Please help a fellow baker realize his dreams!

I can't tell you how excited i am at the possibility of lasagne that is over 80% hard corners.

I should introduce you to my sister who can get the same result in a rectangular pan!

Mm-hmm, sure you did.

Um, no. The world does not need one more useless novelty pan that'll be used once and then shoved in an already overfilled cabinet. Really, truly. No.

-j

In fact, I did just discover this forum. Just thought it would be receptive to the request for help... I had no other motive.

And FYI, the pan will only create "hard corners" if you keep the food in the oven too long. Such is the case with ANY pan.

I can appreciate your skepticism and, in fact, would probably share your sentiments if I didn't know the guy and see the thing work. Lots of products out there claim to be the "next great thing"... and very few live up that promise.

I'll just leave it at that, and thank those of you who are willing to offer some assistance and keep an open mind.

Happy cooking (and baking) to all...

-- eupeptic

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this thread:

What, you still haven't gotten rid of that vertical chicken roaster thing? Or that saut=E9 pan with the little chimney in the middle? Ooh, do y= ou have one of those vented things that's supposed to let you grill on your stovetop?=20

That "Perfect Pancake" thing was hitting the thrift stores within about

6 weeks of the commercials, must have something to do with the fact that if you follow their directions to the letter it takes 7 minutes to make one pancake. Maybe that's why they give you two of 'em?=20

I'm trying to figure out how i missed being told that the mini-loaf racks were useful. You know, like a muffin tin but rectangles. I know what restaurants and bakeries use them for, but they don't buy the quarter-sheet size.=20

The muffin-top pan. Yeah. Makes muffins without the bottom half. It delivers what it promises, but, somehow nobody cares once they've seen it do it once. This one is at least thin.=20

The good thing about those flexible silicone pans is that you can wad them up and shove them in the back of the drawer.=20

All these are of course significantly less evil than the small appliances that only do one thing. I saw a quesadilla maker yesterday, and I've been using my oven, like a chump!

Personally, I'm a little annoyed that I can't find a waffle iron that comes with alternate dies to turn it into, say, a panini grill.=20

OK, I'm sorry, apparently usenet exists so that we can give people advice. Here's some advice:=20

Experienced bakers don't want novelty products. We have a good idea what we're doing with traditional pans, and feel that a novelty pan will take us away from what we already do well into something that's unknown. It doesn't matter if it has the potential to make us the most superior baker in the world, if it's weird rather than solid and predictable we'll avoid it.=20

Heck, at least half of us don't even use spring-form pans, and if ever a gimmick pan succeeded in becoming mainstream it's the spring-form.=20

Recently, there was an article about Dow Corning's effort to improve upon their bakeware. The problem they're having with their research is that when they do market research, everybody says that the reason they like their particular 9x13 (or thereabouts) pan is because it's the one they know how to use.=20

They also say things like "it heats evenly" "it doesn't burn my casserole" or "it's easy to clean" but the truth is most of these come down to operator performance rather than the qualities of a given pan. You can make a casserole without burning it in a thin-wall steel 13x9 but not the exact same way you do it in pyrex. Cafeterias do it in disposable aluminum pans all the time.=20

The people who want your product are people who are self conscious about their performance. They subconsciously wish that some product could make them better at whatever it is they're doing.=20

I'm gonna go out on a limb and suggest that they are people who are not well acquainted with the temperature controls on their oven and have been baking things that are either burnt on the outside or perfect on the outside but under-baked at the center. None of the regulars here have this problem. It turns out that we regularly scare these people away. Perhaps there are some recipe forums on websites somewhere that might be more excited about a pan that will finally allow them to bake the perfect snake.

Preying on the weak. Welcome to reality.=20

What, you still haven't gotten rid of that vertical chicken roaster thing? Or that sauté pan with the little chimney in the middle? Ooh, do you have one of those vented things that's supposed to let you grill on your stovetop?

That "Perfect Pancake" thing was hitting the thrift stores within about

6 weeks of the commercials, must have something to do with the fact that if you follow their directions to the letter it takes 7 minutes to make one pancake. Maybe that's why they give you two of 'em?

I'm trying to figure out how i missed being told that the mini-loaf racks were useful. You know, like a muffin tin but rectangles. I know what restaurants and bakeries use them for, but they don't buy the quarter-sheet size.

