Five years in Alberta
Aug 30th 2011 | 1:11 am
#31
Banned
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 3,824
From: the GTA
Re: Five years in Alberta
I agree with you. I use the Celsius setting because more of my cookbooks use C than F, but I have quite a few old British cookbooks that use F, and a few American cookbooks that use F too. It's not a difficult conversion, but I have a table pinned up on the refrigerator, so that I don't have to do it in my head each time.
Steve P's offer of a conversion of Gas Therms to Fahrenheit was just a bit bizarre, and a giveaway, since if he cooked he'd know that even old cookbooks always give the temperature setting as well as the gas therm.
I'm happy to play along and pretend we're having a serious conversation here. There's nothing on TV.
There are three differences between a European oven and a N.American one.
The most important is the direction of the heat. In a European cooker the heat is from the side. In a N.Am cooker it is from the bottom. This means that the floor of the oven is the coolest part of a European oven, but the hottest part of an American oven
This has two consequences. Firstly if you are roasting meat and fat spits and falls to the bottom of the oven, in a European oven it will just lie there, but in an American oven it will be burn and the oven will smoke.
The second consequence is that instructions in a British cookbook for which
shelf of the oven to use may not be correct for an American oven and vice versa.
There are ways to avoid a smoking oven. Canadians often roast meat at lower temperatures than in Europe -- but there are health risks. They also use deeper roasting pans. It is also necessary to keep the oven spotlessly clean. However, I've asked around, and find that most Canadians seem to use their ovens less than in the UK, use their barbie's more, and simply accept that their oven smokes occasionally.
The second difference is in cleaning method. Most American ovens are cleaned by a high temperature cleaning cycle. This was briefly fashionable in the UK in the nineteen-seventies but never caught on. It takes hours, uses huge amounts of gas or electricity and gives off noxious fumes. It's also a very
unpleasant thing to have to do mid-summer when the house is already hot.
European ovens generally have catalytic, non-stick, liners. Fat bounces off the liners and collects on the floor of the oven, where it can be cleaned up with a cloth, or the aid of oven cleaner if necessary.
Thirdly, standard American ovens are huge, which is probably great if you have ten children to feed, but ridiculous given the small size of the modern family. We replaced ours with a double oven, each of which is smaller than standard.
Steve P's offer of a conversion of Gas Therms to Fahrenheit was just a bit bizarre, and a giveaway, since if he cooked he'd know that even old cookbooks always give the temperature setting as well as the gas therm.
I'm happy to play along and pretend we're having a serious conversation here. There's nothing on TV.
There are three differences between a European oven and a N.American one.
The most important is the direction of the heat. In a European cooker the heat is from the side. In a N.Am cooker it is from the bottom. This means that the floor of the oven is the coolest part of a European oven, but the hottest part of an American oven
This has two consequences. Firstly if you are roasting meat and fat spits and falls to the bottom of the oven, in a European oven it will just lie there, but in an American oven it will be burn and the oven will smoke.
The second consequence is that instructions in a British cookbook for which
shelf of the oven to use may not be correct for an American oven and vice versa.
There are ways to avoid a smoking oven. Canadians often roast meat at lower temperatures than in Europe -- but there are health risks. They also use deeper roasting pans. It is also necessary to keep the oven spotlessly clean. However, I've asked around, and find that most Canadians seem to use their ovens less than in the UK, use their barbie's more, and simply accept that their oven smokes occasionally.
The second difference is in cleaning method. Most American ovens are cleaned by a high temperature cleaning cycle. This was briefly fashionable in the UK in the nineteen-seventies but never caught on. It takes hours, uses huge amounts of gas or electricity and gives off noxious fumes. It's also a very
unpleasant thing to have to do mid-summer when the house is already hot.
European ovens generally have catalytic, non-stick, liners. Fat bounces off the liners and collects on the floor of the oven, where it can be cleaned up with a cloth, or the aid of oven cleaner if necessary.
Thirdly, standard American ovens are huge, which is probably great if you have ten children to feed, but ridiculous given the small size of the modern family. We replaced ours with a double oven, each of which is smaller than standard.
Aug 30th 2011 | 1:50 am
#32
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 2,710
Re: Five years in Alberta
I had a double britannia range in UK; gas top, 6 rings and two ovens. Fabulous. I miss it and went back to our house this summer and virtually hugged it.
