Category Archives: Cooking

What to Do if Gas Stove Won’t Light

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Despite a general dislike for most of the appliances I inherited with my first house, I feel lucky to have a gas stove (or range, as in appliance jargon).

I love cooking, so I appreciate the power and responsiveness of gas.

However, unlike their electric counterpart, gas ranges can’t just be dialed on; their burners must be ignited.

I occasionally struggle with lighting my burners – and I know I’m not alone – so here’s what to check if you’re struggling.

Burner cap
A lot of ignition problems and uneven flames result from food spills and related dirtiness. Routine cleaning and general unslobbiness will avoid this.

After a spill, use a nonabrasive plastic scrubbing pad and mildly abrasive cleanser or soap  to thoroughly clean the cap.

Make sure the cap is completely dry before replacing it over the burner. Take care that alignment pins are lined up with with the cap.

(I know I usually would never say this, but) Don’t put them in the dishwasher.

Burner ports
 Burner flames should be about 1″-1.5.” The flame should be blue, not yellow.

If these aren’t the case, your burner ports could be clogged, so you should clean it, following these steps:

  1. Make sure all the controls are off and the stove is cool. Don’t use oven cleaners, bleach or rust remover.
  2. Clean the burner cap as instructed above..
  3. Clean the gas tube opening with a damp cloth.
  4. Replace the burner cap.
  5. Turn on the burner. If the burner does not light, check cap alignment. If the burner still does not light, call appliance service.

Knobs
 (This one falls under the “duh” category, but you never know…) Push in the burner knob before turning to light to ensure that it’s set correctly.

10 Sneaky Ways You’re Wasting Money in the Kitchen

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burningmoneyYou bought your kitchen appliances on sale. Bonus: they’re Energy Star, so you’ll save money in water and energy costs.

But did you ever think that the way you use your appliances can really affect your utility bills?

Here are 10 energy-wasting choices to avoid:

1. Making your dishwasher heat up cold water

Run hot tap water before you run your dishwasher it doesn’t have to heat up the water as long.

2. Setting your refrigerator and freezer too cold

Your fridge section should be set at 37 degrees to 40 degrees, and your freezer section should be set at 5 degrees. A deep freeze should be set at zero degrees.

3. Using an uncovered pot to boil water

Think of all the heat  — and time — lost without a cover on  a pot of heated water. Instead, a cover traps the energy in.

4. Selecting “Heat Dry” on your dishwasher

If you don’t wash a lot of plastic dishes, or lots of dishes in general, choose the “Air Dry” setting or simply prop your dishwasher door open after the rinse cycle.

5. Leaving foods uncovered in the refrigerator

Uncovered foods release moisture, causing the compressor to work harder. Instead, cover all liquids and foods.

6. Prewashing your dishes

Not only will it decrease the effectiveness of your dishwasher detergent, prewashing your dishes is unnecessary and wastes water. Just scrape off the big pieces of food.

7. Ignoring the gasket on your refrigerator

Close your refrigerator door over a piece of paper or dollar bill so it’s half in and half out of the refrigerator. If you can pull it out easily, your door seals aren’t airtight.

Try moistening the gasket with a thin layer of Vaseline, which should create a better seal. If that doesn’t do the trick, you might need to replace the gasket altogether.

8. Cooking with dirty burners and drip pans

Clean burners and drip pans will reflect the heat better, cooking your food faster and saving you energy.

9. Placing small pans on bigger burners

Match pans to the size of the element. Otherwise, you’re using energy to heat a bigger burner only to let it escape around the sides of the smaller pot or pan.

10. Barely stocking your refrigerator

It seems backwards, but a full refrigerator holds temperature better than a poorly stocked refrigerator. Just don’t pack food so tight as to block the airflow.

Cooking With Gas vs. Electric

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Hands down, the majority of people would get a gas cooktop or range if given the choice.

We watch celebrity chefs use them on TV, we’ve heard about the power and for some, we like seeing the flame getting bigger or smaller when we turn the knob.

But what’s better? You might be surprised.

When our sales associates attend product training, some brand representatives place pots of water on adjacent gas and electric cooktops with the question, “Which will boil faster?”

Does Gas or Electric Boil Faster?

The newer associates often balk at this question and quickly answer gas.  But lo and behold, the pot on the electric burner boils first (that’s generally the case until you get into pro-style cooking).

Electric? Really?

Yes, really.

