chute

Do you like my hippie-dippy background? I was amused.

I saw this pouring chute at the International Housewares Show a couple years ago, when it was just a prototype, and I thought it was a genius idea.

It doesn't look like much, just a piece of bent metal with some notches cut out of it, but the New Metro Design Pouring Chute is designed well, it's super-sturdy, and when I saw it at the show I though it would be great for neatly adding things to the bowl of the KitchenAid mixer.

While I love-love-love my stand mixer, adding ingredients isn't really elegant, and I dislike the pouring attachment that came with my mixer.

I kind of forgot about the New Metro pouring chute in the intervening years, but finally got around to buying one.

I'm sorry that I waited. This thing is genius.

I mean, it's still a bent piece of metal, but it does exactly what it's supposed to do. It makes it easy to add ingredients to the bowl of the stand mixer without stopping the mixer, lifting the tilt head, or making a freaking mess.

Because heavens knows I don't need help making a mess. I'm really good at doing that all on my own.

In theory, you could attach this to a regular bowl, but I'm not entirely sure why you'd need to, and it should fit the bowl of other mixer brands, but I can't guarantee that.

Yeah, you probably need one.

Who's it for: People who own a KitchenAid mixer.

Pros: It works!

Cons: It's kind of hard to justify spending good money on a bent piece of metal.

Wishes: Oh, come on! It's a bent piece of metal. What would I want it to do, whistle?

Source: I bought this.

Turbo Pot Cookware

Many years ago, I acquired a piece of cookware called the Turbo Cooker. Or something like that.
This is NOT that. At all.

This cookware - called Turbo Pot Cookware - has an aluminum ... er ... radiator-like-surface on the bottom that makes the pot heat faster and more efficiently on gas cooktops.

Or I guess it's more like a heat sink. But anyway, it doesn't look like the bottom of your normal pots. Take a look at the second photo for a better view.

This is NOT some kind of made-for-TV questionable infomercial thing. This is MAGIC.

Okay, it's not actually magic. It's science. The deep ridges on the bottom of the pot create a greater surface area and let me tell you, this pot heats up a LOT faster. You want boiling water? Don't walk too far away!

It also uses less energy to stay hot. Which means that you can maintain a lively simmer on a low setting. On your small burner. Or a candle.

Okay, not a candle. You might need more than one. But seriously (I keep saying that, don't I?) seriously, this is a thing that actually works the way they say it does. It heats up faster, uses less energy, and is kind of cool to look at.

They gave me my choice of cookware to try, and I opted for the 3.5 quart casserole because I already have too much cookware around here, and it looked small enough that I could find a place for it. But there are other pieces where this fast heating could be really handy.


Decisions, decisions.

The teakettle would be great for rapid heating of water for tea or whatever else you heat coffee for. Right? You wouldn't have to wait nearly as long!

And the frying pan would be awesome for heating to high temperatures to sear a steak, and then because it heats so fast, the pan would be right back up to temperature after the steak cooled it down.

And of course saucepans and stockpots and whatnot could all benefit from heating faster.

The one downside is that if you know how to set your stove for a low simmer using your regular cookware, you might have to readjust that thinking, since this will likely be simmering a lot faster - or even boiling - at that same setting.

Who's it for: People who cook!

Pros: Heats quickly and efficiently. Uses less energy.

Cons: You'll need to learn how low you should set the heat for slower, lower cooking. Also, this is designed for gas cooktops.

Wishes: More, please. I don't really need a kettle, but I desire one.


Source: I was sent a sample at no cost to me. And I've been using it regularly.

Murder on the Orient Express Tea

I usually refuse offers to review tea, mostly because I have an insane amount of tea on hand. And I tend to drink tea in binges. I'll go crazy for iced tea for a while, then get tired of it. I'll drink mint tea in the evening, then stop for no reason. I'll brew herbal teas or green teas, and then forget about them for a while.

But when I got an offer to sample a tea called Murder on the Orient Express, the name intrigued me so much that I had to say yes. What does a murder mystery taste like?

It turns out, this tea is very aptly named, and I can't quite explain why. But the scent is ... hmmm ... mysterious and old fashioned and exotic all at once.

I can imagine sipping this in the elegant but somewhat worn dining car while a passenger in a nearby car succumbs to some bad oysters.

But is that really what happened? Was it really bad oysters, or was it a here-to-for undisclosed shellfish allergy that the murderer was privy to? And who is this gallant but somewhat odd stranger who wants to escort me back to my car, so I won't be perturbed by the sudden flurry of activity surrounding the mysterious death?

These are questions that might never be answered.

But the tea is pretty darned good.

The teabags are cute mesh pyramid-like devices that also amused the hell out of me.

If murderous tea isn't your thing, Harney & Sons has a mind-boggling array of others to choose from.

I got this sample at no cost to me. Unfortunately, train tickets were not included.

