Laboratory technics came to the kitchen table The address of the article in Russian with a bunch of interesting photos is here:
🔗October 26, 2007, membrana (staff @
Many enthusiasts (chemists and physicists, designers and simply cooks) put their crazy experiments in search of perfection. It is hard for them to live in an environment of standards and logic, but they do not give up and then their masterpieces become a serial product ().
A modern person is no longer surprised by a mug warmer, a transparent toaster, a kettle that changes color when the water is heated, or a dishwasher with a cycle for washing small children's toys. However, technology does not stand still, and many companies offer appliances and solutions for the kitchen of the future that we never dreamed of before.
Imagine that in our kitchen we have surrounded ourselves with new affordable gadgets and we really want to eat something.
Where does the preparation of breakfast, lunch or dinner begin? That's right, with the fact that we get food from the refrigerator (the one that warms the food).
It is clear that a small monitor with a touch screen and a bunch of functions is already built into the doors of our "ice cabinet", the doors themselves have a special design, the shelves are motorized, the inner coating is antibacterial, and there is also a vitaminizing LED. But what's new inside him?
It is still unknown how much the price of a package of milk will increase with the introduction of the technology (frame from inventables.com).
First of all - Fresh Watch milk cartons, which tell us that the milk is still fresh. The slogan of this invention by Inventables is: "Don't let spoiled milk ruin your morning!"
The secret is simple: after about 5 days of standing in the refrigerator, the bag changes color, signaling that it is better not to eat this milk. An animation clip illustrating this process (MOV file, 1.3 megabytes) you can see here.
Further. On various cans and bottles, there are DaysAgo counters that show the days and hours that have passed since the product was placed in the refrigerator or the package was opened (for example, with juice).
This is not to forget how long they have been here, and not to get poisoned. And if we suddenly forget the shelf life of certain products, then we may well look at this list, created especially for DaysAgo and worried buyers.
Small colored "tablets" with an LCD display and a button are of two types: with a magnet and with a suction cup. Some are good for use on metal surfaces (pots, ladles, lids), others - on glass and plastic (bottles, containers).
DaysAgo is available in four colors: blue, orange, charcoal, pink and lime. One such device costs $ 5 (photo from howmanydaysago.com).
The image on the displays is sometimes clouded, but still remains readable. By the way, these things can "live" in the refrigerator for up to 99 days (more than enough!), In addition, they can be used in other places. For example, on jars of medicines that quickly deteriorate, or on pots of flowers that need to be watered on schedule.
So, we have the products on hand. The vegetables must be washed. Come to the SmartSink by Leonardo Bonanni and Jackie Lee. She is, as the name implies, very "smart". It safely adjusts to our growth, turns on water when we bring an object or hands, determines what we need to wash (vegetables or dishes) and selects the appropriate water temperature.
Another of its advantages is that the material of the shell itself is translucent, inhibiting the growth of bacteria, elastic and resilient, but not tearing. So, if you drop something from your hands, the dishes will not break or make a splash, just like a stream of pouring water.
The sink adjusts to both a standing and a seated person. The shell height varies from 71 to 122 centimeters. Inset: the shell material is stretched even with a finger, but it is almost impossible to tear it (photo and illustration from mit.edu).
You can learn more about the development from this document (PDF file, 177 kilobytes). We also recommend watching the YouTube video for a better introduction.
By the way, some time ago Bonanny provided our kitchen with a smart spoon and a machine for making disposable plates. We have not yet found a replacement for them.
But let's not get distracted, let's move on to cooking.
For breakfast, we can boil an egg without water, make toast or waffles.
This is how the roasting process goes. Treat yourself and your guests
We threw away the old toaster (remember the one that shows through the bread) and bought a new one - the Glide toaster by George Watson, which not only looks attractive, but also fries the bread in a very original way: slowly passing it through a slot with a heating element, and then placing it in the designer tray.
For his invention, George received the first prize and 5 thousand euros at the international competition Ceramics for breakfast competition (photo from designboom.com).
