In the Kitchen

Discussion in 'Off-Topic Discussion' started by Mike Allen, Nov 16, 2019.

  1. Fat Controller

    Fat Controller 'Cuddly' Scottish Admin! Staff Member

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    Cor, I would love a big range cooker! Trouble is, one of those would be one complete side of our kitchen (and no, I am not kidding)
     
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    • Sandy Ground

      Sandy Ground Total Gardener

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      Interesting thread that for me brings home the differences between this country and the UK in regards to kitchens.

      Gas cookers are very, very rare here. They do exist, but I've never seen one in all of the time I've lived here. The only exception to this may be propane cookers that some have in what we call "summer cottages." Obviously, that means people have electric cookers. Nowadays, induction and hot air ovens are becoming more and more popular. A lot of this is because they are way more efficient and use less energy. Added to that, they are far safer than conventional electric cookers. Microwave ovens are also found in most homes, on the other hand, Halogen ovens are seen as an invention of the devil, so are not very common.

      One thing that is more common than the UK is that in rural areas, everyone has a backup form of cooking that does not use electricity. This could be anything from a 2kW paraffin stove with an Omnia oven type thing, or larger wood burner type things that not only produce heat, but can be used to prepare all kinds of meals. We were actually discussing this the other day, and dont know a single Swedish person, male or female that doesnt know how to use one of these properly.

      @wiseowl In regards to your photo of the open fire, people here say that the very best coffee is prepared over a birch wood fire using 3 day old "sump", in the middle of a forest where wolves can be heard howling close by...:)
       
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      • CanadianLori

        CanadianLori Total Gardener

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        This is a Sunoven,
        april 2015 (3).jpg april 2015 (4).jpg
        It only uses the power of the sun. Gets to about 350f on a sunny day and I can turn it a little away to have a lower temperature for slow cooking/simmering. There's a double pot in there - one is cooking a spaghetti sauce and the other, chile con carne.
         
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        • Jiffy

          Jiffy The Match is on Fire

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          We got a dirty diesel Rayburn, keep kitchen warm, cooks, heats the water and a bit of central heating and dry's the towels/clothes and if you've been outside it warm your bum when cold :biggrin::biggrin::wub2::wub2::stirpot::stirpot: and it works when the power goes off which it used to do a lot
           
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          • CanadianLori

            CanadianLori Total Gardener

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            I do have a wood pizza/baking oven as well but I don't use it as much as I should. I guess I get lazy about getting a good fire going before starting to bake.

            I've got a pic somewhere with my baking happening but I cannot find it right now. This reminds me of just how much more work I have to do in sorting my files. This now has brought to my attention just how much some things have changed over the years. Going through the pics I was reminded of a lot of things that got switched around. :)
             

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            • shiney

              shiney President, Grumpy Old Men's Club Staff Member

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              We're pleased to have gas cooking, apart from preferring to cook on it, as we have had 17 power cuts so far this year (about the normal amount :rolleyespink:). All of the cooker will work in a power cut apart from the fan assisted oven. The electric automatic lighter won't work, of course, but we have matches and tapers.

              Most of the power cuts only last between 10 minutes and an hour - whilst they reroute the power and find the cause. Three have been counted in days! :doh:

              This causes a lot of problems for some/most of the neighbours (not that many of them around) who only have electric. It also causes phone problems. The mobile signal is not good here and batteries tend to go flat when they're doing all their calls by mobile. All the neighbours also have landlines but tend to have gone modern with cordless phones - so those don't work. We have cordless phones but I keep an old fashioned wired one for power cut times. It works fine during power cuts when plugged into the phone socket.
               
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              • CanadianLori

                CanadianLori Total Gardener

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                Wow. I just watched a you tube about your cooker. That is way cool!
                 
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                • Fat Controller

                  Fat Controller 'Cuddly' Scottish Admin! Staff Member

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                  :wow: That is really cool!

                  That wouldn't work here in the UK sadly - we could make never-ending pots of soup if we made them outdoors though, as they would simply refill with rain water :heehee:
                   
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                  • Fat Controller

                    Fat Controller 'Cuddly' Scottish Admin! Staff Member

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                    I love a Rayburn - family I used to work for had one; there always seemed to be a lovely warmth right around the house.
                     
