![\"Solar](\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/ronald-cooking.jpg\")
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Winter is coming.\u00a0\u00a0 The cold month of June is almost upon us.\u00a0 In Adelaide where I dwell, winter brings grey skies and decreased solar output.\u00a0 The cold, dark of the evening arrives early and brings a time for family, fellowship, and food.<\/p>\r\n
Now is the perfect time for me to write about slow cookers and how useful they are for solar households. They consume a similar amount of energy to using an electric stove in the evening, but switching on a slow cooker in the morning has several advantages:<\/p>\r\n
To show slow cookers are a good fit for households with solar panels, I decided to create a slow cooker solar challenge.\u00a0 This involved…<\/p>\r\n
After setting myself this task, I decided to devote every ounce of energy I had to achieving success.\u00a0 I’d either prove to Finn’s family that I can make great food using a solar-powered slow cooker or die trying.\u00a0 Of course, there was always the possibility that if my cooking was awful enough they might die from my trying.\u00a0 But I got around that problem by not mentioning it to them.<\/p>\r\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/slow_bellisimo.jpg\")
Here you see me beseeching Dionysus, the Greek god of food and wine, to stop turning my hand into a claw for a minute so I can finish cooking.<\/p><\/div>\r\n
I wanted confidence that buying a slow cooker is a good investment, so I got a really cheap one.\u00a0 Kmart had one for $19 with a 5.5 litre capacity.\u00a0 I thought it looked more than large enough in the store, but after using it, I think it’s just big enough for a family of five.\u00a0 To be clear, that’s for feeding a family of five, not cooking them.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n
International cookbooks say a 5.5 litre slow cooker is large enough to serve 10 or 11 people — so that’s about 5 Australians.\u00a0 But note I’m planning to make a “one pot meal”1<\/a><\/sup> that doesn’t require any additional dishes.\u00a0 Of course, you can have extras if you want.<\/p>\r\n I didn’t get any bells and whistles for that price.\u00a0 It has one dial with three settings — low, high, and warm — and that’s it.\u00a0 There’s no timer, clock, wi-fi, inlaid diamonds, or anything like that.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\r\n The slow cooker has a stainless steel exterior with a heating element in the base.\u00a0 A deep ceramic dish sits inside and holds the food.\u00a0 After the cooking’s done, you can take the dish out and put it on the table.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n From the point of view of energy efficiency, it’s inside out.\u00a0 It would be better to have a steel pot to hold the food and a ceramic exterior to trap the heat inside.\u00a0 It would be even better if the manufacturer replaced the resistance heating element in the base with an induction element that heated the steel pot directly.\u00a0 That way, less energy would be wasted heating the base and the rest of the kitchen.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n A timer that would automatically change from “cook” to “warm” would also save energy.\u00a0 Then it could be set to cook for as long as required — perhaps four hours for most dishes — and then switch to the low power “warm” setting.\u00a0 Unfortunately, looking online, cookers with a timer seem to cost at least $130 more.\u00a0 On the bright side, these tend to be “multi-cookers” and can also be used as rice and pressure cookers. \u00a0<\/p>\r\n But I can’t complain too much about my cooker’s low-cost design given its price.\u00a0 At only $19, that’s less than what I earn in a week.\u00a0 (I only earn a few dollars a day.\u00a0 Anything I happen to get above that is due to capital and network effects I’m not responsible for.)<\/p>\r\n You don’t need to buy a slow cooker if you have a good induction stove.\u00a0 Most have a slow cooker setting so you can just use a large pot.\u00a0 If you don’t have an induction slow cooker, you should consider getting one when your stove needs replacing.\u00a0 They cook faster than gas — we know because we tested it<\/a> — and use less energy than a conventional electric stove.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n The drawback is you’ll need to replace your pots with ones that work with induction cookers.\u00a0 I suggest getting a small portable induction hot plate you can plug in and one or two induction-suitable pots.\u00a0 Then when you get a full-size induction stove, the change over will be easy.