WÜSTHOF Burger Knives

When I got a set of burger knives from WÜSTHOF, I posted a photo on Facebook, and one of the first comments was something about how people don't need knives for burgers ... how silly is that?

(This was published 8/14/17 - scroll all the way to the bottom for my edit on 2/12/18 after I lived with these for a while.)

Well, I can kind of see the point, but then again, I have steak knives. And butter knives. And cheese spreading knives. And lots and lots and lots of kitchen knives.

I also have regular forks and salad forks and weird little seafood forks. My everyday flatware includes regular small spoons, tablespoons, and soup spoons.

Are burger knives necessary? Well, no, but neither are my salad forks but I use them a lot. Those weird little seafood forks, however, don't get used very often at all.

Burger knives might not be the best name for these knives because it doesn't really explain how versatile they are. The wide, flat, rounded blade is great for spreading mustard or mayo or other sauces. The serrated part of the knife was perfect for slicing a tomato. And then the knife also did a fine job slicing the burger neatly in half to make it a little easier to eat..

It's also great for stabbing into a burger from the top to make an interesting presentation.

So, yeah, the knives are good for burgers, but they'd be good for pretty much any sandwich assembly job. And probably other jobs as well. This time of year, there are a lot of tomatoes in my kitchen that need slicing.

Who's it for: People who make burgers and other sandwiches.

Pros: Nice multi-use knives. They look good stabbing a burger.

Cons: If you're counting down the top 3 knives everyone needs, these probably aren't on the list.

Wishes: Hmmm. They're knives. They cut. It's hard to come up with something I'd change.

Source: I received this from the manufacturer for the purpose of a review. The plate in the top photo was provided by Zak!


UPDATE 2/12/18

So, this post garnered a bit of controversy among my online friends, mostly those who scoffed at the idea of a knife make just for burgers. The horror!

But here's the thing. You don't just use a steak knife for steaks, do you? You might pull those out for pork chops or even a roast - any time there's some meat that you don't want to cut with the knife that came with your flatware set. You don't use a paring knife just for paring. You don't use a chef's knife just for ... uh, yeah, that's not why it has that name.

But anyway.

After living with these knives, I think perhaps the name was a bit to narrow, because these have become my everyday knives. Not burger knives, and not sandwich knives, as I originally suggested. Any time I make a meal that requires a knife to eat (as opposed to, let's say, spaghetti or risotto), I use one of these knives. Seriously. Every time.

I also use them when I'm making sandwiches. Yeah, I said that before, but it's worth repeating. These aren't just for eating food, you can use them for preparing food. And when the sandwich is finished, I use the knife to cut the sandwich in half, because I'm not some sort of savage.

Rather than storing these away in their box for fancy dinners, the box has been tossed and the knives are used almost every day. And, aside from the stunt burger in the top photo, I don't think I've used them at all for burgers.

Great knives. Possibly not a great name.

Uuni Cast Iron Casserole Dish and Sizzler Pan

I get a lot of offers to review things. But I don't accept them all. I always think about whether the item will be worth writing about.

First, I ask whether I've reviewed similar products before. It's fine if I've covered similar items, but I don't review products that are just knock-offs of existing items.

Next, I ask are whether the item could be better than other similar products. There are a bazillion whisks, for example, so if I get offered a whisk, I decline unless it has some new feature that will be interesting to write about, or that makes it better in some way.

Third, I'm always always always interested in things that are unique in the marketplace.

The cast iron casserole and sizzler dish combo from Uuni, is definitely the third. Yes, there have been cast iron pans for hundreds of years. What makes this one different is the design.

First, there's the casserole dish with two side handles. It's oval-shaped and deep, so it's great for slow braises on the stovetop, in the oven, or on the barbecue grill. Toss some mac and cheese in there, or a mess of greens. Or some cobbler.

The casserole has a lid, and the lid can be flipped over to use as a sizzle platter or for cooking or baking. The lid also has two side handles.

The third piece is a handle that hooks into the side handle of either the casserole or sizzle dish so you can move them around on the stove or in a hot oven or grill without needing pot holders.

The last piece is a wooden tray that either the casserole or sizzle pan can snuggle into, so you're not putting hot cast iron on delicate surfaces.

All together, this is a pretty unique collection of cooking tools, and well worth a look if you've already maxed out of cast iron frying pans or you're looking to add to your collection.

Since this is uncoated cast iron, it needs to be seasoned just like any other cast iron. So this is the kind of cookware that gets better and better with age.

Who's it for: People who like cooking in cast iron.

Pros: Unique shape.

Cons: Like any cast iron, it needs to be seasoned.

Wishes: I kind of wish the set included two sizzle pans and two wooden bases, for more options. But then again, they sell sizzler pans separately, so if that's what you're looking for, you can buy as many of those as you need.

