Both me and my wife get home 7-8 each night and manage to have a full dinner. Granted this does sometimes end up meaning eat at 9. Actually about half the time this means eating dinner at 9pm. However a lot of times I get around this by scheduling my week's meals out in advance. The advantages is I can prep most of the dinners ahead of times, and once a week set everything up in my crock pot so the meal is ready to eat when we both get home. Also most of the meals that I can cook quickly I leave for the weekdays, and the longer ones I leave for the weekends.
A side advantage by planning ahead I can make extra one night and have a nice full meal for lunch in a day or two.
Today's ovens aren't your parent's microwave. Plus, there have been many advances in cooking packaging that create a tasty, firm, hot food. Can you still end up with mush? Sure, if you don't know what you're doing. But that's pretty much true with everything.
I was using microwaves and getting mush not three years ago. You are saying there have been significant advances in that time?
That just means you don't know how to properly use a microwave properly.
I already eat late. Look, here's a quick rule of thumb. Unless you are microwaving a soup, pasta with a sauce, or anything submerged in liquid, add a tablespoon of water to the food, cover it with a bowl or a plate, then nuke it.
If you don't steam your vegetables, you are stripping them of nutrients. Those steam-in-bag vegetables are the most convenient thing to come along in years.
with a little preparation (i.e. buying, chopping and prepping veggies fresh on the weekend) pasta is really easy and fast to make, get a pasta pot (the ones with the strainer that go inside, buy another strainer, set the water, as soon as it boils, add pasta, put the other strainer on top, add veggies, when the pasta is done, the veggies will to (you just have to chop them small) add tuna and ranch and you have tuna salad, or as the pasta boils, brown up some ground beef, add tomatoes and red wine, there are a lot of possibilities. Everything done within 20 minutes (depending on how fast you are able to boil salt water)
When Scott said "No-chee" was he referring to gnocchi (properly pronounced nyucky)?
It's pronounced "no key."
No one here uses a George Foreman grill?
They work perfectly and leach the fat right out of everything. The problem is clean-up. Those things take forever to scrub, and it's not like you can just dip them in the sink or stick them in the dishwasher.
Frozen lasagna is not bad at all.
Wal-Mart makes an excellent fresh lasagna at the deli that you simply stick in the oven.It's extremely cost-effective.
I don't know why they are so avidly anti-microwave. It is a very convenient way to cook fish, steam tortillas, and many other things. Also, I eat leftovers more than they do. I have a small cheap microwave that serves my needs well.
Dunno, microwave kinda adds funny flavors and textures, I don't know if its just me, but something as simple as tea taste really bad when done in the microwave.
"The George," as we call it, is very convenient, but as was said, it is impossible to clean. We used it sometimes in college, but we stopped just because it was a pain in the ass. Also, while it removed the fat from things, it often left meat dry.
What would revolutionize cooking is if we had an actual grill indoors. Right now we have a stove that can handle 4 pots/pans. If we just had a large, flat, metal, heated surface to cook on, cooking would be stupidly easy. Turn the knob, crack a few eggs, toss some chopped vegetables and cheese down, and you got some omelet. Got a burger, but it's the winter? Just grab the spatula, and you'll be in burger heaven in minutes. No dishes to do afterwards. Easy cleanup, just scrape the grill down into the "gutter", and use some steel wool to get it really clean.
I think that the four heated circle design of stoves is a conspiracy of the pot+pan industry. With a large flat heated grill, you can easily put pots right on top of it, and pans become obsolete. All homes should have one, my next one probably will.
By the way, I think you're confusing a "griddle" with a "grill". The problem with a built-in griddle is that it gets dirty. You can just throw a pot or pan away when they become too old. A griddle isn't quite as easy to replace.
Also, how crazy are you that you need a griddle? The last time I checked, you can do all of those things with a good non-stick pan.
Also, how crazy are you that you need a griddle? The last time I checked, you can do all of those things with a good non-stick pan.
See, this is the problem. They tend to think that "Oh my life would be so much better if I had (x) appliance or (y) room." They just need to think about things differently and be more inventive. There are ways around every problem, and if you are inventive all it takes is different perspective on the objects around you. Also, I'm one of the people who thinks that you need to grow into what you have before you expand. Better equipment will not magically make you a better cook. Become better through skill and then when you are ready, you can get nice cooking supplies to supplement your knowledge of the art.
