Can We Cook Without a Cooker? Gastronuts

I'm Stefan Gates and I'm a food adventurer.

I'm fascinated by food.

In fact, I'll eat anything.

Doesn't matter how ugly or how many claws it's got.

I want to know where our food comes from and what it does to us.

I want to break all the rules about how we eat and what we eat, so join

me and the Gastronuts for some harebrained experiments,

some eye-popping stunts and a slice of extreme cooking.

Don't get me wrong. I love a cooker.

But don't you sometimes get a bit bored cooking with the

same old bits of kit.

Well, we're going to find out if there aren't some more exciting ways

to make our food. Maybe there's life beyond the cooker.

Coming up, the Gastronuts leave the cooker behind

and try to cook with a liquid that's colder than an iceberg.

They find out if a paper bag can do the same job as a saucepan.

-It's not burning, yet.

-Yes, it is. You can see smoke coming out.

And what sort of mayhem will be unleashed

when they get their hands on the world's most dangerous toaster.

Oh, yeah.

I need assistance in my journey to find new ways of cooking,

so here to help are today's adventurous Gastronuts.

I'd like to cook pasta salad in the washing machine.

When I went to brownies I cooked like a soup with a twig.

I'd like to cook with an aeroplane cos it would be interesting and fun.

If I could cook with anything

I'd probably barbecue something over a volcano.

One of the weird things I would cook is a train.

Now, all of us have loads of electrical appliances hanging about

around our houses, but they sit around idle most of the day.

Now, I thought maybe we could take some of those things and

liberate them from their dull, menial lives and in the process,

help ourselves on our quest to cook without using a cooker.

I'm not really sure about this one but we're going to try and cook

a proper meal using a dishwasher

and a tumble dryer. First of all, we're going

to prepare some ingredients without using a cooker.

So, Sophie, if you can put the stir-fry into the tub.

I'm going to take this salmon... that can be mine...

Eleanor, can you take a couple of eggs, crack one on the side.

-Squelch.

-That's a beautiful thing.

Jordan, can you grab a couple of knobs of butter and drop them in?

Pop the lid on for me, Eleanor.

Give it a really, really good shake. That's it.

It's like a smoothie,

like custard.

It does, doesn't it? Are all of our lids on nice and tight?

-Yeah.

-Bring them round this way.

Great thing about a dishwasher is it gets very hot.

So maybe we could use that heat to cook some food.

So, let's grab our salmon.

Nice and tight. I'm hoping that the heat around this

will be strong enough to heat up the ingredients inside.

OK. Let's put our stir-fry in there, with the basil.

What you need to do is put this

on to the highest wash, to go through the whole cycle.

The idea is the dishwasher will poach the salmon

and steam the vegetables.

At least that's the idea. Now, what do tumble dryers do?

It dries clothes with heat.

And they move it around, don't they? Well, I was thinking

that we need the heat and we need the moving around to scramble eggs.

So, Jordan, pop that in there.

Bear in mind that tumble dryers and dishwashers

weren't designed for cooking in or for getting inside, either.

So, if you're going to use them for cooking, ask permission

from whoever owns them first.

Right. I reckon an hour on top heat.

-Now, do you reckon this is going to work?

-Yeah.

I guess it's like a giant heated whisk, so cook it.

Let's see what other household appliances we can use to cook with.

We're leaving the dishwasher and the tumble dryer

to chuck around our dinner.

We're going to try and cook with some other things

you'd find lying around the house.

-Now, have you seen one of these before?

-Hairdryer.

-Hairdryer.

Now, what does a hairdryer do?

-It blows heat out.

-It blows heat out. Exactly.

-It dries your hair.

-Eleanor, you grab that one there.

Keenan, you're over here.

-How do you normally cook a pizza?

-In the oven.

We're going to try cooking pizza with a hairdryer.

Do the top first and when you're happy that the cheese

is beginning to melt, you need to go down from the bottom,

try cooking it from below as well so it cooks through all the way.

That's it.

While these guys are starting cooking their pizzas,

we're going to go and try something else over here.

-Have you seen one of these before?

-Yes.

-It's a big floodlight thing.

-It's a big light. Put sunglasses on.

I turn the light on and we leave it to heat up.

We're going to use the security light as a hot plate

or a frying pan to cook up pancakes.

