Nissan Thermal Cooker January 12, 2008, 01:12:01 pm Yahoo Message Number: 88223With all the discussion re this cooker, I bought one of these for my wife for Xmas. I hear some concern about it not working too well when the contents are too "thick", and not "watery", so am wondering, besides soups and stews, what other suppers have owners brewed up in this device...successfully? I recall one person saying they had a disaster that had to be thrown out--even the dog wouldn't eat it! I don't need any recipies, just some suggestions. We use a crock pot a lot, so have those ideas. Mostly, I guess, I wonder just what NOT to try. Thanks. Carl 23 1/2 TK "Red Baron", with a bobble headed moose named Manfred
Re: Nissan Thermal Cooker Reply #1 – January 12, 2008, 02:09:59 pm Yahoo Message Number: 88228"carljeglum" wrote: I hear some concern about it not working too well when the contents are too "thick", and not "watery", so am wondering, besides soups and stews, what other suppers have owners brewed up in this device...successfully? --- I've not had or heard of any specific problems with consistency; I guess it would depend on one's definition of "too thick". I can see how someone might have a little difficulty getting a *very thick* concoction up to the required heat to bring the mixture to a "boil" (and maintaining that for the requisite 10 minutes or so) without risking the stuff burning and sticking. "Stew stuff" does have to be watched and stirred while the food is getting to the point of being "sealed in".I feel that "soups and stews" are the cooker's strong suits, so I haven't done anything in the thermal cooker except those types of "creations". I suggest doing some experimentation; I do a lot of this, as I'm not a "recipe cook"! keep these few "tips" in mind:The thermal cooker works most efficently when it's 2/3 - 3/4 full.Beef, pork, lamb give best results when cut into "small" pieces, i.e., *roughly* ping-pong ball sized. Chicken or other poultry can be cut into larger pieces, but I don't advocate using whole "parts", e.g., thighs, unless they're small. Browning *any* meat greatly improves the flavor of the finished dish.Don't skimp on the "boil for 10 minutes" part of the preparation; the dish cooks on retained heat, and has to be hot enough going in to stay the course!Some dishes are ready in about 4 hours, and I don't ever leave the food in the cooker longer than 6 hours. (I forget what the instructions say, but you might want to follow their recommendations on timing until you've used the cooker for a while.)Some slow cooker recipes work OK when adapted to a thermal cooker, but many don't; you'll find out what works for you in your experiments.Joan
Re: Nissan Thermal Cooker Reply #2 – January 12, 2008, 04:12:12 pm Yahoo Message Number: 88231Quote Mostly, I guess, I wonder just what NOT to try. Thanks.Carl 23 1/2 TK "Red Baron", with a bobble headed moose named Manfred Carl, Since I'm not the best cook in the world, I had the best luck with a recipe that came with my Thermal cooker for putting a whole chicken in the pot. While it sounded like it wouldn't work, I followed the recipe exactly( which I have now misplaced!). I think it had me put onions, carrots, and potatoes in with the chicken. Then bring to a boil for 10 minutes, and let sit for 4 or so hours. I used some better than bullion to season the water around all this. It was great! But having all the bones was very messy, so I tried it with just the boneless chicken breasts. That was good, but not as good as the messy whole chicken. Chicken noodle soup however was a disaster due to the noodles all dissolving into a starchy mess. As I said, I'm not the best or smartest cook. If I had added the noodles the last 12 minutes before serving, I'm sure it would have been OK. Potatoes and carrots keep their consistency and do very well in the cooker. Now, if your cooker has a recipe for a whole chicken, try it! Mary Tribbett Dixon, CA
Re: Nissan Thermal Cooker Reply #3 – January 12, 2008, 05:21:55 pm Yahoo Message Number: 88237"mtincal" wrote: I had the best luck with a recipe that came with my Thermal cooker for putting a whole chicken in the pot. While it sounded like it wouldn't work, I followed the recipe exactly( which I have now misplaced!). -- Mary, that's interesting about a successful thermal cooker recipe using a whole chicken; my experiments using even large chicken breasts weren't keepers because, although the meat was cooked through, they were tougher than a boot! Do post if you find the recipe; thanks!Joan
Re: Nissan Thermal Cooker Reply #4 – January 12, 2008, 08:05:47 pm Yahoo Message Number: 88246"Mary, that's interesting about a successful thermal cooker recipe using a whole chicken; my experiments using even large chicken breasts weren't keepers because, although the meat was cooked through, they were tougher than a boot! Do post if you find the recipe; thanks!"Joan, I have a hunch they turned out that way because being in the cooker that long they were actually over done. It seems, from my experience anyway, that chicken breast meat doesn't take long at all to cook through, and can go quickly from being juicy and tender to be being dry and tough. I like to split a boneless chicken breast open so that it's fairly thin, and then lightly fry it or broil it with some seasoning for less than 5 minutes on each side. While I don't have one of these cookers, I would imagine that because of the long cook time, that a whole small chicken or dark chicken pieces would work better. I'm curious what the inside temp of the cooker is by the end of 8 hours. Has anyone tested it?Fern1979 22' "Dorie"
