Toasters

[Frank Erskine]

It's much tastier.

Probably peoples' taste buds are poorer than they were; maybe as a result of stronger-tasting foods such as curries and the like.

[John Rumm]

Why bother when there is a button to do it? Its not the key reason for the choice of toaster, but it was a nice addition.

[Huge]

Or old age.

[docholliday]

That's what they make toasting forks for - I remember using one as a student, to toast crumpets using the gas fire - you could make toast, too, but it was more difficult to hold the slice of bread securely. Thinking back even further, at school I used to work in the school printing room - we would toast our sandwiches on an electric fire (the sort with a long coiled element laid into grooves in a ceramic slab) tipped over on its back. We made a rack to lay the sandwiches on out of wire and spare pieces of furniture*.

*furniture - printing term for strips of metal or wood (probably plastic now) used to create the blank spaces in and around the metal type

[Mark]

by Which? They were all s**te and were taken back for refunds.

I eventually bought a Magimix ("Le Toaster") which was expensive but it did work.

[MM]

I will eat Marmite, that is, I don't find it disgusting like some of the ads try to say. But I *prefer* Bovril which is now back to its original beefy recipe.

MM

[MM]

Having tried various toasters over the years the only reliable one is a human called Jeeves who delivers the toast exactly the way you like it. Sadly, I haven't won the lottery yet so I have no Jeeves. The next best thing is to do toast under the grill and watch it constantly.

Relying on a toaster is not very reliable. Change bread type from one week to the next and the toast is toast! I'm forever twiddling the little knob. Some would say it's a fetish. But there's nothing more irritating than having scrambled egg just about ready and the toaster starts smoking.

MM

[John Rumm]

Not been personally convinced that the "specials" have been that much different - noticeable yes, but quite often subtle.

Don't really think so.

Some find their taste sensitivity declines with age. Its also what one gets used to. I expect the current version is probably lower salt, and that may affect one's perception of the strength of taste.

Much depends on temperature (and how much butter and how many crumbs get dropped in the jar!)

[fred]

ites:

we're on our second Dualit. Original didn't match the new kitchen. The instructions on the original one mentioned winding back the timer to zero. Instructions on second one have no mention of this. It certainly doesn't feel right when you do it.

Dont, DONT, DONT buy a Dualit kettle. Second one has just failed after about a year. First one failed after a very short period also and my suggestion as to not buying another one as they were rubbish was dismissed as the colour was just perfect for the kitchen. Its nice to be able to say "I told you so"

Paul Mc Cann

[Jules Richardson]

Do you know how the mechanism works?

Years ago I was idly pondering how to build a toaster that could toast an arbitrary design into a slice of bread - as it would have been intended as an exhibit piece rather than a practical appliance it didn't really matter if it was the size of a fridge, power hungry, belched steam etc. so long as a piece of toast with an inputted design on it resulted (actually all those things would just add to the charm ;)

I never did quite get around tuit, though. It's not obvious what the best mechanism for allowing a freeform design (or even a pixellated approach on some form of grid) would be, though (at least not while making it robust enough to survive sustained use)

I think I did once see a "weather toaster", but it used a selection of pre-cut metal templates, which makes things a bit easier.

cheers

Jules

[Mike Barnes]

fred :

On the other hand our Dualit coffee grinder has been faultless for probably over ten years of daily use.

[Huge]

Our Dualit percolator has been run every day for over 5 years. The handle snapped off the lid a couple of months ago and they sent us a new one FOC.

[Dave Liquorice]

For some reason designers of electric grills don't seem able to build one that heats evenly over the entire pan area(*). The gas grill I had managed this and had a far higher heat output so did excellent toast quickly.

(*) They distrubute the heating element evenly over the pan area instead of leaving the central area clear. With the even distribution of heating element, the central area gets heat from the element above it but also from the elements to the side so gets hotter than the edges.

[Another John]

*So* glad you raised this. I noticed the change in Marmite a year or two ago: I was (and remain) convinced that they started adding more water, to make it go further. (I must admit the taste doesn't seem that different.)

THEN, earlier this year, I noticed the mysterious Marmite XO appear on the shelves. I've never seen it advertised, so I don't know what the rationale is (duh: I'll go to the Marmite website after this and see what they say). My suspicion is that they're selling the "genuine old stuff" for a premium price[1]. I haven't tried it yet.

My suspicion also is that the original Marmite company whoever they were, were bought out by some fat-cat conglomerate, who put in their 'marketing people', and the rest is history. [Better than it disappearing altogether I suppose!]

J.

[1] Not that the runny new stuff isn't also at a premium price!

[charles]

[Snip]

our present jar says "Unilever UK".

[John Rumm]

You could probably scan the image with a high power laser!

[Bob Eager]

And it appears to absorb moisture over time.

[John Williamson]

enough that

The viscosity also seemingly varies with the season. Summer Marmite seems runnier than Winter Marmite. That's with fresh jars from the shop, by the way, not jars that I've had in the cupboard for a while.

I don't use noticeably more at any particular time of the year, so I'd say the taste stays more or less the same from batch to batch.

[Andy Burns]

Perhaps summer marmite has a splash of unleaded, like winter diesel?

[polygonum]

Not only are you spot on about the slight but noticeable watering down, = it =

was admitted at the time. I think part of the reason was the introductio= n =

of the ghastly squeezy bottles.

Since then they have started to try out all sorts of Marmite flavoured =

products - and not one of them would I thank you for.

Further, it is amazing that a standard jar is =A32-68 in every shop I ev= er =

see it in. Not a penny difference in the last few months. All matching =

Tesco's inflated price.

(The one exception has been small jars at Asda - but they have *always* = =

sold out by the time I see the =A31 offers.)