Dishwasher Cooking: Make Your Dinner While Cleaning The Plates

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/08/25/214799882/dishwasher-cooking-make-your-dinner-while-cleaning-the-plates

by nkzednan • 13 years ago

84 49 13 years ago

loupeabody2• 13 years ago

Could this be considered a derivative of Sous-vide[0]? That is, the mason jar technique is cooking in an air-tight container and temperature is at least somewhat regulated by the dishwasher. Have I had access to a cheap sous-vide machine this whole time!?

[0]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sous-vide

anigbrowl• 13 years ago

Sort of, but the temperature to a large extent depends on your water supply. Also, sous-vide often means cooking at low temperature for much longer than a dishwasher cycle. If you want to get into it on the cheap and are willing to experiment, a slow cooker is another option.

hartror• 13 years ago

Modern dishwashers have a heating element, they don't depend on an external source of heat for water. Some can use a more efficient external source to reduce heating costs, but dishwashers run a lot hotter than what comes out of the tap.

joezydeco• 13 years ago

My dishwasher runs too quickly and my water is too hot to make this technique usable. I've had great success with a $20 crockpot and the Dorkfood DSV, a no-frills PID controller that you can get on Amazon right now for $99. Much cheaper and easier than the other Kickstarter projects or making your own with an Arduino or something.

And I didn't think about the energy angle until now, but I'd think the crockpot transfers heat much more efficiently than a dishwasher, where most of the joules are going down the drain in a short period of time.

Tarrosion• 13 years ago

Also, proper equipment is falling in price rapidly. You can buy an Anova immersion circulator for $200 (used to be $300 until the Sansaire kickstarter showed up). I see no reason to believe that the market has bottomed out; the components are just not that expensive.

tptacek• 13 years ago

Do you not have a drink cooler? It'll do a better job of this than a dishwasher.

http://www.seriouseats.com/2010/04/cook-your-meat-in-a-beer-...

The dishwasher cooking trick is old, by the way; here's a reference to an article in Salon about it, from the '90s:

http://www.salon.com/2000/03/03/cookbooks_4/

loupeabody2• 13 years ago

This'll be the next thing I try, definitely. Thanks for letting me know!

torstesu• 13 years ago

Hook the drink cooler up with an arduino, temp sensor, power switch and an heating element and you'd be able to maintain that temperature as long as you'd like.

http://www.adafruit.com/blog/2013/07/16/back-in-stock-sous-v... http://lowereastkitchen.com/wp/?q=node/3

evilduck• 13 years ago

If you don't want to do anything with a loooong slow cook time (like beyond 4 or 5 hours), you can just use ziplock bags, hot water and a medium beverage cooler. I "backyard sous-vide" steaks and pork chops like this all the time. Ziplocks don't leach any nasties at 130ºF and you don't sous-vide grilling meat long enough for the heat loss of the cooler to really matter. Fish is cooked at lower temperatures than beef/pork, so it should work even better.

darkarmani2• 13 years ago

Some added points: Ziplock bags should be good to around ~170F. I use a large cooler, a probe thermometer for the water temps, and a boiling kettle of water to bring the temp back up when it goes down. If you are concerned with bacteria in your meat (steaks have it mostly on the surface), you can follow the USDA:FSIS rules on time-temperature: steaks are safe after 121 minutes at 130F -- i go 3-4 hours to make sure the middle is that temp [1]. To reverse sear your meat I've used the following two options: torch and a charcoal starter chimney with a grate on top.

I've found that you really need a reverse sear, because while the meats are extremely juicy, they have a bad external texture without a crust and you miss out on all of the good taste the maillard reaction gives you.

[1] http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OPPDE/rdad/FSISNotices/RTE_Poultry_...

gilgoomesh• 13 years ago

Did anyone watch the Mythbusters episode where Alton Brown cooked a lasagne in the dishwasher?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IaT90jhuB0

PhasmaFelis• 13 years ago

Damn, I need to watch more Alton Brown. And more Mythbusters.

kqr2• 13 years ago

Also consider cooking with your car:

http://www.wikihow.com/Cook-Food-on-Your-Car%27s-Engine

http://www.amazon.com/Manifold-Destiny-Guide-Cooking-Engine/...

Hinrik• 13 years ago

Mythbusters also tried it (with the help of Alton Brown) in their "Surreal Gourmet Hour" episode (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqABijWMlxA). Incidentally, that episode also had a bit on cooking with a dishwasher but it was cut (http://mentalfloss.com/article/13132/mythbustersalton-brown-...).

DanWaterworth• 13 years ago

Interesting, I watched that episode in the UK and both the cooking on the car and cooking with the dishwasher parts were in there.

nakedrobot2• 13 years ago

I cooked a few burgers on the engine block of my 1983 Toyota Tercel back in the day.

