Alright folks today I want to talk about kitchen...yes kitchen, why?, I don't know the idea just popped up when I was preparing to bake chocolate cake a few days ago. In my house there is only one type kitchen, the one you used for cooking...full stop. The thing I don't get with this two type of kitchen is why is it neccessary to have the two? I mean I've been to a lot of houses with the two type of kitchen..and so far the only thing I saw is stupidity. (the concept of dry kitchen in Malaysia is totally different from those of westerners I must say). It the western country they have a dry kithen like a minibar so they can entertain guest. In Malaysia we have dry kitchen to 'show' guest on what a perfect house owner you are....your kitchen is sparkling clean!
When in reality the kitchen you used for cooking look like infested mad house. Why on earth do you install first class 'Kenwood' kitchenware in your kitchen, if at the end of the day you are cooking using the old 'National' gas stove outside your house?( the more ridicilous...it situated OUTSIDE the house) To make things worse all the stuff in your wet kitchen looks like they belong to some 'setinggan' house somewhere in Kg. Baru or Gombak. ..really with all those hillarious cabinet and stuff.
I get the idea of having your kitchen looking shining, clean and everything but what use would it be if you just have to look at it. ..staring at your shining Kenwood stove isn't going to make to stove bake its own cake or cookies. Yup... there are times when your friends or relatives come over and you invite them to see the kitchen, and with a good clean and shining kitchen it really does impress your guests..the truth is there are only two impressions of you..either you are a very hygenic person or you just don't cook..that's why everything is so clean. But just how many people do you have coming to your house everyday? Why suffer cooking outside your house when you can enjoy the comfort of cooking with that beautiful..shining brand new stove you have. Why torture yourself like that? I knew this because I have an aunt who do the exact thing..cooking at the back of her house with and old gas stove when she had a beautiful Elba electrical stove just inside her beautifully decorated dry kitchen. I'd asked her once when did she actually used the brand new stove
I get the idea of having your kitchen looking shining, clean and everything but what use would it be if you just have to look at it. ..staring at your shining Kenwood stove isn't going to make to stove bake its own cake or cookies. Yup... there are times when your friends or relatives come over and you invite them to see the kitchen, and with a good clean and shining kitchen it really does impress your guests..the truth is there are only two impressions of you..either you are a very hygenic person or you just don't cook..that's why everything is so clean. But just how many people do you have coming to your house everyday? Why suffer cooking outside your house when you can enjoy the comfort of cooking with that beautiful..shining brand new stove you have. Why torture yourself like that? I knew this because I have an aunt who do the exact thing..cooking at the back of her house with and old gas stove when she had a beautiful Elba electrical stove just inside her beautifully decorated dry kitchen. I'd asked her once when did she actually used the brand new stove
Her answer.....when she is boiling water..because its troublesome to go outside just for that...geeeshhh ...what a waste of resources.
Although I don't mind having this type of dry kitchen in my house in the future ...credit to Adrewsia
Or this beautiful gorgeous looking kitchen to work with..
In the childhood memories of every good cook, there's a large kitchen, a warm stove, a simmering pot and a mom - Barbara Costikyan
Related post : Dry Kitchen Vs. Wet Kitchen (the real concept)
Ideas for you kitchen: The Kitchen Store
9 comments:
hi~ well i doubt u notice the difference btw wet n dry kitchen.. malaysian's or i would say asian cooking makes lots of fried are mostly oily n smokey wherelse western cooking is much lighter than this.. but mayb the one u saw is a total bad impression but dry kitchen in malaysia are use to bake.. heat.. steam.. boil.. even prepare some breadfast.. snakes.. and so one... therefor its mostly clean n shiny...well.. dry kitchen are mostly at the back part in able to wash up the floor etc... well... i can't imagine having my group of friends sitting near by watching me cooking nor wash n wipe the bar everytime i cook tho... but.. guess is shd not be that bad as what u have discribed above.. =)
The one I described was based on what I saw at my autie's and a few others.(you need to see it to believe it kind of kitchen I must say ;-) But like you said it just a very small portion and their's is a totally out of the contex definition of it. But it's there.
