Doubleboilers (both real and makeshift) enable you to melt chocolate to a perfect, luscious consistency.

The state of the economy is more than a little frightening these days, and most people are feeling a compulsion to behave with a modicum of prudence and a careful eye for value.

Given this environment, it seems odd that the product development teams at Williams-Sonoma, All-Clad, and the like are working double time to produce ever-more specific, and by nature, less useful kitchen utensils. On the WS homepage, a glaring image beckons me to their “More than 250 New Items for Winter.” I am hardly a model of restraint and do love to moon about in WS with lofty fantasies of ever-grander, cleaner, and better-stocked kitchens, but even I have to question the utility of a Classic Soda Siphon or a Crepe Pan Kit in these uncertain times.

While a Double Boiler is hardly the superfluous item that a Classic Soda Siphon may be, it is an item that I’ve had difficulty convincing myself to buy. The Double Boiler is mainly used to melt chocolate and cook delicate sauces, which require a gentle, indirect heat. It consists of two pots, one suspended above the other; the lower one contains simmering water whose heat rises and cooks/melts the contents of the higher pan.

Given the space requirements, which must be considered in a city kitchen, the expense (typically around $300), and the frequency with which I would have a need for one, it has never made it onto my must-have list.

That being said, I do have a need for one about 6-10 times each year and employ the following options to ensure that my kitchen utensil budget go to more worthwhile items, like a fetching apron from Anthropologie and lovely Lemongrass Le Creuset Dutch Oven:

1) Stack together a small-to-medium sized sauce pan and a metal nesting bowl that fits snugly, so that the bowl doesn’t extend too far into the sauce pan. Add the water to the sauce pan, the ingredients to the metal nesting bowl (do not use a glass nesting bowl – while I have not attempted this, every part of ‘glass-on-direct-metal-heat’ screams ‘bad idea’), and heat the water to a simmering temperature, stirring your ingredients for uniformity of heating. Note: The water should not touch the nesting bowl; the food cooks from the gentle heat of the steam and direct boiling water may be too harsh.

Doubleboilers (both real and makeshift) enable you to melt chocolate to a perfect, luscious consistency.

2) If a matching sauce pan and metal nesting bowl are not to be found, we have to get creative. Pour the water into a larger pot and start to simmer on the stove top. Place a colander or strainer in the pot; it should fit so that it is suspended above the water. Place a separate, small sauce pan containing the ingredients inside of the colander or strainer and cook as directed above.

3) Worst case scenario (and if you have to employ this method more than once each year, it may be well worth investing in a double boiler), is to hold a sauce pan containing the ingredients above simmering water until the ingredients are melted/cooked. This is likely the job for an eager, but otherwise inept-in-the-kitchen friend, or a groveling boyfriend, but not a task to be doled out without the cautionary explanation that it is both tedious and will produce muscle aches.

Now that you’ve successfully saved yourself the better part of $300, it’s time for a little well-earned splurge on a TokyoMilk Bon Bon Lip Balm.

A much nicer way to spend a little extra cash.