
Dishwasher Cooking: Make Your Dinner While Cleaning The Plates - nkzednan
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/08/25/214799882/dishwasher-cooking-make-your-dinner-while-cleaning-the-plates
======
kqr2
Also consider cooking with your car:

[http://www.wikihow.com/Cook-Food-on-Your-
Car%27s-Engine](http://www.wikihow.com/Cook-Food-on-Your-Car%27s-Engine)

[http://www.amazon.com/Manifold-Destiny-Guide-Cooking-
Engine/...](http://www.amazon.com/Manifold-Destiny-Guide-Cooking-
Engine/dp/1416596232/)

~~~
Hinrik
Mythbusters also tried it (with the help of Alton Brown) in their "Surreal
Gourmet Hour" episode
([http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqABijWMlxA](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqABijWMlxA)).
Incidentally, that episode also had a bit on cooking with a dishwasher but it
was cut ([http://mentalfloss.com/article/13132/mythbustersalton-
brown-...](http://mentalfloss.com/article/13132/mythbustersalton-brown-
experiment-you-didnt-see)).

~~~
DanWaterworth
Interesting, I watched that episode in the UK and both the cooking on the car
and cooking with the dishwasher parts were in there.

~~~
tobbel
They cut the episodes shorter in the US to fit more ads. I haven't seen the
episode in question, but the amount of cut time might be enough to remove a
small segment.

------
philstephenson
Good chefs will always tell you: Use the right knife for the right job. Can we
not simply use our kitchen appliances and tools for what they were designed
for? The author suggests (and I'm inclined to agree) that using a dishwasher
to poach salmon is a fairly wasteful use of electricity and water. If you want
poached salmon, get out a pot and some water. If you're really particular you
could buy a cheap thermometer to poach at whatever temperature you choose, and
I'd be willing to bet you'd get more consistent results than using a large
machine designed to clean plates. I'm all for new techniques and ideas in the
kitchen, but this is a fad that should not and will not stick around for long.

~~~
darkarmani
> Good chefs will always tell you: Use the right knife for the right job. Can
> we not simply use our kitchen appliances and tools for what they were
> designed for?

I guess you never used a torch to reverse sear meat? The right knife for the
job is the one that gets the best results. I do agree that there are probably
better ways to get the same results, but if you dishwasher gets you the exact
temps you need, go for it. I do a lot of sous vide steaks in a large cooler.

------
loupeabody
Could this be considered a derivative of Sous-vide[0]? That is, the mason jar
technique is cooking in an air-tight container and temperature is at least
somewhat regulated by the dishwasher. Have I had access to a cheap sous-vide
machine this whole time!?

[0][http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sous-vide](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sous-
vide)

~~~
anigbrowl
Sort of, but the temperature to a large extent depends on your water supply.
Also, sous-vide often means cooking at low temperature for much longer than a
dishwasher cycle. If you want to get into it on the cheap and are willing to
experiment, a slow cooker is another option.

~~~
joezydeco
My dishwasher runs too quickly and my water is too hot to make this technique
usable. I've had great success with a $20 crockpot and the Dorkfood DSV, a no-
frills PID controller that you can get on Amazon right now for $99. Much
cheaper and easier than the other Kickstarter projects or making your own with
an Arduino or something.

