During the seven months it took to put the addition on to our house, I learned many, many valuable lessons. As I’ve mentioned before about a month after breaking ground we lost our kitchen. It was demolished to make room for the new butler’s pantry and for the next six months, from July through December, I did all of my cooking using nothing but a microwave. I did break down on Thanksgiving, took the smoker out of the shed, and smoked our turkey.
I tell a lie: in August I broke down and bought a Sanyo ECJ-N55W rice cooker and it was one of the best investments I’ve ever made. It prepares rice, white or brown, beautifully. Results that just can’t be duplicated on stovetop.
It can do a lot more. Not only is it great for steaming any sort of grain—kasha, steelcut oats, etc.—but it’s great for steaming vegetables, fish, shrimp, or sausages, too. I recall that back when I was a college undergraduate I shared a goodsized house with a number of other guys (the house belonged to the university and they rented rooms through the conventional student housing system). One of my housemates was a Taiwanese kid who cooked all of his meals using his rice cooker. Now I understand.
So, get yourself a decent rice cooker. You won’t regret it.
In a steam cooker, the latent heat of vaporization (really, its inverse, latent heat of condensation) is released into the food. Quite a short and powerful heating as opposed to slowly boiling to mush at 212 F.
Makes them Wisconsin fish boils seem neanderthal, eh? Grunt with me now as you eat a cheeseball…….
Smoking turkey may seem cool, but it’s a gateway to more serious smoke abuse. Before you know it you could be smoking ham. Get help.
Inspired/urge/commanded by my California-born wife, I’ve been smoking our turkey at Thanksgiving for the last ten or so years. Also great on the smoker: chicken, beef brisket, pork shoulder, salmon.
I’ve never been ambitious enough to try smoking a fresh ham. My guess is that it would take days.
So, besides learning about rice cookers did you learn anything else? As one who has had the joy of experiencing the new kitchen, I can tell you the time of tribulation was worth it!
Before you know it you could be smoking ham.
nyuk, nyuk, nyuk