Source: I received this from the manufacturer for the purpose of a review.

Montgomery Inn Barbecue

Oy. I love food samples. I love trying new things that might not be on my radar.

The downside to food samples is that sometimes it takes me a while to do the sampling. I hate wasting food, and there's only so much that I can eat every day.

So when I got an amazing box of samples from Mongomery Inn, it took me a while to get through all the goodies.

Everything came frozen (well, except the sauce, which was just chilled from keeping company with the frozen goods) so it was safe for eating soon or for tucking into the freezer for later.

First, there was barbecue sauce in several flavors. Then, pre-cooked racks of ribs that just needed to be heated. A container of pulled pork arrived, too, as well as some baked beans.

I started with the ribs. They're seriously fall-off-the-bone, to the point where if I heated them and tried to cut them into individual ribs, they didn't hang onto the bones at all. Then I figured out that if I wanted to eat ribs on the bone, I could cut them while cold, then heat them to serving temp. The meat still fell right off the bone, but it was finger food rather than fork food.

I thought the rub was a little salty for my taste, but not terribly so. I slathered the ribs with the sauce before I heated them up, but I'm sure they would have been fine with just the rub. Yum!

The pulled pork was great for easy dinners, since all I had to do was heat it up and throw it on a bun. Since I like sauce ... I added more sauce to the top (did I mention that they sent me sauce? Yeah, they did). The meat was perfect for those sandwiches, and cooked to tenderness, but not dry or stringy. Seriously, all you need is buns and you're ready to go.

Last was the beans. I wasn't expecting much, but I was sooooo wrong. The beans said they included brisket, which had me imagining some dry shredded meat, but instead there were pieces of super-tender brisket along with some porky goodness as well. These were sweet with just a little kick. These are the beans that you order in bulk and bring to every potluck, where you tell people it's an old family recipe that you can't divulge. Seriously. These were insanely good.

The Montgomery Inn Barbecue Sauces are also available on Amazon, if you're looking for a new sauce to try for your own ribs, chicken, pork, whatever. But those beans ... so freaking good.

Dash Rapid Cold Brew System

I've fallen in love with cold brew coffee. It's smoother, not as bitter, and seems to be less harsh on my tummy. It makes cheap grocery store coffee taste good, and when I spring for the good beans, it's swoon-worthy.

I like to make the cold brew extra-strong, so I can add it to hot water to have drinkable coffee in the morning. Sure, sometimes I'll have iced coffee, but most of the time, I prefer it hot.

So when I got an email offering me the Dash Rapid Cold Brew System, I was very curious. When I make cold brew, I set it up in the evening an let it steep all night. The Dash system makes cold brew in 15 minutes or less.

What kind of sorcery is that?

Of course I asked for a review unit, and set it up right away. I ran plain water through it first to see how it worked.

Very eeeenteresting. *mustache twirling optional*

The device pumps water through the grounds rather than just letting the water sit and steep. It goes from the carafe to the grounds and then back into the carafe. What you end up with is cold brew coffee that has been agitated to release more flavor in much less time.

There's a timer that you can set for up to 15 minutes, but if you haven't reached the right strength, I don't see any reason why you couldn't start it over again for another round.

The pump on this is a little noisy. Not as noisy as a blender, but it definitely makes more noise than the pump on something like a desktop waterfall or my Aero Garden. But of course, this isn't meant to be soothing, and it's not on for a long time. Just long enough to make the cold brew.

I've used this several times now, making larger batches to store in my fridge so I can make my usual hot coffee. I haven't yet found exactly the right ratio of coffee to water to the most concentrated brew, but I'm getting close. For someone who doesn't want concentrate, it's just a matter of adjusting the ratio to make your preferred drinking strength.

I have to say that it's nice to be able to make the coffee so fast. There have been a few times I've forgotten to set up my overnight brew, which led to a sad, coffee-less morning. Now, the worst that can happen is a 30-minute wait.

Since the brewer pumps both clear water and coffee, I've been cleaning it between brews by running clear water through it. One cycle seems to be enough, but if it was putting it into storage, I'd probably do two brews for more complete cleaning, so there would be no coffee residue at all.

This takes about the same amount of space as my other cold brewer, although it's a different shape, and it's smaller than many standard coffee makers. On the downside, it requires electricity. Not a big deal, but you still need to set it up somewhere near an outlet. Since it's relatively small and lightweight, this is easy to move around or store.

Overall, I like this a whole lot more than I expected. And I like the idea that if I want a quick cup of afternoon cold-brew decaf, I can have it ready to drink in a very short time.

The Dash Rapid Cold Brew System is available at Target.

Who's it for: Pe0ple who drink coffee and prefer cold brew.

Pros: Yay, it works!

Cons: It's a tad noisy.

Wishes: With appliances in the kitchen that are made in so many colors, this one is only available in black. For now.

