How To Manage to Cook in High Temperatures

[piazzola]

Interested to know what do you cook when the high temperatures strike?

I do make falafels, dal vadas, mexican style refried beans with tortillas to spare, cold borscht,cold meats with salsa criolla.

[Shalmanese]

I'm curious with temps hitting 47C has anyone attempted sous vide salmon by just leaving it on the counter?

[Syrah]

I'm using the BBQ a lot (it's in a confined backyard and gas which makes it okay during total fire ban according to the NSW Fire service).

Tonight we had felafel and meatballs with zucchini and eggplant - all cooked on the BBQ in pita wraps with salad and tzatziki. Very nice and filling too,

Uncooked tomato pasta sauces have been pretty popular too. Fresh tomatoes chopped with basil and olive oil left at room temperature for the day. Really incredible taste of summer.

Also, since the good corn has finally started coming in DH is eating a lot of that.

Tomorrow, we're having a tomato tart and green salad.

[helenjp]

When the temperature gets close to 40, I start using "enclosed" cookers such as my bread machine or pressure cooker - they heat the kitchen up much less than longer cooking over a gas flame or in an oven. Pressure cooking also means that food is cooked at high heat, so I have fewer hygiene worries, and I find that pressure cooked meat absorbs flavorings very well and is extra tasty cold in sandwiches, salads etc.

[AdrianB]

Gazpacho. It's become cliche but made properly it's the pinnacle of deliciousness.

Croquettes. 40 minutes to make the filling but then enough for a snack over the next day or three. A quick batch in the fryer outside and it's no fuss. Goes great with a salad and homemade mustard.

Jellied meats/vegetables. This can be really delicious - I'm not sure why savoury jellies with tasty morsels inside has fallen out of fashion in Australia. They're still big in Japan during summer.

[Shinboners]

It's salads in my household. Get some good quality cured meats, some salad leaves with tomatoes, olives, artichoke hearts, and some mustard, olive oil, and lemon juice, and I'm happy. Oh, and a beer or two goes down well too.

[CaliPoutine]

Haha, today( where I live in Ontario, Canada) was 9C after weeks of -22C so I can't even fathom what 47C feels like.

But, it does get pretty warm here in the summer, I think the highest was 40C. For us, its salads, salads and more salads. I can't even think of cooking when its that hot out( even though we have A/C). I find it the summer, I just want to eat fresh and light.

[polly]

On the day before we had the 3 days of 40C+ I BBQ'd/smoked a rolled shoulder of pork, with potatoes and onions in the drip tray underneath.

This gave us cold sliced meat for the next 3 days which we ate with flat bread, lettuce, mayo, pickles, that sort of thing.

I was tempted to wrap a chicken in foil and leave it on the bricks outside...I'll have to leave that experiment for next summer.

[piazzola]

Thank you all so far

@AdrianB reminded me of Argentinean pickled pig trotters or beef tonges and Ukrainian holodiets or holodets, again pig's trotters cooked pork meat in jelly or aspic with both carry loads of garlic great for hot weather.

Never have been a fan of gazpachos myself I find it too hard to get a good flavour especially with bough vegies.

@Syrah you reminded me of a famous pizza in Buenos Aires prepared with uncooked tomato sauce.

@Shinboners well yes small goods yes but prices go through the roof when shopping for quality luckily I pickle my own olives.

Edited February 21, 2009 by piazzola (log)

[debbster]

in summer, we like serving sang-choy-bow and the korean sam-gyop-sal. lettuce is so refreshing! and for dessert, black gelatin with lots of ice.

[piazzola]

in summer, we like serving sang-choy-bow and the korean sam-gyop-sal.  lettuce is so refreshing!  and for dessert, black gelatin with lots of ice.

←

Ok do not nothing about that but hope is not kimchi.

[HungryC]

Tomato aspic can be nice, though a little US-1950s-retro. My favorite beat-the-heat foods are seafood-based: cold crabmeat salad, shrimp remoulade, boiled large shrimp w/a couple of different dipping sauces. I also adore goi ga, a vietnamese shredded cabbage, mint, holy basil, carrot, and poached chicken salad garnished with chopped peanuts and crunchy shallots. The key is the dressing: pound a clove of garlic with a cayenne pepper until pasty, then add rice vinegar and a pinch of sugar & salt.

[whisks]

when we were going through our heatwave earlier this year, i did my cooking outside. i have an induction hotplate and a turbo oven which i take outside - i do all my prep inside, then take what i need outside to cook. keeps all the heat out of the house.

