One of my favorite kitchen tools

[Jenise]

It's a set of little trays made for exactly what I used them for today. I don't use them often, but when I do need to coat something I'm always so grateful to have these. The genius in them is that they're flat (as compared to a bowl one might otherwise use, shallow, wide enough for any job but small enough to avoid wasting ingredients, and each one has a side that will hook over the tray next to it eliminating any gaps--a big improvement over the three aluminum pie tins I used to use! And they nest perfectly so the little stack stashes away quite easily when not in use.

If you don't have a set, you should. Thing is I'm not sure where you'd buy them. Williams Sonoma had them a few years back--I got mine from the importer who sold them to Williams Sonoma.

coatingtrays.jpg

I have a set and most often use them for crumb attachment in a breading process. However, I really wish that they were totally flat bottomed. That upward projection is aggravating as the crumbs part to the edges and don't stay centered.
They are also quite handy for storage of longish, flat items such as roasted peppers covered with plastic wrap.
I use my 3 clear pyrex loaf pans in the same way for larger orders. The tall sides and flat bottoms make sloshing the coatings around the item being coated much faster and neater.

Those do look very tidy for a messy job.

[Jenise]

Christina, agree with you re the bottoms. I can't even understand why that exists except for something convenient to the molding/shaping process.

[Robin Garr]

It looks pretty, but I'm trying to figure the advantage over lining up three shallow bowls in a row. A little more neat, maybe, but I'm thinking about Alton Brown's "no unitaskers" rule here. It eliminates any drippage between units, clearly, but I've never thought that was enough of a problem to justify a fairly expensive (?) one-use tool that has to be stored. Am I being too nitpicky?

[Jenise]

Robin, I understand where you're coming from. I am just as anti-gadget and anti-unitask as you are. But there are a few things that are so superior to the next best method that yeah, they're worth having (and these, which stack such that three take up only 1/4" more vertical space than just one, take up very little room in a drawer that's just for longish, flattish items like my Benrinner mandolin, flat graters, a ravioli form and the like. And these are superior because they're long and rectangular--bowls are round. Most food is rectangular, not round, which makes an even coating harder to get. Not impossible, just harder, since in so many cases the item is longer than the bowl.

[Robin Garr]

Good point, Jenise. I read your explanation about their stackability and then stopped thinking about it.