Using modern cookers

ericmark

Veteran
Joined
11 Sep 2014
Local time
12:46 PM
Messages
2
I rarely cook. My wife does that but on the odd time I want to cook for myself. So there is a book case full of books but they seem to be for old fashion cookers.

So I look at the oven and the selector switch giving top, bottom or back heat latter always with fan but fan can also be used with other options and one can use combinations of the options. But nothing in the books saying which to use. Some to be far say fan and conventional oven but what is a conventional oven? I remember as a boy being shown how to use an oven OK no fan but there were dampers which could be set to heat from top or bottom so this is nothing new really the eagle cooker of 1952 also had the option to heat top or bottom or both according to damper settings. Why is there nothing in the cook books.

OK I think forget the oven I will use the microwave. So I get the frozen veg and poor some into the pressure cooker and pop it in the microwave. Read the packet and nothing to give one any idea of how long to cook for.

Our old stainless steel pressure cooker no longer works stainless steel is not magnetic so we replaced it with one that did have a magnetic base. But this one is around the 7 psi the old one was around 14 psi so old recipe book is no good. But I again can't find any table to work out cook times at different pressures.

Be it the red plastic microwave pressure cooker or the one on the cooker you can't see the food until it's too late. With the microwave one I assume you don't need water? Well I didn't add any and after three goes I got the veg somewhere near. But with a cooker type I expect I should use some water in the bottom? But how fast should you heat a pressure cooker?

I know with a open pan if I select boost with anything other than plain water stuff just burns 3.7 kW is far too much. But what with a pressure cooker? Does the trivet mean food does not touch the bottom so you can ramp up the temperature quickly or should one only use max with no boost until boiling. And is there any problem using the auto boil then simmer function when using a pressure cooker? That means 1.85 kW to start with.

The kW setting I also don't understand my daughter gas hob is 4.5 kW but it takes about 4 times as long to boil a pan of water than my 3.7 kW setting with a standard induction hob. I am sure there is a conversion kW gas to kW induction but can't find one.

If I cooked every day I am sure it would be no problem. After burning a few things or eating raw veg I would learn how to use it. But I only cook once in a blue moon so each time it's a get the book out time, but it would seem I have a whole book case full of old fashion books. Well not even that they must be cut down versions of old fashion books as even Mrs Beeton does not explain how to use dampers on the oven and she must have written that book well before gas never mind electric ovens. Well not quite gas started around 1836 which was when Mrs Beeton was born but it was the 1880's before gas was a commercial success in the UK and Mrs Beeton died in 1865 so there should have been hardly any reference to gas it should have been damper settings but this is not the case when reading the book.

So what book can I buy to show me how to cook with modern electric cookers?
 
1. Buy a book on microwave cooking. Amazon

2. Buy a brand new cook book and stay away from the old ones. Amazon

3. Buy a cookbook for beginers. Again amazon. They will show you step by step how to cook, temperatures, what a fan oven is, conventional, oven etc is. Oh and good luck.
 
1. Buy a book on microwave cooking. Amazon

2. Buy a brand new cook book and stay away from the old ones. Amazon

3. Buy a cookbook for beginers. Again amazon. They will show you step by step how to cook, temperatures, what a fan oven is, conventional, oven etc is. Oh and good luck.
Veto buying the book.
Try your local library first, see whats available, that you feel comftable with doing and then think about buying your own copy of the book(s).
Save a bit of money in the short run.
 
Thanks for advice. The library is good option I can read it first and find if up to date or not. But Amazon is a problem as one has no idea if modern or not and walking around Smiths for example I have failed to find any cook book which instructs on how to use door closed grilling or microwave pressure cookers. At the moment only the manufacturers books seem to have any information on how to use up to date technology.

I have Belling cooker and Prestige (Cook's Essentials) microwave pressure cooker (3.25 litre) plus a smaller one for caravan. I can clearly feel and taste the difference in food done in microwave and that done in the microwave pressure cooker. The manufacturers instructions has a host of recipes like "Poached Pears in red wine" and "Re-heating Christmas Pudding" but the vegetable cooking guide is rather useless. It says adjust as times are for a 900 watt microwave but for example "Carrots (5 mm slices) 1 minute" does not give any indication as to how much is done per batch and clearly with a microwave how much you put into the pressure cooker will alter how long it takes to cook.

Using the divider and filling the pressure cooker for a Christmas dinner it takes nearly as long as using a metal pressure cooker on the induction hob also full. But I don't cook the Christmas dinner and putting a hand full of veg frozen rather than fresh into the microwave pressure cooker does not take long for two people around half the time written on the packet. But add more veg for a third person with out pressure cooker and one adds a 1/3 more time but with pressure cooker it's more like 1/5 extra time and this is where I get stuck.

I am sure if I cooked every day I would with trial and error work it all out but for the half dozen times a year I cook just can't get the hang of the new technology so think it's time I was off to the pub!
 
No offense but I would not be messing around with stove top (or microwave) pressure cookers if you are having troubles learning how to use your stove in the first place, and you don't even know the ball park cooking times for your particular models. That is an accident waiting to happen. I've not messed around with the microwave pressure cookers, so I can't say what pressure they get up to. Here is a useful chart you can use as a starting point for various items: https://fastcooking.ca/pressure_cookers/cooking_times_pressure_cooker.php

I think you may be getting "conventional" oven confused with "convectional" ovens. Our microwave for example, can double as an oven or we can turn the fans on while it's running as an oven and make it a convectional oven. I don't use that feature very often, but I think it just helps baked items become more golden brown on the outside as they cook. In addition it helps circulate the heat around more evenly as opposed to it emanating from one spot.

Personally I would just check out Youtube for recipes, I find watching them more entertaining than reading them.
 
Problem with youtube is that you are unable to sit there & say "that does that, that fits there" whereas with a book, you can.
THE biggest mistake you can make is in assuming you know how to use an item.
Gas has been used for over 30 years, an Aga(burning turf, wood, the waste from cutting & splitting soaked in water, coal) with no real problems. Yet when I use electric, I'm hovering around it. Totally uncertain.
Nothing wrong with saying you "don't know".
 
I think there are some YouTube videos on how to cook with microwaves, but I personally don't think that is a good way to cook food. I'd recommend just buying a crockpot and finding some crockpot recipes instead because I think those are the easiest to use for someone who is inexperienced, since you'd only have to place in the ingredients and set the timer, for the most part.
 
Back
Top Bottom