Is It Really Possible To Cook Salmon In The Dishwasher?

One of the hottest commodities today is the time-saving device. Food processors make chopping quicker, Instant Pots cook meals faster, and the microwave can finish a baked potato in just seven minutes. But, even with these modern conveniences, humans continue to look for innovative ways to eke out a few extra minutes each day. 

There's the infamous cook-your-meal-on-your-car-engine trick, that enables the commuter to whip up a meal while they make their trek home. This method, however, is far from fail-safe. When the U.K.'s "Top Gear" fed Gordon Ramsay food cooked with a car engine, he complained that the meal tasted like motor oil. If you don't enjoy engine flavors in your food, you could always prepare a snack while you're at the gas station pumps. A police officer in the Australian outback managed to put a frying pan on the hood of his car and fry an egg in it, according to Business Insider. And if it's lunchtime, but you're in the middle of ironing, you could always make yourself a grilled — well, "ironed" — cheese sandwich. Love Food offers that if you put your sandwich in a paper bag, place it on a newspaper, and iron the bag on a low heat setting, you can make yourself a toasted masterpiece. You may want to have the fire department on standby just in case. 

These are all clever hacks, but have you ever imagined dish-washing your way to a salmon dinner?  

Did you know that you can cook a moist and tasty salmon in your dishwasher? Yes, that's right. You can even wash a load of your dirtiest dinnerware at the same time. Now that's a cool time-saving trick. When Bob Blumer of "Glutton for Punishment" and "Surreal Gourmet" fame released his Dishwasher Salmon with a Piquant Dill Sauce recipe, it raised more than a few eyebrows. It also raised some hopes. While we suspect that few would actually attempt to cook lamb chops under the hood of a Lada, some time-strapped home chefs would consider cooking salmon alongside their crusty colanders. But does dishwasher cooking actually work? 

The Kitchn says that Blumer has been successfully poaching his salmon this way for years by simply wrapping it securely in foil, placing it on the top rack, and setting the dishwasher for its regular cycle. The Kitchn's Christine Gallary tested the method and was surprised that her dishwasher didn't have any fish smells, the fish didn't have any detergent smells, and the final product was cooked to flaky perfection. 

The folks at the Alaskan Department of Fish and Game are big fans of this cooking method as well, saying the fish will be "moist and tender" and that experimenting – including running it through the cycle again – may be required. Not everyone, however, is enthusiastic about dishwasher cooking. Some might even wonder if salmon is one of the things you should never put in your dishwasher. 

Speaking with Food Safety News in 2013, food specialist Ben Chapman warned that fish should be cooked to a temperature of 145 degrees Fahrenheit. Lisa Casali, who authored "Cooking in the Dishwasher," tried to investigate whether dishwashers could safely cook food. According to her, reps from Electrolux said the machines she had worked with could achieve temperatures between 131 and 167 degrees. 

If someone were to launch into a bizarre food experiment and could test out this quirky culinary trick safely, who knows what would happen? They may be surprised at just how good their salmon tastes, or maybe it will be a huge salmon cooking mistake. But clearly, some people like to fire up the dishwasher and get cooking. Bet you never thought you'd hear those words in a sentence.