How to Cook With a Gas Range
- 1). Look at your cookware. Since the gas flame is instantly covering the base of your pots and pans and reaching up the sides when you turn it on, you will need to make sure that they can handle the heat without burning all your food. Cast iron cookware is a great heat conductor, as are copper bottom pots.
- 2). Keep the stove off until you are ready to cook. If you are used to cooking with electricity, then you probably are used to turning the heat on a few minutes before you start cooking to get the burner and then the pan warmed up. Regular pots will only take about 10 seconds to heat up, and heavier-bottomed ones only about 30 seconds.
- 3). Prepare your ingredients beforehand. All the chopping and slicing should be done by the time you turn the heat on. Once the pot has a hot base, you can start adding your ingredients quickly, especially when you are sauteing.
- 4). Turn the appropriate burner knob until you hear the clicking of the electric start. Wait until you see the gas ignite and then turn the knob to the desired setting. If you do not have an electric start, you either have a pilot light or have to light it by hand. A pilot light will ignite the gas similar to the electric start; you turn the knob to start the flow of gas, wait for the ignition and then turn it to the right setting. If you have to light it by hand, light the match, hold it next to the burner and then turn on the gas. It will light immediately.
- 5). Do not turn off the heat until the food is finished cooking. On an electric stove, you will still have a few minutes of heat in the burner and can turn the heat off early. In a gas stove, once the heat is off, it is off and the only residual heat will be found in the thickness of the base of the pot.
- 6). Make sure the burner is off before you step away from the stove. On an electric stove the worst thing that can happen is the burner does not come on, but in a gas stove, the flammable gas will fill the kitchen and explode with the first spark. When you leave the room, make sure the burners are straight in the off position and not cocked sideways a little.
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