bachelor griller
{{Short description|Kitchen appliance}}
A bachelor griller, mini oven{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/extras/indybest/house-garden/the-ten-best-mini-ovens-1648034.html|work=The Independent|date=19 March 2009|last=Drew|first=Tom|accessdate=27 October 2014|title=The Ten Best Mini Ovens}} or mini kitchen{{cite web| url=http://wetpig.com/dorm-cooking-multi-tasking-kitchen-appliances-for-college-students/|title=Dorm Cooking: Multi-Tasking Kitchen Appliances for College Students|date=29 August 2007|accessdate=28 October 2014|website=wetpig.com}} is a countertop kitchen appliance about the size of a microwave oven but which can instead grill, bake, broil or roast food. It generally incorporates one or two heating elements at the top and bottom of the appliance, has one or two hobs ({{langx|en-US|links=no|burners}}) on the cooktop, or a ceramic hotplate, and may incorporate a rotisserie.{{cite book|title=The Itty Bitty Kitchen Handbook: Everything You Need to Know about Setting Up & Cooking in the Most Ridiculously Small Kitchen in the World|last=Spring|first=Justin|date=March 2006|publisher=Broadway Books|isbn=978-0767920162}}{{cite book|title=Can I have chips?|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-ElRAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA129|page=129|last=Graham|first=Louise|publisher=Troubador|date=2014|isbn = 9781783062423|accessdate=6 March 2014}}
It can be used to fry, bake and grill ({{langx|en-US|links=no|broil}}) foods. It is an alternative to reheating prepackaged meals in a microwave oven.{{Cite book|title=The Bachelor Home Companion: A Practical Guide to Keeping House Like a Pig|last=O'Rourke|first=P. J.|authorlink=P. J. O'Rourke|date=13 March 1997|isbn=978-0871136862|publisher=Atlantic Monthly Press}}
Modern bachelor grillers have controller knobs to control cooking temperatures. These are steadystates, a combination of a potentiometer and a thermostat, which ensure that the temperature stays stable.
History
The expression is at least 100 years old, with early versions generally powered by gas.{{cite web|url=http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/LotDetailsPrintable.aspx?intObjectID=3578992|accessdate=5 March 2014|work=Christie's|title=A similar 'Bachelor' Griller, without stand, circa 1910|date=30 September 1992}}{{cite journal|journal=Gas Logic|volume=21–26|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jj48AQAAMAAJ&pg=RA7-PA14|pages=7–14|date=1917|accessdate=6 March 2014|title=Gas Logic, Volumes 21-26|publisher=New York Public Library}} The expression derives from the stereotypical idea that a bachelor will not cook anything properly, if at all. It has also been used as (and may have originated as) a brand name: the 1905 Journal of Gas Lighting, Water Supply & Sanitary Improvement (page 410) describes "illustrations of the firm's "Welcome" and "Bachelor" grillers, their "Vulcan" cooker, and an assortment of brass fittings for gas".
George Orwell used a bachelor griller in 1935 while sharing a flat with Rayner Heppenstall in Bloomsbury, London.{{cite book|title=The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0j2qODEJkdoC&pg=PA150|page=150|volume=1. An age like this (1920–1940)|publisher=Penguin Classics|last=Orwell|first=George|year = 2000|isbn = 9781567921335|authorlink=George Orwell|editor1-first=Sonia|editor1-last=Orwell|editor2-first=Ian|editor2-last=Angus}}{{cite book
|title=The Unknown Orwell|volume=Orwell, the Transformation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dh_aqAZk-UQC&q=bachelor+griller&pg=RA1-PA104|last=Stansky|first=Peter|date=1994|page=104|publisher=Stanford University Press|isbn= 9780804723428|accessdate=28 October 2014}}{{cite book
|last=Bowker|first=Gordon|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=brRjuvvrbzgC&pg=PT174|title=George Orwell|page=174|isbn=9781405528054|publisher=Hachette|date=2013|accessdate=28 October 2014}}
See also
{{portal|Food|Technology}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [http://collection.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects/co8408174/bachelor-griller-made-by-the-gas-griller Image of a gas-fired bachelor griller], circa 1910.