Cookers

A cooker is a device for preparing food. Cookers may be as simple as a container/pot, or may also contain a heating chamber where fuel can be burned. They may also refer to only the heating chamber/device. Consequently, they may refer to:

  • Kitchen stoves (British English)
  • Gas stoves (British English)
  • Ultraviolet ovens
  • Solid biofuel stoves
  • Solar cookers
  • Electric cookers
  • Induction cookers
  • Pressure cookers
  • Rice cookers
  • Slow cookers
  • Egg cookers
  • AGA cookers

Using cookers efficiently

Main article: Updated cooking methods in modern kitchens

Any cooker can be used more efficiently by following some simple principles:

  • Always use a lid while boiling.
  • Use a larger cooking pot (when it is appropriate to cook a larger amount). Cooking Larger amounts is more energy efficient than cooking smaller amounts.
  • A wide, shallow pot is better at capturing the heat than a tall narrow one.
  • For a wood stove, having more than one pot on the stove at one time makes better use of the fire, i.e. more efficient. Of course, this assumes the stove is designed for more than one pot - trying to balance more than one pot on a one-pot stove is to be avoided, as it could lead to spills and possible injury.

For more detail, see Wikipedia:Cook stove#Standard approaches to conserving cooking fuel

Food safety

Care must be taken when using a slow cookerW, fireless cooker (i.e. insulated boxes for maintaining a pot at high temperature) or solar cooker:

  • If meat is used, an adequate temperature must be used to ensure the safety of the meat. {Please link to suitable Wikipedia article or other resource describing the temperatures and times needed.[verification needed])
  • If legumes are used, especially kidney beans or chick peas, they must be cooked at a high enough temperature for sufficient time (e.g. at 100 deg C for 20 minutes) to destroy toxic substances, avoiding food poisoning. Cooking at a lower temperature (e.g. 80 deg C) can actually increase toxicity. See Wikipedia:Bean#Toxins. This might also be an issue when cooking legumes at high altitudes, e.g. in Bolivia. (What is the boiling temperature of water in Bolivia, and is it high enough to safely cook legumes?[expansion needed] Chriswaterguy

See also

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