- [Dylan] As Seen On TV products can be a blessing
or a curse.
So we've taken it upon ourselves to sift through never
ending abyss of Life-Changing products to find out what's
good and what's bad.
Oh, and while we're at it, we'll show you how to make your
own DIY versions of everything we cover.
Welcome to HouseholdHacker, it's your didactic
confidante, Dylan here to kick things off with the
Bacon Boss.
The Bacon Boss aims to give your perfectly cooked and most
importantly, flat bacon directly from your good friend Chef
Mike or as most people call him the Microwave.
Inside the box you'll find a glass lid with a locking
handle, some instructions and the base plate which
internally sits at an angle to better channel any grease
away from your delightful bounty.
The process of using this product is fairly straightforward.
Pop open a bag of bacon and lay out as many strips that will
fit on the base plate without covering the hole in the
center.
We managed five slices, but you could probably get more
depending on the cut.
When that's done, put the glass lid on and tighten it down
to flatten everything out and your ready to hand it over
to Chef Mike.
Now, it's important to note that this only works in
microwaves with a turntable inside so don't use one of
these on one of your stationary machines.
Now add one minute on the clock for each slice of bacon that
you're cooking.
So, let's put five minutes up on the clock and let 'er rip.
Keep in mind, thickness varies with bacon and you may need
to add a bit more time at the end if your final product
doesn't look finished.
Just keep an eye on things.
All right, time's up let's do this.
(clear throat) Excuse me.
The bacon will keep cooking a bit after you remove it so let
it sit for a minute and then pop off the lid.
This came out pretty good and worked well.
Just shift the bacon over to a plate, remove any excess
grease and enjoy your tasty treat.
Now let's make our own which is just as effective.
You'll need one large plate and two smaller plates that can
fit on top of it.
The large plate will work as a grease catcher, the first
small plate is where you lay out your bacon strips.
Once you have your strips laid out, take the second small
plate and put it right on top to flatten the slices.
Following the one-minute per strip rule, put it in your
microwave that has a turntable and give it a whirl.
It's important to make sure that your plates are microwave
safe or this would be an incredibly bad idea.
When it's done, you'll need some oven mitts or gloves to
pull the plates out because they're gonna be hot!
However, the bacon will come out nice and crispy and
amazingly tasty.
Wow, look at all the grease the big plate caught.
Glad I won't be ingesting that.
Now let's throw things over to Scott and learn about slicing
and dicing a pineapple.
- [Scott] Whether in stores or on TV, you've probably seen
these pineapple de-corer and peeler tools.
And with good reason, because they take the work and mess
out of the tropical treat, peeling, coring, and slicing an
entire pineapple in just 30 seconds.
Simply lay the pineapple on its side and cut off the top
about a half inch from the stem.
Place the serrated part of the tool directly over the core
of the pineapple, and then press down.
With one hand firmly holding the pineapple, twist the tool
with your other hand many times until the serrated edge is
near the bottom.
Now continue to hold the pineapple as you use the handle to
pull upwards.
Juicy pineapple flesh will emerge without eyes or bits of
peel attached, leaving the core in place.
Now just release the handle by pinching the two buttons, and
flip the pineapple upside down and watch it slide right off
the tool.
You can serve it as is or slice down one side with a knife
and spread it out on a plate.
For an added touch, remove the core from the shell and add a
candle as a temporary decoration for added ambiance.
There are tons of crazy ways to cut that mouthwatering
piece of paradise.
But let's be honest, all we really want is a quick way to
breach its defenses and get down to that delicious and
heavily guarded sweetness.
So, if you don't want to buy a specialized tool to do that,
here's a quick and effective way to get in and get out with
your bounty.
Start by lying a pineapple on its side.
Simply cut off the top and the bottom this time, about a
half each from both ends.
Now just stand the pineapple upright and cut in half,
straight down the center.
You'll want to cut in half again in the opposite direction
to cut the pineapple into quarters.
This is the easiest way to get to the core and remove it by
cutting off the 90 degree angles of the fruit.
Now lay each piece flat and make half inch slices all the
way down the pineapple until you reach the skin.
