My personal hot take would be sous vide. I know a lot of people with sous vides are gonna kill me, but I’ve never had anything sous vided that was that much better than just reverse searing or other conventional methods. And, yes, I’ve had more extreme stuff like corned beef sous vided over 24+ hours to an internal temp of 130 or whatever it was, something you can’t really faithfully duplicate any other way and, you know what, I liked conventionally roasted (not boiled) corned beef better.
See, that’s one I passionately love. If your grilling is bitter, you’re cooking it wrong (i.e., too fast, too hot.) There is nothing like the smoky kiss of fat-on-fire on your meat that sends my heart aflutter. And if your smoking is bitter, you’re putting your meat in too early before the smoke is at the right point (i.e., when it goes from billowing white to wispy blue.)
But, hey, can’t love everything. Like I said, sous vide doesn’t do it for me, so I have my own things I raise my eyebrow at (though I will gladly eat it. Just can’t be arsed to do it for myself.)
Ha, yeah, I almost responded to Toxylon by saying “you’re doing it wrong!”, but then I thought, maybe they’re not doing it wrong, they just plain ol’ don’t like barbeque / grilling, and that’s OK. Chacun son goût.
If your rice cooking involves a sieve (unless you’re using it to rinse the rice before cooking) you definitely need a rice cooker. I’m South Asian married to East Asian. My wife has never cooked rice without a rice cooker. I rarely use a rice cooker, because I’m usually making a rice dish that involves toasting the rice in fat before boiling/steaming.
But rice is central to both our cuisines. If I just want plain jasmine or basmati rice, the rice cooker is way more reliable than any stovetop method. You learn to adjust the water quantity for the type of rice, and then it’s pretty much idiot proof.
As a middle-aged, middle-class American male living in the suburbs admitting this is absolute heresy, but…
BBQ. Grilling, to be specific.
I have a couple of Weber charcoal kettles and have had multiple different sizes and styles of charcoal and propane grills in the past. The time it takes to get the coals lit, the grill temp stabilized, and afterward the clean-up just isn’t worth it to me. With propane, one big flare-up can completely ruin a tray of burgers.
I tried to like it, I really did. I learned a lot (maybe not enough, though) and did a lot of playing around with them, but in the end I’d rather put something in the oven and then finish it off under the broiler if needed. The flavor benefit produced from grilling pretty much anything doesn’t outweigh what a huge PITA it is. I also have a WSM smoker that works well and is pretty irreplaceable when I truly want to smoke something, but I use quite infrequently now.
I also despise air fryers. They’re noisy, no quicker than a microwave, and absolutely reek to high heaven. Another device where the benefits simply do not outweigh the negatives.
Absolutely. It’s a good way to get a particular result for a specific dish. Some may feel that’s the best way to cook some tough cut of meat but that doesn’t mean every other dish you cook sous vide is going to be any better than the same dish cooked some other way, and more often than people recognize it will be worse.
Yeah, I agree with this. I think I’ve owned three different charcoal grills. They’re enough of a pain in the ass to use that I’d only cook on them a couple times a year, and so I wasn’t very good at it. Also we didn’t have a garage or shed, so our grill took up space on our tiny covered porch. Eventually the last grill rusted through and I thought the hell with it, no more. It’s been years since I’ve owned a grill and I haven’t missed it.
Interesting. Even when I’m making dal or chana dal and want some turmeric fried rice to eat with it, I use the instant pot, for its fire-and-forget function. The ability to start the rice and then leave it until serving time, knowing it won’t burn on the bottom, is fantastic, since usually whatever I’m making to put on the rice is going to occupy all my brain cells.
I hate to say that I agree with the charcoal grill. Now being a father of two and a family, it’s just such a pain in the butt to fire up compared to when I was in my 20s and 30s. The first thing my wife did when we moved into this house eight years ago was buy a propane grill for me. I went in kicking and screaming but, you know what, I use it all the time, and over the indoor oven when I can because it’s less fuss (to me) and keeps all the smell and heat outside during the summer. I just used it two days ago to grill up red pepper and eggplant to make ajvar, a Balkan spread, and it works so much better than my broiler. Same with grilling up tomatillos and poblanos for salsa verde and the such.
