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+--- Thread: Cooking with gas! (/Thread-Cooking-with-gas)
Cooking with gas! - Tecate - 08-21-2024
So, my wife and I inherited my In-laws house (long story that I’ve told before), and before my MIL passed I was going to have her teach me how to cook Mexican dishes (she was a phenomenal cook).
But she had and now we have her six burner stove. I’m having trouble figuring out how to get the small burners turned down low enough for a slow simmer. Perhaps there’s some device to raise the pot further above that I can’t find in her huge cupboard of cookware? My wife really doesn’t cook often and is no help.
I’m looking at you Augustas and FCD, as I know that you both have big gas stoves and would know…
Anyone else that knows, please chip in.
ETA, I was brought up with electric appliances so it’s pretty new to me.
Tecate
RE: Cooking with gas! - Raptured - 09-15-2024
(08-21-2024, 02:08 PM)Tecate Wrote:
I've used gas stoves for decades. The only way mine gets down to a decent simmer is on the lowest of the low. It doesn't matter the size. Remember though - alll stoves are different. We all know the "better" burners for doing specific things (boiling water, simmering, frying etc) and the ones to avoid.
My fave? Front-right baby!
RE: Cooking with gas! - Lynyrd Skynyrd - 09-15-2024
(08-21-2024, 02:08 PM)Tecate Wrote: So, my wife and I inherited my In-laws house (long story that I’ve told before), and before my MIL passed I was going to have her teach me how to cook Mexican dishes (she was a phenomenal cook).
But she had and now we have her six burner stove. I’m having trouble figuring out how to get the small burners turned down low enough for a slow simmer. Perhaps there’s some device to raise the pot further above that I can’t find in her huge cupboard of cookware? My wife really doesn’t cook often and is no help.
I’m looking at you Augustas and FCD, as I know that you both have big gas stoves and would know…
Anyone else that knows, please chip in.
ETA, I was brought up with electric appliances so it’s pretty new to me.
Tecate
One trick of mine is to slide the pan partially off the burner.
RE: Cooking with gas! - Tecate - 09-15-2024
Thanks folks! I’ll keep trying until I get it right!
Tecate
RE: Cooking with gas! - Notably0ffbeat - 09-15-2024
They do make a 2" ring made to support woks. I don't know if this might help in your situation.
On my camper stove there are adjustment screws I had to fiddle with to adjust my flames. It allowed me to get the flame somewhat usable on three burners. It's from 1969 so I don't know if newer stoves have that.
RE: Cooking with gas! - FlyingClayDisk - 10-05-2024
(08-21-2024, 02:08 PM)Tecate Wrote: So, my wife and I inherited my In-laws house (long story that I’ve told before), and before my MIL passed I was going to have her teach me how to cook Mexican dishes (she was a phenomenal cook).
But she had and now we have her six burner stove. I’m having trouble figuring out how to get the small burners turned down low enough for a slow simmer. Perhaps there’s some device to raise the pot further above that I can’t find in her huge cupboard of cookware? My wife really doesn’t cook often and is no help.
I’m looking at you Augustas and FCD, as I know that you both have big gas stoves and would know…
Anyone else that knows, please chip in.
ETA, I was brought up with electric appliances so it’s pretty new to me.
Tecate
Sorry, I missed this one.
Not sure if you figured this out already, but most gas stoves have a burner flame adjustment set screw on the burner valve for each burner. Depending on the brand of stove, the tool required to adjust this is either a tiny screwdriver (like a jeweler or electronics screwdriver), or a small allen (hex) wrench, or a special key. My best advice would be to look up your brand of stove online and see if you can determine what type of tool is required and where the set screw is on the burner valve (it's usually right at the burner, but can be other places as well, so it's best to find out). The set screw is usually tiny and it's inside a sleeve or guard (so you can't see it).
To adjust, you need to light the burner and turn it all the way up, and get a good sense of where the flame is. Then turn the burner off and adjust the set screw a tiny, tiny, amount either clockwise or counter-clockwise. Then light the burner again and see where the flame is then. If the flame gets bigger, then you're adjusting the wrong way. If it gets smaller make a note of how much smaller. Then repeat as necessary to get it where you want it. Once you get it down where you think you want it, light the burner again, but this time slowly turn the flame all the way down (very slowly). You want to make sure it will stay lit all the way down to the lowest setting. If the setting is too low, the flame will go out before you get to the "Low" setting (and you need to adjust it back upwards again). It's a trial and error process until you get each burner adjusted properly.
It's not hard to do this, but it does take a little finesse. You'll see what I mean after you do the first one. It's not a 5 minute job, so plan on spending a little time with it and you'll get it right.
Note - I can't stress enough about it being a tiny adjustment each time. This is not like turning on your garden hose. Some stoves are finer than others, but on our (8) burner commercial stove it's like 1/32nd of a turn for each increment. When we installed the stove we had to convert it from natural gas to propane so we had to adjust all (8) burners from scratch after we replaced all the burner orifices (propane works different than natural gas). The process took about an hour to do for all (8). Then we had to cook with it for a couple days to see if we needed to do any fine adjustments (and we did).
Note 2 - You definitely want to use the correct tool the first time. The very last thing you want to do is bugger up the head of the adjustment screw, because then you're screwed and you'll need a new burner element. The screw is just soft brass, so it's not hard to bugger it up with the wrong tool.
Hope this helps.
RE: Cooking with gas! - Tecate - 10-05-2024
Awesome FCD! Thank you for chiming in.
I had remembered you and Augustus talking about your kitchen renovation project and figured you would likely know.
It’s a higher end Mexican model but older so I’m sure it will work as you described.
Thanks again
Tecate
RE: Cooking with gas! - Tecate - 11-14-2024
Success!
The set screw was in the sleeve of the burner control knob. The screw was slotted, so a trip to the Ferretería (hardware store) was warranted as I didn’t have one that long and narrow. The guy at the store said just to light it, turn it down all the way and then slide the screwdriver down into the slot and turn slowly to the right. Bingo!
Thanks FCD and everyone else for the advice!
Tecate
