The Does It Work team is at it again, heading into the kitchen to test the newest bunch of gadgets that promise to make our time in the kitchen easier and our lives better.
As usual, home writer Mary Beth Breckenridge, consumer affairs writer Betty Lin-Fisher and I discovered that not everything lives up to its lofty claims.
Orgreenic Ceramic Green Non-Stick Fry Pan
Of all of the products that we have gotten requests from readers to try, this one seemed to be at the top of everyone’s list. Perhaps it is the bright green color or the frequent commercial showing sunny-side-up eggs swirling effortlessly around in this 10-inch fry pan that has intrigued so many.
When we put it through its paces, though, we found that the pan disappointed more than it performed. For a nonstick pan, it sticks a lot.
The pan claims to be “green” because it contains no PFOA, a chemical common in nonstick coatings that the Environmental Protection Agency has ordered removed from cookware by 2015.
The pan has a ceramic nonstick coating over an aluminum core, and the claim is that because it can withstand high heat, you can cook more quickly with it and therefore use less energy. When you consider that some foods need to be cooked over low heat, following this logic, this pan only helps the cook to be energy-efficient when cooking over high heat, which isn’t always optimal.
When we began, we seasoned it according to the package directions, but the first batch of eggs I tested stuck to the bottom.
The same happened nearly every time we tried to make eggs. Only once did they release relatively easily. Melted cheddar cheese wasn’t much of a problem to clean up, but it was pretty clear that the grease released from the melted cheese was the chief reason it wasn’t sticking.
To me, any nonstick pan that needs oil to not stick isn’t worth the money, even at $19.99, and I couldn’t really see how this pan was helping me in any way to be “green.”
“I don’t think it’s nonstick, period,” was Mary Beth’s assessment.
Betty also didn’t like the way the metal handle would get hot, even though it is supposed to be stay-cool.
In the end, all of our testing left a string of black marks on the pan that we could not scrub out.
Verdicts:
• Betty: Skip it.
• Lisa: Skip it.
• Mary Beth: Skip it.
Slushy Magic
This plastic cup is supposed to turn any liquid into a slushy in seconds, which seems like every kid’s dream.
It comes with three ice cube-shaped pouches that must be frozen to make a slushy. The frozen cubes go in the cup, it is filled with a beverage of choice, the lid is popped on and the user starts shaking. The cup needs to be shaken for three minutes to produce a slushy, while the cubes transfer their chill to the beverage using “snowflake science” (I’m still not sure what that means).
After three minutes, we did indeed have a quality slushy on our hands, as well as one really sore arm from shaking that cup.
For us, the drawback of this product was not its performance, but its practicality. We paid $12.99 for this at a major retailer, but you would need one cup per child, as the cubes start to melt and need time to be refrozen after each use. Even with two kids, $26 seems like a lot for slushies at home.
Also, this makes a very small slushy, because the frozen cubes take up most of the space inside the cup.
While shaking a cup for three minutes doesn’t seem like a long time, it is also necessary to keep your finger over the straw opening at the same time, so it isn’t as easy as it seems and it can be messy. Kids could shake up their own, but there is still a mess factor if their fingers slip off the straw hole.
Betty wondered whether a blender wasn’t the better way to go to make more than one slushy at a time. “You could probably make a blended slushy in the same amount of time with a lot more quantity,” she said.
Her kids, ages 9 and 12, lost interest in it after the first slushy when she tried it out with them.
I have a hard time panning it, because it does work, but I’m just not convinced it’s worth it.
As Mary Beth put it, “I think that it’s a lot of work for a little bit of slushy.”
Verdicts:
• Betty: It depends.
• Lisa: It depends.
• Mary Beth: Skip it.
Spice Stack Organizer
We’ve tried spice organizers in the past without much luck.
This one performed well in all of our various kitchen cupboards.