Source: I received this from the manufacturer for the purpose of a review.

GelPro Mat

A few years ago, I bought a gel floor mat for use in my kitchen. It was great at first, then the edges starting curling up, and the whole thing got a little wonky. I still kept it in the kitchen, and somehow trained myself to not trip over it.

Recently GelPro offered me one of their Elite mats to test.

Oh, heck yeah. Bring it on!

Then they asked me to pick a color and pattern. There are a freaking LOT of colors and patterns, and I'll admit I got lost in there for a while before I decided to go with a natural-looking option. But there are a ton of cool colors and patterns.

I opted for the Grasscloth pattern in Harvest Grain color. Not only does it blend well with my kitchen, but the pattern means that I can spill a little flour on it and it won't look horrifying.

By they way, the actual color is a little warmer than the photos. Lighting in my kitchen isn't particularly photo-friendly.

I mean, yeah, I clean up spills, but for that time between spill small amounts of flour and clean it up, it won't look like I disemboweled the Pillsbury Dough Boy.

When it arrived, I couldn't wait to compare it to the mat that I previously had. And there were a lot of differences. A lot.

The first and most obvious difference  between the GelPro mat and the one I previously bought - even before I got it out of the box - was that the GelPro mat has a soft-feeling, non-sticky-plastic surface. It almost feels like fabric, but it's not.

The construction of it is also very different, with edges that are nicely beveled rather than having flat, flappy bits around the perimeter. Those were the bits that first curled up on my previous mat before the rest of it started warping.

The GelPro mat is also thicker and sooooo soft to stand on.

Not quite like standing on a mattress, but much nicer than a throw rug or thin mat.

The only problem with this mat is that it makes the other one seem so ... awful ... in comparison. So now I'm probably going to buy two more mats, so I can have one at each place where I tend to stand a lot. I won't put one in front of the fridge, but for sure I want squishy feet by the stove and sink.

Who's it for: People who spend a lot of time in the kitchen.

Pros: Sooooo comfy. Well made.

Cons: More expensive than the super-junky one I bought previously.

Wishes: Can I line my entire house with this stuff?

Source: I received this from the manufacturer for the purpose of a review.

Note: You can buy GelPro mats on Amazon, but there's a wider variety of colors on the GelPro website, and it's also a bit easier to browse through all of the selections.

Housmile Electric Pressure Cooker

I've owned quite a number of pressure cookers, including both stove top and electric, so when Housmile contacted me and asked if I wanted to test theirs, I figured it would be pretty easy to put it through its paces.

I mean, I've used so many different ones, this couldn't be too hard, right?

So let's look at that front panel, shall we?

It has a warm/cancel button, a pressure setting button, and presets for rice, cake, soup, bean (hopefully not one at a time), porridge, fish (in a pressure cooker? I think not), ribs, and poultry.

There's a Time Preset button in the center, with plus and minus buttons.

The plus and minus made sense, but I had no idea what the time preset was. Turns out, it's for setting a time delay. So you can throw stuff in the pot and have it start at a later time. But it only works with certain presets, because throwing meat in there and leaving it at room temp for many hours would be a spectacularly bad idea.

There's also a "Taste" button with selections for hard, perfect, and soft. I figured that was for rice.

What was missing from this layout was anything said manual - you know, for setting pressure and time manually. If you do want to set something aside from the presets, you can choose one of the presets and then change the cooking time.

Aha! After some fiddling around, I figured out that the Pressure Setting button didn't actually set pressure to high or low, as many electric pressure cookers do. Instead, it sets the time for pressure cooking when you're not using a preset. So this is the manual time setting for pressure cooking at whatever pressure it cooks at.

The box as well as online information claims that this cooker can slow cook and saute, but there are no buttons for those functions. The instruction manual is very sparse, and didn't include any information about how to invoke those functions, so I decided to do more testing to see if I could make magic happen.

I found out that I could press a preset and the cooker would heat up without the lid on. Okay then, that's one way to get it to get it to brown some foods. I didn't test all of the buttons to see if they'd ALL work with the lid off, but it's an easy experiment if you own this pot. If I was going to live with it long-term, I'd test all the buttons to figure out what temperature each one reaches for the best saute.

As far as slow cooking, since it doesn't need the lid on to cook, you could test the presets to see if any of them would cook at a simmer. Or you could put the lid on and leave the steam release open so it can't reach pressure. It might not be a slow cook, though, if the cooker is trying to reach pressure.

But really, most people who have a pressure cooker don't bother with slow cooker functions, anyway. Maybe it's not all that important? But since the box and online information say it can slow cook, I wish there would have been better information on how to make that happen. If it can happen. I'm really not sure.