On this page you can see how the descendant of the toaster, first produced by Crompton and Company in England in 1893, works.
As for the Waffle Maker (Corona-Matic Keyboard Waffle Maker), we have it with subtext, and in the literal sense.
Designer Chris Dimino, a graduate of the School of Visual Arts in New York, made it out of an old typewriter.
Now advanced programmers can eat a sweet keyboard every morning. However, why only programmers? Why are we advanced Internet users worse?
On the back of the waffle iron there is a shelf and jars for four different sauces. Bon Appetit! (photo from treehugger.com).
Moving on. Moving on to heavier artillery. French fries are loved by many, especially for their crisp crust. But few cook it at home, since in an ordinary frying pan, the process turns into torture, and the result does not always meet expectations, and deep fat fryers consume liters of vegetable oil.
It is for such people that Tefal has released the ActiFry deep fryer, which can easily fry a kilogram of potatoes in just one tablespoon of oil.
In Europe, ActiFry on Tefal is sold for about $ 200-300 ().
And she is helped in this difficult task by a pulsating hot air system and a rotating blade. Thus, the dish itself becomes safer, because now it contains only 3% fat. And the process of cooking and washing is simplified: there are no unnecessary odors, no need to filter the oil, and all the components of a new deep fryer (except for the base) are easy to clean in the dishwasher.
In addition, you do not need to be limited to only French fries - ActiFry also allows you to fry vegetables and meat.
If you consider yourself a real chef, then we will give up the microwave (the smallest, with a new form factor and a steam hammer). And from the anti-frying pan, perhaps, too.
But the Heidolph VV Micro Evaporator, a device that looks more like a design from a chemical laboratory, will certainly suit us.
So, Evaporator (let's call it that for short) is able to make a syrup with an intense taste and smell from almost any ingredient.
One hurdle is the price of the Brinkmann Heidolph VV Micro Evaporator. This is $ 3 thousand ().
Do you think you will like meat-flavored mushrooms and lobster-flavored sorbe (usually a frozen dessert with berry or fruit flavors)? Moreover, these will not be chemical, but natural aromatic and flavoring additives that will not change the color and texture of the dish.
And to do this is not so difficult, just something business: put the ingredients (for example, strawberries and black pepper) in an evaporating vessel. Then immerse the vessel in a hot water bath, where it will begin to rotate. Next, you need to turn on the vacuum pump, which will evacuate air and lower the boiling point of water in the vessel to 44 degrees Celsius.
The liquid will begin to evaporate from the food and rise into the refrigerator, in which it will condense and enter another vessel (pictured on the left). Then it only remains to add it to the dish to which you want to give this or that foreign taste.
Another very interesting device called Gastrovac was created by Le Sanctuaire.
This 20-kilogram monster with a capacity of 8 liters can be considered a pan, a vacuum room, and a heating element all rolled into one. What does he do? Squeezes out any product like a sponge. Yes, you heard right. By creating a very low pressure inside its "pan", Gastrovac is able to pump out air from almost any product.
Gastrovac is offered on the manufacturer's website for $ 3800. And it was created at the Polytechnic University of Valencia (Universidad Politécnica de Valencia) by two chefs Javier Andrés (La Sucursal restaurant, Valencia) and Sergio Torres (El Rodat restaurant, Javea) (photo from cookingbuddies.com) ...
Why this is needed is best explained with an example. We put cut pears in one of the Gastrovac branches, pour wine into another and press a button. First, the apparatus pumps out all the air (including oxygen) from the system, then immerses the squeezed pears into the wine and restores normal pressure. The liquid fills all the cells of the product, and the pear acquires a wine taste (yes, this is not just "pears in wine" for you!).
At the same time, the fruit does not turn brown (since oxidation does not occur in the absence of oxygen) and generally does not almost change its color.
Indeed, you can create a great variety of combinations of products and tastes (depending on the porosity of certain products): pineapple with the taste of coconut milk, mushrooms with the smell of meat broth, meat with any marinades, and so on.
