Tips on How to Use Small Kitchen Appliances
Cookbook Author and Chef Angela Tunner Gives Advice on Using Gadgets
Dec 7, 2008
Cookbook author, kitchen coach and proponent of small kitchen appliances Angela Tunner continues her conversation with Food Trends about how using the smaller appliances (especially during the manic holiday rush) isn't just a good idea for the time-crunched, it's also better for the environment. To catch the first installment of this interview, click here.
Food Trends (FT): What about microwave ovens don’t most people know and should?
Angela Tunner (AT): That they are best used for WET cooking. For steaming vegetables, they are amazing. You can cook 2 lbs of potatoes in about 10 minutes...How’s that for fast?! Don’t expect something to be crispy coming out of a microwave. Use a toaster oven for that. Used properly they are a home cooks best friend. Wattage counts! The more wattage, the faster the machine will cook. The faster they cook, the better for the food and for consistent results. Always get one with the revolving tray or the food will not cook as evenly and you will have to pause part way through cooking to rotate the dish or stir the contents or the heating will be uneven. The biggest thing they don’t know is to always use a covered dish and when reheating meat. A secret of mine when reheating meat is to always add an additional teaspoon of water to make the meat juicy and succulent.
FT: Case scenario- you’re planning a meal for the holidays or a special event and you choose to use your toaster oven, your microwave as the primary cooking devices. What do you make?
AT: Hmmm...the best case scenario for the holidays is to use them all...use the main oven for your meat (turkey, ham or roast or whatever it is that you'd like to cook but can't fit into one of the smaller appliances), the toaster oven for the dessert (convection toaster ovens are the best). I made the same dessert once in the oven and my convection toaster oven at the same time. The one in the toaster oven cooked over 17 minutes FASTER than the standard oven.
FT: What’s the best way to clean a microwave oven once it’s gotten a full work out?
AT: Clean it consistently and avoid build up which like anything, maintained, they perform better and last longer. Wipe it out at the end of each day with a damp cloth for daily maintenance.
Angela's Top Tip for when your microwave oven looks like a bowl of Bolognese exploded inside of it:
For a full clean, I choose to steam: I get a a dish of water and a teaspoon of lemon juice and turn the microwave oven on high for 5 minutes . This gets everything inside the oven soft and then it's a snap to wipe clean- plus you're left with a citrus-fresh scent when you're done. I clean off the outside every day with a household cleaner and to keep the fingerprints and buttons cleaned off.
Note: Angela walks the walk- she's got two, state-of-the-art microwaves in her kitchen to keep it feeling like the commercial kitchens she used to cook in when she was a restaurant chef. For more handy tips, just in time for the holidays, visit her site by clicking here and have a very merry season!
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