In today’s vocabulary lesson we are going to look at a variety of tools used for cooking and just what we should be calling them. I’m going to try and organize it all into different groups based on usage so let’s hope it all works ok.

Words:
“Stove” — “Oven” — “Microwave” — “Induction Cooker” — “Barbecue (BBQ)” — “Campfire/Firepit Grill”

Appliances:

First off we’re going to look at the actual machines we use to cook. There are four main types and most kitchens will have some combination of them.

Stove: Pretty well universally used a stove is essential for almost all kinds of cooking. A stove is run through either electricity or Gas, the heat comes up from the bottom and tends to be great for things like a frying, sauteing and boiling.




Oven: China doesn’t have many of these but every kitchen in the West has an Oven. They are using either electricity, gas or wood, the heat can come from the bottom, top or all around and tend to be great for baking and roasting. In the West, most houses have an oven with a stove attached directly on top running off the same gas or electricity.




Microwave: It has become a mainstay of kitchens in most developed parts of the world though personally I hate them. Microwaves are run using microwave radiation which heats the food evenly (hopefully). Microwaves are great for reheating food though some people use them for cooking.



Induction Cooker/Stove: Very popular in China the induction cooker uses induction heating to transfer heat to a cooking vessel. The object placed on the cooker must be made of metal and have a flat bottom. The great thing about an induction cooker is that if you touch it, even when it’s ok, it wont usually burn you, though for safety do NOT test this as there certain conditions where this wont be true. The negatives of an induction cooker is that if the cooking vessel isn’t flat bottomed it wont work as well most models of these machines are hard to control how much heat is coming out and while one setting might do almost nothing the next setting up will burn all your food. These work similar to a regular stove top though I would say they excel at frying and boiling best.

Barbecue: It seems everyone loves a barbecue (BBQ), in the west many families have one in the back yard for sunny days to cook outside and in China almost every street has restaurants with a BBQ sitting outside, especially the BBQ Mutton (羊肉串) places. Barbecues are not suppose to have open flames, instead they generally are used by placing red hot coal under the food and turning the food over periodically to ensure it doesn’t burn. Barbecues obviously are great for barbecuing food.





Campfire/Fire Pit Grill: An open flame is a wonderful addition to any gathering as long as safety measures are followed! Especially popular when camping or on a picnic they get their heat from the large amount of burning wood and generally are used in a similar manner to a barbecue as mentioned above. Though campfires can also be used for light, ambiance and keeping animals away when camping, unless they smell your roasting meat of course.