Yeah, the Instant Pot works surprisingly well for this, so I will very occasionally use it to cook up some rice if it’s free. Most often, though, when I’m making rice it’s not. But I haven’t had my stovetop method fail to produce what I think of as a good pot of rice in over a decade. It’s pretty damned consistent, too, and I bet SanVito’s pretty consistent as well. But who knows. Maybe those from more rice-eating cultures would see some kind of faults in our end products. I personally don’t care. I like it, my family likes it and eats it, I don’t really see the difference between it and what I get at a Chinese or Mexican or Indian restaurant (all made slightly differently.)
I also use a propane grill all the time. It’s great in the summer to keep heat out of the kitchen. One thing it’s superior at is roasting vegetables. They’re much better on the grill than in the oven. The grill can get a higher heat and my oven doesn’t get coated in oil splatters. One way to get perfect results with meats is to use a grill-rated meat thermometer. There’s always going to be heat variation on the grill. A thermometer will let you get the meat to the perfect doneness every time.
One thing about grilling is that it makes a difference to get a good grill. A grill with a thicker shell will hold the heat better and reach hotter temps. A better grill can last 10+ years. Cheaper grills will not get as hot, won’t be able to keep a consistent temp, and will rust out sooner. You don’t have to jump into grilling with a $500+ grill, but after you’ve gone through a cheap grill or two, splurge on a good grill.
No I don’t! I may not be Asian, but my basmati rice turns out perfectly every time - the sieve drains off any excess liquid as I leave it to rest. No biggie. It’s always perfectly dry and fluffy.
Writing my reply, it was patently obvious that the “You’re doing it wrong” replies would come right back at me.
I don’t grill, because I don’t like the process, or the result.
Pushing 50, I’ve eaten grilled dinners done by others likely a 100 times or so (compared to the 5 000 times a BBQ buff would have). The grilling has been done by dozens of different people in several different countries, using dozens of different methods, ingredients etc. etc.. The results vary, but not so much that I would like 'em. The slightest amounts of burnt material taste like crap to me.
I was listening to The Splendid Table the other day, and a caller asked the rest about the best way to steam vegetables. Immediately I said, “don’t do that. Immerse them in a pot of boiling salted water until just crisp-tender instead.”
I was gratified when the guest chef diplomatically said that steaming is a bad cooking method. I remember we thought we were very smart and healthy in the 1970s/80s with our little folding steamers that we used all the time for broccoli and carrots and such. In retrospect, how boring.
Another cooking method I have dumped - crockpot cooking. I bought one a few years ago when I had visions of prepping it before I left for work and coming home to the warming smells of a ready cooked beef stew, tagine or chilli. The reality is that I have less time or patience to prep before work than afterwards, and the result is always too watery so needs cooking down in a pan anyway.
Even the sieve is often optional, depending on the type of rice and desired texture.
My grill was $500 or so eight years ago, and it gets HOT! Which I like. I get lovely spring and leoparding on my pizza (I use quarry tile):
These days I use a big culinary blowtorch to get the top as well, as the heat doesn’t distribute evenly on the upper side of the pizza, of course. I would usually put it on a wire rack after getting the bottom done (90 seconds to two minutes) to finish the top (another six minutes or so)
Is it though? Isn’t it just different? I do both, depending on what else I’m doing.
Et tu, pulykamell?
Ha, I get it. Propane is easier, and it produces great heat for high-temperature cooking.
But I get a chimney of charcoal started, do some meal prep, and by the time I’m ready to grill the coals are ready to go. Can’t beat the flavor of even charcoal-cooked food over propane (and I always use some form of wood as well as charcoal for smoky flavor). Also, I love to be outside, so I don’t mind a little extra time spent outdoors. Truth be told, I may have even procrastinated just a teeny bit outside to get a little break from my kids in the past, much as I love them 
Which reminds me of one AMAZING piece of kit I acquired very recently - an Ooni pizza oven. Incredible, restaurant quality pizza in 60-90 seconds. It’s a wow from me.
Yeah, one of my good friends has one of them (or he may have a different brand. It might be the Solo Stove Pi). It truly does make really good pizza once you learn how to use it. There is a bit of a learning curve, as I’m sure you know. I would love to have one, but I just don’t feel like having yet another piece of specialized equipment.