American things

The not using electric kettles is weird. I can’t remember having a non electric kettle in like the last 2 decades. Do USA’ians really not use them?? Poor people.

I crank on the gas burner (I believe y'all call it a "hob"?) every morning, it's true

however, our roommate uses an electric kettle upstairs for her morning coffee.

I'll probably get an electric kettle soon, but the reason I haven't yet is just that I don't really have room for it. The regular water kettle just lives on the burner of my gas stove. Counter space is precious.

Also, no one I know drinks tea regularly. (Probably bc it is disappointment juice?)

The not using electric kettles is weird. I can’t remember having a non electric kettle in like the last 2 decades. Do USA’ians really not use them?? Poor people.

I come across more "instant hot water" devices in the usa. We have an electric kettle used for some coffee styles and tea. I think they are popular. You can buy one at Target.

this thread is about american things iirc

not european things

Ranch dressing is everywhere, but french dressing feels secretly more american. Ketchup base, cups of sugar, etc.

usa thing: good mexican food outside of mexico

Also, no one I know drinks tea regularly. (Probably bc it is disappointment juice?) _The not using electric kettles is weird. I can’t remember having a non electric kettle in like the last 2 decades. Do USA’ians really not use them?? Poor people._


What do you use it for?

feel like we've been over the electric kettle thing a million times and why it makes sense that they haven't caught on in the US (much, anyway - my tea-obsessed mother has used one for many years)

It's such an internet dead horse but I still don't get why it is such a big deal. Like, water is water. It gets heated. It doesn't taste different based on the method of heating. If you can't detect a difference in a blind taste test you should maybe just be quiet on this boring shibboleth for a while.

My kitchen is tiny and very short of both counter space and electrical outlets, hence I hate single-use appliances.

It doesn't taste different based on the method of heating. If you can't detect a difference in a blind taste test you should maybe just be quiet on this boring shibboleth for a while.

🧐

I proof pizza dough in our electric kettle

brown some london broil in the ole kettle

if you heat water in the microwave it's either not hot enough or it has boiled itself all over the inside of your microwave

I've always been a microwave refusist but could do with borrowing one for tomorrow

word

key to microwave happiness is getting the smallest one possible that just sits on the counter. A large microwave hanging over the stove with an ersatz fan will be the death of all kitchen goodtimes.

If you have a stove you can put a teakettle (or even a saucepan) on it, twist the knob, boom, hot water. Like, it's already there, it's the same device that you use to make other things hot. This is not even a little bit complicated.

I can’t think of one thing I would use a microwave for that my toaster oven/stove-top won’t do better. Haven’t had one in decades.

If you have a stove you can put a teakettle (or even a saucepan) on it, twist the knob, boom, hot water. Like, it's already there, it's the same device that you use to make other things hot. This is not even a little bit complicated.

― your marshmallows may vary (Ye Mad Puffin), Sunday, July 17, 2022 8:06 PM (fifty-nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

An electric kettle boils much faster, and some of them will also keep the water hot.

usa thing: good mexican food outside of mexico

Also, no one I know drinks tea regularly.
lies!!!
unless you have disavowed knowing me

i also use the electric kettle to make coffee

yeah electric kettle is significantly better for pour over or french press, even your most basic, non-gooseneck one.

i hate that i'm getting into this but if you're content to let the water boil more slowly (which many are not) then idk what kind of magic water your electric kettle is producing that makes "significantly better" coffee

maybe this whole conversation is an American thing

It's an ILX thing.

boiling shit on the stove is for boring ass nerds who are going to wait around for a fuckin cup of american ass bullshit tea with no milk because it aint worth delivered any quick

quick boil electric kettles are galaxy brain so you can get to steeping asap abd enjoy your good cup of tea NOW instead of later

i don’t know why it needs to be explained but you all invite this beating every single fucking time

if you dont get why you its because dont know and therfore you deserve to make your water in a fucking pot on the fucking stove or an asinine whistling goddamn kettle THEY SUCK AND THEY ARENT WORTH THE TIME WHAT IS SO HARD TO UNDERSTAND

^my favorite Wu-Tang skit

is there like a video where I can see this competition side by side with a timer?

also this dispute ignores the voltage difference, which is why US electric kettles are um less than ideal at 120V

Just plug the kettle into two 120V outlets that are 180 degrees out of phase.

I actually have a friend who hacked a UK 230V kettle to run on US 240V power, but it's tricky

Kettle Cookery

the sauce will cover the element

summa cum laude

Are stingy/stinging nettles not a think in the USA? I see lots of poison ivy talk, but not much mention of nettles.

We have them in California. My horse tries to eat them!

Not native to North America, it was "introduced" there - though why anyone would bother I know not

here in the Pacific Northwest we eat them

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nettle_soup

Stinging nettles are known to have a high nutritional value, including calcium, magnesium, iron, and vitamins A and B.[1] Historically, one of the easy ways of consuming nettles is either through a soup or a tea because the boiling water deactivates the nettle from stinging

and may I add

Today, nettle soup is mostly eaten in Scandinavia, Iran, Ireland, and Eastern Europe, with regional differences in recipe; however historically consumption of nettles was more widespread.

I know there was a section on them being introduced to the Americas in the book Ecological Imperialism by Alfred Crosby. Talked about how they can reformat broken ground and stuff. Good way of anchoring nitrogen or something to that effect. I read the book in the mid 00ies so I can't remember if it gives a specific way the nettles arrived just that weeds and vermin tended to travel with other transport. So probably odd seeds on things and onboard infestation.

I did hear about nettle usage by Native Americans but they were pretty dynamic in ability to adapt to new phenomena, horses only arrived in teh 15th or 16th century too. Legacy of the Spanish at least the herds of mustangs or whatever taht were recorded as used.

nettles remind me of the fairy/folk tale where the sister knits vests of nettles for a bunch of swans who turn into her brothers and carry her on a net (of nettles?) to some area for safety

maybe it's the other way around -- they turn into swans, carry her over some large body of water, and then she knits the vests and turns them back into brothers

They have a long, long history of being used for textiles. They're processed in the same way flax is, iirc.

Roman soldiers stationed in Northern lands (like Britain) were said to beat themselves with nettles to keep warm.

We have the plant "stinging nettles" here, but there is also a completely different creature called a nettle - an aquatic jellyfish that stings.

https://www.vims.edu/bayinfo/jellyfish/guide/bay_nettle.php

They are plentiful in Chesapeake Bay, and you want to be careful about swimming near them. Hence lots of people who want to swim in the Bay put out "nettle nets" - basically a big mesh circle with a floating rim. You swim inside it; the nettles presumably stay outside.

I was pretty far into my adolescence when I cleared up the confusion.

In the woods, you had to be careful of stinging nettles in the underbrush. When swimming in open water, you needed to be careful of stinging nettles in the water. I knew both of these things. I must have been an extremely confused child; perhaps I thought they had an aquatic and a terrestrial life cycle, like amphibians?

Compare anemone: also refers to a stinging animal and a completely unrelated plant.

Some of our friends bought a nettle net this summer! It was pretty nice, but you still had to get yourself out into deep enough water to swim. I think they are mostly purchased by people to use off the back of their boats. We used SUPS and kayaks to ferry kids out to the deeper water - some of whom would dangle their legs over the side and get stung anyway. Way to go, kids!

When I was growing up, we had nettle patches all over the woods and every summer I would invariably brush against some and end up in screaming pain for 10 minutes or so.

wheat thins

keeping your fridge permanently packed with food, a fifth of which has gone bad at any given time