Black Friday is almost here, and there are a host of products on the market that would seem to make the perfect holiday gift for the cook and baker on your list.
Would they really?
Consumer reporter Betty Lin-Fisher, home writer Mary Beth Breckenridge and I put these products to the test. Read on to find out which could be holiday delights and which are little better than a lump of coal.
Ninja 3-in-1 Cooking System
In the history of “Does It Work?,” never has a product had all three of us as conflicted as this Ninja cooker.
It claims to be a slow cooker, stove top, electric oven and steam oven.
Yes, it could replace a stove top and oven if you wanted it to. But would anyone really want to trade in their burners for a single pot that is just 11 by 8 inches? How many folks who would purchase this don’t already have a stove/oven that provides nearly all of the same functions?
Its claims for one-pot cooking fell a bit short. We tested out a variety of recipes from the included book, starting first with “Easy Spaghetti and Meatballs” that is demonstrated on the often-seen television infomercial.
The recipe says to place a pound of spaghetti, 24 ounces of frozen meatballs, a quart of water and a jar of spaghetti sauce in the pot, turn it to the oven setting for 25 minutes, cover and let it cook.
We did exactly as instructed, and after 25 minutes, we had a cooker filled with hard pasta sticks. It took another 10 minutes for the pasta to reach the al dente stage, and after another five it was mushy.
At 35 minutes, we could have boiled a pot of water, heated the sauce and meatballs, and cooked the pasta, so we saw no time savings. Yes, we would have had two pots instead of one, but that’s hardly a huge savings on dishes, especially considering the Ninja’s lid and rack are not dishwasher safe and must be washed by hand.
We also took issue with inconsistencies in the recipe. In the infomercial, the demonstrator puts the spaghetti in whole, but the recipe instructs to break the spaghetti in half. The recipe, printed twice in the written materials that came with the cooker, calls for two different amounts of sauce. We found a similar inconsistency with a recipe for chicken piccata, which showed a photo of asparagus spears, but instructed to cut the asparagus into 1-inch pieces.
Anyone who uses a slow cooker regularly knows that you must brown meats first in a skillet because slow cookers don’t get hot enough to sear. The Ninja allows for browning and slow cooking in the same pot, a function that we all liked, but weren’t sure it was worth the price.
“It’s just not that big a benefit that I would pay money for it,” Mary Beth said.
A slow cooker or a countertop electric roaster each cost about $40, up to $60 or $70 for deluxe models.
The stove-top setting took a while to heat up. Betty felt the pot needed to be preheated, as our chicken was sitting in oil not searing, but the materials clearly state that preheating is not necessary. When Betty called the consumer help line, she was told that it should be preheated like a traditional stove top.
When it came to steam baking, we were very disappointed in the chocolate peanut butter cupcakes that came out uncooked on the bottom, dry and dense on top.
There aren’t many items that benefit from steam baking; bread pudding and cheesecake perhaps, but certainly not cupcakes.
When we cooked a rump roast in the steam oven with beef broth and red wine, the smell was wonderful, but none of the aroma found its way into the roast, which was rather bland, despite onions and garlic in the infusion.
Also, the interior of the cooker is smaller than most family-size slow cookers. It can bake just six cupcakes at a time, and won’t hold more than a 3-pound roast. After our testing, the nonstick finish was already starting to show signs of wear. One really annoying feature: The timer doesn’t make a sound, so when the time is up, there is no alert to the cook that it is done.
Does it work? Yes. Is it as good as a pan on the stove or a slow cooker? Not really.
With a price tag of $150 or more, think long and hard before buying this Ninja cooker.
Verdicts:
Betty: It depends.
Lisa: Skip it.
Mary Beth: Skip it.
Perfect Tortilla Pan Set
Several readers expressed an interest in these pans, which will turn tortillas into tortilla bowls.
The set we purchased came with four nonstick metal pans for $10.99. We tested them out with large and small flour tortillas, and both baked up fine. The larger tortillas, however, tended to over-brown at the tops where they were not protected by the pan.
The flour tortillas did not get as crisp as a traditional taco bowl, and to me tasted more like toasted pita bread than a tortilla shell, still retaining some of their chewiness.
Mary Beth liked them as a lower-fat alternative to fried shells but noted that they don’t taste the same.
We had trouble getting small corn tortillas to stay in place in pans because of their thickness and the slippery nonstick surface of the pans.
In general, the pans worked fine. Our apprehension came because the finished product was a bit disappointing when compared to the crispy corn tortilla bowl we are all used to at Mexican restaurants.