The Housmile pressure cooker page on Amazon describes the inner cooking pot as "Healthy, aluminium alloy inner cooking pot made from food grade 304, no chemical coating," which isn't accurate. First, "grade 304" refers to a grade of stainless steel rather than aluminum. And second, while the pot is made from aluminum, it has a nonstick coating. Which makes sense because cooking in an uncoated aluminum pot wouldn't be a good idea. I have a feeling they copied and pasted some of this from another one of their models and didn't check it for accuracy.

There is also a 1000-watt Housmile pressure cooker on Amazon that has more functions and might be a better buy for people who don't want to experiment with settings. I haven't tested that one, and I have no idea if the instructions are better, but just the fact that the buttons are more logical makes it more appealing to me if I had to pick one of the two.

Overall, this works well enough. I used it to make stock and to make soup, and it performed pretty much like I expected. But it would be a much better product if the instruction manual was complete, or if the company's website or Amazon information had better instructions. People who don't want to experiment or who aren't familiar with this sort of cooking appliance are no doubt going to be frustrated with scant information provided.

One thing I really do like about this is how easy the lid seals. It's not quite as clunky as other cookers I've used. The pressure release is also quite nice, since you press a button and the steam releases at a valve that's a little distance away.

Whether that's enough to make up for the lack of instruction ... you decide.

Who's it for: People who want a pressure cooker.

Pros: Nice lid and pressure release functions.

Cons: Instructions are lacking.

Wishes: This seriously needs a saute button and a slow cook button if it's supposed to have those functions. Also, I'm still not sure if it uses different pressure settings and/or different temperatures for different cooking functions. That would be useful to know, since there isn't a manual way to set both time and pressure level and since there are no saute or slow cook functions on the control panel.

Source: I received this from the manufacturer for the purpose of a review.

Gourmia Garlic Crusher

Most garlic crushers operate by squeezing the garlic through little holes, so I was really curious about the Gourmia garlic crusher that has, for lack of better description, teeth.

The cloves go into the device and you twist back and forth and the teeth - not sharp knives, but plastic teeth - sort of tear at the garlic and shred and mangle it apart.

The result isn't like chopped garlic, nor is it like garlic that's gone through a traditional crusher. I'm not saying it's bad or good, just that it's different.

This also works better with super-fresh garlic than with the stuff that's feeling a little wilty. You know, like if you bought more garlic than you needed, and now you're using it up.

One interesting thing is that there are devices much like this sold for processing certain dried herbs - the kind that are legal in some states, but not in others. I don't suggest using the same one for your garlic and your smoking product, though.

While the garlic ends up spread inside the crusher, it wasn't terribly hard to get out, but I did have to pick around the teeth a bit to get all of it. For complete cleaning, it's dishwasher safe.

Who's it for: People who have a need to crush garlic.

Pros: Super easy to use.

Cons: A different result than normal crushers.

Wishes: I wish there was an easier way to empty it, but I have no idea what that might be.

Source: I received this from the manufacturer for the purpose of a review.

Raw Spice Bar

I wrote about Raw Spice Bar some time ago. It's a neat idea - it's a subscription service where you get different spice blends on a regular basis.

When I last wrote about them, the amounts were pretty small. Like, you could make one recipe, perhaps, but then you couldn't make it a second time if the recipe needed a lot of spice. You could, of course, order more. But once you'd tossed the packaging, would you really remember the name of the mix? Or remember to order it?

Now, the packets are larger, holding just about an ounce of spice mix each which is a decent amount, but not so much that you'll have it hanging around until it's lost all its flavor. The subscription is quarterly, so you get plenty of time to use the spices you get and think about which ones you're going to re-order.

The packages are also nicer, which I appreciate. They reseal easily, and if you want to stand them up, the bottoms can be spread out so the packet stands on it's one. That's great if you want them open to measure and you don't want then laying flat on the counter where they can spill.

The quality of the mixes is still really good, and great for creative meal planning.

And ... you don't actually need to order a subscription, if you don't want surprise spices coming to your door. You can order mixes, individual spices, spice sets ... oh heck, don't make me tell you about it. Just go to the Raw Spice Bar website and browse around for a while. You'll see.

I received spices at no cost to me.

Land O'Lakes soft butter

Lemme get this out here. The nice folks at Land O'Lakes have been sending me samples of stuff lately. I mean, it's butter. How can I say no?

I'm not obligated to post about this stuff, but I thought the time was right to talk about it.

Quite some time ago (prior to this recent samplefest), I actually reviewed their soft butter with olive oil, and I've been buying it ever since. I don't use it for cooking, but I love it for toast or English muffins, or any time I don't want to fight with refrigerator-cold butter.

Yes, I know I can keep my butter on the counter, but I haven't been doing that lately.

So, yeah, I'm addicted to the butter with olive oil.

Then they sent me a new low-salt version as part of this new send-some-samples thing. Hmmmm. When I tried it on its own, it didn't seem bland, the way low-salt things can be. When I tried it side-by-side with the regular version, I could tell that there was a difference in the salt level.

