My old roommate left this in my kitchen before moving out. I can't remember what it is or used for. Is this part of a grill? Does it go in my sink to trap things that shouldn't go down the drain? What is it used for?
Identify a round kitchen tool with perforated and hinged metal leaves
equipment
Related Solutions
For me, the best use is making beans. I find that home cooked beans have a much better taste and texture than from cans. The pressure cooker can make them in just about an hour from the moment you pour them in the pot to perfectly tender, and no presoaking is required, so I don't have to plan a day in advance.
If you have access to a well ventilated area and don't mind using charcoal, shichirin are my absolute favorite style of small grills. They also come in various shapes and sizes. You really should use them outside, though, since they release carbon monoxide and their temperatures of 1200°C+ can create a lot of smoke if you are grilling something fatty.
In my experience, small electric grills don't really get hot enough to do anything useful culinarily that a regular range/cooktop couldn't do.
If you must use gas, you could try getting a propane or natural gas camping stove, some of which come with grills.
It won't be as powerful, but there are also some small grills on the market (also see this one) that work off of convenient butane canisters.
Finally, if you already have a gas stove, there is a type of handheld grill that is popular in Japan. It has a metal grill grate on top of a ceramic diffuser. It looks like this:
The ceramic diffuser is the white part below. You hold it over your gas stove and the ceramic evenly distributes the heat across the grill grate. Unfortunately I don't remember what these things are named. Does anyone know?
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Best Answer
It's a steamer basket.
If you pull the leaves apart it will look like this:
Then you put it into a saucepan like this:
You put water into the saucepan (the legs at the bottom keep the bottom of the basket clear of the water). Then you can use it for steaming vegetables, dumplings, etc. You put a lid onto the saucepan to keep the steam in.