Household questions

[winterbadger]

Do other people leave their kettle on the stove with water in it when they're not actively boiling water? Or do they empty it, dry it, and put it away?

And...shoot, there was another question I had, but now it's gone...

Oh, I remember!

What sort of condiments do you leave out, as opposed to refrigerating? I have inherited my grandmother's lazy susan, but when I think back to it sitting on her dining room table, I seem to recall it having all sorts of things that I would think would have spoilt if left out, like jam or marmalade. Plus, it's really most useful if three are many people sharing a table, instead of only one. :-(

Comments

[wcg.livejournal.com]

I usually have the kettle sitting on the back burner. It typically doesn't have water in it, but I don't go to any special effort to dry it out. When I need hot water I fill it, boil the water, and make tea (or whatever). I do typically pour out all the hot water that I've boiled.

[wolfette]

I have an electric kettle and I usually make sure there is at least a cup's worth in it when it goes back on the stand (cordless kettle - it "plugs in" via a stand) just in case a certain someone switches it on without checking it's filled.

Condiments? Just salt and pepper in our house - the mustard and other sauces live in the fridge.

[azbound.livejournal.com]

I don't have a tea kettle, but when I've had one, I've left water in it and just moved it off the burner.

The only condimentd I find to be a huge issue to leave out would be mayonnaise and jams.

[silme.livejournal.com]

I put pretty much all condiments in the fridge -- a leftover Colorado habit. Ian doesn't, though.

We tend to leave water in the electric kettle. Once, when had I a really nasty stomach bug, the cooled boiled water was the only thing I could keep down.

[lotuslion.livejournal.com]

I have an electric kettle, which we usually never pour out unless we've decided to clean it. If it's empty, it stays empty until we put more water in it, but if there's water left over, it just sits there. I had pretty much the same habit with my old regular stove-top kettle too - it would just sit on the back burner.

As for condiments...we don't really leave any out, except butter. My family has always kept a stick of butter out in a butter dish, actually, although I don't know why - we do it now basically out of habit and the fact that Matt makes homemade bread which is very tasty with soft butter. ;)

[hobbitblue.livejournal.com]

Another electric kettle (must-have item, in my view) and I leave some water in just in case it gets turned on. If I had a stove kettle I doubt I'd leave water in, not sure I'd dry it and put it away..

Butter in a butter dish in the cupboard, honey in cupboard, jam usually goes in the fridge as its fancy stuff that keeps longer that way, ketchup mayo etc all in fridge. Nothing is left out as we don't have a table, just the breakfast bar which doubles as a work surface for cooking so not much point having it cluttered with stuff if someone needs to roll out pastry or whatever (and we've always had folding dining room tables with little room for more than a bowl of fruit).

[magaidhbhan.livejournal.com]

I try to remember to empty my kettle out after I use it, and if I leave any water in it, I dump it out and use fresh water the next time I use it. This was true when I had a stove-top one, and it remains true now that I have a pretty red electric one that I love (and it's much prettier in person -- it's a really gorgeous red). I don't worry about it getting turned on accidentally, because a) I unplug it when I'm not using it and b) I'm the only one who does use it.

Condiments: Honey/molasses in the pantry, anything unopened (jams, olives, mayo, etc) in the pantry, less than a stick of butter in the butter dish on the table. Everything else (opened anything, the rest of the butter, anything bought cold) stays in the fridge.

[magaidhbhan.livejournal.com]

Ah! reminded by the post below. Other things I do not refrigerate, opened or unopened: hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, A1, soy sauce, vinegars, oils. BBQ sauce does live in the fridge after opening, as does wasabi.

[sun-in-splendor.livejournal.com]

Kettle stays on the stove, with water, ready for use. Same with the electric kettle at work.

We use a lot of condiments.
In the refrigerator - garlic paste, bbq sauce, hoisin, chili sauce, hot sauce (various types and hotness levels), fish sauce, wasabi, coriander chutney, mint chutney, margarine, jams, pesto, salsa, sake, cooking wine, ground nuts, lemon juice

In the pantry - daishi, honey, molasses, sugar, bullion, sesame seeds, wakame, chili power, pepper vinegar, cordials, Torrani syrups, whole nuts

On the stove - salt, pepper, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, mirin, vinegar (various types and flavors), spice blends (several), herbs and spices (many), extracts, flavored oils.

From the garden (when available) - thyme, coriander, spring onions

[snolan.livejournal.com]

We have a hot shot dispenser now, but when we used a kettle we left some water in it all the time; and in the winter, when it's dry - we'd leave it on low all the time we were home to help add some humidity and always have water ready for tea.

If the condiment does not have gobs of nasty corn syrup or sugar, and it does have vinegar, we do not store it in the fridge. Mustard is my pet peeve, there is no reason to refrigerate mustard. Newer "organic" ketchups with no sugar and no corn syrup also need no refrigeration. I don't even refrigerate my A-1 steak sauce, and that does have some sweet stuff, but the vinegar is so much more present.

If the ingredients list has stuff that will attract problematic bacteria; or mold... then it goes in the fridge.

[keethrax.livejournal.com]

I've moved to an electric kettle after destroying more than one traditional kettle by forgetting about it...

But before I did that, I'd usually have one with water in it. It got used several times a day, so it's not like it was sitting there for who knows how long.

Now I have a http://www.sbsteas.com/UtiliTea-Kettle-pr-1945.html an electric kettle with a thermostat of sorts (no #s on the dial). I love it.

[winterbadger]

I've moved to an electric kettle after destroying more than one traditional kettle by forgetting about it...

Oh dear, my dad went through several kettles that way too. They went to a very drab, sad little electric kettle that had just about enough water for 1.5 mugs of tea... Yours looks quite posh, and much nicer!

[keethrax.livejournal.com]

It's nice because I make make just hot water instead of boiling water. It's almost always full of water, or at least would be if I was better about filling the filter pitcher that I fill the kettle from. Since the pitcher is often empty due to my laziness, the kettle is therefore also usually empty.

One of the normal kettles I destroyed was fused to the electric heating element so well they were never separated again. Had to replace the heating element too.

[zoefruitcake.livejournal.com]

We were debating the jam issue a few weeks ago. We came to the conclusion that jam has less sugar in it these days, so doesn't keep as long as it used to.

I only have a plug in electric kettle, so I can't comment

Crazy Jam in Fridge people

[mikecosgrave.livejournal.com]

I suppose I should point out that we never have bought jam or chutney in our house, but we never put either in the fridge. In fact, our table usually has a dozen ends of jam and chutney's and some homemade mustards as well - oh and various types of apple jellies as well. We have never had anything go off; and we have certainly had odds and sods sitting round for months on the table or the worktop.

My record for the oldest food I ate is 17 years. That was one of my mother's chutneys, which had lived in a dark press, covered with a jam cover, which is basically a circle of plastic, taped over the top of the bottle. I ate it, it was really good, and I'm still here, what, oh, eight years later.

It is possible that shop bought (feel the sneering contempt there folks!) American preserves may have all sorts of odd additives which shorten their shelf-life, but I think most things made of fruit, sugar and vinegar, boiled hot enough for long enough and packed in sterile jars, should survive perfectly well outside the fridge. If you find you need to keep jam or other preserves in the fridge, it is time you took your business to a better brand!