A bachelor griller, mini oven or mini kitchen is a countertop

kitchen appliance A home appliance, also referred to as a domestic appliance, an electric appliance or a household appliance, is a machine which assists in household functions such as cooking, cleaning and food preservation. The domestic application attached to ...

about the size of a

microwave oven A microwave oven, or simply microwave, is an electric oven that heats and cooks food by exposing it to electromagnetic radiation in the microwave frequency range. This induces Dipole#Molecular dipoles, polar molecules in the food to rotate and ...

but which can instead grill, bake, broil or roast food. It generally incorporates one or two

heating element A heating element is a device used for conversion of electric energy into heat, consisting of a heating resistor and accessories. Heat is generated by the passage of electric current through a resistor through a process known as Joule heating. He ...

s at the top and bottom of the appliance, has one or two hobs () on the

cooktop A cooktop (American English), stovetop (Canadian and American English) or hob (British English), is a device commonly used for cooking that is commonly found in kitchens and used to apply heat to the base of cookware, pans or pots. Cooktops are o ...

, or a ceramic

hotplate A hot plate or hotplate is a heated flat surface on a stove or electric cooker on which food may be cooked, either built into an electric cooker or kitchen stove, or portable, plugged into an electric outlet. Hot plates can also be used as a h ...

, and may incorporate a

rotisserie Rotisserie, also known as spit-roasting, is a style of roasting where meat is skewered on a spit – a long, solid rod used to hold food while it is being cooked over a fire in a fireplace or over a campfire, or roasted in an oven. This meth ...

. It can be used to fry, bake and grill () foods. It is an alternative to reheating

prepackaged meal A frozen meal, also called a TV dinner (Canada and US), prepackaged meal, ready-made meal, ready meal (UK), frozen dinner, or microwave meal, is a meal portioned for an individual. A frozen meal in the United States and Canada usually consists ...

s in a

. Modern bachelor grillers have controller knobs to control cooking temperatures. These are steadystates, a combination of a

potentiometer A potentiometer is a three- terminal resistor with a sliding or rotating contact that forms an adjustable voltage divider. If only two terminals are used, one end and the wiper, it acts as a variable resistor or rheostat. The measuring instrum ...

and a

thermostat A thermostat is a regulating device component which senses the temperature of a physical system and performs actions so that the system's temperature is maintained near a desired setpoint. Thermostats are used in any device or system tha ...

, which ensure that the temperature stays stable.

History

The expression is at least 100 years old, with early versions generally powered by gas. The expression derives from the stereotypical idea that a

bachelor A bachelor is a man who is not and never has been married.Bachelors are, in Pitt & al.'s phrasing, "men who live independently, outside of their parents' home and other institutional settings, who are neither married nor cohabitating". (). Etymo ...

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 Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950) was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to a ...

used a bachelor griller in 1935 while sharing a flat with

Rayner Heppenstall John Rayner Heppenstall (27 July 1911 in Lockwood, Huddersfield, Yorkshire, England – 23 May 1981 in Deal, Kent, England) was a British novelist, poet, diarist, and a BBC radio producer.John Wakeman, ''World Authors 1950-1970 : a companion vol ...

Bloomsbury, London Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London, part of the London Borough of Camden in England. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural institution, cultural, intellectual, and educational ...

References

{{reflist

External links

Image of a gas-fired bachelor griller
circa 1910. Cooking appliances Home appliances Stoves Ovens

History

See also

References

External links