Your most recent cooking 'failure'

My oven is gas and yes the back is a bit hotter than in the front but every oven I have ever had did this.
@SatNavSaysStraightOn, opening the door and turning the food won't ruin a dish unless it is a soufflé.
@Cookie make sure when you bake cookies, they are on the middle rack not the lowest rack.
 
Cinisajoy said:
My oven is gas and yes the back is a bit hotter than in the front but every oven I have ever had did this.
@SatNavSaysStraightOn, opening the door and turning the food won't ruin a dish unless it is a soufflé.
@Cookie make sure when you bake cookies, they are on the middle rack not the lowest rack.
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Never open the oven door during cooking of yorkshire puddings, they will not rise, wait until near the end as with a souffle.
 
Cinisajoy said:
My oven is gas and yes the back is a bit hotter than in the front but every oven I have ever had did this.
@SatNavSaysStraightOn, opening the door and turning the food won't ruin a dish unless it is a soufflé.
@Cookie make sure when you bake cookies, they are on the middle rack not the lowest rack.
Click to expand...
I only have the two shelves so that is not possible if I want to put both trays in at once.
 
Cinisajoy said:
Then do one tray at a time. It prevents the sticks and the burns.
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There is no way I would waste that kind of money running an oven for twice the length of time just to prevent burning. Rotate during cooking maybe, but never run it twice as long as needed. It is bad enough heating the oven to cook for only 15 minutes as it is. If I am doing something like cookies or scone which take less than 15-20 minutes, then they have to be cooked with something else either at the same time or immediately before or after. I love cooking, but the environment (and finance if I'm 100% honest - only one of us works here) must come first and paying twice to waste precious resources needs to be reconsidered in my opinion. If I can use the solar shower, on bore water, instead of the rain water shower heated using gas, then I will do that first and foremost. I even have a solar shower bag in the laundry room, down on the long metal drainer which when the sun is on it for half the day, as it is most days here, heats the water to above 50C and you have to be careful not to burn yourself. It is there for hand washing. All the sinks have bowls in them. You don't need running water to wash your hands in. Nor do you need to leave the tap running whilst washing your teeth. I won't cover the Australian saying about the flushing of the toilet here, but needless to say there is a lot of common sense in it...
 
Cinisajoy said:
Well I guess next time I make a roast I will just have to make one.
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One!

Albeit mine are only around 100mm diameter but I eat 12 as a starter!

yorkshire puddings.jpg


The main course is rather miniscule though.
 
SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
There is no way I would waste that kind of money running an oven for twice the length of time just to prevent burning.
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I agree with what you say. We use bottled gas only for cooking (hob and oven) and although it costs only about Bht 30.00/kg (A$ 1.20) I do use the oven sparingly, e.g. I cook 5 or more jacket potatoes at once (they keep for at least a week in the fridge when cooked) and generally throw a pie or pasty in with them.

[Edit: A 13kg bottle lasts us about 6 months on average]
 
Yorky said:
I agree with what you say. We use bottled gas only for cooking (hob and oven) and although it costs only about Bht 30.00/kg (A$ 1.20) I do use the oven sparingly, e.g. I cook 5 or more jacket potatoes at once (they keep for at least a week in the fridge when cooked) and generally throw a pie or pasty in with them.

[Edit: A 13kg bottle lasts us about 6 months on average]
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I honestly don't worry about oven cooking times - I don't spend much money on anything else except my main obsession; cooking and creating recipes. So I don't stint when it comes to ingredients or fuel.

@Yorky how are you re-heating the pies and potatoes?
 
morning glory said:
I honestly don't worry about oven cooking times - I don't spend much money on anything else except my main obsession; cooking and creating recipes. So I don't stint when it comes to ingredients or fuel.

@Yorky how are you re-heating the pies and potatoes?
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I eat the pie/pasty straight away usually with one of the jackets. The remaining jackets are then left to cool and subsequently stored in the fridge. For re-heating I either cut them in half or cross-cut them and re-heat in the microwave.

