Serious Green: Save Energy with Hypercooking
[Photograph: theogeo on Flickr]
Things are about to get competitive in the kitchen and it's not a Top Chef Quickfire challenge. It's time to start hypercooking.
Hypercooking is defined by The Food Section as "an environmentally conscious way of cooking that seeks to maximize the impact of the energy used during the cooking process."
Hypercooking is the kitchen version of hypermiling, in which drivers change they way they drive and use specific techniques to go as far as possible on a gallon of gas.
In the Big Green Cookbook Jackie Newgent offers hypercooking tips and recipes, such as one for cookies that finish baking in the residual heat of the oven.
Try these tips, after the jump, to save energy and maximize every last bit of energy you use.
Skip Preheating
OK, maybe not with a cake or a soufflé, but other dishes such as casseroles or baked pastas will be fine starting out in a cold oven. Think of all the energy you're missing out on every time you let your oven preheat with nothing in it.
Turn the Oven Off Before the Dish Is Done
It takes a long time for an oven to cool down. Take advantage of that residual heat by letting your dish finish cooking in it.
Green-Grill It
Same idea as above. Turn the grill off and let those veggies finish cooking over the dying flames.
Don't Use an Oven
Instead of an oven or other large appliance, use a smaller, more efficient toaster oven, pressure cooker, slow cooker or rice cooker. Hey, it worked for Evan Kleiman.
Get Creative
Take advantage of the hot steam coming off a pot of boiling water for pasta. Put a glass bowl with your sauce ingredients over the pot, as the pasta cooks, the ingredients will warm up and melt. Instead of dumping that boiling water pasta water down the drain, use it to heat your serving bowl.
Turn Things Off
When you're done cooking and eating, make sure you're still not using energy. Corral small appliances like the toaster, coffee grinder, and phone charger all onto one power strip. This will allow you to cut down on vampire power. Electronics that are plugged in, even if they are off, still suck power from the electric grid. Just flip one button off when you leave and you will have cut off the flow to all of your hungry units.
Related: Serious Green: Ten Cheap & Green Kitchen Tips
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2 Comments:
"Don't Use an Oven" works for Eric Ripert as well.
http://blog.aveceric.com/category/gettoasted
Thought I suspect his use of the toaster oven has less to do with wanting to be green than the absurd amounts of green that Cuisinart surely paid him to endorse their ovens.
davidyy at 8:09PM on 09/22/09
These area all great tips, especially the "Skip preheating" one. I do this often to save time, but it also saves energy! I never even thought of turning of oven off before the dish is done - that's an awesome idea.
You might want to check out a new contest our team here at Brighter Planet just launched called Mastering the Art of Sustainable Cooking - You'll find more green cooking tips, and can share your own experiences.
mvaughan at 10:18AM on 09/23/09