Thanks for the comment...anyway if you do start on washing and wiping everytime you cook infront of your friend...that's more like an obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)...hehehe
I read your entry about dry VS wet kitchen. You have been to lots of houses and you saw two ktichen and you call this stupidity. I cant say the same. You see, Im sure you have noticed Asian cooking uses OIL in most of the food/// lots of deep fried food too...and the smell of "belacan" or "ikan masing"?? Well, what Im getting at is that 'asian kitchens' have evoleved over the years! Wet kichen for heavy-duty cooking and dry kitchen for light cooking. No, again...the question, why the need of two kitchen?? Obviously, preference and lifestyle.
i have to agree with anonymous above, that having 2 kitchens isn't stupid. It is actually part of our Asian culture. I am a Malaysian Chinese and my grandma used to have a wet and dry lichen. The dry kitchen is where she does light cooking or boiling water, but when she cooks a feast, she would use the wet kitchen. This is because she needed a bigger stove with more heat power (I'm sure you've seen how those chefs cook with flames throwing upwards and the chefs all sweating behind the glass while we watched them gleefully). Yes, that's why some houses have the wet kitchen separated and mind you, we didn't have a smoke extractor back then. So to save the house interior from smelling like char kway teow the heavy cooking had to be done 'outside'. When i say 'outside' i mean an extension of the dry kitchen, it is still part of the house nonetheless.
now that my grandma has aged much, she doesn't do as much heavy cooking as she used to during her prime. So she settled for something in between dry and wet kitchen. at the end of the day, her cooking stove is still furthest away from the living area,and my guess is that she instinctively know that she will still do some heavy cooking once in a while (CNY).
SO, moral of the story is, the kitchen is very much part of our lifestyle and culture, it has evolved according to our needs and how we use the space.The modern kitchen with everything in one space (minibar concept) is actually a WESTERN import, that people buy because it looks pretty and that modern people no longer cook as much as their predecessors do. AGAIN a reflection of changing lifestyle and culture.
So, dear writer, dont anyhow call things stupid if you dont know how to appreciate them, i would think your grandma or ur aunt know better.
I agreed with JX. We malaysian loves cooking and most of us have large family. During festive season, public holiday, or even weekends, we all meet each other and of course heavy stove is needed to cook for at least 5 person. As for my family, we have to cook for at least 12 person and may reach to almost 50 guest during festive season. We prefer to cook ourself instead of hiring caterer. We dont go to restaurant, or hire caterer or take away food. We cook and eat at home. So its not kind of stupidity.
Sorry my english wasnt good..
American, I am married to a Malaysian Chinese and we live in Malaysia. I am in the process of finishing our new home. I will be installing a wet kitchen as well. As others stated. Most of the heavy really hot cooking will be done outside of the dry kitchen. The wet kitchen will be well ventalated allowing the smoke and other stuff to vent to outside, Also we use lots of water in washing vegetables and meats. The wet kitchen is much in style of the older Southern American grilling kitchen I grew up with were we did all BBQ and roasted pig or side of beef and it was cozy out there. In Malaysia the wet kitchen is attached to the back of the house instead of out in the middle of a large back yard. I prefer this as well due to the expense of the tiles and other furniture in the house. The dry kitchen is great for quick food preparation and snacks and such as that. Many times it is just my wife and myself and we prepare something not as messy and easy clean up. I like the dry kitchen and the wet kitchen.
Oh my god, you are thinking what I am thinking. I just dont get the idea of wet and dry kitchen too, and no amount of explaination of what the differences between those two can make me not think it is kinda stupid concept.
Some great answers to the original naive post. Do none of you have maids?? The wet kitchen is where the maid prepares food.
We just renovated from having two kitchens ( wet and dry ). We now have one Kitchen, we installed a high power kitchen Exhaust above a big 44k BTU gas burner and a few induction hobs for lighter cooking. Modern high volume exhaust hoods can remove all smells and smoke from really heavy cooking. The benefit to us was more room now for a big family dining table. This was the best solution for us, we all have different requirements. YMMV.
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