Is it possible to cook a whole fish in a dishwasher?

Question

I heard that there is a way to cook a whole fish in a dishwasher - any techniques, tips??

Answer

Cooking in a dishwasher is related to some other non-orthodox places to cook, like on the manifold of a car on a road trip.

Basically, you're aiming to put food in an environment that's somewhere between 160F (71C) and 300F (150C) already, for non-cooking reasons. That's strange, but not entirely nuts.

The dishwasher is going to stay south of 212F (100C), but, a decent dishwasher doesn't stay very far below that threshold.

It's going to go through several variations of how that heat's applied, from the actual washing cycle to the drying cycle.

And, if you run a regular cycle of dishes, there's going to be a bunch of foreign substances (soap, food bits from the dishes (and in the car manifold situation, things like oil)) all around it.

So, your goal is to wrap the food in something that can both handle the heat and seal out the foreign stuff. To me, the most obvious solution to this is the vacuum sealed pouches used for sous vide.

You're not going to get anything remotely close to the consistent temps for sous vide, but for the dishwasher, you're still talking about mostly cooking in "hot water" and hot, moist air, so that's close enough to give a shot.

So, I'd fill the pouch with seasonings/marinades and let it ride and see what comes out.

I wouldn't expect it to be great, but it might be worth a shot for the shock value alone.

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