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Evolving Electric Cooking Systems

Old 09-11-10, 06:18 PM
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eternalvoyage
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Evolving Electric Cooking Systems

A hot pot with a steamer insert has been working well -- just had some perfect rice, like the rice that comes out of rice cookers.

The hot pot is similar to these,

https://www.walgreens.com/store/catal...039646-product

And the steamer inserts are these,

https://www.ziploc.com/Products/Pages...izeName=Medium

After putting about four cups of water in the hot pot, and about half a cup of rice (long grain, organic basmati rice is what I've been using) in the Ziploc Twist'n Loc Container (or ZTLC), just turn the hot pot on high, with the ZTLC inside (to preheat the rice a bit).

When the water boils, I use about half a cup of the boiling water to rinse and drain the rice (optional), and then pour some more boiling water in, filling the ZTLC a little past its one-cup marker (depending on how firm you want the rice).

Then lightly screw down the ZTLC lid, and pop the unit back in the hot pot.

Set on medium, and forget about it.

Rice-cooker-perfect rice!

You can take the ZTLC out at the end of the cooking cycle, to stir and fluff up the rice a bit. It's also a good time to add some seasonings. I usually add some olive oil at the start as well. Ginger, toasted sesame oil, dried onion soup packets, and many other seasoning possibilities are available (some are better added at the beginning, others near the end). I usually put the lid back on and let it steam for a while longer.

It's hard to overcook the rice with this kind of system -- it's much more forgiving than cooking rice in a pot (IME).

The ZTLCs serve very well as eating bowls, and are easy to clean when finished eating. Just shake up some water, tea, or other drink. Left over hot water from the hot pot works well.

It helps to have some lightweight gloves, to keep the steam at bay a bit. Atlas nitrile gloves work great.

The hot pot only comes into contact with water, rather than food, and doesn't even need to be cleaned.

***
There are some other systems as well, using titanium pots in a similar way, with immersion heaters.

The insert/steamer (ZTLC) system opens up a lot of cooking possibilities for immersion heaters.

Small, lightweight hotplates could also work well, but they are not widely available. If anyone knows of something along these lines, please let us know where they can be found.

***
I've been using and evolving these systems on tours where electricity is reasonably available or accessible. Sometimes I will stop early and cook something up before moving on into an area where there is no electricity. It's easy to take the cooked ZTLCs along in panniers.

Sometimes I will mix and match, filling in the gaps (stretches without electricity) with cooking-free meals, or with part-time use of an alcohol stove or a twig-burning system.

I like the speed, silence, lack of fires and fumes and odors, cleanliness and ease of use. Utilizing the electricity (even part of the time) also often saves on cost, fuel, and weight.

Last edited by Niles H.; 09-11-10 at 07:21 PM.
Niles H. is offline  

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