There is another advantage of low pressure cooking. The boiling point of water decreases, and the process of cooking and frying occurs at lower temperatures, as a result, almost no destruction of vitamins and nutrients occurs, the color of products does not change, vegetables do not lose their texture.
Here you will find an additional description of Gastrovac (PDF document, 98 kilobytes), as well as its instructions for use (PDF document, 193 kilobytes) and recipes (PDF document, 184 kilobytes).
CulinaryPrep, which can process and marinate almost 2.5 kilograms of meat, poultry or fish, is available in two colors - white and black ().
Another novelty will delight people who are very afraid of food bacteria. CulinaryPrep, according to the assurances of the creators of this piece of kitchen utensils and the results of independent tests, is able to kill 99.5% of pathogenic and food spoiling microbes.
Such a fantastic result is obtained thanks to the same vacuum and the patented Grovas Process, on which the creators of CulinaryPrep have been working for more than ten years.
In addition to making food healthier and safer (although what about beneficial bacteria?), It also improves its taste. For example, the device simultaneously marinates and beats meat, which becomes more tender. And all this takes several tens of minutes, not hours, as usual.
It has been proven that after such processing, the product loses most of the harmful fats (calories) and free radicals, and does not deteriorate longer.
All in all, if you are leading a healthy lifestyle (and are not afraid to live a life without beneficial bacteria), then CulinaryPrep is definitely for you. Moreover, its price is only $ 400.
One roll of "magic paper" will cost you about $ 25. The length of the roll is 10 meters (there are, however, 50 meters for $ 90), the width is 50 centimeters, it is enough for about 20 preparations ().
However, all these sophisticated devices cannot be compared (in terms of sophistication and simplicity) with the next novelty in our kitchen, Fata Paper, from JB Prince.
This transparent paper (fata in Italian for "magic") is able to withstand temperatures up to 230 degrees Celsius. It is enough to wrap the food in it, tie the top, and they will cook in their own juice (which will make the dish more aromatic).
Fata Paper cannot be used over an open fire (and alcohol can be added to dishes), but it will do its job perfectly on any hot surface, for example, in an oven, in a microwave oven, in a water bath, and even in heated oil.
When the dish is ready, you just need to cut off the top of the original bag and serve it on a plate. If you decide to put it in the refrigerator, then the paper will withstand cooling down to minus 50 degrees Celsius.
And this is how the dish will look when served (photo from foodguru.com).
By the way, the readiness of the dish is easy to determine. After all, you can see everything through the paper. Yes, and somewhere we had a MicVac meal that whistles to signal its readiness.
Kitchen Grips inhibit the growth of bacteria. A couple of these potholders (in a wide variety of colors) will cost you $ 25. On the manufacturer's website you will find other interesting options for potholders (photo from kitchengrips.com).
Well, in the end, let's talk about small but nice additions that we may need. To remove the finished dish from the oven or oven, perhaps we need potholders. Yes, not simple, but not dirty (that is, water and dirt-repellent). These are the Kitchen Grips that Duncan Industries offers us.
They are constructed from the patented FLXaPrene material, which can withstand temperatures from minus 90 to 260 degrees Celsius. Plus, Kitchen Grips potholders are very thin and dishwasher safe.
And especially for the women's team of our house (this means that after eating someone will still have to wash the dishes) for $ 18, we purchased cute gloves to protect ladies' hands from the harmful effects of water and detergents - French Maid Washing up Gloves. Generally, ordinary rubber gloves, but how stylish!
Perhaps imitation diamonds, rubies, pearls and fur will make dishwashing a little more ... fashionable? Although it will definitely not become less burdensome (photo from the site kitsch.co.uk).
Well, let's summarize. Say, all these are useless or too expensive things for the house, and you can easily do without them? It's up to you, but someone invented the microwave, despite the usual ovens and stoves. And now they have firmly entered our life. So any of these amazing novelties can become familiar in our kitchens in ten years.
