Hot Weather Cooking Tips

I learned a few things in the past heatwave that will help those sans AC in the hot summer months.

1. If you have to cook something and it gets crazy hot in the afternoon, prepare your stuff the night before and wake up early to pop it in the oven or put it on the stove top on low heat and just keep setting your alarm to get up and check it on the allotted times. This only works for things that cook long such as braises or beans and with low heat that is relatively safe to leave unattended. Of course, I have a studio apt and my bed is pretty much in the kitchen, so I felt confident I would know if something was seriously awry.

2. If you have electric burners, keep an extra pot with cool water for when you are done cooking. Put the cold (full) pot on the burner to absorb the heat instead of letting it radiate into your kitchen. The water won't boil and the pan won't really get hot either. This made a huge difference in my tiny kitchen where cooking for 20 minutes raises the temp 10 degrees in my apt.

3. Learn how to make a damn sandwich.