Pandemic cooking: accumulating appliances

I've been pretty bored these days. No better time than the present to start cooking again! I managed to get some new appliances in the past year. Why not just use the stove?

The stovetop (and oven)

I mean, it’s already there. That’s the main advantage. The other advantage is the fine control you have over heat compared to other cooking methods. It’s also the most versatile: with few exceptions, every thing you would cook can be made on either the stovetop or oven. But you wouldn’t be buying other appliances if it was perfect, would you?

For me, the main issue is when it comes to cleaning. It’s just so much more work than other cooking methods to get things cleaned up. Depending on what you’re cooking, things can get even messier.

The oven is also annoying to clean, preheating takes forever, and using it heats up the area around it to an uncomfortable degree.

In my case, my stove is an electric one, and I just don’t feel the same control of heat when compared to a gas-powered one. Getting a good sear on meat took some trial and error to get right.

I will say that there are some dishes that I always end up cooking on the stovetop. For example, a fair amount of breakfast foods (eggs, pancakes, bacon) are much easier to deal with in a skillet. I’d never try to make scrambled eggs in a pressure cooker. As for the oven, it has plenty of room to cook larger dishes. You can’t roast a huge turkey in an air fryer. Also, a hot pan gives meats a fantastic, delicious sear, much better than other alternatives.

But I am just very lazy. I’d never cook anything if I had to use the stove all the time.

Pressure cooker

When I first moved into my apartment, the first appliance I bought was an Instant Pot. I've heard so many good things about it (and pressure cooking in general), and I wanted to give it a try, to see if it lives up to the hype. And it does, for the most part.

The important thing is to set your expectations to a reasonable level. Personally, I find it to work best when working with soups, stews, curries, and the like. I tend to avoid cooking meats in it, as they tend to over-cook and lose some flavor (with the exception of some shredded chicken breasts, seasoned heavily). It can be a bit of a pain to clean up every nook and cranny. And that gasket is impossible to get fully clean.

On the plus side, black beans, stewed meats, pasta, and even rice come out very nicely. I’ve used it quite a bit for black beans, lentil curry (probably my favorite vegetarian/vegan dish), and shredded chicken during the pandemic.

It may not be the miracle worker the Instant Pot fanatics want you to believe it is, but it is pretty nice.

Immersion circulator

I was always interested in sous vide cooking, so no better time than the present to jump in!

I tend to use mine for meats, mainly ones that would be slow-cooked and/or stewed. I've also used it for stuff like chicken breasts and steaks.

On the positive side, it is perfect for cooking meat. Keeping the temperature consistent during the whole cooking process means things come out (nearly) perfectly done. It's useful to have some temperature charts, and you can either go the safe route or play around with temperatures, for different results.

I've made some medium rare steaks, and after a nice sear, they were quite nice. Also, much like the other two devices, it works well for frozen meats. So long as you pre-season your meats before freezing, you'll have no issues with taste (although I've had luck with tossing some seasoning in the bag with the frozen meat). It should work well for slow cooking meats. I made birria recently, and it was a total success! I'm looking forward to making some carne guisada and carnitas pretty soon.

It isn't perfect, however. The main issue is with cooking time. Of course, for stuff that would be slow cooked, that doesn't matter, but for a steak, waiting 2 or 3 hours for it to cook can feel like an eternity when you can just heat up a pan and cook it in 10 minutes or less. On the topic of a pan, the other issue is that there is no sear/browning on the meat. If you want that, you'll still have to pull out a pan and some high-heat-tolerant oil to give it a nice sear. It's not terrible, but it's just another pan and tongs that need cleaning. You could also broil or flash fry it afterwards as well. Or, you can always get one of these contraptions to sear with propane torches. Butane (culinary) torches will work too, and there's a good chance you might have one around (for cooking purposes, obviously).

You'll also need to buy a few things along with the circulator. I bought a plastic 12-quart container with a silicon lid, and a vacuum sealer. Of course, you don't need all that. If you have a large enough pot (say, at least 6 quarts), you'll be able to fit a few steaks or chicken breasts in there. From personal experience, you can use the inner pot of an Instant Pot (or any other pressure cooker). You don't even need a vacuum sealer. So long as you're cooking smaller dishes, and for less than a few hours, a freezer bag will work fine. Heck, you don't even need to buy a circulator for sous vide cooking.

For me, the biggest issue is that I simply don't eat nearly as much meat as I used to, and for most vegetable-based dishes I make, I'd go for the air fryer or even the pressure cooker before I go for the circulator. Roasting soggy vegetables is not my idea of fun.

It really doesn't get much usage outside of occasional meal prep or slow cooking. That said, once the pandemic starts becoming a thing of the past, and I start cooking for a group of people, I see myself using it a lot more often.

Air fryer

An air fryer is really just a small convection oven.

I usually avoid baking, broiling, or roasting, because I don't want to go through all the trouble of cooking in my oven (although for the occasional larger meal, I'll still use it). Because I live alone, a 6 qt. fryer is perfect for my needs. I mainly use mine for vegetables, from roasted brussels sprouts to frozen french fries. I've also made some chicken thighs in it, and they come out pretty nice as well. You don't get as good of a crust as with searing in a hot pan, but again, convenience wins, and I'm generally happy with the amount of browning that occurs. I hope to try baking in it soon enough!

Ultimately, I find the air fryer to be the ultimate compromise. It's not as good (or useful) as the pressure cooker for soups and stews. Meats don't come out anywhere nearly as nice as a sous vide cook with a nice sear. It can't fit nearly as much stuff as my oven and stovetop. But honestly, I've yet to be disappointed with anything I've made in it, which is more than I can say for the other two devices. It's easily the most often-used kitchen appliance in my kitchen. It's just so easy to cook almost anything in there. It's easy to clean. It's small enough for my tiny kitchen. It doesn't heat up my apartment like an oven does. You can get some nice browning and charring with some practice. It's almost as easy to use as my microwave.

Honestly, if you have to pick one of the three last options, pick this one.

Etc.

I'll give more detais about the dishes I've actually made during the pandemic sometime in the future.