I'm going to just say that it's going to be personal taste whether you like the less-salt or more-salt version. At the moment, I'm sticking with the one with olive oil rather than a canola version and salt will be my second consideration. So ... it depends on what's at the store.

Then ... they sent me a pumpkin spice butter. Obviously a seasonal product. All I've got to say is that if you like pumpkin spice, run out and buy this NOW. I've been eating it on English muffins. It would also be awesome on toasted pound cake. Mmmm. Warm toasted pound cake.

Excuse me while I put pound cake on my shopping list.

I'm on a list, so I'm getting free samples from Land O'Lakes on occasion. No obligations, so you'll only hear about them when I think they're worth a discussion. 

Degustabox November 2017

Another month, another box of treats and savories from Degustabox.

They send me one of these boxes every month so I can tell you all about it, so you get an idea of what you might get if you subscribe.

November's box is one that I dug into almost as soon as it arrived because there were so many things I wanted to eat. And a few that I wanted for recipes.

I slapped my fingers and waited until I took a picture of the goodies, but there were jars opened and bags ripped pretty darned quickly.

Here's what showed up.

The Lovely Candy Company caramels
I've gotten these before, and they're very nice caramels. There are several different flavors, so you can choose your favorite. I love caramels. Yum.

Walkers Shortbread
These are a classic shortbread, and they've showed up in these boxes before. This time, though, the shortbreads were in the shape of Scottie dogs, so they were a little more fun than the more classic shapes.

Bauducco mini panettone
How cute, and a nice little cake for people who don't want a ginormous panettone hanging around. I'm not a huge fan of this classic cake, so I passed it along to someone who enjoyed it much more than I would have.

Arteasan Iced Tea Infusions
Just one gram of sugar and five calories per bottle, this is a good tea-to-go-with-no-fuss. I haven't tried it yet - weather has turned chilly, so I've been drinking a lot of hot tea. But it's in my fridge for a day when I want something more flavorful than my usual water that I drink during the day.

Goya Tortillas
I've bought a lot of Goya products over the years, but I never knew they made tortillas. It just happened that I had some leftover steak that wanted to turn into tacos, so I ripped open this bag right away. They're nice tortillas right out of the bag and even better when they're lightly toasted.

Country Archer Jerky (Option 1)
Turkey jerky arrived. Hmmm. I don't dislike jerky, but it's not really my thing. Which is odd because I love cured sausages. I didn't want to sample a tiny bit and hand someone an open bag, so I passed the whole thing along to a friend. If you're a jerky fan, this is made from cage-free turkey breast with no added hormones.

Aneto Natural chicken broth (Option 2)
People received either the jerky (above) or this broth. While I like making my own broth when I have time and bones, I've been using more boxed broths. They're handy to keep in the pantry, and they save time when I'm cooking, since they don't need to be thawed. I'm looking forward to trying this one. I've got risotto coming soon.

Goya Pico de Gallo Salsa
Remember those tacos? Yeah, I needed salsa, too, so this got opened. This is a chunky salsa with a thin sauce. Great on my tacos, but I can also imagine it spooned over chicken breast to give it a reason to be on the plate. This was flavorful with a little heat, but not painfully hot. Good stuff.

Oreo Chocolate Candy Bar
I was sooooo curious about this. I was slightly worried that it would be overly sweet, but it really wasn't. Inside the bar is Oreo bits and Oreo filling, and it's coated in Milka chocolate, which is a European brand. I've heard that there's a mint version as well. I'm going to look for that, because I adore mint and chocolate.

Cafe Bustelo Cafe con Leche
This instant coffee includes coffee, sweetener, and nondairy creamer, so it's pretty much emergency coffee for that day when I've run out of coffee and the milk needs to be used for a recipe. Or for when I want to take coffee on the go. This would be great to keep in a desk drawer or in the car, too.

Bell's Seasoning
Apparently this brand got its start in 1867, but I don't remember that far back. Obviously. I think I've seen this in stores, but didn't really pay attention. It's a mix of herbs and spices, but no salt, and according the the company, it's "a staple of Thanksgiving tables throughout the country." After I read the ingredients, I decided it would be good on pork, too. Experiment will ensue very very soon.

Rufus Teague barbecue sauce (sample)
This little freebie is just about enough for one serving, so I'm hanging onto it for that time when I've got leftover chicken and I want a barbecue chicken sandwich. Gotta love that single serving.

Degustabox sends me a box every month at no cost to me.

OXO Chef's Mandoline 2.0

I've owned quite a few mandolines over the years. Some I bought; some were sent to me for review. This mandoline finally does the one thing that previous mandolines didn't.

