jj@alice.UUCP (02/21/85)
I should know better than to open my mouth, but here goes. I think the best cooktop is gas. A GOOD electric range offers more maximum heat, less minimum, and it also can be regulated just as finely as the gas stove, HOWEVER you can't use a wok, and you also have to get used to the delay due to thermal mass, i.e. you have to watch things more closely. The best oven is by far and away electric. Likewise for broiler. I've done a lot of baking, and I'll take the electric every time. I somewhat regret to say that I have an all-electric kitchen, but for almost all things, it works just fine, once you learn how to use it. Just use a skillet instead of a wok. (yeah, it's not a perfect subsititute by any means.) -- "the other man's grass is always greener, some are ..." (allegra,harpo,ulysses)!alice!jj
seifert@mako.UUCP (Snoopy) (02/24/85)
In article <3403@alice.UUCP> jj@alice.UUCP (the bewildered teddy bear) writes: > >I should know better than to open my mouth, but here goes. > >I think the best cooktop is gas. A GOOD electric range offers more >maximum heat, less minimum, and it also can be regulated just as finely >as the gas stove, Just as finely? much *more* finely! Gas stoves have two speeds: OFF and BURN. Nothing inbetween. Electric stoves let you get the same temperature two days in a row. The better ones are continiously variable. Even the ones with descrete settings have much better control than any gas stove. > HOWEVER you can't use a wok, sure you can. > and you also have to get used to the delay due to thermal mass, > i.e. you have to watch things more closely. Most decent cookware is going to have significant thermal mass. Yes woks are an exception. (and I have seen heavy cast woks, so...) >The best oven is by far and away electric. Likewise for broiler. I've done >a lot of baking, and I'll take the electric every time. Gas broilers are a joke. Another point to consider in oven selection is that the self-cleaning ones have more insulation, which helps them bake better. Something most people don't think about is that gas stoves create lots of nice carbon monoxide for you to breath. yum! And they use up oxygen. Something to consider with today's tightly sealed houses. Gas belongs in furnaces and water heaters, not in stoves. _____ |___| the Bavarian Beagle _|___|_ Snoopy \_____/ tektronix!mako!seifert \___/ If God had intended Man to Smoke, He would have set him on Fire. -the fortune AI project
dw@rocksvax.UUCP (Don Wegeng) (03/04/85)
In article <605@mako.UUCP> seifert@mako.UUCP (Snoopy) writes: >...Gas stoves have two speeds: >OFF and BURN. Nothing inbetween. Electric stoves let you get the >same temperature two days in a row. The better ones are continiously >variable. Even the ones with descrete settings have much better >control than any gas stove. Gee, each burner on my gas stove has a control which allows me to vary the amount of gas which is allowed out of the jet. This gives me much more control over the temperature of the burner than any of the electric stoves that I've had to live with (four, to be exact). The ability to vary the flame isn't new, is it Snoopy? :-) Seriously, I suspect that the problem is not with the gas stove, but with the user of the gas stove. As for which type of stove is better, I prefer gas. However if others prefer electric (my mother does, and mothers aren't ever wrong, are they?) then that's fine too. /Don -- "Do you always act normal, or are you just teasing me?" arpa: Wegeng.Henr@Xerox.ARPA uucp: {allegra,princeton,decvax!rochester,amd,sunybcs}!rocksvax!dw || ihnp4!tropix!ritcv!rocksvax!dw
lpm@lanl.ARPA (03/04/85)
Some comments on the subject of gas vs. electric -- There seem to be lots of comments to the effect that there are no self- cleaning gas ovens, only electric ones. I have a self-cleaning gas oven made by Caloric, and it cleans itself very well. I was not aware that this feature was hard to find in a gas oven. The oven also has an excellent broiler -- much better than the gas broiler I used to have, and better than the only electric one I have used. I have a friend who said that he had ruined the top of his gas range by using a wok. To see if this would happen to my range, I borrowed his wok, put in lots of water, and boiled it. Indeed, the finish darkened, and I could not clean off the darkening. Perhaps it is my particular finish, since the darkening occurs to some extent with normal use, but it was accelerated by the wok. Electric ranges are not the only ones affected by woks.
