Recently I realised that if I don't have a microwave oven, I can use boiling water to heat up certain types of food by boiling water in a deep bowl, putting water and the food in a covered smaller bowl on top of the boiling water.
Is it a commonly used way of heating up? Also, which are the advantages of disadvantages of it, compared to microwave oven?
Best Answer
This is very common. What you are describing would usually be called either a bain marie or a double boiler. It is normally used for things that you don't want to overheat, such as hollandaise sauce, ganache, and some other dairy based sauces.
As for advantages and disadvantages, it really depends on what you're heating. For the sauces mentioned above, the advantage is ensuring that no part of the sauce will get above 212F, the temperature of the boiling water. Microwaving will be faster for most things though.