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n Since Finn and his family were going to be my test subjects, I decided it would be easiest for me to cook there.\u00a0 I was delighted Finn thought this was a good idea because this is my kitchen:<\/p>\r\n I took the photo at that angle because everything below that level is a pile of strewn bones, dirty dishes, and tribes of primitive tool-using cockroaches.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n It was on a wet and cloudy Thursday morning that I turned up at Finn’s house with my slow cooker and ingredients.\u00a0 But it was nice and warm inside because Finn’s house is made of straw<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n The dish I decided to make is my chicken satay surprise.\u00a0 The surprise being how good it tastes. \u00a0<\/p>\r\n In creating my recipe, I followed four guiding principles:<\/p>\r\n Some people would say the single guiding principle should be:<\/p>\r\n But that goes without saying when I’m in charge2<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\r\n If you’re not a good cook or even a terrible one, don’t worry.\u00a0 My recipe isn’t difficult to follow.\u00a0 As my father once said to me…<\/p>\r\n “Cooking is easy.\u00a0 It’s just the simple application of chemistry, biology, nutrition, physics, and an advanced degree in swearing.”<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n If you’re not interested in my wonderful recipe and only want to read about electrical energy rather than chemical food energy — possibly because you’re some sort of robot — then skip down to the subheading, “Tesla Saves The Day”.<\/p>\r\n To make my slow cooker satay chicken, I used the following:<\/p>\r\n The total cost was under $203<\/a><\/sup> for me, but the exact amount will depend on what prices are like when you hit the shops and how good you are at grabbing bargains.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n Chicken: You can use any part of the middle of a chicken<\/strong>.\u00a0 A chicken’s middle is the layer above the internal body cavity and below the feathers.\u00a0 (It’s imperative not to get this wrong.)\u00a0 I used thighs and threw in a couple of wings so the chicken would be able to fly when it got to heaven4<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\r\n If you don’t like chicken, you can substitute other meat.\u00a0 I’ve been told you’re not supposed to use lean meat in a slow cooker, but I found that if it cooks for 4 or more hours in a nice sauce, almost everything just falls apart.\u00a0 Even very lean meats like kangaroo can come out tender, provided the recipe contains some fat.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n If you don’t want meat, you can throw in beans, lentils, fungus5<\/a><\/sup>, or whatever you like instead.\u00a0 If you use tinned beans after 8 hours cooking, they’re likely to be a bean slurry.\u00a0 But follow my directions, and it will be a delicious, peanut-flavoured bean slurry — so that’s okay.<\/p>\r\n Roots:\u00a0 <\/strong>Potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, and onions will cook all the way through after 8 hours, so there’s no need to worry about chopping them finely.\u00a0 I like sweet potato, but there is no need to use it.\u00a0 Plain potatoes are fine.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n Capsicum:\u00a0 <\/strong>I used half a red capsicum and half a green capsicum for colour, but that was just showing off.\u00a0 Use whatever you prefer.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n Peanut Paste:\u00a0 <\/strong>Use around 150g of peanut paste, roughly one-third of a typical jar.\u00a0 If you’re allergic to peanuts, be sure to seal the chicken satay inside condoms before swallowing and avoid air travel for 48 hours.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n Garlic:\u00a0<\/strong> I used half a clove of garlic because that was all I had, but as far as I am concerned, the only limit to garlic is how much will fit in the pot.\u00a0 I think I may be a reverse vampire.\u00a0 If you use a garlic crusher, throw the tough bits left in the crusher in the cooker.\u00a0 They’ll break down after 8 hours of simmering.\u00a0 If you like, you can just cut up the garlic or spoon it out of a jar.\u00a0 Jar garlic tends to be a bit weak, so I suggest using a full tablespoon. \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n Worcestershire Sauce:\u00a0 <\/strong>I used this because I was cooking for people of British background, but any fermented fish sauce will do.