Hot Weather "Cooking"

[chubbyalaskagriz]

So... in many parts of the country the dog-days of August are nearing. When the mercury hits 90 and 100+ and it's too hot and sticky to even consider turning on the stove, what do you guys eat?

[KYHeirloomer]

About the only real change I make is use of the oven.

I do cut back on baked/roasted stuff a bit. I can't forego homemade bread, though, so find I bake more at night and in the cool of the morning.

Other than that, it's pretty much business as usual.

[Jafo232]

My favorite 5 letter word: grill..

[jglass]

I always have to turn my air conditioning off anytime I bake no matter what time of the year it is. In the winter there is so much heat from the offices downstairs and the other apartments that we usually keep it on AC instead of heat. In the winter when I turn it off to bake it stays pretty comfortable. In the summer it gets hot in here and fast without the AC on. I try and bake late at night or early in the day. Same thing with that stove top smoker. I always turn off the ac when I use it and shut my bedroom door where the fire detector is to keep it from going off because little wisps of smoke do escape. My little Nu Wave oven comes in handy for roasting things without having to use my big oven. It doesnt put off much heat at all. I have another small round convection cooker that I use alot also. They are great for baking potatoes, roasting garlic or broiling bread.

[KYHeirloomer]

>My favorite 5 letter word: grill.. <

I reckon you're like most people in that regard, Jeff. Come the summertime and grilling represents a greater proportion of their cookery.

But I grill year round, at about the same level. So that doesn't change things for me.

I wonder, though, how many people go the outdoor kitchen route? If we can believe the Food Network and DIY Network and HGTV, outdoor kitchens are all the rage for leisure living.

Personally, I've never seen one in a private home. But what do I know.

[Jafo232]

I use mine all year round too, however in the summer, there are time I find I distinctly avoid the oven just because of the heat, and the next best thing is the grill.. So for myself, the grill gets more use during the dog days.

[Mama Mangia]

Don't matter in my house - baking bread before sunrise is a help - not too much change in cooking - unfortunately!

[cUpcAkecOok]

During the summer months I try to do a lot of the prep work either the night before or the morning of. It just helps me to do a lot less work at actual dinner time so I don't have to be working up a sweat running around in the kitchen. All of that chopping and stirring, mixing and dicing does make one hot (especially when you're in a hurry to get dinner on the table after work!) So even if I have to turn on the oven it's only for the duration of cooking the actual meal so it's not so bad. But still sometimes you just GOTTA have the A/C on!

[chubbyalaskagriz]

I eat more cold sandiwches & salads, and garden produce in the summer. Many times I even go completely meatless simply because there's so much garden bounty to use up. I rarely turn on the oven unless I desperately have to. And I even will use the nucro-wave or crock-pot to avoid use of the stove-top when it's super-hot.

So far this season we've seen only MILD temps- normally by this date we've seen upper-90's and maybe even 100 by August, but today, can you believe it's a cloudy, cool 68 degrees? Unheard of!

*As a big guy- oddly, it's always been easy for me to quickly drop weight. In some commercial kitchens- particularly those in the early days that did not have A/C, I could literally lose 12 lbs. in ONE WEEK simply by eating well, drinking lots of wa-wa, and perspiring SO MUCH.

In the mid-west where summers are hot & sticky, there were days when it was 100 outside and I know for a fact that I must have worked right on the line at grills & flat-tops in confined spaces that HAD to be 120 degrees. I've changed uniforms 3-4 times during a single shift before- was so soaking-wet that one didn't dare go into the walk-in freezers. (Though on such days in such temps a trip into the walk-in COOLER was HEAVENLY! I remember having to work inside the walk-ins when decorating large cakes, scooping ice-cream for banquets, or piping dishes of mousse for large catered affairs...