How are we doing there?

Slowly, slowly, slowly. Spread it out over here.

I think that's beginning to cook. That's not bad, is it?

-Do you think this is working, George?

-Yeah.

The pancakes seem to be cooking,

but how is our hairdryer pizza getting on?

How's yours doing? Is yours bubbling up?

-Yeah. How's your tomato now?

-They're cooking a bit, they are.

-Meanwhile, back with the pancakes...

-It smells nice.

It's good, isn't it? Look at that.

I just want to scoff my face with it.

Well, that looks fantastic, doesn't it? OK. Grab the pancake

and let's find out how the guys are getting on.

-Are you happy with yours, Eleanor?

-Yeah.

OK. Let's pop that on there. You can turn yours off.

That looks fantastic as well.

OK. Grab your pizza. Eleanor, you grab yours.

Let's take all of these foods and go and find out

how the tumble dryer and dishwasher got on.

The salmon, vegetables and scrambled egg mix have been in for an hour.

They're probably clean by now, but will they be ready to eat?

-Gather round.

-Look. It's spilt all over the thing.

Looks a bit of a mess, doesn't it?

OK. What do you reckon, guys?

-Can you see anything?

-Boiled puke.

-That looks gooey.

-Boiled puke?

-Yeah.

-I think you're right.

That's made a real mess of that.

Doesn't look like it's done, but we'll stash it over here.

The eggs look like tumbled vomit, but if you do want to try this,

you'll need an understanding adult,

a sick bag and money for a new tumble dryer, standing by.

Now, will the dishwasher have done any better with the salmon?

There we go. Oh, look. Well, something's happened in there.

Look. It's changed colour.

These are all very hot.

OK. Let's go back to the table and see if we can taste some of it.

Oh, dear. Well, something's cooked on the outside.

I can't even open it.

It's sealed itself up.

Cooking scrambled eggs in a tumble dryer has failed miserably.

That was a disaster, wasn't it? Will the salmon be equally washed up?

-It actually looks like a proper meal.

-You're surprised, aren't you?

That's brilliant.

It's cooked all the way through.

Fantastic. OK. Everyone, grab a forkful.

Well, it does look cooked, but will it taste like a dishwasher?

That is good.

It's really good cos it's still really moist inside.

It melts in your mouth.

I don't really like salmon as in when it's cooked

but I think this way's much more better.

Cooking salmon in a dishwasher not only works,

it actually makes it taste better.

Now, let's try the pizzas.

Hairdryer-cooked pizza. OK.

Dive in there.

Next up, what does pizza taste like after the hairdryer treatment?

Cooked really, really well.

-Do you think it's actually cooked?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

I'm never a big fan of pizza and this is all right.

-Do you think hairdryers are a good enough cooking tool?

-Yeah.

Next time you're blow-drying your hair,

pop a slice of pizza on your head and cook up lunch at the same time.

Now, let's try some pancakes.

OK. Now, that's fantastic.

Stop stop stop stop stop stop.

The security light's designed to terrify burglars, but how good is it

at cooking pancakes? OK. Everyone dive in and grab a little piece.

It's a little bit chewy.

The pancake was really nice.

It seems to have worked.

Another experiment that ends in satisfied stomachs.

Fab!

what do you think about the idea of cooking without a cooker?

-Good idea.

-Good idea.

-It's fun and interesting.

Knowing that you cooked it in a strange way

-actually makes it taste better.

-Well, this has really inspired me.

I've begun to think maybe we could use all sorts of different things

for cooking with. Maybe we can get out of the kitchen altogether.

-Shall we try some new things?

-Yeah.

-OK. Let's go. Imagine the scene.

You're trapped on a desert island. No pots and pans.

However, OK, on our desert island, something weird has happened.

A big container has washed up on the beach

but it's only full of paper bags.

The thing is, can we cook with a paper bag?

-You can store things in it.

-You can put things in it. Yeah.

It's paper and when you put the food in, it probably can heat up

cos it only has a thin layer.

OK. Paper tends to burn, doesn't it? So let's have a quick look.

Let's see what happens. We seem to have found...

a fire. We're trying to prove we can cook without using a cooker, but is

using a paper bag instead just a step too far?

-What do you reckon? Do you reckon it's going to burn?

-Yes. Burn.