Yes, it cuts thick and thin straight and waffle slices. Yes, it just small and large square (julienne or fry) cuts. Lots of mandolines do that. Yes, the blades are freakishly sharp, so it slices easily.

But most mandolines do that, right?

This one, though, does it ... elegantly. There's just one knob that you turn to set the slicing thickness. If you keep turning, the teeth pop up to cut the julienne or fry slices. Easy peasy. There's just one blade that slides in and out - easily - to switch sides from straight to wavy.

Because of all that, there are no sharp loose pieces that you need to store. Nothing that snaps into the bottom or that needs to go into a storage case. It's all just part of the mandoline. Well, there's the hand guard (which works really well, by the way) that isn't part of the actual mechanism. But there are two hooks on the bottom of the mandoline that grab the edge of the guard, and then the fold-down legs hold it neatly in place.

So, yeah, this mandoline is definitely an improvement over previous models I've owned. Which is probably why it's named the Chef's Mandoline Slicer 2.0.

Who's it for: People who slice.

Pros: Works well; stores neatly.

Cons: SHARP! (If you refuse to use a guard, I suggest a cut-resistant glove).

Wishes: An even larger fry cut would be nice, but I have a feeling it would be too difficult to slice.

Source: I received this from the manufacturer at no cost to me.

Vita Clay Multi Cooker

This review took quite a while to get written, because I wanted to be as thorough as possible. I didn't want to cook one or two recipes and go on my merry way without answering some important questions.

And those questions took time to answer. So ... I've been living with this on my counter for months.

The Vita Clay company makes slow cookers and rice cookers with a twist. Instead of a metal cooking pot, the Vita Clay appliances have a clay pot. Crockery. Without a glazed coating. So ... completely different from everything else on the market.

Or anything else that's an electric appliance. There are plenty of clay cookers for oven and some that are good for the stovetop as well.

One of the biggest questions was whether the clay would absorb flavors and odors that would then transfer to other foods. The surprising answer is no. I've cooked everything from pork and sauerkraut to chili to soup in my cooker, and I've also cooked plain white rice after those more pungent foods. And ... there's been no transfer of flavor.

Honestly, I was surprised by that. I expected to have to tell you that you shouldn't cook your yogurt after cooking your kielbasa surprise.

The other surprise was that the clay pot was much easier to clean than I expected. Even with foods as sticky as rice can be, I was able to wash the pot easily afterwards.

There are some downsides to this cooker. You've got a clay inner cooking pot and a clay lid. If you're a klutz and you drop it, it's going to break. If you're not in the habit of dropping your other cookware on a regular basis, you should be fine. There's also some risk of thermal breakage, so you shouldn't take out the hot inner pot and put it on a cold surface. Also, the pot shouldn't be stored while it's still wet or damp, so you need to let it dry completely before putting it back into the cooker and closing the lid.

Cooking in this is much like any other slow cooker or rice cooker, with a couple of exceptions. For one thing, since the clay is porous, you'll loose a little more moisture than when you're cooking in a similar device with a metal pot. If you've ever made a soup or stew in a slow cooker and wished that it wasn't so thin and watery, you'll love that the liquid disappears a bit more in this cooker. In that sense, it's similar to cooking on the stove.

It has a buttons for different foods (rice, soup, stew, yogurt). I was quite surprised at how short the cooking time was for the soup and stews, so you shouldn't plan on putting food into the cooker before you go to work unless you've got some kind of super-tough meat. On the other hand, it would be ideal for unattended after-work cooking. Think of it as a stovetop replacement rather than a slow cooker, and you've got the idea.

The rice was also a success. I tried both white rice and brown rice, and both turned out perfectly. There's also a special button for reheating rice, in case you want to make a lot in advance and reheat as needed.

I haven't tried the yogurt, but I'm pretty sure that will be just fine, too, based on everything else I've made.

Who's it for: Great for people who want a countertop appliance for cooking, but prefer more natural cooking vessels.

Pros: Works well, foods cook quickly and aren't watery as can happen with slow cookers or pressure cookers.

Cons: The clay insert is breakable and it needs a little more care than a teflon-coated metal pot. Good news is that there are replacements available.

Wishes: Since this is really different from a standard slow cooker, it would be great if there was a larger cookbook with recipes (it did come with a recipe book, but more is always good.) While I'm pretty adept at creating and adapting recipes, some folks might appreciate more recipes to get the most use out of the cooker.

Source: I received this from the manufacturer for the purpose of a review.

The Vita Clay folks make a pretty large variety of appliances. Some are better for rice, so if that's a priority, make sure you pick one that is designed for that use.

New Foods!

As much as I love testing new gadgets and small appliances, the food samples I get are a whole lot of fun, too. The things I get to sample are often new, improved, or updated items, and maybe not yet available in my local grocery store.