\u00a0 (Make sure the Worcestershire Sauce contains anchovies.)\u00a0 But it was weak sauce compared to the Indonesian oyster sauce I normally use, so try that instead if you have it.\u00a0 Because this recipe does not brown the chicken and onion before it’s thrown in the slow cooker, it’s missing out on the flavours that creates and so needs a generous amount of fermented fish sauce to give it a bit of a kick. \u00a0<\/p>\r\n Curry Powder:\u00a0 <\/strong>One teaspoon is enough to give the satay chicken a hint of spice and provide a little balance to the peanut flavour while still keeping it mild and not too spicy for those with delicate palates.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n These delicate palates were destroyed by an excess of curry powder… (Image: PRQ)<\/p><\/div>\r\n But if you want spicy food, feel free to add more.\u00a0 You can also throw in generous pinches of pepper.\u00a0 If you like it hot, you can add finely chopped hot peppers or a hot sauce or paste such as sambal<\/a>.\u00a0 Feel free to use other spices if you know what you are doing, but if you don’t know what you’re doing, that’s a good way for it to come out weird. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n BBQ Sauce:\u00a0 <\/strong>This is mostly sugar and sweetens the dish while adding a little extra flavour.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n Salt:\u00a0 <\/strong>I think a teaspoon is about the minimum you can get away with for a dish this size, but it’s probably best not to add much more.\u00a0 People can always add their own salt after it’s served, but it’s challenging to take it out if you put too much in the pot.<\/p>\r\n Vinegar:\u00a0 <\/strong>With a pH<\/a> of 6.3, peanut paste is almost neutral, which means it’s not acidic.\u00a0 Humans prefer their food to be slightly acidic, so adding acetic acid in vinegar will counter this and improve the flavour.\u00a0 You can also use a tablespoon of lemon juice or any fruit juice that contains citric acid.\u00a0 If you don’t have any acetic or citric acid, then a single drop of hydrochloric acid will suffice.\u00a0 Avoid sulfuric acid, as that can add an unpleasant rotten egg taste, and hydrofluoric acid<\/a> is right out.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n I designed this recipe to be quick and easy.\u00a0 Once you’ve made it once or twice, you can prepare the ingredients and throw them all in the slow cooker inside 20 minutes.\u00a0 If you’re not a morning person, the preparation can all be done the night before and kept in the fridge.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n Chop the vegetables:<\/strong>\u00a0 There’s no need to peel the potatoes and carrots.\u00a0 Not unless the outside is especially grotty and won’t come clean with a wash.\u00a0 This saves time and reduces food waste.\u00a0 After 8 hours of slow cooking, the skins fall apart, so leaving them on is not a problem.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n Even large pieces will cook all the way through, so there is no need for fine chopping.\u00a0 Just make the pieces small enough so people can fit them in their mouths.\u00a0 The exact size required depends on whether or not you live with a bunch of big mouths.<\/p>\r\n Prepare the sauce:\u00a0 <\/strong>Scoop around a third of a typical jar of peanut paste into a bowl and add crushed or chopped garlic, Worcestershire and barbecue sauce, curry powder, and salt and vinegar.\u00a0 If you are adding anything else to spice it up, throw that in too.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n Adding one cup of hot water6<\/a><\/sup> should be enough, but if you are worried about your slow cooker running dry over eight hours, add another cup for peace of mind.\u00a0 If the dish has a little extra liquid, it’s not a problem.\u00a0 Mix it all with a fork.\u00a0 If it’s too cold to mix easily, shove it in the microwave and zap it with electromagnetic radiation at a frequency of 2.45 gigahertz for 30 seconds.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n Add chicken:\u00a0 <\/strong>Once everything is ready, take the chicken out of the fridge.\u00a0 The cookbooks say to put vegetables on the bottom of the slow cooker and the meat on top.\u00a0 Don’t do this with chicken.\u00a0 Instead, put some of the potatoes and carrot in the slow cooker to create a layer that will stop the meat from sticking to the bottom of the dish.\u00a0 Put the chicken in and then put the rest of the vegetables on top and pour the sauce over the whole lot.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n This is important because chicken is a biological weapon that is only safe to eat before its heat-sensitive bacterial fuse goes off.