seifert@mako.UUCP (Snoopy) (03/07/85)
In article <1018@rocksvax.UUCP> dw@rocksvax.UUCP (Don Wegeng) writes: >>...Gas stoves have two speeds: >>OFF and BURN. Nothing inbetween. Electric stoves let you get the >>same temperature two days in a row. The better ones are continiously >>variable. Even the ones with descrete settings have much better >>control than any gas stove. > >Gee, each burner on my gas stove has a control which allows me to >vary the amount of gas which is allowed out of the jet. True, but the lowest possible setting at which the flame will stay lit is BURN. I lumped BURN and BURN-EVEN-FASTER together into one catagory. sorry. I used to vary the heat by stacking the grates three or four high to get the pan far enough away that the food didn't burn. I don't consider this to be an acceptable procedure. >Seriously, I suspect that the problem is not with the gas stove, but >with the user of the gas stove. True, I guess I'm just picky. I like my food cooked, not burned. I also don't like Carbon Monoxide. _____ |___| the Bavarian Beagle _|___|_ Snoopy \_____/ tektronix!mako!seifert \___/ If God had intended Man to Smoke, He would have set him on Fire. -the fortune AI project
brower@fortune.UUCP (Richard Brower) (03/09/85)
I'm afraid that I just don't understand these people who can't adjust the gas
flame on a stove. The stove that I use has to be more than 30 years old and
adjusts from just a little wisp of a flame barely bigger than the pilot, which
might burn something in a week or two, up through many increments to a roaring
blast which gets water boiling in a hurry. I know that newer gas stoves are
not nearly as nice, but have managed to adjust their flames to the desired
heat as well (although they don't have the heavy cast iron plates that mine
has to spread the heat out).
On the other hand, I've never found an electric hot plate (or cooktop)
that was worth the tin it was made out of.
--
Richard A. Brower Fortune Systems
{ihnp4,ucbvax!amd,hpda,sri-unix,harpo}!fortune!browervch@rruxo.UUCP (V. Hatem) (03/11/85)
Perhaps you should check your chemistry book again. Any first semester Chemistry student knows that many, many reactions create carbon DIOXIDE as a by-product; that is, IF the reaction is complete. (In order to create carbon DIOXIDE, one must create carbon MONOXIDE, and add another oxygen. check your formulas.) Most of the time, unfortunatly for our environment, these reactions are uncomplete, as in the case of your car. (yes- gasoline, when reacted completely, renders nothing but carbon DIOXIDE and good old water.) So, your gas stove DOES give off carbon MONOXIDE, although, admittedly not in appreciable amounts. (depending on the stove, % oxygen in the atmosphere, etc.) Got it?? For those who already know this: Forgive me for the flame. Vince. :-} rruxo!vch
figmo@tymix.UUCP (Lynn Gold) (03/14/85)
I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned Jenn-Aire (sp?). These people make a stove with an electric oven and a combination of electric and gas on top. My mother, when remodeling her kitchen, was going to get one, but she found out that extensive modifications were in order because the non-electric part of the stove needs special ventilation. Nonetheless, if you're really emphatic, check them out! --Lynn Gold Tymnet, Inc. ...tymix!figmo
billw@Navajo.ARPA (03/17/85)
I grew up with electric stoves, and have never really tried to come to terms with gas - as I see it, the problem is that a gas stove is always the same temp. Sure, you can vary the size of the flame, and how far below the botom of the pot it is, and so on, but you tend to get sort of rings of heat on the bottom of your pan (especially at low heats). My grandmother has a bunch of tefalon pots and pans with rings of tefalon worn off because of this. You can get around this problem by using heavier (better) pans, but then you lose the big advantage of gas - the heat can be changed quickly. I concede that a gas range is much better for a wok, where you dont need either low or even heat.... BillW
hav@dual.UUCP (Helen Anne Vigneau) (03/21/85)
<*munch*>
(Diatribe against gas stoves by Seifert, rebutted by several, re-rebutted by
Seifert, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. All deleted for brevity.)
Folks, I don't see the sense in trying to convince Snoopy of the merits of
gas stoves. You see, if I remember correctly, he was the one with the
signature that went: "How in blue blazes do they expect an EE to cook on a
gas stove?" With an attitude like that, ain't no way yer ever gonna convince
him that we're right and he's wrong.
Helen Anne
{ucbvax,ihnp4,cbosgd,hplabs,decwrl,unisoft,fortune,sun,nsc}!dual!hav
If a man does not keep pace with his companions,
perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.
Let him step to the music he hears,
however measured or far away.