The Good: Cleaning brush is excellent, Durable, Affordable, Very useful!
The Bad: Gets very hot.
The Basics: The Norpro Deluxe Stainless Steel Baster Set is the best baster I've yet found for serious cooking, despite getting hot when used a lot!
I am not one who tends to complain a lot about problems that are entirely foreseeable with a product, based on style and design. So, when my wife and I were trying to pick out a baster recently and we discovered that virtually every review of the stainless steel basters complained that the kitchen gadget got hot. That was kind of a "well, duh" thing for us and I thought it was just kind of pointless kvetching. With my love of stainless steel kitchen gadgets, we decided to go with the Norpro Deluxe Stainless Steel Baster Set.
After having a somewhat disastrous attempt to drain a lasagna and another attempt to baste a turkey, we decided we needed to get a baster. Using the baster for the ham we had last weekend and several other little projects, the Norpro Deluxe Stainless Steel Baster set proved its worth to us. And it did get hot, but usually, it was not unmanageably hot. Norpro could have alleviated the heat problem by providing a rubber grip on the shaft of the baster, but instead, this is a pretty traditional baster with a smooth exterior.
The Norpro Deluxe Stainless Steel Baster Set contains a single baster, a stainless steel needle and a cleaning brush. The baster is stainless steel and rubber, measuring 10 1/4” long from rubber bulb to the stainless steel metal tip. The baster can be extended by screwing the stainless steel needle into the tip of the tube. The extra two inches allow one to remove fluid from the middle of roasts or wetter meats. The set also comes with an 8 1/4" long metal and stiff plastic brush. The bristles allow one to easily clean out the baster.
Using the stainless steel baster is very simple; place the end of the baster in the fluid after squeezing the rubber bulb at the top of the baster. After the end is in the fluid - water, hot grease, etc. - simply release the bulb and it will suck up the liquid. To remove the fluid, squeeze the bulb again and it squirts the fluid out fast and strongly! Obviously, if one is working with a hot fluid, one has to be sure to squirt it somewhere safe, like back onto the meat one is cooking!
The stainless steel baster set has good suction and while I have only been using it for a few weeks now, the rubber seems pretty durable. I have not had any issues with the rubber bulb leaking at the top of the baster.
The Norpro Deluxe Stainless Steel Baster Set is exceptionally easy to clean thanks to the brush that comes with it. Simply pop the bulb off the top of the stainless steel tube that is the bulk of the baster and slide the brush into the tube. Agitating it cleans out the grease, meaty bits or other remnants inside the tube. The bulb can then be replaced on the top of the baster and it works just fine then.
Despite the fact that the baster retains heat in ways that makes it a little difficult to use on long projects with repetitive, hot, basting, the Norpro Stainless Steel Baster Set is an essential kitchen gadget and the one I've found that works best!
For other kitchen gadgets, please check out my reviews of:
Pyrex Bake N' Store 8-Piece Set
RSVP Stainless Steel Straw Set
Contigo SnapSeal Vacuum-Insulated Stainless Steel Travel Mug (20 oz.)
9/10
For other home and garden product reviews, please check out my Home And Garden Product Review Index Page for an organized listing!
© 2015 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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