Double boiler help????? urgent!!!!!!!?!
Answers: ok so i have to make this canadian recipe for a school project (nanaimo bars) and it says to cook some of the ingedients using a double boiler. i dont have one of those so do you know what i could use instead of a double boiler????? please help its due tomorrow!!!
You simply need one pan that will fit on top of another. Fill the bottom pan with water then set the other pan on top. It should fit rather snuggly so the steam does not escape but you don't want it down in the water.
Put a large pot of water on the stove and put a metal mixing bowl on top of it with the ingredents inside.
I don't have one either... In place of it, I boil water in a small sauce pan, and put whatever needs to be melted (usually chocolate) into a glass bowl (heat safe bowl) and place it over the boiling water.
Get a pot of a large bowl that is big enough to sit over the opening of the pot without having the bottom of the bowl touching the bottom of the pot.
Put some water in the pot and let the steam heat the bowl. That's basically what a double boiler is...it's a way of cooking over indirect heat. This prevents burning.
The recipe calls for a double boiler because some ingredients burn so easily if put in a pan directly over the flame. Chocolate, for example, is usually melted using a double boiler, or for those of us who don't have one, by doing as suggested above: put some water in a sauce pan and bring it to a simmer, then put your ingredients in a metal mixing bowl or a slightly smaller saucepan and set it over the simmering water.
Well, for some things you can use the microwave, like melting chocolate. Just cook for a short period, stirring often.
If you really need to use a double boiler, fill a pan with an inch or so of water, and place a metal bowl over top of it, so it is above the water, not touching it. This works just like a 'proper' double boiler. You could probably use oven safe Pyrex for the upper part, if necessary. Just make sure the upper bowl is only getting the steam from the pot of water, and not sitting in the water.
Good luck! (and enjoy - Nanaimo bars are yummy!)
you can always make yourself a double boiler, its quite silly buying one. all you need to do is fill a saucepan with water and put a glass (heatproof of course!) bowl over the top. make sure the bowl doesn't touch the water. then put this on the stove and let it come to a boil. anything you have to melt or whatever goes in the glass bowl and slowley melts and cooks.
have fun && good luck!!