It's burning. Yes. So that's not really a lot of cop, is it?

OK. So we'll give up with that idea.

However, the thing is, we're really hungry,

so we've got to try something else. Back to the table. OK.

So, what happened was, alongside the container of paper bags, a huge

container with all the ingredients for English breakfast turned up.

Eggs, bacon and hash browns.

That is oil, so grab that.

Spray the bottom of this.

When you're cooking an English breakfast..

When you make an English breakfast,

it's always good to put a bit of oil down first. OK. Stop there.

-That looks like hairspray.

-That would be a very bad idea.

OK, George, grab that bacon there for me, please.

We're going to put that on the bottom as a little whole layer.

-That's a good start. Everyone like bacon?

-Yeah.

-I love it.

Now, let's get a few hash browns.

One either end. Yeah.

That's it. Now, Keenan, do you like cracking eggs?

-Yeah.

-Excellent. OK. Crack me an egg.

-This looks gorgeous.

Pop it in the middle so it sits in the middle.

Put your hands in. That's it. Right down. Right down.

That's looking fantastic. OK.

I'd say that's a full English breakfast.

No. We need tomatoes in it.

We've never tried this before so there's a good chance we'll fail

and end up looking stupid and feeling hungry.

I don't think I'd be able to cook in a paper bag because

it just wouldn't work properly.

Well, it's not burning yet.

-Yeah, it is.

-Can you see from there if it's burning on the bottom?

-You can see the smoke...

-It is smoking a bit.

Smells like bacon.

You can smell some bacon? So, do you think it's worked?

-Yeah.

-Do you reckon it's worked?

OK. Shall we try it? OK. Let's go.

After 15 minutes over hot coals, the bag hasn't caught light,

but are we going to be the first people in the world

to have cooked breakfast in a paper bag?

-Who's hungry?

-Me.

-Me.

-Yeah. I'm hungry, too.

OK. Let's have a little look.

OK. Fingers crossed, everyone.

Oh, gosh. Look at that.

-It cooked.

-It cooked.

-Look at the egg.

Even the bacon's cooked in there. The egg's a proper egg.

A bit dry but it looks good. Is everyone going to try it?

-Yes.

-Excellent.

-If I'm hungry, I'm hungry.

-Everybody tuck in.

I want to know, what does it taste like?

Does it taste of paper bag?

-No.

-Just tastes of...

-That tastes good.

-Is that how you eat your breakfast at home?

-No.

-We've got an oven.

-The bacon's gorgeous.

It's fantastic.

Cooking in a paper bag was really, really, really fun,

because I didn't think it was going to work

but it worked really, really well and tasted really good.

I was quite amazed cos I thought the egg would be all soggy, but

actually it tasted quite nice, like the bacon was all like...

as Stefan showed me, that was all crunchy.

That is extraordinary.

You can cook with a paper bag.

I'm amazed and the Gastronuts thought it tasted fantastic.

The bacon was actually crispy, with a paper bag, over some hot coals.

It is possible to cook with just a paper bag.

But it you're trying it yourself,

get an adult, or your local paper bag cookery expert to lend a hand.

One traditional delicacy of Iceland is rotten shark, hakarl.

A Greenland or basking shark is beheaded and gutted. The carcass is

placed in a ditch, covered over in sand, pressed down

with heavy rocks, then left to rot for between six and 12 weeks.

When dug up, it's hung out to dry for several months to mature, like ham.

Unlike ham, it looks and smells like stale pee.

Most people who try the snack immediately vomit it back up.

We've already come a long way on our journey towards

cooking without a cooker.

The Gastronuts will get even further from the kitchen

and try to cook with something that could end up cooking them.

But next up, I'll be making my very own version of Meals On Wheels.

I'm planning a trip, but I hate service-station food, so I thought

I'll be going pretty fast, the engine'll get hot,

it'd be a shame to waste the energy.

I read somewhere that you can use a car engine as a cooker.

I've got all the ingredients to make some kebabs and tortilla wraps.

Thought I'd try out using some fish,

some vegetables.

Just poke them on a skewer. We'll do a couple.

That does sound like an extraordinary idea,

engines are quite mucky, so once you've made your

kebabs, create a really, really good parcel for them.

It's really important you use good foil

and there are no holes where the fumes could get in.

