I rescued a panini press. It saved dinner

We moved into our condominium halfway via the pandemic, lured through Zoom walkthrough by six west-facing home windows that flooded the kitchen with an alleyway’s price of golden gentle. The view itself was nothing to talk of — dumpsters, energy traces, the occasional good canine sighting — however the gentle was beneficiant, forgiving, the type that makes even a chipped espresso mug glow like stained glass. By then, the constructing had already established what I’ve come to consider, with reverence, as The Free Table.

The Free Table started as a sort of casual commons, a collision level of surplus and want. A jar of peanut butter right here, a paperback novel there, a field of CSA greens surrendered in defeat, half of them inevitably yellow squash, which, as we realized collectively final week in The Bite, deserve extra tenderness than they often get. Over time, the desk turned a miniature anthropology museum of our advanced: a neighbor’s wardrobe culled and provided as an alternative of resold, a twelve-year-old vacuum nonetheless chugging alongside, stacks of nonstick pans, an occasional air conditioner deserted on the finish of August.

It has its abuses (the nameless donor of expired-coupon bundles, whoever you’re, please rethink) however I’ve come to consider within the karma of the desk. You give, you are taking, you retain the cycle alive.

After two years of largely small exchanges — cookbook galleys, costume jewellery, a set of dinner plates with simply the precise heft — we introduced house one thing that, improbably, shifted the cadence of our cooking. Sitting there, sq. and silver, a bit of like an early-2000s desktop laptop left to dream of glory, was a panini press.

Stephen was the one who noticed it, getting back from a canine stroll — a stroll that was already a circus act, along with his mother and father’ two Cairn terriers and our wiry dachshund, Otto, plaiting their leashes into knots. Still, the panini press appeared pressing sufficient that he couldn’t threat leaving it downstairs even a second longer. He muscled it into the cage elevator, leashes in hand, the machine balanced towards his hip like a prize wrested from destiny.

“Do you mind?” he requested, breathless on the threshold. I didn’t.

Within minutes, he’d coaxed it again to life, the coils glowing faintly, the faint metallic tang of mud burning off as he wiped away that unmistakable movie of neglect. Then got here the query each couple ultimately faces: what to sacrifice within the title of risk. On the island it was too conspicuous, on the prep desk it threatened my workspace — the identical one the place, some mornings, I write this article. We lastly slid it subsequent to the stovetop, agreeing to cede a sliver of counter in change for the promise of sizzling, pressed sandwiches.

“If it doesn’t earn its keep,” Stephen mentioned with a shrug, “we can always clean it up and put it back on the Free Table.”

I don’t assume we are going to.

The first sandwich wasn’t elaborate, but it surely didn’t should be: two slices of sourdough, a fold of honey-ham, just a few strips of bacon gone shiny within the pan, Kewpie and mustard swirled collectively beneath a sheet of Swiss. Stephen tucked in a few bread-and-butter pickles for good measure, a sort of weeknight Cuban, improvised however persuasive. When the press closed, the cheese melted into the bread, the bacon crackled towards the griddle, and the entire thing got here out bronzed and sizzling, the sort of meal you eat standing up on the counter as a result of ready even a minute feels unattainable.

In the peak of August warmth, it’s straightforward to overlook the pleasure of sizzling meals that doesn’t demand you gentle the oven, or that the only alchemy — bread and cheese toasted golden — can really feel like a revelation.

Every week or so now, we now have what I’ve began calling a panini celebration, although actually it simply means we’re within the temper for one thing sizzling pressed between bread. Sometimes it’s a pilgrimage to the old-school Italian market, the place we’ll stand in entrance of the deli case debating over which mustard feels most important, which chilly cuts look most like a deal with. Sometimes it’s the on-sale skirt steak, paired with no matter cheese is finest in Murray’s cut price bin. More typically it’s a crisper-drawer rescue mission: just a few wilting peppers, a handful of herbs, the cussed half-onion, all introduced again to life with a swipe of aioli or one of many too-many condiments jostling for house on our fridge cabinets.

The press has turned scraps into one thing ceremonial. Even funds dinners, the type you’d usually rush via, tackle the gravity of event once they emerge golden, oozing, crisp-edged. We stored joking that we rescued the press from the Free Table — however at this level, it feels extra correct to say it rescued us from dinner ennui.

Maybe that’s the true magic of a instrument like this: not that it revolutionizes your cooking, however that it makes probably the most abnormal meal really feel new once more.