The muffin-top pan. Yeah. Makes muffins without the bottom half. It delivers what it promises, but, somehow nobody cares once they've seen it do it once. This one is at least thin.

The good thing about those flexible silicone pans is that you can wad them up and shove them in the back of the drawer.

All these are of course significantly less evil than the small appliances that only do one thing. I saw a quesadilla maker yesterday, and I've been using my oven, like a chump!

Personally, I'm a little annoyed that I can't find a waffle iron that comes with alternate dies to turn it into, say, a panini grill.

-------------------- Here is my list: Assorted shaped "cans" for baking bread for canapés (from a outlet warehouse - bought two sets, never used) Expensive pan to make small cakes in the shape of eggs - never used Expensive pan to make cakes with a cavity so they can be filled (gift) - doesn't work well Ravioli machine - can't get it to work, you put in the noodles and ingredients, turn the handle, and get a big wad of crap Cheap plastic bunt pan to make cakes in microwave - traded for something else I didn't want, never used Rotisserie for oven, cord plugs into wall but broke, company out of business, gift Il Gelato ice cream maker - needs repair, not worth the effort but too expensive to get rid of Electric vegetable peeler - needs parts but no longer available ( note to self: Ebay)

Personally, I prefer the brownies from the middle of the pan. ~Peggy

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In article , Eric Jorgensen writes

Actually, these are good for proper mince pies. Mince pies should be rectangles, symbolising the manger, but were made circular by worried post-Reformation types.

We always used actual cans for that, with both ends cut out. Getting harder to do, now that most foods come in those stackable things that are stretched from the base like a beer can.=20

I think everyone is required to own at least one of these. So far I don't have any - I'll probably get one as a wedding or housewarming present some day.=20

One of my sisters has a kit to make a cake in the shape of a christmas tree. The punchline is, that's in the shape of an actual tree, which is to say conical, about 8" high. It's somewhat frightening. I think she's used it twice. It does work. Service is tricky, people end up with long skinny slices.=20

The one with the raised bottom? Always figured that would have nightmarish release properties, even if they were teflon coated and sprayed with something with a lot of methyl silicone in it and then dusted with flour. Which would ruin the cake in any case.=20

Oof. Still better than making them by hand, right? :)

My sister gave me a microwave muffin pan when i rented my first apartment. Never have used it.=20

I acquired a Cuisinart ice cream maker (quite cheaply) with high hopes - discovered that apparently whoever put it into production looked in the electric motor catalog under "ice cream" and bought the same noisy, hot, crappy motor that's on every cheap crappy ice cream maker in the world. Except this ice cream maker is designed to be used indoors, so it's right there in the kitchen annoying you instead of out on the back porch.=20

As a geek, the concept of running an AC motor until it stalls disgusts me. How hard would it have been to put a breaker on it?=20

I like the idea of a decent electric, but I've become more interested in a high quality manual crank version. White mountain is the obvious answer, but I could swear i've seen an all-aluminum hand crank set with a similar twin dasher system.=20

When my parents vegetable peelers stopped working, all it took was some vague threats to get them going again . . . .

From my previous list, I'll admit to owning the muffin top pan. The rest of it only convinced me that people are getting dumber when i saw it for sale. I think I've long ago worn out my rant about the pancake thing.=20

Next time I visit the thrift store I'll have to get me one of those double-bladed knives for cutting pies. Maybe one of those special pots with the perforated lid.=20

The one with the raised bottom? Always figured that would have nightmarish release properties, even if they were teflon coated and sprayed with something with a lot of methyl silicone in it and then dusted with flour. Which would ruin the cake in any case.

Yes. Here is a link:

pan is very high quality with a polished surface. Still, the cakedoesn't want to release. They recommend using CAKE MIX. As I don't usecake mixes, I simply tried with cakes from scratch. Despite heavilygreasing and flouring the pan, the cake stuck. Yes, they recommend usingPAM but I don't like that either and don't have it in the pantry. If youcan only make a pre-fab cake in the pan, then it is of no use to me. I'mnot at all interested in the other uses such as making a meatloaf filledwith mashed potatoes or a Jell-O salad. It doesn't impress me as acontainer for flower arrangements either.

My whole family is like that. I have to eat the edges because no one else will - or throw them out.

De Gustibus..., I guess!