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?
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?