Which is humorous, as a result of for each panini press that quietly finds its approach into rotation, there are half a dozen different home equipment exiled to the cabinets, or worse — despatched to their everlasting relaxation on thrift-store cabinets. Every kitchen has its personal graveyard of devices: the blender bought throughout a smoothie part, the air fryer that appeared so promising till it became a crumb lure, the espresso machine that was alleged to pay for itself in 76 lattes however as an alternative simply stares you down on a Sunday morning when you lace up your footwear for a café run.

These are the instruments of culinary self-invention, deserted however by no means totally forgotten. We purchase them not only for utility however for the selves they counsel: a weekday smoothie drinker, an individual who crisps chickpeas as an alternative of opening a bag of chips, somebody who can coax café-quality foam from entire milk. And once they fail us — or we fail them — we don’t simply lose counter house. We inherit a bit of disgrace, a small shadow of over-consumption, the hole between our intentions and our actuality.

Walk via a thrift retailer and also you’ll see it mapped out in miniature: aisles of Instant Pots, bread makers, Ninja CREAMis, all lined up like monuments to good intentions. They are, of their approach, cultural fossils, every one marking a second after we thought a brand new instrument may change who we have been within the kitchen.

As conscientious cooks, it’s straightforward to really feel a bit of dangerous when that countertop equipment we thought can be the factor—the one that might make weeknights breezy and dinners sparkly—seems to be a dud. Or at the very least a dud in our personal kitchen. We love cooking right here, however let’s be trustworthy: generally home labor is simply labor. It’s pure to hope for a shortcut, a instrument, or a gadget that offers you a break, or at the very least makes issues really feel a bit of enjoyable once more. Add within the relentless present of over-consumption, and it’s straightforward to see how your pantry and counter tops find yourself filled with objects that promise delight however largely accumulate mud.

And but, I assure that for each countertop equipment exiled to the cabinets, there are just a few true home-cooking heroes quietly doing their jobs, week in and week out. The 20-year-old rice cooker that bears its scuffs with dignity, however nonetheless seems excellent grains. The espresso maker that reliably begins the morning ritual. The humble spice grinder that makes chopping, crushing or blitzing really feel like magic.

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So right here’s a mild reframe: as an alternative of dwelling within the disgrace or shadow of over-consumption, step into the fun of accountable rediscovery.

Find your model of the Free Table

Maybe your neighborhood doesn’t have an precise free desk, however there’s virtually definitely a neighborhood thrift or resale store — and even a web based swap or pickup group — stocked with kitchenware and countertop home equipment ready for a second act.

A couple of finest practices

Many of those treasures come as-is, so just a few scuffs and dings are completely superb. Just be certain that the bits that have to activate truly do, and nothing smells burned or funky after a minute of testing. Go in with an open thoughts. You don’t want a cartful of devices — a single, inspiring discover is sufficient to spark a weeknight cooking renaissance. On a current sweep of my native resale store, I noticed a bamboo dumpling steamer, a hand-held citrus juicer, three immersion blenders, a bejeweled garlic press, a bin brimming with salad spinners and, in fact, an virtually surprising variety of Instant Pots. Any considered one of these might remodel leftovers, encourage a brand new method, or make an abnormal weeknight really feel a bit of ceremonial.

Be an excellent neighborhood contributor, too. There’s a karma to those locations: donate well-loved, gently used gadgets, and by no means use thrift or resale outlets as a trash bin.

If you’re placing out at bodily outlets, flip on-line. My neighborhood has a “Free To Pick Up” Facebook group that mainly features as a large digital free desk. There’s additionally a bartering and swap group the place people negotiate intelligent exchanges: “I have an unused air fryer. You have an unused desk chair. Want to swap?” It’s shocking how typically a bit of creativity results in an ideal kitchen match.

Finally, be an excellent steward of the home equipment you do carry house

Planned obsolescence often is the actuality of contemporary house devices, however a bit of TLC can go a good distance. Learn to wash, keep and even restore what you’ve received — or attend a neighborhood Repair Fair, the place volunteers assist repair every thing from bikes and garments to beloved home equipment and jewellery. Sometimes preserving a instrument alive is as satisfying as discovering it within the first place.

Most home equipment will allow you to down. A fortunate few will truly carry dinner, and your week, out of mediocrity. If a thrift-store panini press occurs to be among the many chosen, think about it your kitchen’s model of a minor miracle. And perhaps pat your self on the again, quietly, for recognizing it first.

This story initially appeared in The Bite, my weekly meals e-newsletter for Salon. If you loved it and would love extra essays, recipes, method explainers and interviews despatched straight to your inbox, subscribe here.