“If you are expecting taco shells like you buy at the store or get at a restaurant, this isn’t the same. But for the flour tortillas, it’s a good alternative,” Betty said.
I think it’s the kind of novelty item that will be used for a while and then sold at a garage sale two years later.
Verdicts:
Betty: It depends.
Lisa: It depends.
Mary Beth: It depends.
My Lil’ Pie Maker
We can almost hear the kids clamoring for this item when they see it in stores. When they do, we say go for it.
The kit is just a silicone baking pan with space for four mini pies. It comes with a ring to cut out the pie crust to the perfect size to fit into the pan, and other cutter to make a lattice top.
All of the parts are simple, easy to use and work just fine.
It is harder to press pie dough into a flexible silicone pan than a rigid glass or metal pan, which makes the process a little fussy, but in general, it wasn’t too hard.
We tested it out with refrigerated pie crust and canned pie filling and ended up with four perfect little pies, just as the box promised.
Of course, there is always the question of how many mini pies you will want to bake and how often you would use this, but for $10.99, the investment is minimal and the results are good.
“They’re cute little pies,” Mary Beth noted.
Verdicts:
Betty: Snap it up.
Lisa: Snap it up.
Mary Beth: Snap it up.
The Original Bake Pop
As someone who cares about food, good food, quality food, I would like to see the person who invented the cake pop charged with a food felony.
I hate eating those balls of mushy cake and frosting almost as much as I hate making them.
But I tried my best to put my personal animosity aside for testing this pan, and I was pleasantly surprised.
For those who aren’t familiar, a cake pop is made by baking a boxed cake mix, then shredding it into crumbs, which are combined with prepared frosting until they are nothing more than cake paste. The paste is rolled into a ball, put on a stick, dipped in frosting and decorated.
This pan attempts to turn the cake pop into an actual piece of cake. The pan still calls for using a cake mix, but after some doctoring with some instant pudding and milk, the batter comes out a denser, more brownie-like pop.
The bottom half of the pan is filled with batter, the top of the pan is placed over it and the two are held together with small clamps.
The pops rise in the oven and fill out the top of the pan, turning into baked balls of cake. At $19.88, this pan is essentially a cake ball mold.
There are a few problems. The batter is thick and difficult to pour into the molds. The batter can bake over the top of the molds, leaving a mess.
Most important of all to note, these cake pops are no less a pain to decorate than the original kind of cake pops. Dipping and decorating the balls is messy, tedious and time-consuming work.
But Mary Beth and I both liked the idea of a cake pop tasting like cake instead of mush, and the pan did turn out nicely shaped balls so we gave it a thumbs up.
Betty, however, didn’t like the fact that the pop didn’t taste like a well-made cake pop. “These were nothing more than pans with circular shapes to make the shape of a pop,” she said.
Verdicts:
Betty: Skip it.
Lisa: Snap it up.
Mary Beth: Snap it up.
Play and Freeze Ice Cream Ball
This giant blue ball ice cream maker was sent to us to try out.
Inside, it has a canister that is filled with cream, sugar and vanilla. Outside, the hollow ball is filled with ice and rock salt. Instead of a churn with an old-fashioned hand crank, or an electric churn, this ball must be kept in motion for 20 minutes to perform the work of freezing cream to ice cream.
The directions advise to shake, roll or pass the ball around. There is a blow-up beach-ball-style covering to make it easier to play with.
The first thing we noticed: It is heavy. Fully loaded, the ball weighs 7 pounds and it feels like tossing a medicine ball back and forth.
To keep us entertained, we started out playing a memory game (“I’m going on a picnic and I’m going to bring A apples”). We were barely halfway through the alphabet when fatigue set in.
“This is so not worth it. … If you do it with kids, they’ll be done in two minutes, and the adults will be left doing it,” Betty said. “I’d rather churn.”
We were too tired after the first 10 minutes to keep tossing the ball, so we rolled it for the next 10.
In the end, we had a delicious pint of soft-serve vanilla ice cream, so the ball does work.
We just can’t imagine anyone wanting to go through this much work for so little return. The pint was enough to give all three of us a generous scoop, but it wouldn’t be nearly enough for a family of more than three or four.
And the ball is a bit messy to use as the opening is small and difficult to serve from.
“It does work. I just think it’s a lot of work and a lot of money,” Mary Beth said. The ball retails for around $25. The cost of a pint of cream plus rock salt was more than the cost of a pint of premium vanilla ice cream, and that doesn’t include the vanilla and sugar.
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.