A little bit of oil over the top.

And there we go.

Another bit of basil.

If you cover it in too much foil, it won't cook fast enough.

Too little foil, it won't be protected from all the fumes.

That looks pretty good.

So that's the kebabs. I thought we'd also make some tortilla wraps.

A little bit of tomato salsa.

A few peppers.

Then some cheese. A little bit of cheddar.

We just fold that up.

Wrap it up there. One more for good measure.

That's our food all prepared. Where can we strap it to the engine?

Now, this is, I have to say,

the tricky bit - all engines are different.

You've got to make sure you're not tying your food to

any moving part so it gets shredded and ends up damaging your engine.

So it's always best, really, to take your car to a garage and ask

them where they think is the best place.

So, this bit of my engine gets really, really hot.

I wouldn't advise you tying something to your folks' car

without them knowing about it.

That looks pretty tight.

That'll work well. I've made a little

cage here for the heater.

Pop that in there.

That looks pretty firm. Now, I've never tried this before!

I don't know if it'll work, but let's try.

When you cook with a car, it's not

about how long you cook for, it's about how far you drive.

If I can keep a steady 70 mph,

the engine should reach 100 degrees Celcius,

and in theory, 25 minutes at that temperature should do it.

But, will my tortilla wrap and my car-bab actually be edible?

Just turned the air conditioning on, and I don't know if this is hope

or if it's reality but I think I can just get

a slight smell of fish in the air.

I've done about 30-odd miles.

We managed to hit 70 mph for

quite a chunk of that, so let's give it a try!

Oh, that's nice and hot, that is.

It's the heat you'd feel off a barbecue.

So, see what we get.

All I can smell is engine, and that's probably good -

if you smell the fish, it probably means

the fumes of the engine could have been getting in.

There we go. OK!

Let's see if it's done the trick.

Yay! Let's have a look at

our tortilla wrap.

The moment of truth.

But has my cheese melted?

Oh, yes! Look at that!

That's perfect! The proof,

though, is in the eating.

That's perfect. Nice and spicy.

Nice and hot. Nice melted cheese there. I think that's worked!

There's no smell of engine.

No smell of exhaust or petrol, which I was

worried about. It's just proper tortilla wrap, properly cooked.

Much trickier, though, has the fish worked?

Oh, my word. Look at that.

If it wasn't cooked, it'd be translucent.

But look at that.

Cooked all the way through! It's still moist -

it's been wrapped up so all the juices couldn't escape.

And that looks like a perfect kebab.

That is truly delicious. Perfectly, perfectly cooked.

This proves that you don't need to be stuck in a kitchen

and you don't need a cooker to cook!

So, you can cook without a cooker,

but can we freeze food without a freezer?

We've asked Dr Andreas Zeller

to help us try something that is literally supercool.

So, this is Dr Zeller.

He's developed one of the coolest cooking techniques I've ever heard.

I'm going to show you liquid nitrogen.

Here it is, and you can see it's very, very cold.

What I have here is a surgical glove, and I'm going to take it and...

You can see it's all floppy.

-That could be like one of our hands?

-One of your fingers.

What we'll do is put it into

the liquid nitrogen and dip it in, and within seconds, look at it.

It's all gone stiff.

GLOVE CRACKLES

It's frozen, completely solid.

If that was your hand, you can

just, like, bend it back and it'll just, like, snap off?

-Absolutely. You'll be able to snap off your fingers one by one.

-Ugh!

But can you use liquid nitrogen for cooking?

It's actually an amazing way of making

one of everyone's favourite foods.

And that's going to be ice-cream.

So, what we have here

is a bowl which has some lovely ice-cream mix, ready to be cooled.

This is what ice cream starts at. It's a big, warm, sloppy mess.

But how are we going to turn this into ice cream using that?

Ordinarily, you an ice-cream maker,

a fridge which churns and cools it.

You're going to be the churn, and I'll provide the fridge.

I want you to start stirring and then

I'll pour in the liquid nitrogen.

And keep stirring.

Is anything happening?

-It feels stiffer.

-Can you just pull the spoon out a little?

-Can you see it?

-Let's stir some more. Let's stir

in a little bit more. Keep stirring.

-All you can see is clouds of smoke.

-Here it is.

Looks pretty stiff!

