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Introducing space-age cooking circa 1949: the NESCO roaster!
This amazing device includes such cutting-edge features as an on/off switch, a clock with a timer, a plastic dial that opens the top (with a squeak), a separate removable heating coil that can be used to warm the kitchen....ANNNNNND a 65-year-old cloth electrical cord guaranteed to make your house as crispy as the 30lbs of meatloaf that you're cooking for a family of four!
The NESCO is a must-have for the modern housewife, a small kitchen appliance made of portable, lightweight steel, ceramic, and hammered aluminum. It's the convenient way to roast a ham, turkey, or any animal....and cleanup is a breeze with a just a bottle of ammonia, a jar of oil soap, a wire brush, a box of Brillo pads, a garden hose, a couple of Tom Collins' and a little elbow grease.
And if Khrushchev should drop a bomb us, we'll...the NESCO even doubles as a fallout shelter! Nuclear war has never been so tasty...
I've had my grandmother's NESCO oven ever since she passed away. I never actually saw her use it, but all through my childhood, the little oven sat in the corner of her kitchen - a room that like the NESCO itself, was a relic from the past. The last time the NESCO got used was Thanksgiving dinner, 1989; we needed an extra oven for a second turkey, and the NESCO somehow managed to cook the bird without igniting the surroundings.
Grandma replaced the cloth cord shortly thereafter.
I've toted the NESCO around for the last fifteen years, and until very recently, incorporated it successfully into my retro-modern decor. My current house is the first place I've lived in where I just didn't have room in my kitchen, so I've reluctantly stored the antique in my basement.
This past weekend - when I noticed the humidity was causing the roaster's stand to rust - I brought the NESCO upstairs into my kitchen, and put it in the corner recently vacated by Josie's litter box. It looks funny. It's like a prop from a MST3K movie. With as modern the room is, the NESCO comes off as an alter to 1950s kitsch, the culinary equivalent of having a vintage Chevy in the garage that you only drive on weekends.
Hmmm..."only drive on weekends." I guess that means I should occasionally cook something in it. But that's going to be hard as Hot Pockets & popcorn only come with microwave instructions. And to be completely honest, the NESCO is designed to roast something much larger.
(Thinking.)
You know, now that I think about it, the neighbor's kid IS kind of noisy...
This amazing device includes such cutting-edge features as an on/off switch, a clock with a timer, a plastic dial that opens the top (with a squeak), a separate removable heating coil that can be used to warm the kitchen....ANNNNNND a 65-year-old cloth electrical cord guaranteed to make your house as crispy as the 30lbs of meatloaf that you're cooking for a family of four!
The NESCO is a must-have for the modern housewife, a small kitchen appliance made of portable, lightweight steel, ceramic, and hammered aluminum. It's the convenient way to roast a ham, turkey, or any animal....and cleanup is a breeze with a just a bottle of ammonia, a jar of oil soap, a wire brush, a box of Brillo pads, a garden hose, a couple of Tom Collins' and a little elbow grease.
And if Khrushchev should drop a bomb us, we'll...the NESCO even doubles as a fallout shelter! Nuclear war has never been so tasty...
I've had my grandmother's NESCO oven ever since she passed away. I never actually saw her use it, but all through my childhood, the little oven sat in the corner of her kitchen - a room that like the NESCO itself, was a relic from the past. The last time the NESCO got used was Thanksgiving dinner, 1989; we needed an extra oven for a second turkey, and the NESCO somehow managed to cook the bird without igniting the surroundings.
Grandma replaced the cloth cord shortly thereafter.
I've toted the NESCO around for the last fifteen years, and until very recently, incorporated it successfully into my retro-modern decor. My current house is the first place I've lived in where I just didn't have room in my kitchen, so I've reluctantly stored the antique in my basement.
This past weekend - when I noticed the humidity was causing the roaster's stand to rust - I brought the NESCO upstairs into my kitchen, and put it in the corner recently vacated by Josie's litter box. It looks funny. It's like a prop from a MST3K movie. With as modern the room is, the NESCO comes off as an alter to 1950s kitsch, the culinary equivalent of having a vintage Chevy in the garage that you only drive on weekends.
Hmmm..."only drive on weekends." I guess that means I should occasionally cook something in it. But that's going to be hard as Hot Pockets & popcorn only come with microwave instructions. And to be completely honest, the NESCO is designed to roast something much larger.
(Thinking.)
You know, now that I think about it, the neighbor's kid IS kind of noisy...