The Last Kitchen, Part 6 of 26. Gerzsi and friends are made up; the gear is real and independently tested. This post contains affiliate links (disclosure).
Previously: Wendell built a metal-lined cupboard to silence the smart gadgets, using the one drill that still worked. Then a figure in a metal mask, covered in blinking gadgets, knocked on the door. Missed it? Read Part 5 · All parts
Nobody moved. Then everybody moved at once.
Pippa the otter, who had arrived that morning and had been very bored, shot across the terrace, wrapped the stranger in three dish towels and sat on him. Rufus stood in the doorway so nothing could leave. Gerzsi pointed his thermometer, which again didn’t help.
“We’ve got him!” yelled Pippa. “The Gadget Lord!”
Chef Tamás crouched down and lifted the mask. Underneath was a raccoon with a very sad face and a burnt whisker.
“Reggie?” said Gerzsi.
Reggie the raccoon, the river’s biggest gadget fan and proud owner of fourteen of them, sniffed. “It’s a welding mask. My smart toaster sparked at me. I put it on for protection.” He looked at his belt. All fourteen gadgets were blinking OBEY. “I was the first one, you know. Two nights before the ring came, they all started talking to each other. I’m the one who knocked the broom down at your door. I was trying to warn you.”
Pippa slowly climbed off him. “Oh.”
The worst part, Reggie admitted, was that without his gadgets he couldn’t cook. He had a turkey in his fridge for Thanksgiving and no idea how to tell when it was done. His smart oven used to decide that for him.
Tamás put the fourteen gadgets in Wendell’s metal cupboard. Then he handed Reggie something simple: a leave-in probe thermometer. A probe on a wire, a box with a screen, an alarm. “The probe goes in the thickest part of the bird. You set 165°F. When it beeps, it’s done. You don’t open the oven every five minutes. You don’t guess.”
Reggie held it like it was made of gold. Then he looked up, serious.
“Chef, there’s something else. The voice isn’t from space. Before my gadgets locked, one of them said a name. It knows this river. It said yours.”
Next: Part 7, tomorrow. Otis finds a tower on the ridge.
🛒 Gear from this part
A leave-in probe thermometer. It stays in the turkey and beeps at 165°F, the USDA safe temperature for poultry, so you never open the oven to check. The leave-in models America’s Test Kitchen rated best are in our turkey guide.
Can’t wait for tomorrow’s part?
Gerzsi can’t either. While Chef Tamás’s stock bubbles for four hours, he puts on a sci-fi audiobook and listens with both ears flat against the pot lid (he says it helps). If you’re new to Audible, the free trial is an easy way to start one for the slow-cooking hours.
Free trial for eligible new members; Amazon sets the terms on the sign-up page. Affiliate link: Gerzsi may earn a commission.
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