MasterChef on the cheap: build your own cooking appliances

November 15th, 2012

Appliance Talk Humour Ovens & Cooking

One of the complaints frequently thrown at celebrity chefs is that the ingredients they use are often prohibitively expensive (activated almonds, anyone?). The same goes for the fancy appliances they just happen to have installed in their kitchen (not to mention an entourage of assistants paid to clean up after they’ve finished using them) that are perfectly affordable for anyone with their own television show, but not so much for, say, a student whose primary source of nutrition is Mi Goreng:

So what do you do when you’ve the palate of Matt Preston but the budget of a pensioner? Today, Appliances Online looks at some of the ways you can build your own appliances that’ll soon have you cooking like Jamie, but without having to sell your soul. Neat!

Get retro with a Crock-Pot

Anyone who has seen MasterChef will know that the key to success is time management. Given that time is modern society’s most precious commodity, it’s not surprising that the pressure cooker has become one of our most popular kitchen appliances – making it possible to cook supremely tender lamb shanks, flavoursome stews and much more in a matter of minutes.

Sounds good and all, but the trouble is, you’re cheap. So how do you get that slow-cooked effect without shelling out for a pressure cooker?

Answer: you slow-cook the old fashioned way. By cooking your food, er, slowly. For this we recommend you take a page out of your mum’s book and get yourself a Crock-Pot:

Popular in the Seventies, the Crock-Pot allows you to slowly simmer food for hours – so you can put it on in the morning before you leave for work, and then come home to the finest goup imaginable.

Because Crock-Pots are about as fashionable as paisley flares, you will probably be able to get one very cheap from eBay, or free from your parents’ garage. Just blow the dust off the lid, shake the family of spiders out of it and Bob’s your uncle! Delcious slow-cooked food awaits you.

But I wanted to cook fancy food!

Who says Crock-Pots can’t be fancy? Behold, one woman from the internet spent an entire year cooking a different recipe every day in her Crock-Pot, such as this scary tasty Crock-Pot lasagne:

Crock-Pot lasagne. Recipe available here.

Homemade ice-cream machine

I love the internet! Today it taught me how to make your own ice-cream machine, using a bunch of items you’d find at a hardware store.

You will need:

•    1 large bucket
•    1 small bucket
•    1 paddle (for churning the ice-cream)
•    Frozen salt water (enough to surround the small bucket)
•    120ml milk
•    80g caster sugar
•    240ml double cream

Method:

Mix milk, sugar and cream together, then pour into the small bucket, ready for churning. Rotate the churning paddle for about 10-15 minutes, and voila! Homemade ice-cream is now yours to enjoy. (Plus the effort of churning it is guaranteed to shave off at least a few of the calories – win!)

Alternatively, you could make your own ice cream using Glad bags. (We appear to be obsessed with Glad bags today). Check it out:

Build your own BBQ

Summertime is here, and that means lazy Sunday afternoons spent in the backyard with a beer and a sanga sandwich. And while Appliances Online sells a wide variety of well-priced barbeques, you also have the option of building your own:

All you need is bricks, a wire grill, some food-friendly combustible materials, and large quantities of deceased animal – ideally one you have slaughtered yourself.

Construction is easy. Step one, pile bricks:

Step two: BARBEQUE!

For the ultra stupid ambitious, you could even have a shot at constructing your own BBQ fire pit. Instructions here!

(Disclaimer: Appliances Online does not endorse the making of your own barbeque, and not just because we happen to sell them. Fire is like, dangerous, people).

Modify your blender for less washing up

Ever wished you could blend your beverage directly in the cup you intend to drink out of?

Me either, but apparently some people out there are both so lazy that they can’t be bothered washing up the blender AND a cup, and also so cheap that they don’t want to shell out for an appliance designed to do exactly that:

I know you’re all dying to find out, so here it is:

1. Find a glass jar that’s the same diametre as your blender. (Make sure it will screw in tightly before trying this experience with liquid!)

2. Fill the jar with your desired smoothie ingredients, turn the blender upside-down and screw tightly.

3. Turn blender (with jar attached) back the right side up, and blend.

4. Enjoy your drink, you cheap, lazy mofo.

Alrighty, that’s enough blogging for one day. Plus we don’t want to give you any more ideas. Until next time, people!