And I didn't think about the energy angle until now, but I'd think the
crockpot transfers heat much more efficiently than a dishwasher, where most of
the joules are going down the drain in a short period of time.

~~~
VLM
"And I didn't think about the energy angle until now"

It doesn't matter except for greenwashing / guilt tripping purposes.
Engineering analysis below or you can just trust me.

The embedded energy in food is very high, enough to cremate the food quite
easily. Actually enough to cremate the food and vaporize the ashes. Takes an
astounding amount of diesel to make a can of corn and deliver it to your
table, for example.

WRT dishwasher salmon from the 70s (rediscovered periodically in the 80s, 90s,
00s, and 10s, just like acid, but I digress) I googled around and found a
"Kentucky State University" presentation claiming farmed salmon takes 11 MJ
per portion to create and deliver to your kitchen before it gets cooked. To
about one sig fig 1 MJ = 1 KWh so for a family of 4 you're looking at an
embedded energy of "forty" KWh to provide the salmon. Its hard to envision a
cooking technique requiring more than "forty" hours at a KW or 40 KW for an
hour unless you get ridiculous like using a literal rocket engine or thousands
(millions?) of green eco friendly watch batteries. Maybe if you burned
organically grown truffle oil in a camp stove, or made charcoal out of beef
instead of hardwood and grilled on it. Its not physically possible for my
dishwasher to approach even 4 KWh... I did the wiring, I know you can't draw
that much current over as short of a time as one cycle...

The article also fixated on running the washer with soap on a normal load so
you're really only "wasting" a fraction of its capacity, and most people don't
run a washer at full capacity anyway, therefore the "waste" is typically zero.

The amortized medical costs are much higher. So one time in a thousand the
package un-noticably leaks all over and everyone in the family gets horribly
food poisoned when using the contaminated dishes, leading to multiple days
lost labor, and little billy needs an ER visit for IV rehydration at $2K blah
blah and suddenly using a crock pot or buying a real sous vide cooker starts
looking like the cheapest alternative by far.

------
robomartin
Be very careful when cooking with plastics, there are dangers in the sous vide
technique if the wrong kind of bag is used.

[http://www.yourdoctorsorders.com/2012/12/sous-vide-and-
plast...](http://www.yourdoctorsorders.com/2012/12/sous-vide-and-plastics/)

------
gilgoomesh
Did anyone watch the Mythbusters episode where Alton Brown cooked a lasagne in
the dishwasher?

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IaT90jhuB0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IaT90jhuB0)

~~~
PhasmaFelis
Damn, I need to watch more Alton Brown. _And_ more Mythbusters.

------
jcampbell1
This is gross. Cooking salmon is all about the crispy skin. Without that, you
should just eat canned salmon. Salmon is the easiest fish to cook. Put the
oven on broil, burn the shit out of the fish on the skin side with a bit of
oil in a pan, then put it in the oven. The top and bottom will be crusty, and
it will be perfect.

If you want the canned salmon taste, put it is the dishwasher. Then again, you
could just eat warmed canned salmon.

~~~
Jack000
This is gross. Salmon is wasted if not eaten raw.

Or you know, it's possible that different people have different tastes.

~~~
jacquesm
Eat only the best Salmon raw please.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diseases_and_parasites_in_salmo...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diseases_and_parasites_in_salmon)

~~~
sambeau
DO eat Raw Salmon!

I eat raw Salmon all the time. It's safe.

Either freeze it first (not ideal) or use Farmed Salmon that is treated for
parasites. Soak it in vinegar before using if you are worried about bacteria
on the outside.

I go for the farmed option and use Farmed Scottish Salmon (I'm in the UK) as
it is proven to be safe for Sashimi. In fact, any EU-produced farmed Salmon is
safe to eat raw.

[http://learnhowtomakesushi.wordpress.com/2012/07/02/you-
can-...](http://learnhowtomakesushi.wordpress.com/2012/07/02/you-can-now-eat-
raw-salmon-safely-fishmongers-read-on/)

Recipe:

When using supermarket Salmon I rummage around in the fridge looking for the
freshest (far away date, firm body, not gooey, no 'leakage') and the most
marbled with fat (the fattier the better in my experience). I use the large
wedge-shaped steaks as the thin, flat tail-ends have too much surface area for
the amount of meat. Farmed trout is also great eaten raw.

When I get it home I skin it and drop it into vinegar & salt for a few minutes
(I wait until I see the skin start to whiten a little) before diluting it into
a marinade (teriyaki sauce, soy-sauce, ginger, honey, …; or dill, chives,
black pepper, …).

Leave for 15 mins to a day or so depending how 'cooked' you want it. If you
are going to leave it over night add a little water or booze so the marinade
doesn't overpower the delicate fish.

Pat dry with a kitchen roll. Slice into thin rectangular chunks with a large
very sharp knife.