Re: Nissan Thermal Cooker Reply #5 – January 12, 2008, 10:42:53 pm Yahoo Message Number: 88252"I'm curious what the inside temp of the cooker is by the end of 8 hours. Has anyone tested it?"Yes. I use a small but accurate digital probe thermometer to check temperatures when cooking with the Nissan Cooker. Quoting from my own website (http://www.andybaird.com/travels/gertie/improv_kitchen.htm>) ... "The first dish I made was black bean soup. I dropped the ingredients into the inner pot, brought them to boiling on my range top and boiled for five minutes. Then I slipped the inner pot into the outer pot, closed and latched the insulating lid. Six hours later I checked the temperature. It was still 182° F.! Another three hours went by and I checked again. After a total of nine hours, the temperature was 162°—a good twenty degrees above the 'danger point' of 140° F."Note that the temperatures described here are based on ideal conditions for the Thermal Cooker: a pot filled to the top with hot liquid. As we've discussed here previously, the length of time one of these cookers will stay hot is dependent on how much "thermal mass" went into it in the first place. A chicken has only a fraction of the mass of a gallon of soup, so it won't stay hot very long by itself. If I were going to make chicken in my Thermal Cooker, I'd pick a chicken stew recipe--that way the pot would be full of liquid.Andy Baird http://www.andybaird.com/travels/
Re: Nissan Thermal Cooker Reply #6 – January 12, 2008, 10:46:40 pm Yahoo Message Number: 88254Sorry about the punctuation, folks. That should have read:"It was still 182 degrees F.! Another three hours went by and I checked again. After a total of nine hours, the temperature was 162 degrees--a good twenty degrees above the 'danger point' of 140 F."Andy Baird http://www.andybaird.com/travels/
Thermal cooker Reply #7 – January 12, 2008, 05:33:02 pm Yahoo Message Number: 88238I think I found the recipe that Mary Tribbet referred to in the "manual" for the Nissan cooker; it's called "Poached Herb Chicken". I hadn't seen it before, probably because I hadn't really looked at the recipes. If anyone else has tried/tries this, please post.Joan
Re: Thermal cooker Reply #8 – January 12, 2008, 07:56:29 pm Yahoo Message Number: 88244QuoteI think I found the recipe that Mary Tribbet referred to in the "manual" for the Nissan cooker; it's called "Poached Herb Chicken". I hadn't seen it before, probably because I hadn't really looked at the recipes. If anyone else has tried/tries this, please post. I did try it, and the chicken wasn't done after the prescribed length of cooking time. Perhaps my chicken was bigger than the one Mary used, but the next time I made the recipe, I cut the chicken up rather than using a whole chicken. I also put it back on the stove after (as I recall) 4 hours to bring it back up to a boil. I'm really leary about undercooked chicken, so I would really recommend cutting the chicken up, or using a small chicken if you use this recipe.Linda Hylton http://map.datastormusers.com/user1.cfm?user=1167 http://earl-linda.blogspot.com/
Re: Thermal cooker Reply #9 – January 12, 2008, 10:14:06 pm Yahoo Message Number: 88249"Linda & Earl Hylton" wrote: "I'm really leary about undercooked chicken, so I would really recommend cutting the chicken up..." --- Thanks, Linda. I definitely agree about the undercooked poultry concern, which is why I'll stick with small chicken "parts" or pieces when using the cooker.Joan
Thermal cooker Reply #10 – January 14, 2008, 08:47:57 am Yahoo Message Number: 88319Caveat: I do not have any experience with the Nissan Cooker . . . BUTI do use two smaller (two- and three-cup capacities) wide-mouth Nissan-Thermos containers for other things. I perceive a better result when I heat up the inside of the container before putting in HOT food.Whilst boondocking, this may seem a waste of the large-ish amount of water needed for the Nissan Cooker (Shuttle Chef), but it easily could be used for clean-up chores after the meal, yes?Virtual hugs,Judie Grounded (temporarily) in - Tucson, Arizona, and looking to get back "out" soon! ;->
Re: Thermal cooker Reply #11 – January 14, 2008, 09:15:28 am Yahoo Message Number: 88321wrote: Whilst boondocking, this may seem a waste of the large-ish amount of water needed for the Nissan Cooker (Shuttle Chef), but it easily could be used for clean-up chores after the meal, yes? --- Judie, the thermal cooker doesn't work like a "thermos bottle"; with the cooker, the food is brought to a boil on the stove (and kept "boiling" for 10 or so minutes) in the inner pot of the thermal cooker. Then, the inner pot is placed into the thermal (outside) container and sealed. Pre-heating the cooking pot with hot water isn't necessary as the food is plenty hot when it goes into the thermal container.Joan
Re: Thermal cooker Reply #12 – January 14, 2008, 10:59:28 am Yahoo Message Number: 88327"the thermal cooker doesn't work like a 'thermos bottle'..." I know what you're getting at, Joan, but I don't completely agree. The thermal cooker is indeed a giant vacuum-insulated thermos bottle with an inner pot, and works exactly the same way. If you pour hot food into a largish wide-mouth thermos, as Judie describes, it'll continue to cook for at least awhile, though of course not as long as the much larger thermal cooker allows. Preheating the thermos's liner with a boiling-water rinse will help, and in theory you could do the same with the thermal cooker's insulating jacket. I suspect that in practice, because of the proportionally much larger mass of food in the cooker, preheating its jacket wouldn't yield much of a difference. Still, it couldn't do any harm.Andy Baird http://www.andybaird.com/travels/
Re: Thermal cooker Reply #13 – January 14, 2008, 12:32:50 pm Yahoo Message Number: 88337And probably much of whatever advantage there is, could be had by using just a bit of boiling water. No need to fill up the outer insulating container. Just use a cup of water and rotate the container around so the water contacts most of the interior. The water would rapidly transfer it's heat to the metal.bumper
Topic: Nissan Thermal Cooker (Read 1 time)
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