Would You Cook a Steak in a Dishwasher?

Cooking sous vide is all about precisely controlling the water temperature to the exact value you want your meat to be: "rare", or "medium", or whatever. Sure, you can bag a piece of meat and run it through the "extra scrub" cycle, but you'll have no idea what the temperature was.<br /><br />And don't try it with chicken at all, which, to be safe, needs to reach a higher temperature than most dishwashers achieve.

I first learned of dishwasher cooking, living in Denver in the mid-70's. Then I believe it was encouraged as an energy saving solution.

I first encountered dishwasher cooking in a cooking class in Atlanta in 2005, or thereabouts. The class was fairly elementary, but the one brand-new technique I learned was worth the price of admission: the instructor sealed a sea bass in an oven bag, and ran it through the dishwaser. The fish cooked beautifully.<br /><br />This reminds me of a favorite story. In 2008, my wife and I were vacationing in Napa. Against all odds, we scored dinner reservations at the French Laundry. During dinner, one of my courses was a piece of perfectly cooked salmon. I asked the waiter how it was prepared. He told me something absurd about wrapping and deep-frying at 300 degrees. I said "I don't think that's what they do." He gave me a look that said "I work at the French Laundry, and you are a rube," but what he actually said, very professionally, was "Let me check." <br /><br />A few minutes later he came back looking vaguely amazed and said "You were right. They vacuum seal it and cook it briefly in a water bath at 120 degrees." "Oh, OK, thanks for checking" I replied and went back to my salmon. When the waiter left, a lady at the next table tapped me on the shoulder and asked "Did you understand what he was talking about?" I was dimly aware of the sous vide technique at by then and told her "Yes, it's a new technique that involves quite a bit of specialized equipment, but you can get much the same effect by sealing your fish in an oven bag, and running it through the dishwasher." <br /><br />The entire room burst into laughter. Apparently, my conversation with the waiter had attracted a lot of attention. So I enjoyed 10 seconds of fame, and the waiter invited us down for a kitchen tour after the meal, all as a result of dishwasher fish.<br />

this. is. insane. i'm curious though. let's test it!!

We 'baked' a cake in a dishwasher. It was a strangely lopsided cake, but still tasty.