On my current car it's got so many plastic enclosures all over it that I can't find a hot area for my burger action. A real shame. This skill seems to be almost magical when I tell people about it :)

emtfan• 13 years ago

Also a recent EMT episode of dishwasher lasagne

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08S9AmtH19o

cheeyoonlee• 13 years ago

Been a fan since the beginning

jcampbell12• 13 years ago

This is gross. Cooking salmon is all about the crispy skin. Without that, you should just eat canned salmon. Salmon is the easiest fish to cook. Put the oven on broil, burn the shit out of the fish on the skin side with a bit of oil in a pan, then put it in the oven. The top and bottom will be crusty, and it will be perfect.

If you want the canned salmon taste, put it is the dishwasher. Then again, you could just eat warmed canned salmon.

cfqycwz• 13 years ago

Salmon isn't always all about the crispy skin. Ever had sous vide?

jcampbell12• 13 years ago

Yes.

In general, I think it sucks. Sous vide salmon taste like canned salmon mixed with sushi salmon. Sous vide eggs are interesting, thus I have no problem with the technique of partially denaturing proteins.

Wood plank cooked salmon is very good. You get a nice smokey taste, but with soft skin. I agree, that it is not all about the crispy skin. Of course, a plank cooked salmon could be improved with a torch.

gurraman• 13 years ago

Salmon is about a lot of things. It can be eaten raw, cold- or hot smoked, cured, grilled, lightly salted etc.

I prefer cured, raw, lightly salted or cold smoked.

I don't think you'll find that your particular preparation mrthod is used with salmon in very many three star restaurants.

Jack000• 13 years ago

This is gross. Salmon is wasted if not eaten raw.

Or you know, it's possible that different people have different tastes.

Ygg2• 13 years ago

Not all salmon is of same grade. Only highest grade can be eaten raw. Unless you buy "sushi-ready" salmon I'd not advise raw salmon.

jacquesm• 13 years ago

Eat only the best Salmon raw please.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diseases_and_parasites_in_salmo...

risratorn• 13 years ago

It's about personal taste, you are entitled to your opinion, however salmon can be prepared in many different ways.

bambax• 13 years ago

It would appear you don't really know what you're talking about. While crispy skin is great, the flesh of sous-vide fish, and esp. salmon, is extraordinary.

The way to do it properly is to cut off the flesh from the skin, cook the flesh sous-vide (either in the dishwasher, in a sous-vide circulator if you have one (I guess not) or in a pan of hot water while watching the temperature), burn "the shit out" of the skin, and serve both flesh and skin, skin on top of fish for better presentation.

Please give it a try.

robomartin• 13 years ago

Be very careful when cooking with plastics, there are dangers in the sous vide technique if the wrong kind of bag is used.

http://www.yourdoctorsorders.com/2012/12/sous-vide-and-plast...

traughber• 13 years ago

As a fan of cooking without fire, I like this.

sliverstorm• 13 years ago

More or less than cooking with an electric stove, which is basically the exact same type of device?

ygra• 13 years ago

Except it uses air instead of water for conveying the heat.

kentwistle• 13 years ago

Title is misleading. The article clearly states that you cannot add any washing solution. So you cannot clean your plates, at the same time.

petercooper• 13 years ago

If you continue to read, though:

Instead of using aluminum foil, as many websites recommend, you should put the food into airtight canning jars or food vacuum bags. Then the hot water doesn't touch the food. So you can add soap to the cycle and really clean your dishes while poaching dinner.

pessimizer• 13 years ago

I worked in two different restaurants in the early 90s where this was the method used to bake potatoes. I have no idea if it was ever common.

Ntrails• 13 years ago

Every kitchen I've ever worked in has a commercial dishwasher. These run for 2 minutes a cycle and would be completely unsuitable to baking potatoes (or anything else for that matter).

I have seen them used to wash potatoes though, to save time. I can't say I thought it was a great idea but it never seemed to kill anyone...

andrelaszlo• 13 years ago

There's a swedish blog (and book) about alternative cooking devices such as hair-straighteners, dishwashers and coffee makers.

http://kaffekokarkokboken.blogg.se/2013/july/alternative-coo...

philstephenson• 13 years ago

Good chefs will always tell you: Use the right knife for the right job. Can we not simply use our kitchen appliances and tools for what they were designed for? The author suggests (and I'm inclined to agree) that using a dishwasher to poach salmon is a fairly wasteful use of electricity and water. If you want poached salmon, get out a pot and some water. If you're really particular you could buy a cheap thermometer to poach at whatever temperature you choose, and I'd be willing to bet you'd get more consistent results than using a large machine designed to clean plates. I'm all for new techniques and ideas in the kitchen, but this is a fad that should not and will not stick around for long.

darkarmani2• 13 years ago

Good chefs will always tell you: Use the right knife for the right job. Can we not simply use our kitchen appliances and tools for what they were designed for?

I guess you never used a torch to reverse sear meat? The right knife for the job is the one that gets the best results. I do agree that there are probably better ways to get the same results, but if you dishwasher gets you the exact temps you need, go for it. I do a lot of sous vide steaks in a large cooler.

Dishwasher Cooking: Make Your Dinner While Cleaning The Plates

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