Did your family store pots and pans in the oven?

[lycheng]

The oven in a Western kitchen is a necessity, but in an Eastern one, it's almost useless. Unless you do what my mom did: Store pots and pans! Did this happen in your family? It did in my family.

My Mom never baked anything, either Chinese or American. My sister was the only one who would use it, but even that was rare.

Please share your Asian family oven story!

lycheng

[Infectious]

The oven in a Western kitchen is a necessity, but in an Eastern one, it's almost useless. Unless you do what my mom did: Store pots and pans! Did this happen in your family? It did in my family.

My Mom never baked anything, either Chinese or American. My sister was the only one who would use it, but even that was rare.

Please share your Asian family oven story!

lycheng

Not an oven story, but dishes would get stored in the dishwasher.

[cattygurl]

Hm, we used the oven frequently, but the Japanese diet may be more westernized than other Asian countries. My mom loved making gratins even before we moved to the states, and once she got here, she got into making all kindsa casseroles. so, we often had rice, japanese pickles and casserole at the same dinner table.

[ellencho]

They still do! I don't. I have a separate drawer for them. My grandparents stored tupperware in their dishwasher because my grandma believed that the dishwasher used up more water than washing by hand.

It's funny, when people say things like "Just like your grandma's apple pie, or your grandma's cookies" I always think "grandma never baked sweets, just chickens and potatoes!"

[SO_ANGRY]

I don't think my family even ever used the oven. :shock:

[toml]

:lol:

I store them in the oven as well.

I rarely bake things but sometimes I'll use it for fries, steaks, and hot wings.

One time I preheated the oven w/o realizing there was a pot in there!!!

Good thing I smelled something funny and got the pot out before there was too much damage.

I usually wash my plates and stuff by hand. But every 2 weeks I'll use the dishwasher because from what I've heard, if you don't use it, it can break.

[DijabutiA]

You got that broiler thing on the bottom of some ovens (that or it really is for storage). Thats what we used it for. *shrug*

[cattygurl]

God, my oven gets more use than the microwave. I hate microwaving food, and i've been so busy I've been eating frozen food a lot. They go in the oven, because I hate the way microwaves fuck with the texture of the food.

THE OVEN IS FOR BAKING!!! For me, that is. i can't live without my pastries.

[vsoy]

In some of the apts I lived in, I used that broiler drawer to store pot lids.

I used to microwave things all the time, but I had a real bad microwave scare a couple of months ago. I was nuking some leftover baked beans and hot dogs and the saran wrap melted on the beans and hot dogs. It just made me think of all the times I nuked stuff with saran wrap and though the wrap wasn't melted, I wondered about ending up eating the saran wrap. Yuck.

[lycheng]

You got that broiler thing on the bottom of some ovens (that or it really is for storage). Thats what we used it for. *shrug*

:lol: The broiler is perfect to store a flat bottom pan, isn't it?

Seriously, I've never a good experience using the broiler in my oven. First of all, there's only one temperature setting: Broiler. What's up with that? I guess I'm supposed to adjust the "temperature" somehow by moving the pan closer to the heating element. But I can never adjust it quite right. The last time I used it, I was making a frittata. And I ended up burning it. :oops:

[ellencho]

Sometimes, after having baked something in the oven, I'll put newly cleaned pots, pans, and baking dishes in there to dry extra quickly. But I'm pretty good about remembering that I left shit in the oven before I fire it up again.

[awong]

i was eating and so a roach in one of my leftoevers, I lost my appetite.

I am not sure if my mom stores anything I know she does in the bottom of the stove. But I think sometimes the flat pans to make cookies may be in the stove sometimes.

but the dish washer, that holds a lot of stuff

[MATHABA]

haha, no only pots and pans but also old kitchen appliances, mixers, trash bags, a shoe box full of rechargeable batteries. when i got older i started using the oven rack as my personal wine rack.
its funny that you ask this quesiton because i never thought of it as an Asian thing but I guess it makes sense because when I cooked at a Viet restaurant it was the same thing... they stored extra pans and cleaning supplies inside the ovens.

[tonic]

The oven in a Western kitchen is a necessity, but in an Eastern one, it's almost useless. Unless you do what my mom did: Store pots and pans! Did this happen in your family? It did in my family.

My Mom never baked anything, either Chinese or American. My sister was the only one who would use it, but even that was rare.

Please share your Asian family oven story!

lycheng

my family used the oven a lot so I dont see how its viewed as a useless appliance. What did you use to roast your duck or pork?

the only thing I'm noticing now with asian people is that they are starting to keep stovetops out in the garage and cooking out there. I see this with a few Viet couples I know. I asked them about it, and they say they cook out there just to keep the smell out of the house. The fish sauce aroma can be quite strong.

[lycheng]

The oven in a Western kitchen is a necessity, but in an Eastern one, it's almost useless. Unless you do what my mom did: Store pots and pans! Did this happen in your family? It did in my family.

My Mom never baked anything, either Chinese or American. My sister was the only one who would use it, but even that was rare.

Please share your Asian family oven story!

lycheng

my family used the oven a lot so I dont see how its viewed as a useless appliance. What did you use to roast your duck or pork?

I don't recall my parents ever roasting anything growing up. She only started roasting recently, and even that's rare.

In my home, a whole duck would be braised (covered pot, slowly simmered with in a low liquid volume). Pork would be cooked that way too. My Dad loves to braise meats in the Chinese, the style called hong2 shao1 (紅燒) or "red cooking". The meat is half-covered in a spice and soy based sauce. I think it's also called lu3 (滷). Very delicious.

the only thing I'm noticing now with asian people is that they are starting to keep stovetops out in the garage and cooking out there. I see this with a few Viet couples I know. I asked them about it, and they say they cook out there just to keep the smell out of the house. The fish sauce aroma can be quite strong.

Yes, I've seen this with some Chinese families too. The Western kitchen lacks the ventilation needed for wok cooking. That's my next kitchen upgradeÖbuy one of those Chinese ventilation hoods.

lycheng

[vsoy]

Oh man, I LOVE braised meat, my mom usually use this method with chicken, hardboiled eggs and I think sometimes pork. Cook up a big batch and have cold leftovers the rest of the week or shred up the cooked meat and use for stir fry/fried rice. It was one of things I used to cook a lot in grad school.

We'd save the soy sauce "marinade" and store it either in the fridge (heat it up once a week) or what I do is freeze it. The more times you reuse the "marinade", it would pick up more meat flavor. If you were cooking something and need more oil/water to prevent your meal from burning, I would put a spoonful of marinade instead. Yum.