Dishwasher Cooking: Make Your Dinner While Cleaning The Plates

[kqr2]

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]

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-...).

[nakedrobot2]

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 :)

[philstephenson]

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.

[darkarmani]

> 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.

[loupeabody]

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

[tptacek]

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/

[anigbrowl]

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.

[evilduck]

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.

[robomartin]

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...

[gilgoomesh]

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

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

[PhasmaFelis]

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

[jcampbell1]

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.

[bambax]

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.

[gurraman]

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]

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

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

[cfqycwz]

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

[risratorn]

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

[emtfan]

Also a recent EMT episode of dishwasher lasagne

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

[cheeyoonlee]

Been a fan since the beginning

[andrelaszlo]

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...

[pessimizer]

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]

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...

[traughber]

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

[sliverstorm]

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

[kentwistle]

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]

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.