Yup, it functions almost exactly like one. Heh. Okay, let’s say your microwave suddenly stopped working and you need to heat up something in a jiffy.
Ideally, you don’t have to clean up anything too, which you’ll need to if you use the traditional method of a wok and boiling water with the food suspended above.
This is based on the same principle – the steam from an electric kettle (hereby dubbed a “ghetto microwave”) will do the same thing.
I did it with an awkward sized food item (in this case a sandwich/burger) that’s been in the fridge for a day. I just put some water in the ghetto microwave and turned it on. You don’t even need to hold the food there, just let the lid clamp over it.
There are only two downsides to this:
- You need to rotate the food item to ensure thorough heating
- You have to pop in and check on it once in a while coz the auto-shutoff mechanism won’t kick in when the lid is propped open like that
this is classic sixthseal man. lol. from the good old days.
Heh! Cheers bro! 🙂
Yeah, come to think of it, I haven’t wrote anything for Hmm… lately. Haha!
Thanks for reading! 🙂
LOL!!! Looks like I’m not the only one. I’ve done that – but with a mug as a stand, food in a saucer on top (I think I had some nyona kuihs to heat up)…and a little bit of water in the kettle, boiled to steam.
Haha! That’s creative! 🙂
How did you manage to use a mug and a saucer for a stand inside an electric kettle?
Won’t the heating element prevent a solid base from being established?
I must use your method, it sounds easier than my “shifting food item around” for consistent heating.
Cheers buddy! 🙂
May be easier to boil water and pour into a pot – food in bowl or saucer (on a mug) inside and cover tight…and wait for a while. I was in a hotel – desperation drives people to desperate measures. LOL!!!
Heh! You have a good point there.
That would take ages to cook though, the steam escaping this is very hot (nearly scalded myself) and it cooks very quickly. 🙂
It’s still a great idea in a tight situation though. Cheers buddy! 😀
hahaha! creative la u !! not bad.. at least u successfully heat up the food! 😉
Haha! Well, I was a bit stuck – didn’t want to eat a cold sandwich/burger and was looking at ways to reheat it when my eyes glanced upon the electric kettle.
I’ve also used it to cook instant noodles, eggs and other random stuff.
Come to think of it, I should write something along the lines of “How to cook using an electric kettle”.
Bare bones stuff. 😉
Cheers Eunice! 😀
next up, iron toaster? hahaha
Haha! I’ve tried that before – not as a toaster but as a grill.
Used bacon on top of it after browsing slashdot.
I didn’t get it to work though, but that was using an inferior iron back in 2005. Perhaps another experiment is in line!
Cheers mate! 🙂
actually Iran had a similar excuse when explaining to the US about the stockpiled uranium they had …. had to ‘nuke’ some goats for dinner after their microwave had died…. OHIOOoooooooo
Haha! That would be a feast for kings! 😉
It’ll take a whole lotta goats to require that much uranium.
It would certainly make a funny excuse though, would love to see the faces of the Secretary of State if someone had said that. Heh.
Cheers mate! 🙂
Lol! Creative way to reheat. XD
Haha! You know what they say:
In times of need…
…er, I forgot the rest of the quote…or maybe that is the entire quote. 😉
I had a need at that point – to heat up a sandwich/burger so I improvised.
Cheers Sherrie! 🙂
Gosh i never thought you could do that. And if you put water into the kettle with the sandwich, doesn’t the water get into your sandwich?
Hello Eiling! 🙂
Nope! The sequence makes only the hot steam escaping from the lid heat up the sandwich so there’s no excessive moisture:
1. Put water into electric kettle
2. Put sandwich on the lid and “close” it, thus wedging the sandwich between the lid
This prevents it from shutting off when it’s reaching boiling point (probably coz it can’t reach boiling point) – and copious amounts of water vapor will come out to heat the sandwich/burger.
The food is not put inside the electric kettle, but above it, wedged nicely in place, preferably with it’s wrapper so you don’t have to wash the lid afterwards.
Cheers! 🙂
=.=||| zha dou…
people gets really creative when he/she is desperate haha
Haha! I also thought it’ll be fun to do.
…and it was, took photos of it coz it really worked and posted about it. Heh.
Cheers Constance! 🙂
Does the word safety mean anything? Electricity is a powerful force which you should never under estimate.
Yup, it’s a word in the dictionary about something or other that I can’t exactly recall. 😉
Seriously mate, it’s all fun and games, until someone gets hurt that is. Heh.
Appreciate your concern though.
Cheers mate! 😀
that is a clever idea…
I don’t have microwave in my house..
I will use a wok to heat up the food…
I do have one but unfortunately it stopped working…
…so I resorted to this. I don’t have a wok – my kitchen is very small since I live in a studio and the two heating plates won’t be able to accommodate a wok. 😡
Cheers bro! 🙂
running survival mode eh HB? but its a good idea though…and my only worry is that this will be the idea that many will adopt in hotels. as if ppl using it to cook instant noodles isn’t bad enough:(
Yup, ultra survival mode! 🙂
Seriously!
Heh. Yeah, that would be very messy not to mention dangerous – with carpets and all that.
I do it in my house where I kept an eye on it. I’m going to come out with a list of stuff you can cook in a electric kettle. It would make a fun post. 🙂
Cheers! 😀
LOL good idea! But what did you wrap your burger with? Is that a tissue paper or plastic bag?
I used the original wrapper. Heh.
If not, I’ll use a heavy duty serviette – tissues would disintegrate and I’m pretty sure plastic bags would melt.
The heat from the water vapor coming out is quite intense.
Cheers Charmaine! 🙂
Wow, is the kettle alright?
I guess I’m the fortunate ones to have an oven in the house. Truth be told, I don’t own any plastic kettle, can’t give it a shot.
Heh! Yeah the kettle is fine! 🙂
I have a microwave too but unfortunately, it broke down. 😡
Thus, I had to improvise! 😀
Cheers Ciana! 🙂
wah so creative one! i hope it doesnt take too long 🙂
Heh! Thanks Fish! 🙂
Nope, it doesn’t take long at all – 3 minutes of full steam will be enough to totally heat the burgers…
…and it won’t dry it out either!
Cheers! 😀
omg… i just learnt something new
Heh! Well, I want to come out with an entire list of stuff you can cook in an electric kettle.
When I was a student, I even cooked eggs in a microwave (with the shell removed first of course).
I’ll love to come out with an unconventional list for a ghetto microwave.
Cheers mate! 🙂
Jesus Christ, I’ve done something similar before! Had a cook out party and back then I used to live in a place that didn’t have a stove. I boiled my potatoes by putting them in an electric kettle. Took pretty damn long to boil but heck, it did the job 😛
Nifty! I’ve never boiled potatoes inside before, good idea though! 😀
I shall credit you when I come up with that in the definitive Cooking with an Electric Kettle post.
Yup, that’s what I was thinking at the time too – microwave stopped working, so I used the kettle to heat it up via steam instead.
Works just as well and it doesn’t dry it out to boot!
Cheers Jess! 🙂
Wow! never tried this method before! Thanks for sharing! But I will only ever use this when all else fail! LOL!
Heh! No worries! 🙂
Yeah, this is totally meant as a “last resort” kind of measure.
It was out of desperation coz I couldn’t nuke it (microwave broke down) that I did this. Worked just as well.
Cheers mate! 🙂
At present I was so tired, and now this time I have got some relax by seeing this comic YouTube video, thanks, keep it up.