I made a cake for my husband's birthday that required beating egg whites, and was wondering if anyone knows of a good quality hand beater that is still being made? I've had old ones, and a couple bought new that seemed well-made, but I found that in actual use all of them would "slip" gears -- or something -- anyway, the gear and the handle would stop meshing while I was in the middle of trying to beat something. Very agravating. Anybody know of one that doesn't do that? (It's not urgent, as we still have electricity and an electric beater.)

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), April 17, 2000

Answers

Well, a real chef uses a whisk and a copper bowl, a less real good cook uses a whisk and whatever bowl, me I use an electric beater. Although all the fun went out of it when I bought a new beater. There was something special about flames shooting from the sides of the beater that just isn't there with the new one.

Other than that, check the up scale kitchenware stores and catalogs. I don't know any brand names, but they should have good ones and will take them back if you find them slipping. Some hand beaters have a wire guard around the bottom, some don't. If yours don't, could you have been pushing down too hard on the beaters-they may have been designed to slip under those circumstances to save the beater. Gerbil

-- Gerbil (ima_gerbil@hotmail.com), April 17, 2000.

You might try someone who is a dealer for Pampered Chief products. They seem to have a lot of well-made, if pricy, stuff. I have decided that quality is the way to go, tho. If I spend three times the price on a spatula than I would at Walmart, who cares--it'll be the LAST spatula I buy! I like my wire wisks.

-- Leann Banta (thelionandlamb@hotmail.com), April 17, 2000.