Sweating Out the Heat in the Kitchen: Strategies for Summer Cooking

When the sun appears higher in the sky and the air around you becomes a veritable steam bake, it’s time to start thinking about cooler solutions for the kitchen. If cranking the air conditioning into overdrive or ordering carry-out leaves a bad taste in your mouth and wallet, and the usual cold soups and salads get start to get old, it’s time to explore some ideas for efficient cooking while surviving the summer heat.

Consider taking it outside, and that doesn’t just mean grilling or building a summer kitchen! Slow cookers can be set in a covered area outside while you’re working or sleeping. One of the most efficient appliances for cooking, a slow cooker simmers at a low temperature while the heat is contained under a glass lid. The lid provides the ability to view progress without disturbing the cooking process and releasing the contained heat. Slow cooking is a particularly effective method for roasting leaner, less-expensive cuts of meats that would otherwise lose moisture and be rendered tough by other methods of cooking. It is even possible to bake quick breads, muffins and the like in a slow cooker; there are special inserts for some cookers, but simply using a few balls of aluminum foil to raise the pan from the surface of the cooker interior will allow the heat to circulate more evenly.

With the small plates craze that has been popular in many restaurants, why not create your own quick tapas/meze meal at home? Set out plates of store-bought hummus, cheeses, olives, some good bread or crackers, and even summer sausage. Round it off with a classic green salad. Greek yogurt with honey and fruit for dessert make it perfect—as does a bottle of good wine.

If you’re willing to experiment with making some of the above tapas, instead of using store-bought products, try the following ideas. Marinate olives overnight in the refrigerator in oil, garlic and vinegar (red wine, balsamic, flavored or whatever suits your tastes). Take canned chickpeas, tahini, olive oil and lemon recipe for hummus and adapt it by substituting black beans for the chickpeas and lime for the lemon. If you’re feeling ambitious and want to try something new, substitute toasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds) for the tahini.

Poaching a batch of salmon or flattened chicken breasts will come in handy later in the week for sandwiches, wraps or salads: cover in a skillet with water, seasoning and white wine, if you wish, and cook until it reaches a gentle simmer. Remove from the heat, keeping the pan tightly covered, and allow the meat to continue to cook in the broth for 20 minutes.

Another quick-cooking idea includes the egg, an economical staple often forgotten after breakfast. An omelet is good any time of the day, but substitute Asian-style vegetables for the filling, top with packaged gravy and frozen or premade rice and you’ve got egg foo yung in a pinch.

Beans are another often-overlooked fundamental food. Combine a can of white beans with tuna, olives, tomato, cucumber and dressing for a filling for a delicious wrap or the topping to a crisp salad. Requiring a little more prep work, homemade black bean veggie burgers can be whipped up in minutes by draining a can of black beans and combining it in a blender with oats for filler, along with spices and eggs for a binder. Shape into patties and lightly fry for a few minutes on each side.

One final solution worth mentioning is induction cooking. While an initially expensive investment—starting at around $125 or so, along with the potential cost of additional cookware—an induction cooker emits little heat energy from the unit itself. It operates by producing an electromagnetic field that generates heat within the cookware and transfers that heat to the food. This is far more efficient than conventional methods of cooking where generated heat is transferred from the unit to the cookware and then to the food, allowing for a loss of energy on the way. However, because the field is electromagnetic, only ferrous metals (cast iron, magnetic stainless) can be used on the cooker; you’ll need to consider the cost of purchasing additional cookware, if needed.

When summer heat leaves you wanting to get out of the kitchen, seek out some creative solutions to cooking. By incorporating one or more of these strategies, recipe suggestions or technologies, your kitchen will be cooler and your appetite sated.