Cut a few times down the center lengthwise until you reach
the skin again.
Take the edge of your knife and run it between the flesh and
the skin to loosen up and remove all the pieces.
You're left with a bunch of bite size pieces that you can
slide right into a container and serve as you wish.
Basically, with just a knife, we removed the top, bottom,
sides, and the core, and were left with little pieces of
paradise.
Honestly, both methods are pretty straight forward, and you
can certainly do without the $6 TV tool, but it deserves
every bit of the 4.5 out of 5 stars it earned.
It may just be another one-off tool to clog up your utensil
drawer, but if you eat a lot of pineapple, we'd suggest this
utensil over many others.
- [Dylan] This one takes a bit of explanation.
It's called The Egg Piercer.
Now, before we embarked on this journey, I had no idea that
piercing an egg before boiling it added any sort of benefit
whatsoever.
But, apparently it helps prevent eggs from cracking while
boiling and also makes them easier to peel.
Let's test it out.
You simply unlock the device which allows a small needle to
pop up and punch a tiny hole in the bottom of the egg.
Seems simple enough, but as a precaution, I'll test this one
while wearing a glove don't want 'em exploding on me if
I do it wrong.
So, load em up one at a time.
Give a firm push down and lift back up.
This went fairly smooth without any cracking or mishaps.
As you can see, the holes are tiny, but didn't cause any
other damage to the egg.
They are also small enough that nothing will leak out, so
don't worry about that.
When you're ready, go ahead and boil up your eggs.
I like to add mine to cold water and let them sit until the
water first reaches a boil.
At that point, shut off the stove top and put the lid on
for 15 minutes.
This usually gives you perfect hard-boiled eggs.
Thanks, Rachael Ray.
When that's all done, add your eggs to some cold water and
let them chill out for a few minutes.
You don't want to unpeel these things while their piping
hot.
Once cool, pop one out, give it a crack with a spoon and
peel away.
Now, I've never been great at peeling eggs in the first
place and the tiny hole in the eggs didn't really make it
any easier on me.
In fact, I still managed to mangle them despite my best
efforts.
All said and done, the eggs came out good with no cracks or
leaks during the boiling, so I suppose that's beneficial if
you make a lot of hard boiled eggs.
Now, let me show you how to do this yourself in about
one minute.
Grab an empty egg carton and slice off the lid and other
extra pieces.
Cut it so you have four egg pockets from the
carton remaining.
Now you just need some thumbtacks.
Push a thumbtack into the bottom-center of each pocket
and then flip it back over.
It should stand up on it's while using the tacks almost
as table legs.
Here's a quick test to make sure this will even function
as intended.
Just a little push and pull and we have a nice little
hole in the bottom.
I went ahead and tried it four more times to make sure I
didn't just get lucky.
It worked just fine, no mess, no egg yolk everywhere.
Just simple little holes to make your boiling easier.
So, if you're feeling egg-stravagant give it a shove.
- [Scott] The Potato Express is a microwave potato cooker
that claims to make perfect potatoes in the microwave in
just four minutes.
The packaging claims that the pouch is great for all types
of potatoes and even works with corn on the cob, day old
bread, and more, but today we'll focus on potatoes.
Included is a mini recipe booklet with instructions that
claims to hold up to three potatoes, but it really only fits
three large Russet potatoes.
The pouch has a bunch of warnings printed on it, including
not to heat on high or for more than four minutes at a time.
For our test, we're going to keep it simple with
just one potato.
Simply insert a potato into the pouch, toss it in the
microwave flap side down, and cook for four minutes.
The Potato Express claims to be a unique insulated design
that creates a steam pocket to cook the potatoes, so there's
no need to peel or poke holes in the potatoes.
But we discovered that after only four minutes
the potatoes just weren't done as advertised.
We realize cooking times may vary, but most reviews said it
requires another two to four minutes, so that claim of four
minutes is bogus.
However, after six to eight total minutes the results
weren't too bad, but let's microwave a potato without
the pouch for a comparison.
This time, prick a potato several times on both sides with
the tines of a fork, and then place in the microwave for
eight to 10 minutes.