[Porthos]

Temperatures where I live in southern California have been hitting triple digits. Since I am unemployed with no form of revenue stream (fortunately my wife is still employed but her income doesn't begin to cover our expenses) I can't run the air conditioner much. Yesterday it was 107F outside and 93F in the kitchen. Who wants to add to that heat? Also I think that the frequent use of my convection toaster oven has been adding to the electric bill more that I care have to pay for.

 

A couple of days ago I decided to do something I did several years ago. We have a large back yard which is the dog's and the weeds' domain. We do have a patio. Normally it only has an unused table,

the regular propane BBQ and my wood-fired smoker. I rearranged things so I could bring out my free-standing Camp Chef camping stove (30k BTU burners) , a small chrome shelf for a landing space and brought out both the small propane BBQ we use for traveling and my old Coleman 3-burner camp stove since I can't get the flame low enough on the big stove for some things I cook.   Yesterday I made a chicken pasta salad for dinner and realized I didn't have an easy way to drain the pasta.  In the evening I remembered that we had an old camping kitchen-with-sink in the garage so today I brought that out, cleaned it up and added it to the setup. It is at the edge of the patio and I just place the drain hose on the sink to empty onto the dirt. This setup should get me through the summer.

 

Food-wise I am having to think long and hard about cold or room temperature since one of my foibles is liking hot meals all the time. I don't do cold sandwiches for lunch as an example. For sides for meals I would like to add some cold bean dishes. My problem is that I most decidedly do not like vinaigrette dressings and similar tart-to-me dressings. I'm pretty much a creamy-stuff guy. If anyone could point me in the direction of bean dishes with creamy dressings I would appreciate it.

 

I just got inspired to make potato salad to go with dinner tonight. Not exactly traditional with London broil done on the BBQ but it will be a cool side.

 

[heidih]

Porthos - avocado and cucumber with chickpeas is a nice mix and you can add tartness to taste if desired with a squeeze of lemon or splash of vinegar or a few spoons of yogurt or crumbled feta. Also think about our old "favorite" California onion dip - either with the packet or a home version. Lighten it by using yogurt versus sour cream if you prefer. Seasonal vegetables either raw or lightly cooked or grilled along with hummus, or the aforementioned dip, or eggplant dip like baba ganoush is a filling satisfying meal especially with some decent bread. Deviled eggs, tuna salad, and similar standards are nice to have on hand so you can fix yourselves a mix and match plate as your appetite dictates with the nasty heat. 

Edited July 25, 2014 by heidih (log)

[Shelby]

I feel your pain, Porthos.  A couple summers ago it was 100+ every day for two months at least.  We had a lot of BLT's.  I know you said no sandwiches, but with good tomatoes and bacon, what could be bad about that lol.  I'll keep thinking I know there are lots more ideas to be had.

[rotuts]

in my area it gets hot  ( boston ) but its the humidity that Kills.  i grew up in the SF bay area.  if it got to 80, people swooned and

 

bitched a lot.

 

it can get to the low 90'and humid for say 2 weeks a year.  it doesnt cool off much as it almost always did on the Penisula.

 

I use the weber for 'baking'  I routinely do 5 Lbs of potatoes ( on sale please ) on the grill for P salad etc later in the week.

 

I have avery anemic remote temp probe that transmits to my ' base station ' inside.  I do not have air conditioning.  but I was able 

 

few years ago with  a 'small' wind fall  ( ie aapl options ) to get a new roof, inner-insulation, siding and double and triple pane

 

windows. so with a fan inside Im OK

 

I also am blessed with the GrillGrates, so that when I now do outside 'gills' the heat is uniform and I do not have to outside muc.

 

Ive done 5 lbs with out them, you just have to be 'Paying Attention'

 

vertical chicken  ( on sale ) are very nice on the Web. for future Ck. dishes  :  in a salad ( green ) on a traditional Ck Salad. etc

 

Ive been able to take my Bread Machine ( plain vanilla amazonian ) outside, and my coffee roasting systems.

 

Ive also been able to take the Cuisinart Combi outside too.

 

what I take of this is  : plan ahead w your outside cooking, cook as much as your can and make cooler things after all that stuff cools

 

if you dont have 90 % humidity, and Killer Easter Mosquitos, have a tall ice cold Chilly One in an Ice Cold glass and realze:

 

youve got nothing to complain about 

 

well maybe : you do not have any water !  I way that politely 

 

I could send  you some from my basement, over night "PrePaid" either UPS or Fed Ex OverNight if you like ? After then next

 

Hurricano if you like ?  Id pass it twice though a Britta Filter. Twice . thats just me 

 

Eastern Mosquitos are a bit extra, but affordable.