And, seriously, even if they are available at my local stores, most of the time they're foods that I might not pick up. There are plenty of shopping days when I'm pretty narrowly focused on getting exactly what I need for recipes, so I might not notice the new items even when they're right in front of me.

A lot of the samples I'm offered are sweets and snacks, which is great. Snacks are handy to have on hand for when I'm feeling particularly peckish. But the savory foods can be even more fun, since those are most likely to end up in recipes.

Here's a roundup of what showed up here recently!

Pereg Gourmet Freekeh

Pereg Gourmet sent me both Freekeh and Farro. I'm familiar with farro - it's a tasty grain that's a little bit hard to find. The farro they sent me was the basic grain with no added seasonings, so it was ready for any recipe or side dish. I actually like it fairly plain, with a little salt and a touch of butter or olive oil. If you think of it as a grain like rice or barley, you'll probably have a lot of ideas for how to use it.

The Freekeh they sent me was in a mix that included dried vegetables and spices including carrots, peppers, currants. onions, and mustard seeds, so it was a pretty complete side dish.

When I emptied it into a pot to cook it, the scent of the dried vegetables reminded me of a dried soup mix that I've used on occasion, probably because of the dried vegetables. The flavor was good once it was cooked and the bits of vegetables added some color. I thought it needed a touch of salt. But that was easy to adjust.

Fatworks

So ... it's fairly easy to render fat from chicken. Just about as easy as making butter. Heh. It's not hard to do, but there are other things I'd rather do. It's nice to know these fats are available for times when I want some clean chicken fat for a recipe and I don't want to start by rendering the fat myself.

Fatworks sent me a nice selection of their products. I'm still not sure what I'm going to do with the tallow, but that chicken schmaltz was perfect for cooking potatoes (and freaking delicious). Goose fat is good for that, too. The leaf lard has a lot of uses, but I haven't yet opened it.

Before these arrived, I'd never seen them in a store, but recently I spotted them. I'm definitely going to be putting these on the list for when I need some really pure fat.

When you buy these, make sure you look at storage instructions. Some need to be refrigerated while others should be stored at room temperature.

Kettle & Fire Bone Broth

I'm generally opposed to the term "bone broth" because it's really just a good stock. But, hey, I can't blame a company for jumping on a trend. Ignoring that word on the label, this actually is a good stock. The containers hold slightly more than 16 ounces, which is a nice amount for me. Most of the stocks in the store are either a quart or a liter, and sometimes that's just too much for what I need.

I used one of the flavors to cook rice and the other to make soup. I'll be looking for these again because of the deep flavor and the convenient size. That's not to say that I won't make my own stock any more. But I like to have a container on hand for the times when I don't have any in the fridge or freezer.

Pizootz

Nutz. Er ..... nuts. I've tried a lot of different flavored nuts, and usually they have spices, salt and flavorings adhering to the nuts. A coating, if you will. The difference with these was that the flavor was infused into the nuts, so there wasn't really a coating.

I haven't tried all of them (there were a freaking lot of packages of different flavors!), so I guess it's possible some do have a coating, but it says on the package that they're infused, so ...

Anyway, the flavor on the ones I tried was in the nuts rather than on them, so I'm thinking they'd be interesting for baking. Also good for snacking without making a mess. The texture of these was slightly different than typical roasted nuts ... I'm not sure exactly how to describe it. Softer, maybe. Not actually soft, but not quite as crunchy as other nuts I've eaten. You'll see when you try them. They're interesting. And with the huge variety of flavors, there's something for everyone.

Honey Ridge Farms

I've done a couple of posts using products from Honey Ridge Farms, and recently they sent me an email and said, "we're going to send you some stuff." They sure did. That honey balsamic vinegar is really stellar. I like it drizzled on fresh ripe tomatoes. It's also good on green salads or on asparagus.

The Blure is one of my favorite things ever. I've used it in a couple different cocktail recipes. I'm glad to have a refill. The tea is lovely and the honey is really nice. And who says no to fancy salts?

Overall, there's a lot of great stuff here. Something for everyone. Check 'em out!

Land O Lakes Less Sodium Butter

I wrote about the Land O Lakes soft butter quite some time ago and I've been buying it ever since I ran out of the free stuff. Mostly I buy the version with olive oil, but I've also bought other versions. Now there's a new version that has 25% less sodium.

The nice buttery folks sent me a sample, and although I can taste a slight difference in saltiness when I try both versions next to each other, it's not so pronounced that I'd miss the salt in regular use. It's definitely not unsalted - although now that I think of it, and unsalted version would actually be kind of nice, too. I hope they decide to make that.

I mostly use this for spreading on toast, bread, or English muffins, but I've also used it for cooking when I don't need an exact measurement - because in that case, cutting a tablespoon or more off a stick is easier than measuring the soft butter.

So there ya go. Lots of fun food.

What new food products have you tried lately?

These were provided at no cost to me by the respective manufacturers.