GADGETS ARE SO uncool—in my world, at least. Over the course of my career as an editor and recipe developer at mostly highbrow food publications, “good” cooking has always been defined as elemental, authentic, historically rooted; when it comes to equipment, you stick with saucepans, cast-iron skillets and Dutch ovens. Blenders and stand mixers generally pass muster, but God forbid you should microwave anything. Beware all appliances that blink and beep and purport to do the work for you.
So when I first heard about the...