Aug 30th 2011 | 1:57 am
#33
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 10,630
From: Red Deer, Alberta
Re: Five years in Alberta
I agree with you. I use the Celsius setting because more of my cookbooks use C than F, but I have quite a few old British cookbooks that use F, and a few American cookbooks that use F too. It's not a difficult conversion, but I have a table pinned up on the refrigerator, so that I don't have to do it in my head each time.
Steve P's offer of a conversion of Gas Therms to Fahrenheit was just a bit bizarre, and a giveaway, since if he cooked he'd know that even old cookbooks always give the temperature setting as well as the gas therm.
I'm happy to play along and pretend we're having a serious conversation here. There's nothing on TV.
There are three differences between a European oven and a N.American one.
The most important is the direction of the heat. In a European cooker the heat is from the side. In a N.Am cooker it is from the bottom. This means that the floor of the oven is the coolest part of a European oven, but the hottest part of an American oven
This has two consequences. Firstly if you are roasting meat and fat spits and falls to the bottom of the oven, in a European oven it will just lie there, but in an American oven it will be burn and the oven will smoke.
The second consequence is that instructions in a British cookbook for which shelf of the oven to use may not be correct for an American oven and vice versa.
There are ways to avoid a smoking oven. Canadians often roast meat at lower temperatures than in Europe -- but there are health risks. They also use deeper roasting pans. It is also necessary to keep the oven spotlessly clean. However, I've asked around, and find that most Canadians seem to use their ovens less than in the UK, use their barbie's more, and simply accept that their oven smokes occasionally.
The second difference is in cleaning method. Most American ovens are cleaned by a high temperature cleaning cycle. This was briefly fashionable in the UK in the nineteen-seventies but never caught on. It takes hours, uses huge amounts of gas or electricity and gives off noxious fumes. It's also a very unpleasant thing to have to do mid-summer when the house is already hot.
European ovens generally have catalytic, non-stick, liners. Fat bounces off the liners and collects on the floor of the oven, where it can be cleaned up with a cloth, or the aid of oven cleaner if necessary.
Thirdly, standard American ovens are huge, which is probably great if you have ten children to feed, but ridiculous given the small size of the modern family. We replaced ours with a double oven, each of which is smaller than standard.
Steve P's offer of a conversion of Gas Therms to Fahrenheit was just a bit bizarre, and a giveaway, since if he cooked he'd know that even old cookbooks always give the temperature setting as well as the gas therm.
I'm happy to play along and pretend we're having a serious conversation here. There's nothing on TV.
There are three differences between a European oven and a N.American one.
The most important is the direction of the heat. In a European cooker the heat is from the side. In a N.Am cooker it is from the bottom. This means that the floor of the oven is the coolest part of a European oven, but the hottest part of an American oven
This has two consequences. Firstly if you are roasting meat and fat spits and falls to the bottom of the oven, in a European oven it will just lie there, but in an American oven it will be burn and the oven will smoke.
The second consequence is that instructions in a British cookbook for which shelf of the oven to use may not be correct for an American oven and vice versa.
There are ways to avoid a smoking oven. Canadians often roast meat at lower temperatures than in Europe -- but there are health risks. They also use deeper roasting pans. It is also necessary to keep the oven spotlessly clean. However, I've asked around, and find that most Canadians seem to use their ovens less than in the UK, use their barbie's more, and simply accept that their oven smokes occasionally.
The second difference is in cleaning method. Most American ovens are cleaned by a high temperature cleaning cycle. This was briefly fashionable in the UK in the nineteen-seventies but never caught on. It takes hours, uses huge amounts of gas or electricity and gives off noxious fumes. It's also a very unpleasant thing to have to do mid-summer when the house is already hot.
European ovens generally have catalytic, non-stick, liners. Fat bounces off the liners and collects on the floor of the oven, where it can be cleaned up with a cloth, or the aid of oven cleaner if necessary.
Thirdly, standard American ovens are huge, which is probably great if you have ten children to feed, but ridiculous given the small size of the modern family. We replaced ours with a double oven, each of which is smaller than standard.
