Not Usonian but I’ve never understood the electrical kettle, I just use the microwave for infusions and the like. And for everything else cooking related the stove.
Am I missing something?
Comment on Meal prep
roguetrick@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Really though, so many Americans would have their cooking lives enriched by an electric kettle.
srestegosaurio@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
Mustard@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
Yes, kettles are more efficient at boiling water vs a microwave. On top of that, you don’t need to guess the time it’s going to take, it just goes until the internal temperature sensor reads 100degs and it shuts itself off with a little ‘clunk’.
srestegosaurio@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
Thanks for the enlightening, now I understand.
Still microwave for me since while I do enjoy infusions I don’t make them that much to justify the expense and the extra stuff laying around.
roguetrick@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I just use boiling water for so much dehydrated shit in addition to making French press coffee or iced tea. Stuffing, instant noodles, whatever. Sometimes I also kickstart boiling water and then pour it into a pot. They’re just so much faster than regular stoves because of the way the heading element is placed.
Croquette@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
You can probably find a second hand kettle for 5$ bucks. But if you don’t use it often, it might take too much space for its use.
But you already have the microwave, so unless your electricity is expensive, it doesn’t really make a difference.
Mustard@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
No worries, thanks for listening! As with all these things the efficiency bonus is slight, so unless you’re a heavy user it likely won’t represent a saving vs. the energy taken to make the kettle in the first place. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.
Out of my own curiosity… what’s an infusion?
zalgotext@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
Interjecting with some slight pedantry, but only because I think it’s interesting.
There may be some kettles that just switch off at 100C, but those would be pretty terrible kettles, as they could only boil water at sea level. Go up to 10,000 ft. of elevation, or put something in them that boils at a lower temp than water, and that kettle would just keep running until all the liquid is evaporated.
Most kettles (I think, this is totally based purely on anecdotal evidence, I haven’t actually gone out and examined most kettles) detect the presence of boiling in general, rather than a particular temperature. This allows them to work on a variety of liquids at a variety of pressures (or elevations). They do this with some clever piping and a bi-metallic strip. Basically some of the vapor of whatever liquid you’re boiling is directed through some piping down to the bottom of the kettle, where it passes over a bi-metallic strip and heats it up. Once the strip heats up enough (to a temp much less than the boiling point of water or most other household liquids you find yourself in need of boiling), it buckles, and does electrical circuitry things that end up turning off the heating element.
There’s a Steve Mould video on the topic with a much better explanation that’s super interesting, for those of you into nerdy sciency type stuff: youtu.be/VzqN4Cn8r3U
Mustard@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
Oh neat, how do those kettles that have a temperature selection thingy for different kinds of tea work then?
iii@mander.xyz 2 weeks ago
I prefer kettle as a microwave is slower, and turns ceramic cups into lava.
srestegosaurio@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
Very true tho.
SirHery@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
You can accidentally superheat your water in the microwave.
ATDA@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
For me it’s just quick and accurate. Every tool for a job. I can make a cup quickly, to the temp I need (green/black teas, coffees etc.)
No guessing of temps or times. No need to ramp up the stove and burn all that energy.
Venator@lemmy.nz 2 weeks ago
I think most electric kettles are a bit slower there due to normal outlets only being 110V, but not all kitchens have 20A outlets(probably most do nowadays?), so the kettles made for the USA market tend to be 1.6KW so they can run off a 15A outlet if needed, whereas ones made in the UK tend to be 2KW.
Maggoty@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
It’s a lot faster than anything but a microwave. That does a mug of water in one minute. As a trade off it seriously degrades the mug over time.
captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
We also just don’t really need to boil large quantities of water all at once.
intensely_human@lemm.ee 2 weeks ago
The air fryer either superheats or melts the mug, depending on its material. You either scald your hands picking it up like you would grab it from the microwave, or you burn your house down.
Venator@lemmy.nz 2 weeks ago
or you burn your house down.
Probably only if your mugs are made of wood 😂
usrtrv@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
120V is the American outlet. Japan uses electric kettles juat fine at 100V. I think the reason they arnt super prevalent is cultural. Not speed.
SpongyAneurism@lemmy.frozeninferno.xyz 2 weeks ago
If all you need is one single mug of hot water, a microwave is the way to go.
ATDA@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
My parents told me, “be careful the heating elements catch fire, there’s little to no safety mechanism, you can’t leave them alone!”
It’s a kettle…
People either don’t know they exist or have some weird thing with them. Gives me the same vibes as cultures that don’t sleep with the fans on lol.
Maggoty@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Well they aren’t wrong. They just come from a time with a lot less consumer safety. And we’re headed back with fake UL stuff being sold in stores. We kind of grew up in a golden age of consumer safety. we even made jokes about “don’t use grandma’s extension cord”.
Woht24@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Not sleeping with the fan on is a way to save face, at least in Asian cultures. In which it’s basically the families out to admit they committed suicide.
They say if you have a fan on in the night and the door closes, it creates a vortex and somehow sucks out all the oxygen.
captainlezbian@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
My weird thing with them is a lack of counter space