It doesn’t look as cool, but the power is there.  Gas still trumps electric cooking in the responsiveness of its burners.

Responsiveness of Gas Burners

For example, if a recipe calls for a dish to be brought to a rolling boil and then be brought down to a simmer, it will take an electric burner longer to decrease its temperature down to the lower heat setting. So, you could find yourself moving your pan to another burner so you won’t ruin your dish.

In gas, you turn the burner down to simmer, and the heat decreases.  Some gas burners also can simmer at a lower BTU, which can be important for cooking sauces and melting chocolate.

Induction Cooking

The real winner, though, is induction cooking.

Frigidaire Induction Cooktop With Pot of Water Boiling

Induction cooking delivers the best of both worlds: speed, responsiveness and power.

Plus, because induction cooking only heats the pan, there’s very little heat loss, making induction often the most energy-efficient choice.

The smooth, electric surface is also a lot easier to clean than ceramic grates.  Downsides do exist in induction cooking.

The price point is a little higher, you can only use magnetic pans (ex: coated cast iron), it’s not as professional looking as gas, and there are fewer options available per brand — especially when purchasing a range.

If choosing gas or electric (or induction), it’s good to consider your lifestyle. Do you mostly prepare quick meals or do you cook more complicated and delicate recipes? Is ease of cleaning a concern?

What cooktop type do you prefer? Let us know in the comments.

How To Clean and Season a Griddle

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Cast iron pans and griddles are often passed down in families, becoming more and more seasoned. And you can taste the difference in the food.

We recently learned that some Wolf appliance owners panic a little when their griddle starts turning more brown than silver. But that is what it’s supposed to look like. For a perfect season, follow this advice.

How To Season Griddle

You want to season the griddle before ever using it. Pour 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil or peanut oil (not olive oil!) per 11 inches in the center. Spread the oil with a dry paper towel.

Turn the griddle on to 350 degrees and heat the oil until it begins to smoke. Then turn off the heat, wait until the griddle is cool enough to touch and wipe the excess oil off with a paper towel.

Repeat.

How To Clean Griddle

Now, to clean the griddle, pour sparkling water on it while it’s hot. Excess oil and food scraps will bubble up and off.  Use a metal spatula to scrape everything off.

Once the griddle’s clean, pour a teaspoon of vegetable oil or peanut oil on the surface and spread it with another dry paper towel to reseason it.

What are your best seasoning tips? Share them in the comments.

What is convection?

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con⋅vec⋅tion in⋅de⋅tect⋅ion [kuhn-vek-shuhn in-di-tek-shuhn]

–noun

1. Ignorance of a smart cooking method; leads to sluggish cook times, uneven results, under-utilization of oven capacity, culinary malaise.

Still today, many suffer from convection indetection. It’s a tragedy. People own convection ovens without even realizing it. Or worse, they simply don’t understand how to use convection.

But now that it’s holiday cookie baking season, you need to know you can bake three trays of cookies without rotating them.

Convection cures hard-on-the-outside, raw-on-the-inside syndrome.

Convection, used for years in commercial bakeries and kitchens, allows faster and more even baking by incorporating airflow into the oven.

Sometimes convection is just a fan. True convection, sometimes called European convection, includes an electric element behind the fan, which allows for more even heat distribution to each rack. The even heat distribution means no shuffling or turning trays when baking multiple items at once.

As the air passes over it, the element also burns off odor and flavor before it flows back through the oven cavity. Not so important when baking three trays of gingersnaps, but so crucial when cooking distinct multiple dishes simultaneously.

A rule of thumb: ALWAYS reduce cooking temperature by 25 degrees when using convection.

And practice. Don’t debut your convection baking for dinner with the in-laws or worse, the holiday. We’ve gotten plenty disappointed calls following burnt turkeys resulting from Thanksgiving convection experiments.

Convection can reduce cooking time for foods usually baking for longer than 20 minutes. For food that’s usually done in less than 20 minutes, it won’t be done faster, but it will cook more evenly.

To be safe, check for doneness a bit before the minimum cooking time, but try to use the oven light instead of opening the oven door to minimize temperature fluctuations.

NEVER use convection on delicate items like souffles and cheesecakes. ALWAYS invite me over for a taste.

Learn recipes specifically designed for convection ovens. MyRecipes.com, which features recipes from personal favorites Cooking Light, Southern Living and Real Simple — among others — has a slew of convection oven recipes online for free.