\u00a0 If it sits at the wrong temperature for too long, there will be an invisible toxic detonation, but the exploding won’t happen until after you eat it.\u00a0 It’s important to put the chicken close to the heat source at the bottom of the dish so it warms up faster and limit the time it spends in the danger zone where bacteria rapidly multiplies.\u00a0 The vegetables on top of the chicken act as an insulating blanket, like CO2 in a planet’s atmosphere.<\/p>\r\n Cook it slowly — fast:\u00a0<\/strong> Once it’s all in the dish, put it in the slow cooker and turn it onto low.\u00a0 Don’t leave it sitting, or the bacteria will throw a party.\u00a0 They’ll have a real fester-val.\u00a0 But you can prepare it and leave it in the fridge overnight.\u00a0 As long as the chicken doesn’t warm up, that’s fine.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n Do something else for 4+ hours:\u00a0 <\/strong>Just how long it will before it’s ready will depend on your slow cooker.\u00a0 The minimum amount of time is probably four hours, but I let it cook for eight because plenty of people who go to work will have to let it run for at least that long.<\/p>\r\n After turning the slow cooker on, my work was done for the next eight hours and I left to go to work7<\/a><\/sup>.\u00a0 Around 20 minutes after I was out the door, disaster almost struck.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n The power failed, and the entire area was blacked out.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n I swear, I did not cut the power lines to add drama and improve my chances of landing a job as a celebrity chef.\u00a0 I don’t know why the whole area was blacked out, but it wasn’t my fault. \u00a0<\/p>\r\n Actually, the whole area wasn’t blacked out.\u00a0 Finn’s house wasn’t affected because he has a Powerwall 2:<\/p>\r\n The grid was down, and it was raining like God had told the Osborne Naval Shipyard<\/a> to build a gopher wood<\/a> submarine. Despite this, the combination of solar panels and Tesla Powerwall kept our dinner cooking.<\/p><\/div>\r\n It was raining, and Finn’s solar panels were producing less than one kilowatt of power.\u00a0 On top of that, thanks to overcast skies the day before and high electricity consumption overnight, the Powerwall was down to 8% when the blackout occurred.\u00a0 But even in the face of these challenges, the solar panels provided more than enough power to keep the slow cooker going, and the Powerwall enabled it to be supplied to the home.\u00a0 There were people home during the whole blackout, and when it ended after around three hours, the Tesla battery was still at 8%.\u00a0 So even on a completely overcast day, a six kilowatt solar system<\/a> — which was big when Finn put it on but isn’t very large these days — can easily produce energy equal to an efficient household’s consumption.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n We were very fortunate Finn has a Powerwall.\u00a0 If the power had failed and no one noticed, the chicken would have had just enough time to get warm without getting hot and then, for three hours, the bacteria would have been multiplying like a coronavirus inside a United Kingdom.\u00a0 Because the cooker would have reactivated when the blackout ended, no one would have known. My chicken satay surprise would have become a chicken satay shocker — with the shock being we all end up in hospital.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n Because I was the cook, I would get the blame and probably never live it down.\u00a0 So, thanks Elon Musk.\u00a0 You saved my life<\/a>.\u00a0 Including my future life as a celebrity chef.<\/p>\r\n![\"Ronald's](\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/slow_cooker.jpg\")
<\/p>\r\nAn Energy Inefficient Design<\/h2>\r\n
Induction Stoves Can Slow Cook<\/h2>\r\n
Cooking In The Straw House Kitchen<\/h2>\r\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/kitchen.jpg\")
<\/p>\r\nChicken Satay Surprise<\/h2>\r\n
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Not Interested In Recipes?
<\/strong><\/h2>\r\nSlow Cooker Satay Chicken — Ingredients<\/h2>\r\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/slow_veges.jpg\")
<\/p>\r\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/slow_palette.jpg\")
Cooking Instructions\u00a0<\/h2>\r\n
Tesla Powerwall Saves The Day<\/h2>\r\n
![\"Power](\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/slow_blackout.png\")
<\/p>\r\n![\"Tesla](\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/slow_powerwall.png\")