All the ones you posted are too small. The last one you posted, that was built into the cooktop, is alright, but why is it vertically positioned? It needs to be horizontally positioned. I don't want to have to reach my arm over hot things. The reason it has to be big is that it allows cooking multiple foods simultaneously. I can grill up some chicken, and fry rice, and heat sauce, for multiple people simultaneously. A non-stick pan is just not enough room. Also, when it is big enough, cooking becomes a thousand times easier. It's like the difference between a 17" monitor and a 24". When cooking space is confined, everything is much more difficult. If I wanted to make four separate eggs on one of those tiny electric hot plates, I would have to carefully position each egg. With a gigantic griddle, I could just crack those babies open without a second thought. It really does make a big difference.
Another problem is that too many of those have the stupid ridges in them. Sure, those are fine for burgers or whatnot, but not for french toast. It needs to be perfectly flat.
As for cleaning, yes there will eventually be some sort of permanent coloring to the metal. That's fine. If you scrape it properly after each use, much easier than cleaning a pan IMHO, it will never actually be dirty.
One more problem is that most of these things are electric. Living where I live I have resigned myself to the idea that gas is not a possibility. However, cooking with actual fire, from gas or other source, is always vastly superior to cooking with electric heat. Even if there is a flat piece of metal between the fire and the food, the heat from a gas fire is far superior to the heat from an electric oven. While there are fancy electric stoves now that heat up and cool down quickly, gas is instant on, instant off. You save a lot of time not waiting for things to heat up. The only negative to gas is the rising costs and danger of blowing up your house. The house explosion risk is very small, so it doesn't worry me.
Here is an example of what I would have in my ideal kitchen.
Griddles are awesome, and no... a non-stick pan is NOT what you need, as they can't take high heat, or at least you shouldn't, the metal and coating used for non-stick pans warp really easy under high temperatures, that's why you basically use them for egg stuff only.
All kitchens need a stove top (gas is better), an oven (convection, gas, electric, from best to worst), an electric griddle, cast iron hardware, regular 13'' 14'' stainless steel pans, a few sauce pans, a few pots, a dutch oven, pressure cooker and a good old Wok with steamer baskets.
I agree with Scott, burgers, pancakes and omelets are better on a griddle BUT you DO NOT wash them all clean and stuff with a steel wool, because you want to season it and make it non-stick, the same goes for woks and cast iron stuff, just scrape with the spatula and rub some salt on it for stubborn bits and chunks. The other thing, griddles, cast iron, woks and dutch ovens LAST FOREVER, I still use my grandmas cast iron skillet and it works just fine, not only do they last forever with good care, they become better over time and use.
I still think the issue with the way food comes out of the microwave is a result of using the microwave improperly. Most people I know do not even know there IS a way to change the power. Things come out too hot because you use too high of a power too cook your food, or too long. Things come out too wet if you cook the wrong kind of thing in a microwave (bread, for instance). You have to remember that a microwave heats the food by exciting the water molecules. Anything that should be dry and crispy to be enjoyed is better off in a toaster/oven.
If you use a hammer to put screws into the wall, then it really screws up the job. However, if you use a hammer to put nails in a wall, it performs nicely. It's just a matter of using the tool for the right thing. Microwaves are not a cook-all appliance, as many people seem to think they are. If you use them on the correct food types with appropriate time and power-level settings, microwaved food can taste quite good.
I think we all know the truth. The only good bacon, is chewy bacon.
You're my favorite person right now.
Bacon should be served rare to medium-rare. Gotta have some chewy fat.
Personally, I'm a big fan of country-style ham - the really salty stuff. It tastes like a big ol' slab of bacon.
I think we all know the truth. The only good bacon, is chewy bacon.
Blasphemer! Floppy bacon is lame.
Get the hell off my internet.
The only good thing that comes out of a microwave is crispy bacon with all the excess fat drained out and no grease spitting.
But that fat and grease is necessary for the second step of cooking bacon: frying eggs.
Um, excuse me, but cooking sausage in the bacon grease is the second step of cooking bacon. The THIRD step is where you cook in the eggs in the mingled fats of the previous two meats. Ideally, you should be deep-frying the eggs.
Um, excuse me, but cookingsausagein the bacon grease is the second step of cooking bacon. The THIRD step is where you cook in the eggs in the mingled fats of the previous two meats. Ideally, you should be deep-frying the eggs.
I think I had a heart attack just reading that sentence.
Um, excuse me, but cookingsausagein the bacon grease is the second step of cooking bacon. The THIRD step is where you cook in the eggs in the mingled fats of the previous two meats. Ideally, you should be deep-frying the eggs.