-It feels pretty stiff.

-Do you want to pull some out?

Well, there we are. Ice cream.

I think the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

Let's go see what it's like.

So, you poured liquid nitrogen into this. Is that not dangerous?

Remember, we're breathing nitrogen all the time.

It's simply cooling, and then it boils away and so it's gone,

-leaving nothing behind.

-So we're not tasting liquid nitrogen here?

-That cold? Does it taste any different to normal ice cream?

-Yeah.

It's much creamier.

The ice cream did taste a little bit

different, but it made a big difference - I love it.

What we've done is no stunt.

Some of the greatest chefs use liquid nitrogen

to create instant ice cream at the table, because they're

looking for ways to cook without a cooker.

Chefs use liquid nitrogen to get things supercool,

but this is what they use when they want to go super hot.

Who's ever seen one of these before?

-It's a blowtorch.

-Brilliant.

Sometimes, you want to have a real intense heat to cook things,

to get a little browning on the food.

Blowtorches are very hot and very dangerous,

sp always ask an adult or a fireman to help you out

if you want to use one.

And break in there. Look at that!

That's worked really well.

-It's like toffee?

-That's exactly what it is. Toffee.

We like to take fun ideas like that and blow them up

on a massive scale. Come with me.

We're going to take what chefs do with blowtorches

and move it to a crazy new level.

I bet you've all got kitchens full of toasters and

-lots of little bits of kit lying around?

-ALL:

-Yeah.

-Anyone got one of these?

-ALL: No.

This is an industrial flame-thrower.

-Wow.

-Could it work? Could we cook with this?

What do you reckon? Would you like to try?

-ALL: Yeah!

-You need to be careful.

It's extremely dangerous, all right?

If you've got a flame-thrower,

what's the best thing you can cook with it?

The Gastronuts will find out, starting with blitzing a lasagne.

So, are you ready?

You've made lasagne before? Excellent. Let's give it a go.

It's coming along very nicely.

Oh, yeah!

That's fantastic.

You're about there.

OK. Now push the trigger forward.

OK! Well, this is very interesting.

You've made a right pig's ear of that.

You've exploded the oven dish. With something like this, the heat is so

intense that some parts of the dish

will heat up quicker than others - that's when things break.

The browning looks perfect.

So, we can't still eat it?

No. You might munch bits of oven dish

if you tuck into that. Still, at least we know lasagne works.

It's flame on now for George as he takes on the marshmallows.

That's it. And close it off.

-What do you reckon?

-Good!

-The marshmallows scorched too quickly.

Can Eleanor do any better with some toast? Pull that trigger!

Wow!

You're about done.

Push that closed. Fantastic!

Look at that! It's kind of done there. Well, I wouldn't butter that,

but will Sophie have more luck with the flame-thrower

on the creme brulee?

-Wow!

-Oh, yeah!

Oh, yeah!

-Oh, yeah!

-I think that's perfect. OK. Let's shut that off.

-It doesn't look too bad.

-That looks perfect.

Now, will the cheese make all the difference on Jordan's toast?

OK. And aim it right. That's it.

I've got burnt toast.

I reckon that's great. Now shut it off.

Fantastic!

OK. That has been incinerated.

Not sure that's worked.

So, the flame-thrower is too much for toast and

marshmallows, but good for lasagne and perfect for creme brulee.

So, the world's most dangerous flame-thrower creme brulee.

It looks pretty good. What do you reckon?

-It tastes better than the other one.

-Delicious. Seriously.

I'd say that's a real success. Sophie, give me five.

It was really interesting.

It made it taste better because you knew you cooked it in a fun way.

My favourite thing that I did was to try lots of different foods

and cook lasagne with a flame-thrower.

The thing I enjoyed the most was probably cooking with

a flame-thrower, and I managed to make a decent creme brulee.

The thing that I enjoyed the most was eating out of the paper bag.

I think today has made me more adventurous because it showed me

different ways to cook different things.

Let's be completely honest.

Cooking with a flame-thrower is the least practical thing,

but you don't need to be stuck with the usual junk

that you find floating round the kitchen.

You can cook with paper bags!

Hairdryers, liquid nitrogen!

You can take cooking, which is often boring, a little bit similar to

everything you do in your life, and turn it into an adventure.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

E-mail [email protected]