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Colander
A colander is a bowl-shaped kitchen utensil with holes in it used for draining food such as pasta or rice.The perforated nature of the colander liquid to drain through while retaining the solids inside.It is sometimes also called a pastastrainer or kitchen sieve.Conventionally,colanders are made of a light metal,such as aluminium or thinly rolled stainless steel.Colanders are also made of plastic,silicone,ceramic,and enamelware.The word colander comes from the Latin colum meaning sieve.
In kitchen utensils,a spatula is any utensil fitting the above description.One variety is alternately named turner,and is used to lift and turn food items during cooking,such as pancakes and fillets.These are usually made of plastic,with a wooden or plastic handle to insulate them from heat.A frosting spatula is also known as palette knife and is usually made of metal or plastic.Bowl and plate scrapers are sometimes called spatulas.
British English usage
In British English a spatula is similar in shape to a palette knife without holes in the blade.A wide-bladed utensil with long holes in the blade used for turning food is a fish slice.
A frying pan,frypan,or skillet is a flat-bottomed pan used for frying,searing,and browning foods.It is typically 200 to 300 mm (8 to 12 in) in diameter with relatively low sides that fl are outwards,a long handle,and no lid.Larger pans may have a small grab handle opposite the main handle.A pan of similar dimensions,but with vertical sides and often with a lid,is called a sauté pan or sauté.While a sauté pan can be used like a frying pan,it is designed for lower heat cooking methods,namely sautéing.
A coating is sometimes applied to the surface of the pan to make it non-stick.Frying pans made from bare cast iron or carbon steel can also gain non-stick properties through seasoning and use.
For some cooking preparations a non-stick frying pan is inappropriate,especially for deglazing,where the residue of browning is to be incorporated in a later step such as a pan sauce.Since little or no residue can stick to the surface,the sauce will fail for lack of its primary flavoring agent.
Non-stick frying pans featuring teflon coatings must never be heated above about 240 °C (464 °F),a temperature that easily can be reached in minutes.At higher temperatures non-stick coatings decompose and give off toxic fumes.
Electric frying pans
An electric frying pan or electric skillet incorporates an electric heating element into the frying pan itself and so can function independently off of a cooking stove.Accordingly,it has heat-insulated legs for standing on a countertop.(The legs usually attach to handles.) Electric frying pans are common in shapes that are unusual for “unpowered” frying pans,notably square and rectangular.Most are designed with straighter sides than their stovetop cousins and include a lid.In this way they are a cross between a frying pan and a sauté pan.
A modern electric skillet has an additional advantage over the stovetop version: heat regulation.The detachable power cord/unit incorporates a thermostatic control for maintaining the desired temperature.
With the perfection of the thermostatic control,the electric skillet became a popular kitchen appliance.Although it largely has been supplanted by the microwave oven,it is still in use in many kitchens.
Microwave Oven
A microwave oven,often colloquially shortened to microwave,is a kitchen appliance that heats food by bombarding it with electromagnetic radiation in the microwave spectrum causing polarized molecules in the food to rotate and build up thermal energy in a process known as dielectric heating.Microwave ovens heat foods quickly and efficiently because excitation is fairly uniform in the outer 25～38 mm of a dense (high water content) food item;food is more evenly heated throughout (except in thick,dense objects) than generally occurs in other cooking techniques.
Percy Spencer invented the first microwave oven after World War II from radar technology developed during the war.
Microwave ovens are popular for reheating previously cooked foods and cooking vegetables.They are also useful for rapid heating of otherwise slowly prepared cooking items,such as hot butter,fats,and chocolate.