Kitchen equipment - question for American persons
 

So I know because somone told me that Americans do not have electric kettles. What do you do when you want a cup of tea or coffee. How do you boil the water? I ask because we've just bought one of these and it's great.
Also, is it true that you all have toaster ovens? Is this instead of a toaster, instead of an oven? Is it where you do all your grilling ("broiling")?

I use the microwave for tea - I just put water and tea bag in mug and heat.

For coffee, I heat the water in a saucepan and then use this...

We've got all that shit tough guy. (Obscure American comedy reference)

We've got more gizmos and crappy little knick knacks (Obscure English comedy reference) than you can shake a stick at.

Toaster oven are really good at making open faced sandwiches with melted cheese, and reheating things that need to get crisp and or brown, like a small portion of lasagna, or a bagel with melted muentser cheese.

They pretty much suck when it comes to making regular old toast. In fact, most tosater suck at making toast. They lack the oomph with real bread. Cheap, commercial bread has a lot more sugar in it and it browns easily, but real bread w/o so much sugar usually gets dried out too much before it develops its proper browning.

The best toast, (toast tangent) is when there is a nice browning on the surface, but the interior is still moist. And lots of butter.

We don't own a toaster oven, because they suck now too. The old ones from the 70s kicked ass, you could burn down a house with one, and I think many people did. I expect that's why they no longer have the 'nads that they used to.

I boil water for tea in a kettle on the stove. With Gas. We have a coffee maker.

I use a stove top kettle and a bodum coffee press. It would appear that we use less energy efficient methods that are more flexible.

http://cellar.org/2010/kettle.jpg

I actually use this exact model although it is not me in the reflection

Toaster oven owners are a small but vocal minority. Most people just have a regular toaster, and only use it for frozen waffles and poptarts anyway. Some people who have a toaster oven also have a regular toaster, and everyone has a real oven, because 1.) they're built into the houses, and 2.) a toaster oven only holds about one sandwich. Some people also use a George Foreman grill, but we make fun of those people.

Ut, I was lol'ing so damn hard.

That's more or less how I make the coffee, but I use our new doofer for the hot water.
I'm with you there, sqrl.
So you do have kettles, just not electric ones.
Says U!

I have a George, too ...

It's true, limey, it's not his reflection... it's mine. :blush:

why were you naked in tony's kitchen?

Having a cup of tea.

I had an electric kettle in my college dorm room. Never used it because the water fountain down the hall dispensed hot and cold water.
I have a red tea kettle used on the stove, a Dunkin Donuts for coffee (french press in state of emergency situations), and a convection toaster over that kicks ass (still sucks at toasting actual toast), and a regular oven under the stove the tea kettle is on.

Yep. Here is mine.

I do have a toaster. And I do have an electric kettle (which I got after using one on vacation in Scotland). Two of my other friends also have electric kettles.

I just boil water in a saucepan.

My toaster oven makes good toast, it just takes forever to do it. But we use it for all kinds of small bake-ables. I like it very much.

I don't make tea. I keep telling myself one of these days I should try drinking a cup of hot tea and see if I like it. Hubby is addicted to iced tea. We make it in the coffee maker, the same way we make coffee, with loose tea. Works fine. Actually we have two coffee makers on the counter so he can have one just for tea, because he hates coffee and my coffee makes his tea taste bad.

I have a George grill too. I don't like it as much as my Hamilton-Beach knockoff grill, which I used so much I washed/scraped the teflon coating off.

I just bought myself an electric kettle. I used to use a regular kettle for the stovetop. But I accidentally left it on when I left the house for um . . . several hours.

the electric one has an automatic shut off.

I have a regular toaster, but I've owned toaster ovens in the past. They're great.

Electric kettles are great. We love ours.

lol At S.N.!

@ Limey yes we have electric kettles but like squirell nutkin said we a have so many other gizmos plugged into the outlet there just isn't any available outlet for an electric kettle.

I like a stove top teapot. I don't know anyone who uses toaster ovens except for old people. I do use a toaster but I toast french bread in the oven.

There are too many ways to make a cup of coffee.
I've been desiring one of these but I can't seem to justify it.
It looks kind of like your hot water pot.

http://www.keurig.com/minibrewerBlac...C1KCNGKUR3E3DD

:lol2:

great link

the drip cone is what I use too. greatest coffee eva!

Well, perhaps that would explain why we like ours.

Seriously. The toaster oven is a great appliance. We don't have an expensive one or anything, but it's great for things that don't need *real* baking yet you can't do well in the microwave. Like the frozen garlic bread, or things like bagel pizzas, even a small batch of pizza rolls, chicken nuggets & fries for the kiddos -- without heating up the big oven.

But 'cept you gotta pay attention to it, even when it's toasting with the timer. I set mine on fire once. :)

It took me a bit of getting used to when I was in the states... Microwaving water for tea, people drinking HUGE soft drinks (pop) at breakfast, a breakfast isle full of sugary cereals (couldn't find weetbix equivalent in 3 different chains) and cinnamon flavoured everything.

No electric kettles, yard fences were rare and no clotheslines.

Maccas breakfast was awesome though

Putting the hot water for tea into the microwave and heating it that way makes sense; but putting the water and teabag in together sounds bad. The water should be hot before it hits the teabag. imo.

