Can You Cook & When Did You Learn?

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Oldjohnw
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Re: Can You Cook & When Did You Learn?

Post by Oldjohnw »

Mike Sales wrote: 6 Oct 2021, 9:28am I can't really remember learning, but by the time I left school I knew enough to pass as a cook in a transport caff.
I find it hard to imagine how someone can not know how to do that sort of basic cooking. After all, you must have an idea of how you like it to appear on your plate.
I have been amazed at how some people can make a mess of frying an egg!
John
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Hellhound
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Re: Can You Cook & When Did You Learn?

Post by Hellhound »

Oldjohnw wrote: 6 Oct 2021, 9:31am
Mike Sales wrote: 6 Oct 2021, 9:28am I can't really remember learning, but by the time I left school I knew enough to pass as a cook in a transport caff.
I find it hard to imagine how someone can not know how to do that sort of basic cooking. After all, you must have an idea of how you like it to appear on your plate.
I have been amazed at how some people can make a mess of frying an egg!
Add to that poached and scrambled!
Mike Sales
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Re: Can You Cook & When Did You Learn?

Post by Mike Sales »

Hellhound wrote: 6 Oct 2021, 9:34am
Oldjohnw wrote: 6 Oct 2021, 9:31am
I have been amazed at how some people can make a mess of frying an egg!
Add to that poached and scrambled!
There is the incentive to quickly learn!
I think being able to look after yourself, cooking and clothes washing and repair etc. is a requisite of being an autonomous adult. Depending on others to look after you is no way to live.
It's the same the whole world over
It's the poor what gets the blame
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Mick F
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Re: Can You Cook & When Did You Learn?

Post by Mick F »

When I was a young recruit in the RN aged 16 going on 17, we were taught how to wash and iron our uniforms and to sew.
I knew full well how to do all three. :lol:

After the instruction and we were left to get on with it, I would often show my mates how to iron properly, and sew as well, and even sewed badges on for the others.

It wasn't that I was skilled in all things domestic, it's that I was brought up to do these things. Other lads weren't so well brought up in that regard. Maybe 'twas ever thus ............ and will remain so.
Mick F. Cornwall
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simonineaston
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Re: Can You Cook & When Did You Learn?

Post by simonineaston »

...we much prefer cooking on our gas hob.
I worried about moving away from gas. I recently fitted an inxpensive induction hob and found it every bit as good as gas, across all the paramaters I could think of, with one exception, that's the inability to char peppers etc on an open flame - my car-camping gas ring does that when necessary. Loads of pluses over gas, inc timers and wipe-clean - even good with wok !! Wouldn't go back to gas for a Big Pig.
S
(on the look out for Armageddon, on board a Brompton nano & ever-changing Moultons)
Mike Sales
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Re: Can You Cook & When Did You Learn?

Post by Mike Sales »

simonineaston wrote: 6 Oct 2021, 11:58am
...we much prefer cooking on our gas hob.
I worried about moving away from gas. I recently fitted an inxpensive induction hob and found it every bit as good as gas, across all the paramaters I could think of, with one exception, that's the inability to char peppers etc on an open flame - my car-camping gas ring does that when necessary. Loads of pluses over gas, inc timers and wipe-clean - even good with wok !! Wouldn't go back to gas for a Big Pig.
Do induction hob cookers have an oven, and if so, how does it work?
It's the same the whole world over
It's the poor what gets the blame
It's the rich what gets the pleasure
Isn't it a blooming shame?
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Hellhound
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Re: Can You Cook & When Did You Learn?

Post by Hellhound »

simonineaston wrote: 6 Oct 2021, 11:58am
...we much prefer cooking on our gas hob.
I worried about moving away from gas. I recently fitted an inxpensive induction hob and found it every bit as good as gas, across all the paramaters I could think of, with one exception, that's the inability to char peppers etc on an open flame - my car-camping gas ring does that when necessary. Loads of pluses over gas, inc timers and wipe-clean - even good with wok !! Wouldn't go back to gas for a Big Pig.
I recently went from Gas to a an Electric fan oven and wouldn't go back.However it's Gas hob all the way for me.I've tried Induction hobs in various holiday homes and it has nowhere near the control of Gas IMO.Marginally better than a ceramic hob but that's about all.
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simonineaston
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Re: Can You Cook & When Did You Learn?

