We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties

Or, in other words, an entry that actually addresses some limitations, and how I’ve had to work around them, and what I plan to do to further improve the functionality of the Hobbit Hole Kitchen. I haven’t done this much yet other that to bitch about the Taco Debacle.

Cooking: Outfitted with an Aroma two-burner electric hotplate and a Breville convection oven, I’ve managed to do pretty well—it IS just me, most of the time. The area most affected by my lack of a “real” stove is the hotplate sitch. A lot of my cooking has traditionally involved a lot of searing and sautéing at very high temps, as well as deglazing and boiling large amounts of liquid. The large burner on the Aroma, measuring about 7” in diameter, takes about 20 minutes to boil water for pasta (and you know me, I ain’t boiling 2 measly liters, I’m going to boil 6 to 8 liters with lots of sea salt). Keeping my large All-Clad chef’s pan as hot as it needs to —just doesn’t happen. This really isn’t a huge problem, since I’m no longer searing two 10 ounce rib eyes at a time. However, it’s pretty much impossible to start water boiling, and also start something else, such as a sauté, or anything that needs to be cooked at the same time.

Insert Giant Kitchen Time Suck.

I did a little research on that interweb thingie and came across induction burners. I’m drooling over this one. I am admittedly very limited when it comes to comprehending the physics of the heat transfer involved in induction heating, but I do know that it
a) works real darn fast (faster than gas)
b) is cooler and much more energy efficient than electric or gas and
c) doesn’t work with crapola pots and pans (i.e, pans made with cheaper alloys...thankfully most of my pans are high quality enough to pass the test, with the exception of my two saucepans, which I need to replace anyway)

I also “need” a smaller All-Clad saute pan. So, for in order for the $80 investment of a new induction burner to be “worth it”, I’ll also have to buy at least one saucepan and one saute pan. I’m really looking at a total cost upwards of $250-300.

Reheating

1. I don't have a microwave.
2. I cook in regular-size batches and freeze portions of soup, pasta sauce, and stews.
3. I eat leftovers religiously.

And HOW do I deal with reheating / eating leftovers?

Prolly the best decision I made was to invest in a slew of Pyrex glass containers with plastic lids. Initially I switched from plastic leftover Gladware containers (that would be reheated) to glass so that I wouldn't have toxic-god-knows-what-side-effect-this-could-have-on-my-chances-of-rectal-cancer side effects (and those of you still microwaving in plastic, shame on you).

These little guys allow me to freeze, thaw, and reheat. Badda-bing. The Breville has an awesome reheat setting. Home from gym, pop in a portion of veggie lasagna, shower, and dinner is done. Yeah, it takes longer. But if I plan, I'm cool. Microwaving food makes it taste like ass, anyway, in my opinion.

So all of this to say... I'm basically just going what our grandmothers did for cooking. Planning, reheating without microwaves, and planning a bit. It really isn't that hard.

I'll letcha all know when I finally join the Induction Club.

OK kids, that's all for now. I just made some homemade black refried beans, finished with melted butter. I promise somethin' more fun later. Oh, and I was able to find the most bomb-ass lard-filled homemade tortillas in Custer, SD. Who knew.