I decided that I really wanted some hard boiled eggs for my tuna sandwiches, but I don’t have a pot at the moment. I do, however, have an electric kettle. After some online research, I determined that such an appliance will, indeed, work for boiling eggs in a pinch.
Obviously, I wanted to make sure that this didn’t all end with an eggy mess in my kettle. According to my research, the most important thing for avoiding such an outcome is to keep the eggs from touching the heating element, or they might explode. So, what I did was put the eggs in a small mesh laundry bag, like this one (I assume that women use these for washing their undies… or something), and then proceeded to ensure that they were suspended safely above the bottom of the kettle (it’s the kind where the whole bottom is the heating element).
Then, I just filled the kettle up with enough water to cover the eggs, and (somewhat apprehensively) turned it on. As soon as the water had boiled and the switch had flipped itself off, I set a timer for 13 minutes. When that was up, I observed (much to my surprise) that nothing had gone completely tits-up as far as I could tell, and fished the eggs back out.
Result: Perfect hard boiled eggs. In fact, they were so perfect that I’m never boiling eggs in any other way again.
Do you have any culinary MacGyver-solutions to share (successful or otherwise)?
I would be concerned that all the calcium carbonate in the eggshells would fur up the kettle and its elements eventually. I don’t suppose doing it once did much harm, but I’m not sure it’s a good idea to make a habit of it.
Toss them in a freezer, thaw 10 minutes, skin slips right off.
I don’t bother canning large batches of sauce anymore. Just toss the remnants of the summer crop in the freezer. Pull a dozen tomatoes out of the freezer, slip of the skin, sautee up the aromatics, add the diced up tomatoes, seasonings and simmer ~ 15 minutes.
OP, you can be happy that you are following the trails of great inventors:
“One day while building magnetrons, Spencer was standing in front of an active radar set when he noticed the candy bar he had in his pocket had melted. Spencer was not the first to notice this issue, but he was the first to investigate it. He decided to experiment using food, including popcorn kernels, which became the world’s first microwaved popcorn. In another experiment, an egg was placed in a tea kettle, and the magnetron was placed directly above it. The result was the egg exploding in the face of one of his co-workers, who was looking in the kettle to observe. Spencer then created the first true microwave oven by attaching a high density electromagnetic field generator to an enclosed metal box. The magnetron emitted microwaves into the metal box blocking any escape, allowing for controlled and safe experimentation. He then placed various food items in the box, while observing effects and monitoring temperatures.”
Ya know, If a candy bar melted in my pocket, my first thought would not be “hmm Popcorn maybe?” My first thought would be “GAHHHHH MY TESTICLES ARE TWO INCHES AWAY FROM A MAGICALLY MELTED CANDY BAR!”
I make rice “pilaf” in my rice cooker, though you should never add anything but rice or other grains and water. Meh, I’m a risk-taker.
Go ahead and cook long grain rice as usual, but use chicken broth rather than water. If you like, have some little noodles like orzo mixed in with the rice. While it’s cooking, saute finely chopped onions in a generous amount of butter. When the rice is done, scrape the onions and their butter into the rice and mix well. Voila, a rice dish which is pretty much indistinguishable from true pilaf.
