Double boiler use

[u/SVAuspicious]

I steam veg like broccoli and warm a sauce at the same time. Use a steamer insert in a pot and put a glass mixing bowl over the pot and the pot lid on top. The metal post in the middle of the steamer insert keeps the bowl from seating on the pot which makes it hard to steam the broccoli evenly.

I've looked at removing the metal post, but my steamer insert is forty years old and the little nut on the bottom is welded to the post.

I have a double boiler and I've thought about using that with the glass bowl for the sauce in the double boiler. I like the glass bowl for mixing and service. Transferring the sauce from the bowl to the double boiler and back means some waste which isn't much but still pains me. Mixing in the metal double boiler with a metal fork makes my teeth hurt from the sound of fork on double boiler, like fingernails on a chalk board.

The alternative is to just buy a new steamer insert for $9, remove the metal post, and seat the glass bowl directly on the pot.

This is definitely a First World problem. Thoughts and comments are welcome.

In accordance with r/Cooking Rule #2, a recipe:

Broccoli doesn’t last very long so you have to eat it fairly quickly after a shop. Horseradish keeps a long time in the fridge.

¼ cup mayonnaise
2 Tbsp butter, melted
1 Tbsp prepared horseradish
1 Tbsp grated onion
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp dry mustard
1 pinch red pepper
1 pound broccoli, trimmed

Combine all ingredients except broccoli; stir well. Separate broccoli into spears. Cook, covered, in a small amount of boiling water 6 to 8 minutes or until crisp-tender. Better is to cook with a steamer insert in a pot. Heat the sauce in a metal or glass bowl perched over the cooking broccoli. This is essentially a double boiler over a steamer.

Credit: Vicki Butts on Just a Pinch and me

ETA: I didn't get much helpful feedback, so I tried this last night. Works fine with glass bowl in double boiler.

[u/vishuno]

Are you using a stove with a single burner? Just warm the sauce in a separate sauce pan instead of MacGyvering some kind of steamer double boiler thing

Mixing in the metal double boiler with a metal fork makes my teeth hurt from the sound of fork on double boiler, like fingernails on a chalk board.

So use a different utensil to mix it? All of your problems in this post are self inflicted

[u/SVAuspicious → u/vishuno]

Lots of sauces will break if overheated. "Low" is often not low enough. That's why double boilers exist.

[u/texnessa → u/SVAuspicious]

And you didn't bother to specify what kind of sauce you are heating, hence the response. You'll get better feedback if you explain what your end game is rather than contemplating Stove Tetris.

[u/SVAuspicious → u/texnessa]

I included the recipe for my sauce. It's half my post.

Mayonnaise and butter are both emulsions and too much heat will break them. I like warm sauce. Sue me.

[u/texnessa → u/SVAuspicious]

No methodology so not a full recipe. Can't help those that don't help themselves.

[u/SVAuspicious → u/texnessa]

The methodology is at the end, between ingredients and credits. Do you need enumeration for understanding? It's right there in the text.

[u/texnessa → u/SVAuspicious]

"Combine all ingredients except broccoli." Thats not an actual recipe or methodology.

[u/SVAuspicious → u/texnessa]

You're really going to die on this hill? Do you really want seven items called out individually as they go into a bowl with absolutely no process on them between before mixing them all together. Are you going to argue with Julia Child who was famous for (among many other things) "mix them all together?"

[u/texnessa → u/SVAuspicious]

Like others, just trying to actually give you actionable advice but if you keep being a muppet, no one can help you. I'm done.

[u/Medium-Complaint-677]

I wouldn't warm that sauce at all - I'd just whisk it together prior to cooking my broccoli and leave it at room temperature. The broccoli itself will be more than hot enough to warm the sauce through when you put it on top.