53 minutes ago, horseflesh said:
Now this is interesting, what kind of cooking do you do below 175F?
The chemical reactions that cook food mostly happen below 175F. For those standing at a stove, it's really convenient to cook at a higher temperature to get faster reactions--but often at the expense of making the food less healthy or requiring more human attention, etc.
A quick example of cooking below 175F is a breakfast of steak and eggs. I fill a 24cm pot with water and then sous vide steak at 59C (138F). On another Control Freak, I put a few large eggs in a 20cm saute pan at 59C (138F) as well, using slow intensity, and I cover the pan. This holds the eggs at a temperature where the yellow is still runny but the food is safe to leave on the burner for a while. After the steak is fully cooked (45 minutes to an hour) I come back and turn up the temperature on the eggs to 79C (174F) and let them cook at that higher temperature for 3-4 minutes while I plate the sous vide steak (optionally seared on each side really quickly). Then I plate the deliciously- and consistently-cooked eggs onto the top of the steak. Breakfast is served.
As for other foods, I cook veggies and pretty much everything else at <175F temperatures. I sometimes put a little water in the bottom of the pan to help with spreading around the heat--and then drain it from the pan before plating. Sometimes I turn up the temperature for a minute right at the end for charring effect for people who like that. But mostly I just start cooking a half hour or so before people or myself are going to want to eat--and then get up maybe once or twice to stir for a few seconds.
And when I do meal prep and prepare several days of meals in advance, I use the same trick. I just put the already-prepared food (which itself usually wasn't quick-cooked originally) into a saute pan and maybe add a little water. Then I put a lid on it and turn the temperature to somewhere between 60C (140F) and 70C (158F) depending on the food and how "hot" I want it to feel when it's done. Then I walk away and it's ready to eat a little while later. [I've even done this with frozen dinners from the grocery store; it's amazing how much better frozen meals taste--especially ones with chicken or the like in them--when warmed up at 60C/140F instead of using the microwave instructions.]
Some foods require a little higher temperature. When I make brown rice for example, I basically simmer the rice in water at around 93C/200F. But honestly a good rice cooker is better-optimized for rice, so I reluctantly prefer rice-cooker-cooked rice where available.
As for pasta, well, I need ~100C (~212F) for that kind of cooking. And for foods which require a few temperatures or methods, I tend to use a few pans at different temperatures and then combine everything at the end. Being able to hold an already-cooked food at a precise temperature which won't "cook" it any/much more is pretty great to be able to do.
But I rarely do "quick cooking" of meats or other foods by using temperatures above 100C. I understand why it's economically important for commercial kitchens to do so. But most of my food is made in advance (either 30-60 minutes before mealtime or in big batches and then reheated on the cooktop).