This organizer is a box (roughly 8.5 by 11 inches) made of sturdy plastic, with three pull-out shelves, each with space for six standard-size spice bottles or 12 of the small ones. Its total capacity is 18 or 36 spice jars, depending on their size. Extra-large bottles for items like chili powder or parsley flakes will not fit into the slots.
Mary Beth discovered that she needed to leave a few inches on one side of it to accommodate door hinges, but otherwise it fit well into her cupboard. It fit in Betty’s and mine, too.
The one issue we all had with it was the stability of the spice shelves. They seemed to rattle quite a bit when pulling them in and out.
“I did find it a little unsettling the way the bottles shift when you pull down a shelf. I didn’t have any fall off, but it seems if you yanked it hard enough, they might. That’s my only complaint, though. Generally, I liked this,” Mary Beth said.
In none of our testing did anything fall off of this rack, no matter how hard we yanked.
Betty wasn’t impressed and felt the shelves were just too flimsy.
I liked it, but wondered how long before these shelves started tossing spices and, at $24.99, wondered whether an inexpensive turntable isn’t the better way to go.
Verdicts:
• Betty: Skip it.
• Lisa: It depends.
• Mary Beth: Snap it up.
Spill Stopper
The Spill Stopper is a large silicone disc that fits over the top of a pot. It has removable flaps that open in the center to keep liquids inside from spilling over. With the center removed, it also can be used as a splatter guard.
It seemed like the perfect solution for boiling foods like pasta and potatoes, when a lid is preferable but leads to the inevitable boil-over and stove-top mess.
When we tested it with a boiling pot of potatoes, we found that it did indeed stop the boil-over. Its shape forms a concave lid over the pot, so that spills rise up, and then drain right back into the pot without overflowing onto the burners below.
It worked exactly as promised and we all liked it.
Because it is silicone, it didn’t get hot, which I liked. Mary Beth liked how it could serve as an extra pot lid if needed.
At $25 and $30, depending on size, it is a bit on the expensive side, but not so much that it bothered Mary Beth or me. Betty felt it was too pricey.
Verdicts:
• Betty: It depends.
• Lisa: Snap it up.
• Mary Beth: Snap it up.
TopChips Kit: Chips maker & food slicer
Another device for making microwave potato chips — do that many folks really want microwave potato chips?
This kit claims to make fat-free, crispy chips in just three minutes in the microwave, and it does in fact do just that. Once again, our hesitation with this product comes in its practicality.
This silicone perforated disc comes with a mandoline-style slicer in a kit for $19.99. The slicer cuts the potatoes razor-thin, which really helps to make them crisp.
The slices are placed on the disc and microwaved for three minutes (times vary, depending on microwave wattage). When done cooking, the chips are very thin and crispy— more like dehydrated potato slices than traditional potato chips. But they were full of potato flavor and fat-free.
And they stayed crisp. When stored in a zipper-lock bag, the chips stayed just as crisp a week later, and Mary Beth thought they actually tasted better as they aged.
The box recommends seasoning chips after cooking, but we found that we liked the flavor better when we salted them before cooking.
Overall, though, it seemed like a lot of work for just a few chips. The disc holds fewer than two dozen potato slices. When done, the chips are barely a handful. Because they are sliced so thin, we made three batches and only used up half a russet potato.
“It would take you half an hour to make that whole potato,” Mary Beth observed.
The discs can be stacked in the microwave, but at $19.99 each, how many would a consumer realistically buy?
“I liked the crispness of this. There’s just so much manual labor,” Betty noted.
I thought it seemed like a lot of work for a healthy snack when a large variety of baked snack chips already are available.
This does work; it’s just a question of whether the results are worth the effort.
Verdicts:
• Betty: It depends.
• Lisa: It depends.
• Mary Beth: It depends.
Have you seen an advertised product and wondered if it really lives up to its claims? You can suggest items to be reviewed by Lisa Abraham, Mary Beth Breckenridge and Betty Lin-Fisher by sending email to labraham@thebeaconjournal.com or calling 330-996-3737, mbrecken@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3756 or blinfisher@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3724.
