When my oldest moved out on her own, one of her first needs was a double boiler. Instead of asking how to cook a main or side course, she wanted to start with dessert. She wanted to melt chocolate.
Dad, I don’t have a double boiler, can I just heat it on the stove? Hmmm. By being very, very careful I’ve had some luck melting chocolate over a low heat on the stove top, but it can be tricky and the chocolate can burn or scorch easily. I haven’t had much luck with microwave melting, but that could be because my microwave is very old. So I did suggest to my daughter to use a double boiler. But didn’t she just say that she didn’t have one?
The good thing is most kitchens have at least one substitute for an official double boiler. A double boiler is a very simple device. One pan is supported over another. The lower pan hold water to boil. The upper pan holds what you want to melt or cook at low/controlled temperatures.
Easy solution a small pan held over another with boiling water. Problem is holding the pan until the cooking is done, it can be tiring. Better is to rest a slightly larger pan on top of the smaller pan that boils the water. But it is a balancing act and you still have to hold the pan. A real double boiler has the upper pan resting in a recess in the lower pan. Can this be done without the special equipment? It can if you have a round stainless steel or oven safe glass bowl. Just rest the bowl in a pan above the boiling water. If you really want to know, the stainless steel bowl works best for me.
More on what you can do with a double boiler later…
good advice… I’ve actually used that one in practice and pleased to say it works… esp. when I don’t own a “double boiler.”
When I hear double boiler, the first thing I think of is hollandaise sauce – YUM!
But I don’t have a double boiler either, so thanks for the hint!
The chocolate-covered Oreos turned out great! The only problem was, once we melted the Godiva down, it didn’t really want to set up again.
We talked about using good chocolate in cooking… 😉