Crazy Gadgets

Yesterday I was invited to join some other PEO members for lunch and to go to see a wonderful antiques collection nearby. Sue has been collecting antiques, particularly gadgets, for over 30 years. Her kitchen gadgets were stunning. Walls were lined with graters, grinders, pudding molds, colanders and cast iron corn stick pans.

On hooks were dozens of egg beaters, lots of gadgets to hold canning jars, soap savers, whisks, and so much more.

She had a cute metal measuring cup that was a coffee measurer. A thin piece of metal for the bottom slid in and out of slots to move the bottom up or down depending on how strong you wanted your coffee.

She had bushel baskets full of cooking tools like spoons, forks, slotted spoons, potato mashers...and each basket had different colored handles. It was overwhelming. One item caught my eye and she agreed to let me photograph it for the one off event - That Crazy Kitchen Gadget hosted by Not Eating Out in New York. The photograph is above. Do you think you know what it is? Look below the next photo to see if you guessed right. Wish I had one of those myself.

It's a biscuit cutter. It rolls along and cuts a whole row of biscuits (or cookies, I guess) at a time. Did you guess correctly??

My Dad loved biscuits, so these quick and easy ones were baked often when I was growing up. Since I don't own the cutter, I'll be using a floured drinking glass. I'm also including a photo with jam and one with honey because I like eating them both ways. Mmmmmm.


Dad's Simple But Nutritionally Suspect Buttermilk Biscuits
3 cups sifted self-rising flour
1/2 cup shortening (Crisco was what we used)
1 cup buttermilk

Cut shortening into flour until consistency of coarse meal; add enough buttermilk to make a soft dough (you may need slightly more or less than 1 cup). Turn onto lightly floured surface; knead gently about ten strokes. Roll 1/2 of the thickness desired in finished biscuits. Fold over on itself and roll out again to same thickness. Cut with a floured biscuit cutter (or drinking glass OR crazy kitchen gadget if you have one). Place on a baking sheet. Bake in a preheated 400 degree F overn for 12-15 minutes. Makes about 14 - 2" biscuits.

It's A...

Potato cooker is what it is. It is roughly a triangle with rounded sides. The lid is slightly domed and has a glass knob. There is a place at the back that looks like it used to be where the handle connected, but that was long ago.

To 'bake' the potatoes, you wash off baking potatoes, pierce the skins a couple of time with the point of a sharp knife, then fit them into the potato cooker (it holds up to 4 large ones), put it on the stove top with the heat at low and cook for about 45 minutes. The potatoes come out with fluffy interiors and crisp skins as if you had baked them in the oven, but the energy use is far less. We've also baked yams in it and they are wonderful cooked that way.

I'll bet that you could also pop corn and cook rice in this pot, but have never tried it.

Thanks for the great guesses. If you ever see one of these for sale at a yard sale or antiques place, snap it up if it isn't too expensive. I'd love to know what it cost and what they said it was for, too.