Alternatively after removing them from the oven I shall halve them, spoon out the potato from within the skin and mash it with cheese/onion/chilies/puree or whatever, returning the mixture into the skin and then store them in containers in the fridge. They may then be gently grilled as and when I wish to eat them.

jackets.jpg
 
SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
There is no way I would waste that kind of money running an oven for twice the length of time just to prevent burning. Rotate during cooking maybe, but never run it twice as long as needed. It is bad enough heating the oven to cook for only 15 minutes as it is. If I am doing something like cookies or scone which take less than 15-20 minutes, then they have to be cooked with something else either at the same time or immediately before or after. I love cooking, but the environment (and finance if I'm 100% honest - only one of us works here) must come first and paying twice to waste precious resources needs to be reconsidered in my opinion. If I can use the solar shower, on bore water, instead of the rain water shower heated using gas, then I will do that first and foremost. I even have a solar shower bag in the laundry room, down on the long metal drainer which when the sun is on it for half the day, as it is most days here, heats the water to above 50C and you have to be careful not to burn yourself. It is there for hand washing. All the sinks have bowls in them. You don't need running water to wash your hands in. Nor do you need to leave the tap running whilst washing your teeth. I won't cover the Australian saying about the flushing of the toilet here, but needless to say there is a lot of common sense in it...
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My gas bill runs about 18USD every month in the summer. But I don't bake much in the summer because it heats the house up. Now in the winter, I multitask the oven. I don't mind baking all day because I can turn off the heater.
As to actual gas costs: it costs less for me to bake 2 batches of cookies than if I burn one batch. I lose more money in ingredients than running the oven an extra 10 minutes.
Now if I will be using the oven for an hour, I do try to bake multiple things. Like a meatloaf, jacket potatoes, bread and usually another meal too.
Alternately, I sometimes cut the cookie recipe in half to only make one tray.
The fees attached to the gas bill are way more than the gas itself.


That would be cool to be able to use rainwater to shower. It is probably better for your skin too.

On the bathroom, are you saying yellow is mellow? Unless one has been eating asparagus.
:)
 
Cinisajoy said:
That would be cool to be able to use rainwater to shower. It is probably better for your skin too
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All my water is rain water.

if i run out I have to buy it in by the lorry load, sorry tanker load. because of the cost of a seperate heater for the shower (bottled gas only) the shower and all got water is on drinking water. that is my rain water otherwise known as tank water because it is stored in tanks. my toilet is on bore water, my washing machine had the choice (we I have the decision but it had two feeds in to a filter system before going into it) and the outdoor taps plus buildings that are connected outside are also on the bore water system.

the bore water is also rain water but it has soaked into the land first. a pump then pulls it out of and when I set things going it is stored in the big concrete tank at the top of the hill. that is known as the bore tank or bore water and is actually a hard water supply. it is on a gravity feed only. the task water, our drinking water is on a pump so I need electricity to have drinking water.

I have no mains water or sewage. and no mains gas.

As for being burnt. they were still edible just browner than they should have been. the biggest issue was that they were stuck to the tray. but they were not wasted. once scrapped off the tray they were eaten as a cooked biscuit anyway. they were still good, just crisp!

Gas here is also brought in by the tanker load. we have 2 bottles at the front of the house and every so many weeks the tanker arrives and tops up the main had cylinder.

the last 3 months saw us use the following (cost for 3 months)
  • Gas (hot water & cooking only, not heating) roughly $150 worth
  • Gas tank rental fees on the tank which are $300.
  • Wood for heating $250 every 3 months (we'll stick up during the summer is cheaper then)
  • Electricity came in at a staggering $750 for 3 months
  • Satellite broadband and satellite telephone $400 for 3 months (no international calls though!)
  • My mobile phone contact (no phone) is $150 for 3 months (unlimited international calls though)
  • My UK mobile under contract £60 for 3 months (I can't cancel it and we had no idea that 2 months luster we would be consider Australia... I have to pay it to next August minimum).
  • Bins $15 in 3 months.
  • Recycling $0. it's free!
Bills in Australia are not cheap. anything to do with exploiting natural resources is exceptionally expensive.
Every single light is an led light bulb here and everything kept off where we can. Gas is rarely touched if it can be helped. it is around $1.50 a litre for the refill of the tank. life is done in litres here and is actually more expensive than petrol or diesel. our only heating is the open fire which is going to be changed to a word burning stove for next winter. we will save money in the long run by burning lures wood and the heating being more efficient. i am known to cook or hoover simply to warm up!

I have never burnt anything as far as it not being edible. it just isn't as nice. this time it wouldn't come off the tray and was browner than desired. we ate it is a crumble, with a spoon and what we didn't eat, the chickens did. nothing was wasted. it was never a throw it in the bin (we also have to pay for that. there is no bin lorry here. every single wheelie bin costs $5 for us to take to the tip. Anything that can be burnt is burnt. Composing attracts mice and rats and they attract poisonous snakes I don't want but have plenty of.)
Cinisajoy said:
in the bathroom, are you saying yellow is mellow? Unless one has been eating asparagus
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Yes. uses much less water that I have had to pay to pump to the top of a hill, just to watch it come all the way back down again, from 1 tank to another and then into another...

By the way. our bills are considered to be cheap. not by me, but by others living here, we pay very little!
 
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