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                    • lolimac

                      lolimac Total Gardener

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                      I love cooking and baking and we too have a range cooker...gas top and electric ovens...Cook mostly with Olive Oil and butter but for a treat do deep fry chips in beef dripping and always fry an egg in a tidgey bit of lard...here in Yorkshire we're 'feeders'..if anyone turns up they get fed whether they want it or not..:heehee:
                      I do have a microwave that apparently does 'allsorts' but it's all electrickery to me so I just use it to soften butter when the weather gets cold.
                      Over the years I've bought all sorts of 'gadgets' ,got cupboards full of them collecting dust...the one I do use is my electric Rice cooker as I just can not cook Rice any other way...:doh:
                      I bake my Bread the 'old fashioned' way which to me is the best:dbgrtmb:.
                      I also use a lot of cream in my food...Oooo I can feel my arteries furring up as I type but I love my grub and make no apologies for it.:thumbsup:
                       
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                      • shiney

                        shiney President, Grumpy Old Men's Club Staff Member

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                        Same as we do. :dbgrtmb:

                        Do you let the dough rise by putting it on the hearth? :)
                         
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                        • CanadianLori

                          CanadianLori Total Gardener

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                          Well, I like using the sunoven to cook eggs and other things too. If the eggs are in cardboard style container, you can, if you wish, just put the egg carton directly, close the lid and an hour later you have hard cooked eggs whose shells slip off easily. Every once in awhile I have to open the glass and dry off the underside because if I am cooking something with lots of liquid, the glass gets steamed up and lowers the efficacy of the unit. It is expensive to buy and I was leery of the claims so I made a mini one with a cardboard box, the glass from a little picture frame and some tin foil. Even that loosey goosey diy got up to 150f on a cool 43f day. Convinced me to put out the money and reduce my my carbon footprint and of course the money for electricity. Hating our government's carbon tax on electricity and heating was what originally motivated me.

                          I would love one of those big ranges some of you have. They didn't have ones like those available here when I was doing the kitchen over. The foodie trend came 10 years later here and that's when all of these neat appliances got spotlighted. Too late for me as my units are built in.

                          I've only got the cooktop with 3 radiant and one halogen element and a single counter top induction unit. And a convection oven at hip height. I do have another old style electric full sized stove in the cellar which comes in handy when entertaining. Got a miele dishwasher down there too so I'm not hauling dirty pans up and down the stairs.

                          I've just finished baking a couple of apple/cheddar loaves. The kitchen smells lovely. :)
                           
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                          • Fat Controller

                            Fat Controller 'Cuddly' Scottish Admin! Staff Member

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                            I'm getting a right treat shortly - we've got some lovely cod fillets from our local fishmongers (they will ship to most parts of the country, in a freezer box, if you are willing to pay delivery or buy enough fish to get free delivery), so it is homemade fish, chip and mushy peas :hapfeet:
                             
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                            • Jiffy

                              Jiffy The Match is on Fire

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                              Some times they can be tempermenal, when working ok they're great, when they play up they can be a pain in the rear end, as we found out last winter, the smallest of things can be a big problem to find and sort
                               
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                              • shiney

                                shiney President, Grumpy Old Men's Club Staff Member

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                                They've been making the gas ones over here for over 100 years (according to their website). I know my parents had one of their four hob, single oven cookers eighty years ago and I was told, when I was young :scratch:, that they did them in a much bigger version.

                                That was in the days when the washing was boiled in a bucket on the hob, the washed clothes were then put through the mangle and then dried on a clothes horse in front of the coal fire. At the same time we used to toast our bread on toasting forks in front of the fire and roast our chestnuts (no comments please :heehee:) in the ashes under the fire. All this was done in the kitchen.

                                When we were very young kids we were washed in the butler sink in the kitchen and when we were older we had a bath in the tin bath in front of the fire. When not in use the tin bath was kept on a hook on the outside wall.
                                 
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