Whether cooking a gourmet Chinese meal or baking a tasty cake, you must time each step to make it flawless. Have you left your pie in the oven long enough? A timer will solve all your timing questions and is an essential tool in the kitchen.
A timer is important for kitchen cooking as it allows for consistent results without fail. Timing each step in your cooking process will prevent over or undercooking of the meal. The bonus of a kitchen timer is that it allows you to complete other tasks while waiting for time to pass.
There’s a lot to know about the humble cooking timer and what makes it a chef’s best friend. Your culinary goals might prove futile without a timer handy, and we’ll tell you why from every angle.
What Is A Cooking Timer?
A cooking timer, also known as a kitchen or baking timer, is a clock device that you can set to ring after the required number of minutes and can usually get set up to an hour for your cooking and baking needs.
You may think, ‘I can just use my phone to time things,‘ but washing your hands before touching your phone and when working with food again causes a ton of inconvenience that a cooking timer could save. It’s also beneficial to have a visual of how much time you have to complete other tasks.
Why Timers Are Important In Grilling Or Frying
Grilling and frying may seem instinctual to many, but a simple distraction could void intuition, and a lack of timing knowledge could leave beginners lost entirely. One moment too long can turn your seared steak into a burnt meal – a timer will save the day.
Grilling on the stove, barbeque, or oven all have different times to master. Meat must be cooked on each side, whether chicken, turkey, beef, or seafood, and the sides need to get timed evenly. Each side cooks a couple of minutes at a time, which is easy to lose track of when freestyle cooking. To achieve faultless results, you can use your cooking timer.
Frying may also seem easy to do without a timer, but consistent timing gets a perfect meal every time. Nothing is worse than over-frying the last of your ingredients, and timers are a surefire way to prevent this. They are also a key element used by culinary professionals, so using a timer is nothing to be shy about.
Timers Are Just As Important As Recipes
Have you ever stumbled upon a recipe without a timescale for the cooking steps? If you have, it would have left you directionless, as a recipe is nothing without the time needed to cook it. Timers are exceedingly important for documenting the time of each step of the cooking process, so you don’t end up with a spoiled dish.
Your recipe will guide you on how long each group of ingredients needs mixing, frying, baking, microwaving, or anything in between, and it says so for a good reason, not just good measure. A timer must go hand-in-hand with your recipe to make astoundingly scrumptious meals.
There are steps in the cooking process that don’t need timing, such as how long you spend chopping the ingredients or simple preparation steps. You’ll only need to time things like kneading dough or any other cooking-based activity.
Microwaves And Ovens Are Unimaginable Without Timers
Imagine microwaves didn’t have timers, and you forgot about something you were busy microwaving; it could go on forever or until the meal burst into flames! Thankfully microwave timers are standard practice, and your house won’t burn down because you lost track of time. If microwaves use timers, your cooking can only benefit from doing the same.
Most ovens nowadays come with their own timer. They don’t usually shut off your oven when the timer runs out, but they alert you nonetheless. You can use the oven timer as a kitchen timer, but they aren’t always accurate or loud enough, so you might be better off purchasing a separate cooking timer.
How A Kitchen Timer Works
Most kitchen timers are straightforward to wind up by turning a dial to the marked time you require. As mentioned, these timers are usually only capable of measuring an hour, but if you need more, it will be good to check on your cooking every hour the timer runs out. You can also buy a timer with a higher time scale if you prefer.
You need to set the timer up for the allocated time required for the cooking step according to the recipe, such as, ‘knead the dough for 5 minutes’ or ‘leave to simmer on low heat for 10 minutes.’ Once the allocated time runs out on the timer, it will ring or buzz to alert you.
If you’ve checked the food and it needs to cook longer or move on to the next step that needs timekeeping, you can reset it to the required minutes to alert you again.
Sometimes you might not follow a recipe and use your imagination to cook instead, but you know how long things need to cook. A timer is a great kitchen buddy to help you track how long you’ve been cooking something.
The Role Of The Baking Timer In The Kitchen
Baking is a delicate art, and a minute longer than needed in the oven could leave your delectable cupcakes dried out. A kitchen timer might seem simple and barely necessary, but once you’re used to using one while baking, life will not be the same without it.
The timer will allow you to manage other tasks while your baked goods rise in the oven, like checking important emails. Since the timer shows you how much time is left, you’ll know when to make the sauce needed for your tart or icing for your cake.
Conclusion
Timers make your kitchen go round and are a must-have for precise, flawless cooking and baking. Even top professionals use kitchen timers, and your microwave leads this example too! Using one in your daily life improves your cooking experience above and beyond a phone timer that could cross-contaminate your food. A timer could bring your chef skills to the next level.