You can stop it halfway and flip the potato over to ensure
it cooks more evenly, but it's not really necessary.
When the potato is soft, remove it from the microwave and
cut in half lengthwise.
Now top the open sides with butter, shredded cheese, and of
course bacon.
For best results, return to the microwave for about a minute
to melt the cheese.
The results are just as good, if not better, without the
pouch and only takes a few minutes more.
Although the Potato Express is readily available in stores
and online for about $6-8, and the reviews are surprisingly
good, we suggest sticking with the traditional microwave or
baked oven methods and avoid cluttering your kitchen with
one-off products like this.
However, if you're still interested, we've linked to it in
the description of this video along with the rest of the
items we mentioned today.
- [Dylan] I'm gonna be brief with this one because it wasn't
very impressive.
It's called the Chef Basket.
The premise is that you can boil up your pasta or whatever
else you want with the basket inside the cooking pot making
it easy to drain out all the water when you are done
cooking.
It's also surrounded with metal prongs which will stabilize
it while in the cooking pot.
It also has a couple of handles which will work
as legs, allowing you to prop it up while loading.
And you can flatten it down for easy storage.
I put some water on to boil, and added some cheese
tortellini to the basket.
I actually, had to add more water during this process
because unless you get almost to the top, the pasta wouldn't
touch the water at all.
So, you place the basket it and boil things up as usual.
When everything's done, just grab the handles, which stay
cool, drain the basket and dump your dinner into a bowl.
This didn't really seem like much more than a collapsible
colander.
So, to make my own version that is exactly what I went for.
A standard metal colander.
The only thing you need to make sure of beforehand is that
the handles on your colander will allow it to rest on top of
the cooking pot while the rest of it is submerged in water.
Add your pasta, and place it into the boiling water.
This has essentially the exact effect as the Chef Basket and
you most likely already have one of these lying around
your house somewhere.
The main difference is with removal.
The colander's handles will be hot so you'll need to remove
it using mitts or a couple towels.
Let it drain right back into the pot, dump it in your bowl
and add whatever sauces or spices you desire.
How simple is that?
- [Scott] Last, but not least is The Clever Cutter.
It's a 2-in-1 knife and cutting board tool.
It claims to chop and slice food in seconds with its razor
sharp stainless steel blades.
Opening the packaging was pretty easy, so that's a good
start.
It comes with detailed instructions that walk you through
how to use their product.
There's a safety latch that locks and unlocks the blade from
the mini cutting board.
The spring loaded grip handle really is ergonomic and easy
to use without much practice.
We tested it first with carrots, and the results were
surprisingly as good as advertised in the infomercial.
For best results during use, apply a firm, quick snap motion
towards the end of each cut.
It made chopping celery as easy as cutting through butter.
The sharp blade even cut through a thick cucumber with no
problem at all.
Since we had such good results, we decided to also test it
out on pepperoni, and while we were at it, we also cut the
cheese.
Any way we sliced it, the results were much the same.
We wouldn't go so far as their claim to replace all your
kitchen knives and cutlery with one easy to use device, but
it really was pretty useful.
One of the best parts is that you can place a bowl, plate or
pot underneath to catch the cut food with no added effort.
On the contrary, it wasn't so easy when we tried using a
pair of sharp kitchen scissors instead.
The veggies turned out chunky and flew everywhere.
Wouldn't recommend.
With that being said, there are alternatives that are just
as quick and simple.
One such method requires a pizza cutter and cutting board.
Simply hold your vegetables firmly down on a cutting board
and slice and dice back and forth to cut up vegetables
quickly and easily.
It's really that simple.
This technique may not be as versatile, but it's another
option and requires only utensils you likely already have,
saving you around $13.
Either way, both methods are productive ways to slice foods
without a messy cleanup.
- [Dylan] So, turns out that most of the silly stuff you see
on TV at 3:00 A.M. can be made yourself with a
little creativity.
If you want to check out some of the stuff we used, check
the description for links to every product.
Thanks for watching and remember, for three easy payments of
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household hacker.
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All references to we, us, or me directly refer to zorbo the
mighty lizard god that lives in the lake behind my house.