Cookers- what works? what doesn't? What do you use?
Discussion
Just following on from the essential kitchen items thread it strikes me that we rarely discuss the most important part of any kitchen- the cooking element. I have a fairly unique take on cookers having owned a number of hih quality fish and chip shops over the years- in these 70% of the quality of the food is solely related to the cooking range (i can make poo ingredients taste like the best fish and chips in the country with the right fryer- and ruin the finest cod with a crap fryer).
So what is needed in a cooker- guess this works for hobs and ovens- for me its three things- heat capacity, adjustability and accuracy. Heat capacity for me is how much you have in reserve- so when you want to braise a piece of steak, how much heat can you get in a pan. Adustability is also key, sometimes you want to cook something without a bubble in site, sometimes you want to burn the crap out of stuff. Accuracy- if you go to 1/4 power on th knob, do you get 1/4 power.
For me i love gas for a hob- never come across electric that works. Brilliant variance and loads of power- only problem for me is controlatbility- quite often gsa hobs and ovens have very little control.
Agas- second for me are heatsoak sources- i grew up lerning to cook on Agas and love them- BUT you have to learn to cook on something with very fixed temperatures, and you moved the items away from the heat source rather than change the heaat intensity.
Would be very interestgin to hear from people who use induction which could be the best of all worlds!
What cookers work really well? have you ever changed a cooker just to cook better? I have quite freqnently! Are there any specific cooking arease you like to have? for me its a dual burner wok cooker- for when you really want as much heat as possible so youare alway frying and never boiling!
So what is needed in a cooker- guess this works for hobs and ovens- for me its three things- heat capacity, adjustability and accuracy. Heat capacity for me is how much you have in reserve- so when you want to braise a piece of steak, how much heat can you get in a pan. Adustability is also key, sometimes you want to cook something without a bubble in site, sometimes you want to burn the crap out of stuff. Accuracy- if you go to 1/4 power on th knob, do you get 1/4 power.
For me i love gas for a hob- never come across electric that works. Brilliant variance and loads of power- only problem for me is controlatbility- quite often gsa hobs and ovens have very little control.
Agas- second for me are heatsoak sources- i grew up lerning to cook on Agas and love them- BUT you have to learn to cook on something with very fixed temperatures, and you moved the items away from the heat source rather than change the heaat intensity.
Would be very interestgin to hear from people who use induction which could be the best of all worlds!
What cookers work really well? have you ever changed a cooker just to cook better? I have quite freqnently! Are there any specific cooking arease you like to have? for me its a dual burner wok cooker- for when you really want as much heat as possible so youare alway frying and never boiling!
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The only issue I have with my (Smeg) hob is that low isn't low enough, paticularly on the smallest one. In fact I'm going to dig the instructions out and see if I can do something about it.
The best things are the wok burner and the fish burner which is great for making gravy in the roasting tin.
ETA I've got two Neff ovens which don't seem to get as hot as I expect. The oven thermometer says they're right though so I suspect I'm used to crapper ovens that over heat
The best things are the wok burner and the fish burner which is great for making gravy in the roasting tin.
ETA I've got two Neff ovens which don't seem to get as hot as I expect. The oven thermometer says they're right though so I suspect I'm used to crapper ovens that over heat
Edited by Bill on Thursday 24th September 13:42
pugwash4x4 said:
4 overns i could definitely use- 3 for cooking, 1 for grilling
whats the centre piece in the hob?
Kind of like a hot plate and If I remember correclty, if you remove the hexagonal thing its basically a slanted fryer.... so fry bacon, etc and the fat drips down into the inbuilt catch tray kind of like a george foreman.whats the centre piece in the hob?
Oh and underneath it is a massive wok burner as that bit is removable off the hob.
Edited by Dupont666 on Thursday 24th September 15:06
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