[Sca-cooks] Can coffee urns be used for cooking?

[Sue Clemenger]

I'd imagine that, unless you were starting with a brand-new urn, for one
thing, that anything else you put in there might end up coffee-flavored
to some degree.
Of course, having said that, I do remember using a clean coffee urn to
make hot spiced cider in (cider goes where the water normally would, and
a couple of oz. of mulling spices go in the basket--works wonderfully).
I don't know that you'd have much of a control on the heat level for
sauces, though....And also, dispensing anything like a sauce (I'm
thinking something thickened in some way, even a little) might gum up
the dispensing works.
What you might try is a crock pot with a "keep warm" setting.  I got one
as a Holiday present from my sister and her husband.  I can set it to
cook something, and if it finishes before I get home in the evening, it
automatically switches to a "warm" setting.
--maire

Not-Lainie's Edouard wrote:
>
> Howdy,
>
> I know this is an odd question, but considering how I (and probably
> many others here) often end up cooking in substandard kitchens (like I
> did this last weekend), I figure it's worth considering.
>
> Some recipes, like sauces, will take up stove space for preparation and
> need to be kept at safe temperatures until served.  Could a standard
> $30 electric coffee urn work for this?  How hot do they keep their
> contents?
>
> I can imaging doing the prep for a sauce, pouring it into the urn, and
> then "set it and forget it" ... well maybe stir it every now and then.
> It even has that little spout at the bottom for dispensing into serving
> bowls.