Viola! A New Cooker is Installed

"I don't like to say that my kitchen is a religious place, but I would say that if I were a voodoo priestess, I would conduct my rituals there." ~Pearl Bailey, American actress and singer

Cook top on right with small grill and oven underneath

   After thirty six months of doing my best to produce alchemy in the itty-bitty boat stove aka the Barbie camper oven (or Suzy Homemaker oven for American women my age who remember them), and making do with a cook top that took fifteen minutes to boil a half kettle of water for tea and could never do justice to a stir fry, I am thrilled right down to my socks to say we have a new cooker (kitchen stove for our U.S. readers) and boy does it cook!

   In the Home Pride camper oven it took over two hours to bake a cake, which inevitably was overcooked on the outside and barely cooked in the middle. The recipes indicated an average cooking time of 32 minutes for two 9 inch round pans, up to 50 minutes for a 12 cup tube cake pan; the times reflecting the average in a typical kitchen range in a house. While taking much longer to bake anything in the old oven on board, it was so small I could only put one pan on the middle rack--the other one had to go on the bottom which was way too cool to cook anything all the way through, so every fifteen minutes I had to switch the pans from one shelf to another and also give them a half turn. Anyone who knows anything about baking knows that disturbing a cake while it is baking will kill the rise and the cake will fall. I never could produce a decent loaf of bread in the Home Pride oven either. Cooking casseroles in it meant doubling the time and escalloped potatoes never did cook in the middle of the baking dish--even after nearly three hours. If I had turned up the heat sufficiently to cook the middle--the sides would have been burned to a crisp.

Out with the old...

  We took possession of our slightly used Cannon Connemara cooker last Thursday and by Saturday at 5 p.m. my lovely husband had stripped out the old oven and cook top, cut out the counter top, walked to B & Q no less than twice for bits and bobs, and had our new cooker installed. My Best Beloved lets no moss grow on him--or any projects which need doing, bless him!

padding out the sides and adding the anodized aluminum edge.

Les opened this space with a jig saw and a crow bar.

Sides straight, cables and pipes pinned and the space is clean and ready..

Voila! Our new cooker fits like a glove.

   Water boils in five minutes, stir fries come out perfect--the meat is crisp and browned quickly and tender inside, the veg are browned on the surface and crisp to the bite and the sauce comes together 45 second after adding to the pan. Now it was time to test the oven and grill. 

Glazed Applesauce cake and freshly baked artisan bread!

  I baked an Applesauce cake and it took exactly 40 minutes to cook, rising to a lovely browned, tender crumb, evenly cooked sides, ends, and middle. Perfect! Potatoes Au Gratin came out of the oven cooked all the way through with a lovely browned crust after 50 minutes and pork chops cooked in the grill to perfection as did crostini. 

   I dug out my glass covered bowl which I used to use to raise bread dough, and mixed together 3 cups of flour, a sachet of yeast, one tsp. of salt and one and 5/8ths cups of water, covered the bowl and went to bed. Twelve hours later I slid the dough from the bowl, kneaded it about five times, shaped it into a round, l slid my cast iron enameled dutch oven with lid into my new oven on the second shelf, closed the door and pre-heated it to 450 F (Gas mark 7) while the dough rose again.
   After 30 minutes I slid the round dough on the baking paper into the smoking hot dutch oven, slapped on the lid and slid it back in the oven to cook for 45 minutes. Out came a lovely round loaf of delicious bread just like I used to bake at Cloudhouse. The browned crust cracked as it cooled. The interior crumb was yeasty and chewy with the lovely air holes I like. At last--I can finally cook and enjoy it once more instead of feeling like I am camping out and making do. There is lovin' in that there oven! Thank you Les.