Refugee cooking

Reduced cooking facilities

 

I had been dreading the turmoil of builders coming in.  Having just got used to the vagaries of our kitchen, I was going to see it all thrown to the winds.  I began to think of how we would cope.  When I looked at the Argos catalogue, however, the possibilities seemed greater than I had anticipated.  The last time I endured this upheaval I'd got a microwave and a double ring and washed up in the bathroom basin.  This time at least I had the sink in the utility area (a rather grand name for a space under the stairs).  But Argos opened my eyes to the possibilities of steamers, slow cookers, halogen ovens and deep fryers.  Friends recommended something with an incomprehensible Czech name that could substitute for an oven. 

 

Unusually, a sense of proportion clicked in: Paul's tenants next door are moving out at the end of the month so we only had three weeks or so to endure serious chaos, as we could move in there for the worst.  I'd been thinking of a slow cooker: then one day there was a smell of something stewing next door for the whole day, and I realised that a slow cooker would fill the house with a casserole smell for hours.  Fine if you're out at work but a bit of a pain if you're in.  So that was out.  The incomprehensible Czech cooker came in at over £100 so that was eliminated as well.  I thought I could manage fine with a two-burner ring and a steamer.  After all, steamers are healthy, aren't they?

 

The steamer certainly works.  And I'm sure it's a healthy way of cooking.  However, what they don't tell you is that the steam has to go somewhere, and that it emerges from holes in the top tray and on to the ceiling.  If the ceiling's low and old, you start getting concerned about the possibility of eating lath and plaster with your veggies.  Also, when you come to dish up, and remove the tray from the steamer, water drips out over work surface and floor.  So it's not ideal.

 

The two-ring burner, on the other hand, has been rather a triumph.  I've managed to do a casserole on it without difficulty, and of course the frying-pan plus pot of boiling water combination for veg has worked a treat.  The steamer has come in as an auxiliary.  I'm feeling quite proud. 

 

On the other hand, the tenants told us today that they've exchanged contracts on their new house and are definitely moving at the end of the month.  Phew! 

 

Antony Mair