~~~
huhtenberg
> I eat raw Salmon all the time. It's safe.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sashimi#Safety](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sashimi#Safety)

~~~
sambeau
The European regulations linked there are out of date (2004). I linked to an
article about the new ones.

“The study was included in a wider EU review of parasites in fishery products
carried out by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), which confirmed the
Scottish findings and led to the introduction of the EU freezing exemption for
farmed fish in 2011”.

~~~
huhtenberg
> exemption for _farmed_ fish

A) Farmed fish only. The same fish that comes with a hefty dose of antibiotics
and other tasty compounds [0], stuff that does break up but only if the fish
is cooked.

B) Now, wild salmon has parasites as it grows up and spawns in fresh water. I
assume this is not a contention point.

A + B + tell me again that you are OK with eating raw salmon and I'll tell you
that you either like parasites or toxins :)

And, after all, all salmon sashimi you'd get in any Japanese place comes from
the deep-frozen fish.

    
    
      --
    

[0]
[http://www.albany.edu/ihe/salmonstudy/pressrelease.html](http://www.albany.edu/ihe/salmonstudy/pressrelease.html)
\- First hit in Google for "eating farmed salmon raw"

~~~
sambeau
If you read my first comment I said exactly that.

If it's wild — freeze it.

If it's farmed — it's probably OK (from a parasitical point-of-view).

Even in wild salmon the main risks of parasitical infection are from Tapeworm
[1] (easily treatable) and Aniskasis [1][2](common in all fish, not a human
parasite, usually not harmful). Plus, in the case of Anisakis cooking doesn't
destroy the toxins that we react to so if it is infected theres a chance of a
stomach upset and/or an allergic reaction even if cooked.

With the current crisis of overfishing wild fish in the waters around the UK
the environmental argument against farmed fish is tricky and complicated. I'd
sooner eat farmed fish than endangered fish or bottom-trawled fish.

As your link states, the biggest danger from eating salmon regularly is from
PCBs, dioxins, dieldrin, and toxaphene etc. Freezing & cooking will do nothing
for them. Plus these dangers appear in all large fish.

As for:

    
    
      after all, all salmon sashimi you'd get in any Japanese place 
      comes from the deep-frozen fish.
    

May be the case in the US but it's not the case in the EU or, indeed, Japan.

[1][http://www.nytimes.com/1981/09/30/garden/eating-raw-fish-
the...](http://www.nytimes.com/1981/09/30/garden/eating-raw-fish-the-
dangers.html)

[2][http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anisakis](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anisakis)

------
emtfan
Also a recent EMT episode of dishwasher lasagne

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08S9AmtH19o](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08S9AmtH19o)

~~~
cheeyoonlee
Been a fan since the beginning

------
andrelaszlo
There's a swedish blog (and book) about alternative cooking devices such as
hair-straighteners, dishwashers and coffee makers.

[http://kaffekokarkokboken.blogg.se/2013/july/alternative-
coo...](http://kaffekokarkokboken.blogg.se/2013/july/alternative-cooking-
devices.html)

------
pessimizer
I worked in two different restaurants in the early 90s where this was the
method used to bake potatoes. I have no idea if it was ever common.

~~~
Ntrails
Every kitchen I've ever worked in has a commercial dishwasher. These run for 2
minutes a cycle and would be completely unsuitable to baking potatoes (or
anything else for that matter).

I have seen them used to wash potatoes though, to save time. I can't say I
thought it was a great idea but it never seemed to kill anyone...

------
traughber
As a fan of cooking without fire, I like this.

~~~
sliverstorm
More or less than cooking with an electric stove, which is basically the exact
same type of device?

~~~
ygra
Except it uses air instead of water for conveying the heat.

------
kentwistle
Title is misleading. The article clearly states that you cannot add any
washing solution. So you cannot clean your plates, at the same time.

~~~
petercooper
If you continue to read, though:

 _Instead of using aluminum foil, as many websites recommend, you should put
the food into airtight canning jars or food vacuum bags. Then the hot water
doesn 't touch the food. So you can add soap to the cycle and really clean
your dishes while poaching dinner._

