Kitchen gadget

A kitchen utensil is a hand-held, typically small tool or utensil that is used in the kitchen, for food-related functions.
Materials science
Benjamin Thompson noted at the start of the 18th century that kitchen utensils were commonly made of copper, with various efforts made to prevent the copper from reacting with food (particularly its acidic contents) at the temperatures used for cooking, including tinning, enamelling, and varnishing. He observed that iron had been used as a substitute, and that some utensils were made of earthenware. By the turn of the 20th century, Maria Parloa noted that kitchen utensils were made of (tinned or enamelled) iron and steel, copper, nickel, silver, tin, clay, earthenware, and aluminium. The latter, aluminium, became a popular material for kitchen utensils in the 20th century.
Copper
Copper has good thermal conductivity and copper utensils are both durable and attractive in appearance. However, they are also comparatively heavier than utensils made of other materials, require scrupulous cleaning to remove poisonous tarnish compounds, and are not suitable for acidic foods.
Iron
Iron is more prone to rusting than (tinned) copper. Cast iron kitchen utensils, in particular, are however less prone to rust if, instead of being scoured to a shine after use, they were simply washed with detergent and water and wiped clean with a cloth, allowing the utensil to form a coat of (already corroded) material that then acts to prevent further corrosion (a process known as seasoning). Furthermore, if an iron utensil is solely used for frying or cooking with fat or oil, corrosion can be reduced by never heating water with them, never using them to cook with water, and when washing them with water to dry them immediately afterwards, removing all water. Since oil and water are imiscible, since oils and fats are more covalent compounds, and since it is ionic compounds such as water that promote corrosion, eliminating as much contact with water reduces corrosion. For some iron kitchen utensils, water is a particular problem, since it is very difficult to dry them fully. In particular, iron egg-beaters or ice cream freezers are tricky to dry, and the consequent rust if left wet will roughen them and possibly clog them completely. When storing iron utensils for long periods, van Rensselaer recommended coating them in non-salted (since salt is also an ionic compound) fat or paraffin.
Iron utensils have little problem with high cooking temperatures, are simple to clean as they become smooth with long use, are durable and comparatively strong (i.e. not as prone to breaking as, say, earthenware), and hold heat well. However, as noted, they rust comparatively easily.
Earthenware and enamelware
Earthenware utensils suffer from brittleness when subjected to rapid large changes in temperature, as commonly occur in cooking, and that the glazing of earthenware often contained lead, which was poisonous. Thompson noted that as a consequence of this the use of such glazed earthenware was prohibited by law in some countries from use in cooking, or even from use for storing acidic foods. van Rensselaer proposed in 1919 that one test for lead content in earthenware was to let a beaten egg stand in the utensil for a few minutes and watch to see whether it becomed discoloured, which is a sign that lead might be present.
In addition to their problems with thermal shock, enamelware utensils require careful handling, as careful as for glassware, because they are prone to chipping. But enamel utensils are not affected by acidic foods, are durable, and are easily cleaned. However, they cannot be used with strong alkalis.
Earthenware, porcelain, and pottery utensils can be used for both cooking and serving food, and so thereby save on washing-up of two separate sets of utensils. They are durable, and (van Rensselaer notes) "excellent for slow, even cooking in even heat, such as slow baking". However, they are comparatively unsuitable for cooking using a direct heat, such as a cooking over a flame.
Aluminium
James Frank Breazeale in 1918 opined that aluminium "is without doubt the best material for kitchen utensils", noting that it is "as far superior to enamelled ware as enamelled ware is to the old-time iron or tin". He qualified his recommendation for replacing worn out tin or enamelled utensils with aluminium ones by noting that "old-fashioned black iron frying pans and muffin rings, polished on the inside or worn smooth by long usage, are, however, superior to aluminium ones".
Aluminium's advantages over other materials for kitchen utensils is its good thermal conductivity (which is approximately an order of magnitude greater than that of steel), the fact that it is largely non-reactive with foodstuffs at low and high temperatures, its low toxicity, and the fact that its corrosion products are white and so (unlike the dark corrosion products of, say, iron) do not discolour food that they happen to be mixed into during cooking. However, its disadvantages are that it is easily discoloured, can be dissolved by acidic foods (to a comparatively small extent), and reacts to alkaline soaps if they are used for cleaning a utensil.
In the European Union, the construction of kitchen utensils made of aluminium is determined by two European standards: EN 601 (Aluminium and aluminium alloys — Castings — Chemical composition of castings for use in contact with foodstuffs) and EN 602 (Aluminium and aluminium alloys — Wrought products — Chemical composition of semi-finished products ysed for the fabrication of articles for use in contact with foodstuffs). These define maxima for the percentages (by mass) of impurities or added elements present, other than aluminium, in such products, as follows:
;Unalloyed aluminium
:*iron and silicon: less than 1%
:*chromium, manganese, nickel, zinc, titanium, tin: less than 0.1% each
:*copper: less than 0.1% (or less than 0.2% if the proportions of chromium and manganese both do not exceed 0.05%)
:*other elements: less than 0.05%
;Alloyed aluminium
:*silicon: less than 13.5%
:*iron: less than 2%
:*copper: less than 0.6%
:*manganese: less than 4%
:*magnesium: less than 11% (less than 5% in pressure cooking utensils)
:*chromium:less than 0.35%
:*nickel: less than 3%
:*zinc: less than 0.25%
:*antimony: less than 0.2%
:*tin: less than 0.1%
:*strontium: less than 0.3%
:*zirconium: less than 0.3%
:*titanium: less than 0.3%
:*other elements: less than 0.05% each, and less than 0.15% in total

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