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Cooking basics...dorm room style
Hail all;
I attended a small military college in Vermont, USA some 30-odd years ago, which had a great dining hall where we would be served at the table by student waiters...
After freshman year, one could skip meals, after marching down...but hunger still reared its head. So, I learned how to use what was allowed for in-room appliances to cook a pretty broad range of foods.
Due to school fire regulations, we were not allowed to have hot plates or electric skillets in the room. We were allowed hot pots (for boiling water), popcorn poppers and (of course) steam irons...senior year, we could have a small refrigerator.
I still have my hot pot, which has a usable capacity of 1 qt.
The popper was a 4 qt capacity aluminum bowl with a glass lid.
The iron, emptied of water and using a stout wire coat hanger as a frame around the sole as support, was placed in the mouth of my steel trash basket as a hot plate.
I had a 4 person camping cook set: small pot, fry pan, sauce pan, plates, bowls, cups, cutlery...
A typical meal:
In the hot pot: 2 1/2 c chicken stock, 1 T dried parsley flakes, 1 c long grain rice, 1 T butter...bring the stock to a boil and then stir in the rice and parsley, turn the heat down to a slow simmer, stir so the rice doesn't stick to the bottom and cook until the liquid is almost all absorbed. Turn off the heat, cover and stir in the butter just before serving. I also like to eat rice with plain yogurt stirred in.
In the popper: 1 c ea mushrooms and onions - sliced thin, 2 T olive oil...heat the popper and put in the oil. Then add in the mushrooms and onions, saute them until the onions are lightly browned.
On the iron: 1# beef steak - rubbed with garlic powder and black pepper, 2 T olive oil...turn the heat setting to "cotton" (high) and pre-warm the fry pan. Add in the oil and then the beef, cook to personal preference.
This yields 4 "regular" servings.
Cook in sequence, the thermal mass of the foods will keep them nicely warm for eating.
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