Stoves/cookers/ovens

most oven/cookers here as supplied in rental properties etc are of the combined electric and gas variety - gas hob and elec oven for the not so obvious reasons really - plenty of power cuts.

We have gas oven and electric hob all landlord supplied.

Unfortunately and this is the only downside to our place is that it has electric hob & oven.

I have always previously used gas hob/electric oven, I prefer the controllability of gas and we don't often use an oven anyway.

However, when it needs to be replaced we will get a gas hob.

That could be sooner, than later.

Must admit we tend to us one of them round halogen oven thingys - superb and very economical too

toonarmy9752 wrote:

Must admit we tend to us one of them round halogen oven thingys - superb and very economical too

You are the second person to recommend these cookers. I looked at them initially and found 2 types; basically the differences to do with the lids, either completely removable or drop down.
Is there one in particular you would recommend?
Thanks.

We have owned and used one for over 4 years now and highly recommend them - ours is just the one with the removable lid not the hinged one. I think its 12L capacity and is more than enough for three of us

The hob and oven in our apartment are both gas. There's no thermostat or fan to the oven so everything just burns to a cinder on the bottom of the dish or tin if baking. Have tried using lower heats but that doesn't work if one is baking, it produces a dead weight cake or product. I think my question should be, do most rental apartment ovens have a thermostat in them - or do many apartments have a very basic oven like ours

rooikat wrote:

The hob and oven in our apartment are both gas. There's no thermostat or fan to the oven so everything just burns to a cinder on the bottom of the dish or tin if baking. Have tried using lower heats but that doesn't work if one is baking, it produces a dead weight cake or product. I think my question should be, do most rental apartment ovens have a thermostat in them - or do many apartments have a very basic oven like ours

In the interest of safety, I would suggest you try to get your landlord to replace it.

There must be a thermostat on the oven other wise what's the point! So I guess you mean its not working?
If so its the landlords responsibility to have it repaired or have a new one fitted.

Terry

tearnet wrote:

There must be a thermostat on the oven other wise what's the point! So I guess you mean its not working?
If so its the landlords responsibility to have it repaired or have a new one fitted.

Terry

You are correct, it's just that I have never used a gas oven before and because this little stove looks so basic I assumed it wouldn't have one! Thank you Terry and Redmik, I will now take it up with the landlord after reading your replies

Update - I had visitors staying for the past 10 days so didn't get a chance to contact the landlady until last night. The reply to my email was as follows:
'Gas ovens are always tricky, it does not have a thermostat; what I do, I put the roast in the middle shelf of the oven, and a pan of water on the bottom shelf, especially when backing cakes etc. It takes some getting used to!!'   
Did I mention that the stove/oven is very basic

So there is only gas on / off ? no temp control at all?

Terry

Have done an internet search and other than camping ovens I am unable to find any ovens that do not have a temp control. Why would any manufacturer make an oven that has no control, what make is it?

Terry

rooikat wrote:

Update -
'Gas ovens are always tricky, it does not have a thermostat; what I do, I put the roast in the middle shelf of the oven, and a pan of water on the bottom shelf, especially when backing cakes etc. It takes some getting used to!!'   
Did I mention that the stove/oven is very basic

Reminds me of cooking in an old iron fireside cooker!!

Is it like this?

Halogen ovens are fabulous, you can cook everything.  They cook the best roast potatoes ever!  Had one for 3 years, the one with removable lid and it's been no problem and they even clean themselves!!

Reilly1943 wrote:

Halogen ovens are fabulous, you can cook everything.  They cook the best roast potatoes ever!  Had one for 3 years, the one with removable lid and it's been no problem and they even clean themselves!!

agree totally

tearnet wrote:

So there is only gas on / off ? no temp control at all?

Terry

Its a Beko but I can't find the model on the internet.There is a control knob with numbers 4, 3, 2, 1. If one turns the knob down to 2 or 1 there is a visual difference in the size of the flame, but the intense heat in the bottom of the oven after starting it on what I perceive to be a temperature of 180deg is still retained long after the the temperature has supposedly been turned down.
It looks like I'm going to have to try the suggestion of a pan of water in the bottom of the oven.........and work out the correct number to use when starting off the cooking process and what to turn it down to! In an electric oven with a thermostat I would just set the temperature to my required level and walk away until the buzzer sounds   

So it does have a temperature control after all? 

It just isn't an automatic thermostat and doesn't work as well as you would expect.

You are just having to get used to doing things 'The Malta Way'

Or, when you first turn on, turn it on low, then check the temperature with an oven thermometer and adjust upwards accordingly. Plenty available:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/tag/oven%20thermometer/products

Or perhaps it may not work at all one day and have to be replaced?

Driving a car, like cooking, is a basic skill but each car or oven is driven differently.

rooikat wrote:

In an electric oven with a thermostat I would just set the temperature to my required level and walk away until the buzzer sounds   

What if you walked too far away? Would you hear it?

Welcome to your learning curve :-)

Rooikat,
I think we have the same oven...everything was burning on the bottom!!! Very frustrating. Now, we put wax paper on the bottom. We haven't baked cakes, but it works great for pizza etc...the paper gets "burnt" instead..

Hi KemKem, glad to read that I'm not alone, that was my original reason for starting the post I attempted some cupcakes earlier today (simple stuff) and filled the flat black tin thing with water and put the cakes in their tin on the shelf above. However, I still had the oven turned down to low and after 2o mins the cupcakes batter was still liquid! So hauled out the flat pan, chucked out the water, put the flat pan back and placed a small loaf cake tin on it with about 500 mls of water and turned the dial up to 5 and baked for another 20 min with the cakes on the shelf above. The result was not an airy cupcake because it had now cooked for nearly 45 mins, but at least it was firm and the top lightly brown and no burned bottom

Redmik, a temperature knob is not a thermostat, I said I didn't have a thermostat. As noted by Terry, he couldn't find one gas oven on the internet without a thermostat! It has got nothing to do with doing it the Maltese way, my oven is extremely basic. Raising agents in bread and cakes have to be baked at a certain temperature (not low) to enable the gluton in the flour to expand - the trick is for me to work out the correct level of temperature without burning the bottom in the process. I can let you have some baking lessons when you come back to Malta, just let me know

http://www.beko.co.uk/Manuals?pagetitle=DownloadManuals

This is the website for your oven manufacturer, you can enter the model or search for it. There is also a section to download the manual for each oven.

Terry

rooikat wrote:

Redmik, I can let you have some baking lessons when you come back to Malta, just let me know

Why, thank you? How patronising!

I very much know how to cook and bake under some very interesting places and conditions too but don't let that stop you.

As I said raise the temperature monitored by a thermometer until it is the correct temperature then put the mix in, OK?

Obviously, you missed my point.

No thanks necessary for trying to help.

Redmik 

Thanks Terry, I'll have a look at the website, I think it's the same one I looked at a week or two ago and couldn't see my specific one. We will move our stove and try to find a model number on it or some sort of identifier to search their site.

rooikat wrote:

Redmik 

Look at the inside of the oven, there should be a tube fixed to the back plate. This transfers the heat to a gas regulator cutting back the gas to the temp number you set. This tube has a bulb at the end that should be clean and not covered in grease/ fat/ remainder of cake etc otherwise the heat will not be transmitted correctly to the regulator (but be careful they can be delicate).
Give it a gentle clean and it may improve the response time and not allow the oven to overheat.

Terry

Thanks Terry, I'll get my husband to to have a look at it tomorrow.

Terry, unfortunately no tube/bulb/regulator! But am trying to sort out with landlady, thanks for all the sensible advice