I love the self clean function on mine. I love the big racks for cake baking etc, I don't love that some of my English recipes just don't work, but that is more to do with the altitude and not the oven.
You do come across as fairly grumpy and I don't know why I'm bothering with a suggestion really....
Aug 30th 2011 | 1:59 am
#34
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 15,883
Re: Five years in Alberta
No not a cook. But if you can do those calculations in your head then why is it you cannot figure out N.A. Stoves? Thirty years advanced eh? Then it should be really easy for you to figure out our basic >30 year old technology.
You're right I have no idea what the differences are I've been here since I was 16. But in a few visits back I didn't see anything too different in the way they operate.
Geez all this above for stoves and we haven't even got to climate, house design, and furnaces yet. This thread could go on forever.
Last edited by Steve_P; Aug 30th 2011 at 2:31 am.
Aug 30th 2011 | 3:33 am
#35
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 13,402
From: South of Calgary
Re: Five years in Alberta
I've been here nearly 4 and I can wholly sympathise with this. Sure we've been in rentals and have proabably had worse than average, but our current is ceramic hob / convection and its still pants.
I had a double britannia range in UK; gas top, 6 rings and two ovens. Fabulous. I miss it and went back to our house this summer and virtually hugged it.
I had a double britannia range in UK; gas top, 6 rings and two ovens. Fabulous. I miss it and went back to our house this summer and virtually hugged it.
Look at what Jamie Oliver is able to do with a couple of barrels of charcoal and a rusty old drum. I don't recall hearing him say that the reason his cooking in rural Europe is pants is because he doesn't have access to the fabulous equipment he has at 15
Aug 30th 2011 | 4:06 am
#36
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 2,710
Re: Five years in Alberta
Jamie Oliver is slightly more talented than me!
Aug 30th 2011 | 4:43 am
#37
Moderαtor Emeritus
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 30,771
From: Upstate South Carolina
Re: Five years in Alberta
I love my North american convection oven, but Im not going to make a decision about a country based just on that.
But on reflection maybe this thread should just be allowed to die if people cant take the gist of Sues message.
Aug 30th 2011 | 9:35 am
#38
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 15,883
Re: Five years in Alberta
Maybe it's because they're old recipes and with our old technology stoves they just work well together.
Aug 30th 2011 | 1:22 pm
#39
Assimilated Pauper
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 40,070
From: Ontario
Re: Five years in Alberta
Are you using only original French recipe books?
Sep 8th 2011 | 5:16 pm
#40
Forum Regular
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 116
From: Manchester, UK to Edmonton, AB
Re: Five years in Alberta
Now I think about it, I don't have a particular love for our "American style" oven either, but not once has that even been close to a factor for me thinking about going home. Struggles with making friends, financial problems, missing family, absolutely! But the reasons we moved here and away from the UK are all still there.
What are the reasons you moved here in the first place? Was it just for your other half? If you're seriously that unhappy here, then it's time for a serious, card-on-the-table conversation, otherwise it'll just continue to drag you down more & more....
What are the reasons you moved here in the first place? Was it just for your other half? If you're seriously that unhappy here, then it's time for a serious, card-on-the-table conversation, otherwise it'll just continue to drag you down more & more....
Sep 9th 2011 | 12:41 pm
#41
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 1,612
From: Canada->WA->Melbourne
Re: Five years in Alberta
I hope the OP can either find a way to make peace with her surroundings and make the best of it (I lived all of my adult life in Edmonton, so I can sympathise) or else can have that talk with her husband about leaving. If someone can't find a positive or redeeming feature about where they're living (aside from the library or GP), it's time to move--sooner than those three or four years originally planned. Life's too short.
P.S. Canada may be the most boring country on the planet, but I'd be grateful that it employed your husband when no one in the UK wanted to. Does your husband know that you loathe this country with every fiber of your being? I'd imagine that being Canadian, spending his childhood here has imbued him with many intangibles of Canadianishness that you probably find irritating in everyone around you but I assume you find tolerable in him, enough to marry him anyway. Just a thought.
Last edited by Japonica; Sep 9th 2011 at 1:05 pm.
Oct 4th 2011 | 8:56 am
#42
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 487
From: Ottawa
Re: Five years in Alberta
I never get that if you're not happy in one place the whole of Canada gets the blame!