I think I had a heart attack just reading that sentence.
Well, really, what you do is pour about half that fat into another pan, and use that grease to cook a 3-egg omelet with cheddar cheese, ham, and the aforementioned bacon. In the original pan, you build a roux with the remaining fat and make sausage gravy, which you then use to top the 3-egg ham-bacon-cheddar omelet. Serve with buttermilk biscuits and a defibrillator.
Have you tried getting a programmable rice or pasta cooker? Fill it in the evening or morning, set the timer for when to start cooking. You get home just in time for freshly cooked grain product, and all you have to do is dump some sauce on it, wash the pot, prep it for the next night, and you're done. The rice cookers at least often have steam plate attachments too, so you could also probably steam some vegetables while the rice is cooking.
All these prep in the morning to eat when you get home ideas assume we have time in the morning. I'm lucky if I have time to toast an English muffin before I have to go get on the train.
Comments
A side advantage by planning ahead I can make extra one night and have a nice full meal for lunch in a day or two.
What would revolutionize cooking is if we had an actual grill indoors. Right now we have a stove that can handle 4 pots/pans. If we just had a large, flat, metal, heated surface to cook on, cooking would be stupidly easy. Turn the knob, crack a few eggs, toss some chopped vegetables and cheese down, and you got some omelet. Got a burger, but it's the winter? Just grab the spatula, and you'll be in burger heaven in minutes. No dishes to do afterwards. Easy cleanup, just scrape the grill down into the "gutter", and use some steel wool to get it really clean.
I think that the four heated circle design of stoves is a conspiracy of the pot+pan industry. With a large flat heated grill, you can easily put pots right on top of it, and pans become obsolete. All homes should have one, my next one probably will.
By the way, I think you're confusing a "griddle" with a "grill". The problem with a built-in griddle is that it gets dirty. You can just throw a pot or pan away when they become too old. A griddle isn't quite as easy to replace.
Also, how crazy are you that you need a griddle? The last time I checked, you can do all of those things with a good non-stick pan.
Another problem is that too many of those have the stupid ridges in them. Sure, those are fine for burgers or whatnot, but not for french toast. It needs to be perfectly flat.
As for cleaning, yes there will eventually be some sort of permanent coloring to the metal. That's fine. If you scrape it properly after each use, much easier than cleaning a pan IMHO, it will never actually be dirty.
One more problem is that most of these things are electric. Living where I live I have resigned myself to the idea that gas is not a possibility. However, cooking with actual fire, from gas or other source, is always vastly superior to cooking with electric heat. Even if there is a flat piece of metal between the fire and the food, the heat from a gas fire is far superior to the heat from an electric oven. While there are fancy electric stoves now that heat up and cool down quickly, gas is instant on, instant off. You save a lot of time not waiting for things to heat up. The only negative to gas is the rising costs and danger of blowing up your house. The house explosion risk is very small, so it doesn't worry me.
Here is an example of what I would have in my ideal kitchen.
All kitchens need a stove top (gas is better), an oven (convection, gas, electric, from best to worst), an electric griddle, cast iron hardware, regular 13'' 14'' stainless steel pans, a few sauce pans, a few pots, a dutch oven, pressure cooker and a good old Wok with steamer baskets.
I agree with Scott, burgers, pancakes and omelets are better on a griddle BUT you DO NOT wash them all clean and stuff with a steel wool, because you want to season it and make it non-stick, the same goes for woks and cast iron stuff, just scrape with the spatula and rub some salt on it for stubborn bits and chunks. The other thing, griddles, cast iron, woks and dutch ovens LAST FOREVER, I still use my grandmas cast iron skillet and it works just fine, not only do they last forever with good care, they become better over time and use.
If you use a hammer to put screws into the wall, then it really screws up the job. However, if you use a hammer to put nails in a wall, it performs nicely. It's just a matter of using the tool for the right thing. Microwaves are not a cook-all appliance, as many people seem to think they are. If you use them on the correct food types with appropriate time and power-level settings, microwaved food can taste quite good.
Bacon should be served rare to medium-rare. Gotta have some chewy fat.
Personally, I'm a big fan of country-style ham - the really salty stuff. It tastes like a big ol' slab of bacon. Get the hell off my internet. Um, excuse me, but cooking sausage in the bacon grease is the second step of cooking bacon. The THIRD step is where you cook in the eggs in the mingled fats of the previous two meats. Ideally, you should be deep-frying the eggs.