Post by simonineaston »

Do induction hob cookers have an oven, and if so, how does it work?
In the industry parlence, hobs and cookers are two different things. Ovens can't work by induction, which requires contact twixt the induction element and the cooking vessel, so the answer's No. I imagine that you can buy 'cookers' fitted with an induction hob and a traditional electric radiating oven, but I haven't looked.
S
(on the look out for Armageddon, on board a Brompton nano & ever-changing Moultons)
Mike Sales
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Re: Can You Cook & When Did You Learn?

Post by Mike Sales »

simonineaston wrote: 6 Oct 2021, 12:11pm
Do induction hob cookers have an oven, and if so, how does it work?
In the industry parlence, hobs and cookers are two different things. Ovens can't work by induction, which requires contact twixt the induction element and the cooking vessel, so the answer's No. I imagine that you can buy 'cookers' fitted with an induction hob and a traditional electric radiating oven, but I haven't looked.
Thanks.
It's the same the whole world over
It's the poor what gets the blame
It's the rich what gets the pleasure
Isn't it a blooming shame?
Jdsk
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Re: Can You Cook & When Did You Learn?

Post by Jdsk »

Mike Sales wrote: 6 Oct 2021, 12:01pmDo induction hob cookers have an oven, and if so, how does it work?
There isn't a matching version of the technology for ovens. Same options as for other hobs.

NB induction hobs can require extra space below them for ventilation.

Jonathan

Edited: Crossed with two posts above. Agreed.
Mike Sales
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Re: Can You Cook & When Did You Learn?

Post by Mike Sales »

Jdsk wrote: 6 Oct 2021, 12:15pm
There isn't a matching version of the technology for ovens. Same options as for other hobs.

NB induction hobs can require extra space below them for ventilation.

Jonathan

Edited: Crossed with two posts above. Agreed.
Thanks too.
It's the same the whole world over
It's the poor what gets the blame
It's the rich what gets the pleasure
Isn't it a blooming shame?
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al_yrpal
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Re: Can You Cook & When Did You Learn?

Post by al_yrpal »

Mike Sales wrote: 6 Oct 2021, 12:01pm
Do induction hob cookers have an oven, and if so, how does it work?
Induction hobs are usually paired with modern electric ovens. These ovens usually have a fan and elements at the top and in the floor. Thus the top elements can be used as a grill without the fan or as an ordinary oven with the elements in the top and floor.
I fitted a Bosch induction hob in my home in 2006 and never looked back. Being in a house with a gas hob was like going back to the Stone Age. I couldnt believe the time it took to boil a saucepan of water and took to using the electric kettle to get hot water.
In modern kitchen units if you take a hob out most induction hobs will fit straight in the hole and same goes for replacing the oven usually held in with two small screws. You do have to have a small clearance between the base of the hob and oven top to allow the hobs cooling fans to work. There does need to be a 30 amp electrical consumer unit nearby.

You can buy quite cheap £120 ish free standing twin induction hobs too. I believe these are ok plugged into a normal household socket. Only thing to watch is the suitability of cookware. Its got to be steel or have a steel insert in the base.

Al
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Jdsk
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Re: Can You Cook & When Did You Learn?

Post by Jdsk »

al_yrpal wrote: 6 Oct 2021, 2:15pmOnly thing to watch is the suitability of cookware. Its got to be steel or have a steel insert in the base.
Some stainless steel cookware will work, other stainless steel cookware won't. Test first if it matters.

Jonathan
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Re: Can You Cook & When Did You Learn?

Post by Vorpal »

We have a Bosch convection oven that we bought the same time as the S.m.e.g. induction cooker top. I'm very happy with the oven.

The things I'm best at are baked goods, and the over is really good at heating evenly. It does take a little trial and error to determine the right temperatures for everything, and I'd say on average, the right temperature in my oven is 10 to 20 degrees lower than recipes suggest. Even some that have a temperature for convection ovens come out better and/or closer to recommended cooking time at slightly lower temperatures.
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kylecycler
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Re: Can You Cook & When Did You Learn?

Post by kylecycler »

I think I can cook but since I've never cooked for anyone else, just myself, I wouldn't really know. I used to give leftovers to the dogs (they're dead now) and they would wolf them down and wag their tails but that's inconclusive.
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