@ Juni. I don't think you are old. It does make sense to use one if you eat those kinds of things often.

@ ducks. We have shredded wheat. I don't know if it is exactly the same but a good equivalent probably and I agree too much sugary cereals.

Despite that the our U.S. Olympians know how to eat healthy!
whoo hoo 24 medals and six gold!

hum....clotheslines. I wish I had one.
It would be an interesting poll to see just who has fenced yards and clotheslines.

Which suburban hell did you visit? :) Some of what you mention are as foreign to me as to you. What is a Maccas?

McDonalds I presume

This went through my head too but I was worried I'd come off as rude. Thanks for asking in your nice succinct way.

As you are.

That is why I jammed that smiley in there. The cellar is touchy enough right now without me adding my inflamed sinus in February attitude.

Boggles the mind.
The kids wanted to do experiments with teeth, 1 soaked in soda, 1 in bleach etc... so jim bought them a Pepsi. I figured they'd drink the rest but they put it in the fridge where it sat for a couple weeks until I just threw it out.

I have a fenced yard AND a clothesline. HA! :D

I have a fully fenced in yard, but no clothesline due to all the blowing dust in the air. My clothes would be dirtier after laundering than they were before laundering! Not to mention many dogs who would likely pull the clothes off and play with them.

LA, Denver, Missouri, Michigan ....

I won't throw in Vegas, it's far from the norm :)

I have two electric kettles, one for work and one at home. They boil water much faster than a stovetop kettle.

I dislike using microwaved water for tea. There's always a nasty scum on top -- yeech! :yeldead:

Where is that scum coming from? Out of the water? Soap scum on the container?

I was googling that very subject, Bruce. There's no readily apparent reason for it, other than the possible effect of actual rapid boiling on the gas balance of the water. However, I've tried bringing the microwaved water to full-on rapid boil (in the presence of a nucleation site, like a chopstick or bamboo skewer in the beaker) and have still seen the same result, albeit slightly reduced.

To clarify, this is using the same water source, same tea, pouring microwaved water from a pyrex container into the mug vs. from the electric kettle into the mug.

It remains a mystery to me.

Is it possible that there is also scum in the kettles, but you just don't see it there because you aren't looking inside the kettles?

I have a stovetop kettle that I keep filled with water and just turn on when I am getting dinner ready.

I have a toaster/convection oven that I love. It is much better than a regular toaster AND I can use it as a regular oven....well for small things.

As for grilling ("broiling") - to me these are two different things. Grilling is done outside on the grill and broiling is done under the top element in the oven. Or if your oven has a section specifically for broiling, it is done there.

The scum is only created after the water in question is poured over tea leaves. Before that instant, the water is clear and scum-free.

Someone pointed out a possibility -- the metal heater element within the kettle (or the metal stovetop kettle itself) could be acting as an anode, allowing various hard-water components (calcium carbonate, for example) to deposit before it interacts with the organic compounds in the tea.
Anyone familiar with electric tea kettles will attest to the mineral scale that eventually forms on the heating element.

Perhaps this is something that is on the tea leaves or something that happens in the drying process of them. Sounds like it has less to do with the water than the leaves.

And people pay extra for "mineral water." morons

No, not the tea. It happens with Lipton, it happens with Bigelow, it happens with my extra-super-fancy TGFOP Assam.

Doesn't tea contain oil?

I don't think they buy it to make tea with...

Just to agree with Pie here. And admit I have no idea why it happens.

I've made tea in a microwave when I've had no other option, and the froth is yucky. I don't think it tastes the same either.

FTR There is no Weetabx equivalent. Shredded Wheat is nothing like it apart from allegedly starting from the same grain. You can sometimes find it in the organic aisle. Also, Trader Joes's sells it.

I've been on a shredded wheat kick lately.

What are Rice Crispies like over there? Do they taste the same?

And I must be old too because I use a toaster oven. I also use an electric kettle, but the Krups style, sort of the style below, but mine is a really old model.

http://www.krupsonlinestore.com/imagesEdp/p68071z.jpg

OMG, you've been Krupted. :eek:

Down here we call then Rice Bubbles and they have little characters called, Snap, Crackle and Pop. I personally like them with Milo all over them, which people say is the same as Cocoa Pops... Totally disagree.

Rice Bubbles would be the same as our Rice Krispies, complete with Snap, Crackle & Pop characters. Evidently, our Cocoa Krispies are called Coco Pops down your way.

Yeah, milo is totally different.

I used to love rice bubbles when I was a kid while my brother always had cornflakes. I guess it made it easy for Mum not having to listen to bitching about who ate the last bowl of rice bubbles/cornflakes. :)

yup no diff in rice crispies, or any of the other main cereals. Weetabix stands out in it's failure to thrive and be genericized here. Here in the country with the mostest cereals evah. BTW Kellogg was from round these parts. Lucky Michigan.

I've had Weetabix, before. It seems like they sell it at King Soopers here, in Colorado.

We had an electric kettle, but it no longer works, so back to boiling water in a pan for us.

Drinking pop in the morning doesn't surprise me. I don't do it, though. I drink a little concoction I made up: 2 1/2 spoonfulls of instant coffee, 16 oz of cold water, bunch of sugar free syrup and enough milk to make it tan. I know it sounds awful but it wakes me up.