 

Edited July 25, 2014 by rotuts (log)

[sculptor]

Oddly enough, modern pressure cookers require so little heat and vent so litte that they don't heat up the kitchen that much.

[Smithy]

I keep reading about solar cookers and how easy they are to make: a box, some aluminum foil, some clear plastic or plexiglass. They can supposedly reach high temperatures in the interior, but I haven't gotten around to trying it. Has anyone in the sweltering regions tried that? I'm thinking especially of you folks in sunny Southern California.

[liuzhou]

We are at about 35ºC/95ºF and will remain there until about late September or early October.

We eat little in the day time.

 

If I do lunch (which I often skip in summer), it will be a really simple pasta dish (garlic and olive oil - maybe an anchovy)  or a more Chinese noodle dish (Jinhua ham, scallion, garlic). 

 

After we dark we pretend it has cooled down and go out to eat. Let someone else deal with it

 

But even then we slow down a bit. Last night I was invited by some good friends to eat in a Hunan restaurant. Normally we would go for the heavily smoked meat and rich stews. But we mostly ate very light dishes. Shrimp, beautiful fish in a spicy but light soup, another soup with pork balls and tea tree mushrooms, simple stir friend cauliflower, eggplant and celery. There were some others.

The one dish which totally failed was one of my favourites. Yongzhou Blood Duck - which I have eaten in Yongzhou more than once. It was perfectly cooked and utterly delicious, but didn't work in the heat. Too rich. Too robust.

But I'll go back to that restaurant - in December.

 

No pictures. It was kind of inappropriate.Next time.

Edited July 28, 2014 by liuzhou (log)

[Anna N]

I keep reading about solar cookers and how easy they are to make: a box, some aluminum foil, some clear plastic or plexiglass. They can supposedly reach high temperatures in the interior, but I haven't gotten around to trying it. Has anyone in the sweltering regions tried that? I'm thinking especially of you folks in sunny Southern California.

I know my number one son has built a number of solar ovens and has cooked everything from banana bread to pot roast in them. He lives in Central Ontario.

[CatPoet]

We are  in a heatwave a lovely 30- 35 C here in Sweden.  My apartment is cooler then the outside by 5C so it is oki.  The fan died last night, it just gave up and my husband is now trying to repair it.

I cook as I would do normally and we eat a little bit later then normally would do.  My daughter thinks icecreams are perfect as food, I think not and gives her  cold bananas and ice cold smoothies.

[Porthos]

Pictures of my patio setup. Remember that I've already said that the backyard is the domain of the dog and the weeds.

 

My regular BBQ

 

 

The main stove and sink setup:

Our dog is the dumbest but sweetest thing. I think she would be willing to help a burglar break into the house if she had opposable thumbs.

 

The Coleman stove for when I want less powerful burners:

 

 

And the portable BBQ at the ready if I want it:

 

Everything is powered by propane. I have many 20 lb propane cylinders between those I own and those I store for my ren faire guild kitchen (they belong to the guild).

 

Since I've set this up the only thing I've done on the stove in my regular kitchen is making French omelets al a  Julia Child. The burner is on for maybe 2 minutes.

 

Now I have to figure out tonight's dinner. My DW has asked for meatless Mondays which is a challenge for a carnivore like me. I made a Navy Bean stew last week. Saturday night was make-you-own tacos with sort-of-chili-beans so chili is out. The black beans that I cooked yesterday are earmarked for some rice-and-bean patties my daughter wants to make. But rest assured whatever it is it will be prepared out on the patio.

 

[Smithy]

Porthos, how's your tomato supply? When I was in the San Joaquin Valley for most of last summer, we kept the kitchen cool by eating a lot of salads. I know salad has been mentioned already, but caprese-style came to mind just now in the context of Meatless Monday. Really good tomatoes, mozzarella, garlic, basil, cured meat (you can keep that part for yourself), drizzled with a bit of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and accompanied by a nice baguette or loaf of garlic bread to soak up the juices. The salad marinates itself; you can doll it up with olives (or not). We put salami or sopressata in ours, but wouldn't particularly have missed it if absent. To me that was the essence of summer - followed by a good fruit salad, or peach ice cream.

You and I have the same grill! Ours will be cooking brats tonight, under careful supervision of our own all-too-amiable watchdog. ;-)

[CatPoet]

We had to eat in the livingroom due to the heat in the kitchen.   We had a picnic at the  coffee table,   we made it special and fun for our melting daughter.