Monday, August 13, 2012

Saving energy while cooking

Over the years I have done a little experimenting with not keeping the burner turned on for the whole cooking time but simply letting the heat that has already built up in the pot do the final cooking. That has worked pretty successfully with rice and other things but I have noticed that even though it cooks it will also start to cool down which is not always desired.

 A while back I read about the Wonder Box Cooker which is a way to cook things by just bringing it to a boil (be it rice, meat - about anything) and then sticking it in this insulated compartment.  There is instructions for making one and I had hoped to do that but hadn't gotten around to it. I also wondered where I would store something like that as my kitchen and dining room storage is already filled to capacity.

  Recently while my in-laws were here we were wanting to go out to my parents for a while in the afternoon and be able to stay out there and basically just get home in time for supper and have supper pretty much ready and waiting. I had also just been canning so I had my pressure cooker still sitting in the kitchen. I decided to bring my brown rice and wild rice mixture to a boil and then wrap the pan in a towel and place it inside the pressure cooker in order to keep all the heat contained.

It worked beautifully. We were gone about 3 hours and came home to well done and still hot rice.

Another day I decided to try the process on cooking beans. I pot beans and water in the pan and brought them to a boil and then turned it off and let them set for one hour (the quick soak method). Then I drained the water, added fresh water, brought them to a boil again and then stuck the pot in my towel/ pressure cooker unit. After a few hours they were done. They weren't super soft done but plenty done. I did then mix them with other chili ingredients and again brought them to a boil again and we were ready for supper.
This method is very nice especially if you need to leave home- you don't have to be concerned about any heating elements being left on and you can still come home to all cooked and hot food.

I am hoping to try using this more but I thought I would share my successes so far anyway. I hope it works well for you too should you care to try it.
I am linking this to the Homestead Barn Hop at Homestead Revival

1 comment:

Travis said...

I have often put a towel over things to hole in the heat when they were about done cooking, but adding the bucket for better insulation is a really good idea! Your wild rice, rice looks yummy.
~Anna

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