I recently had my elderly aunt for a 10 day visit. All went well, but when she offered to cook - ohlawdy…by the time food got on the table, our kitchen looked like a crime scene. Every pot, spoon, cup, pan, dish and utensil was used, spread all over the counters space and stacked in the sink.
It is not only her. The same happened when my SO’s mother came to visit. Chaos. There was not a square inch of counter space when she was finished (and we have a pretty large kitchen).
This is not a complaint as much as it is an observation - both women are good cooks by the way.
So - my question: Am I just too anal about cleaning up as you go along? I mean, I like to cook, but by the time I am finished, there is also no way to tell anyone was in the kitchen cooking unless you smelled the food from the oven. Or are they normal to just thrash about the kitchen when you cook and wait until after dinner to clean it all up?
I leave a big mess for hubby to clean up. His biggest complaint is that I leave the cabinet doors open. I have a tiny kitchen, so I might clean off part of the counter to make room for more mess.
I like to clean as I go, I don’t have a lot of counter/sink space and it makes life easier. My brother the chef cleans up immediately…when he’s at work. When he’s cooking dinner at our mother’s house the kitchen looks like a small cyclone dropped in for a nosh and left a humongous pile of dirty pots and pans.
I clean as I cook. It makes for less work at the end of the meal if most of the dishes are already in the dishwasher. Problem is, I’ll use a spoon once, throw it in the sink, then realize I need another spoon, so I probably go through twice as many utensils as I need to.
with us, whoever cooks doesn’t do the cleaning. We put smaller things into the dishwasher and the pots get thrown out of site into the sink when done, but … I have been known to use every single pot, pan, bowl, spoon etc. I think I picked up the habit from when I had an incredible large kitchen and no dishwasher.
I don’t clean as I go. We don’t have the convenience of a dishwasher, so going through the trouble of washing everything by hand usually gets delayed to the next day. On the other hand, unlike ivylass, we do try and keep track of utensils and use only what we need. also, I do wipe up any spills, and I’ll stack everything as I work, and likely wipe off the stove/counter, so that its as clean as possible, but I pretty much never do the dishes when I prepare supper. But then, supper usually is a collaborative effort between my SO and I, so when one of us cooks, often the other will clean…but then supper gets finished, and we eat, and theres a pile of dishes again. It never ends!!!
I clean as I go, mostly, but that consists of just throwing things in the dishwasher. Items that have to be cleaned by hand will get cleaned when there is some convenient slack time.
If I’m just making a standard dinner for myself, I cleanup afterwards, as everything fits in the sink no problem. If I’m doing a dinner production for company, I clean as I go, mainly because I need to reuse items, and also because the clean kitchen makes the dinner look “effortless” which I think adds something to the presentation.
I clean up at the end, or more often, the next day. Except for really big meals, like Thanksgiving. My kitchen is barely big enough to turn around in, and there isn’t room for two things at once. So I get the turkey ready and in the oven, then clean everything so I have room to make the pie, etc.
Oh, Lordy, you should see the kitchen after I’ve just got done cooking for more than 4. It’s a disaster area. I definitely do not clean as I cook. If it’s a serious job, I probably won’t finish cleaning until 2 or 3 days afterwards.
Call me lazy, I guess.
Now, if I (as fizgig brought up) need to re-use items as I go, I’ll wash just the things I need again (usually saucepans and Cuisinart parts).
And I do have a dishwasher, which makes cleanup easier than it might otherwise be. But there are currently 2 or 3 days’ worth of dishes in the sink, waiting to be cleaned. To be sure, I’ll have to wash them tomorrow, because I’m having company tomorrow night.
I’m definitely in the clean-as-you-go camp. It’s always easier to rinse the gunk off stuff before it has a chance to harden, and it only takes a minute to run it under the tap and get the worst off. Then when everything’s in the oven, I wash the bowls and implements I’ve used up to that point, or stick 'em in the dishwasher. And clean off the counters. Then when everything’s ready to eat, I’ve got a clean kitchen and don’t have to worry about major cleanup afterward.
I sometimes try to clean as I go, but we don’t have a dishwasher, so I can’t stash dishes in there for later cleaning. If I’m making many dishes where the timing is important, I don’t clean. I leave hot pots and pans to cool down, rather than trying to scrub them while they’re hot - though I may pour some water in to keep the residue from getting dried on.
The other thing about bread is that some things you pretty much have to clean up right away. I, for one, do not want to have to get dried-up bread dough off of a wooden spoon.
When I’m done, but only because I’m such a hopeless cook I have to spend all the time while I’m cooking rechecking the recipe to make sure I haven’t forgotten anything.
