I need advice on buying a new oven

[Shinboners]

There's a really cool re-conditioned commercial stove/oven specialist in Prahran, I forget their name, in fact, never knew it!!! They're near the corner of Chapel St, on either High St or Malvern Rd, a block or so away heading away from the City, on the left hand side...

That's where I'm going next week to check out possible toys... People have been known to pick up decent commercial quality setups for around $2500 to $6000 depending largely on size.

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Did you check out your possible new toys? How did you go?

[Shinboners]

Shinboners,

Thanks for this thread, I have been following closely and will be referring back to it in a few months when we complete our move,

Kathryn

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Are you living in Australia? If so, keep an eye out for the end of financial year sales. If you do a bit of research now, you should be able to get a good bargain late-June/early-July.

Retailers are struggling in Australia right now, and many of them will bend over backwards to get a sale. You could always get the sale completed and arrange for delivery of your new oven/cooktop when you move into your new home.

[PCL]

Struck down with flu after excitement of moving home and unpacking etc etc. Living with Simpson retro classic, but hopefully will be checking out higg BTU stoves this weekend.

Not exactly in the spirit of the thread, maybe we can organise an excursion around Melbourne's coolest showrooms??

[Shinboners]

We're supposed to be going to a Blanco cooking demonstration. I'm not sure whether it's at Clive Peeters or at the Blanco showroom, but if you're keen to come along, let me know.

[Shinboners]

The new oven and stovetop got installed today. I'm looking forward to cooking with them this weekend, and I'll let you know how it goes. The stovetop will get used this evening, whilst the oven will get used on Saturday and Sunday night when I make pizzas and roast pork respectively.

The big test will be the following weekend when the family will come over for dinner.

[PCL]

mate, don't forget to 'season' the oven man...

pizza and pork... sounds good... but you wanna scrub it and then heat it then cook with it, otherwise there might be this 'flavor' you're not really looking forward to.

can't wait for another sublime Shinboner report...

[Shinboners]

I ran the oven for an hour to "burn off" the oily smell (as advised by the instructions and the electrician). What else do I need to do to season the oven?

Anyway, I'm not sure whether it's a problem with my oven or a quirk of the Blanco ovens, but I've found that I cannot turn off the oven light. There is no switch for it, and no mention of a switch in the instructions. Unfortunately, Blanco customer service won't be available again until Monday - but if anyone out there knows anything about the oven lights, let me know.

Onto the stovetop and I replaced the enamel trivets with the cast iron ones - very good to look at and it'll withstand my wok and cast iron cookware. I played around with the smallest burner, and got the smallest flame that I've ever seen. I can't wait to make my next batch of chicken stock. With winter approaching, I'm going to try and make my first ever batch of veal stock. I also played around with the other end of the scale, the wok burner. A beautiful large flame, it looked like a firey hand was holding the base of the wok. I am looking forward to some lovely wok hay in the stir fries.

PCL, how is your search for a new oven going?

[Shalmanese]

I ran the oven for an hour to "burn off" the oily smell (as advised by the instructions and the electrician).  What else do I need to do to season the oven?

Anyway, I'm not sure whether it's a problem with my oven or a quirk of the Blanco ovens, but I've found that I cannot turn off the oven light.  There is no switch for it, and no mention of a switch in the instructions.  Unfortunately, Blanco customer service won't be available again until Monday - but if anyone out there knows anything about the oven lights, let me know. 

Onto the stovetop and I replaced the enamel trivets with the cast iron ones - very good to look at and it'll withstand my wok and cast iron cookware.  I played around with the smallest burner, and got the smallest flame that I've ever seen.  I can't wait to make my next batch of chicken stock.  With winter approaching, I'm going to try and make my first ever batch of veal stock.  I also played around with the other end of the scale, the wok burner.  A beautiful large flame, it looked like a firey hand was holding the base of the wok.  I am looking forward to some lovely wok hay in the stir fries.

PCL, how is your search for a new oven going?

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mmm... nice. I talked to a butcher over here and he said, basically, with the demand for veal he's getting, he could probably save up enough veal bones for a stock once every 6 months or so :(. I have to make do with beef.

I had a friend with a blanco oven and he found it incredibly odd to use. His one, only had one dial and you couldn't set the temperature and have the top element going at the same time. I think the light on means it's in defrost mode or something.

Edited June 3, 2005 by Shalmanese (log)

[PCL]

PCL, how is your search for a new oven going?

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Search on hold for this puppy.

Blew a head gasket in the 4x4 so that kind of takes precedence as it's our primary form of weekend transport.

In the meantime, making do with the large Weber and the Smokey Joe.

RE: oven lights... many new ovens these days have a permanent light on when in operation. so you can see how good your food is looking as it goes... don't think it drinks too much power at all.

[Shinboners]

RE: oven lights... many new ovens these days have a permanent light on when in operation. so you can see how good your food is looking as it goes... don't think it drinks too much power at all.

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Sorry to hear about the 4X4. Ouch!

As for the oven light, I figured that it would stay on when the oven is being used. But the damn thing stays on when the oven is turned off! And one of the lights has already blown. Anyway, I gave Blanco a call and they're sending someone out on Wednesday to fix it.

I did the roast pork on Sunday night. The oven did the job superbly and I ended up with the best crackling that I've ever done. The only downside was that I left the pork in for about ten minutes too long, so it was a touch bit overcooked. The pizza on Saturday night (well, pita bread with the toppings required for a margherita pizza) also worked out well.

Sometime in the next couple of nights, the wok burner will get its first workout.

[Shinboners]

The repairman came yesterday and he told me that the computer board that controlled the lights was faulty. They're going to order a new one, so hopefully it'll be fixed by next week.

The oven will still get a workout on Sunday. I am starting to favour doing a standing rib roast of some sort....hmmm....pork, lamb, beef, or veal.....probably whatever looks best at the market. If today's rain keeps on going through the weekend, then a braise of some sort will be on the cards too.

[PCL]

Good fish at Prahran market recently. A whole snapper in the oven could be fun.

[Shinboners]

I went to the Queen Vic market today. Bought some salmon (for the missus) and garfish (for myself) for tonight's dinner. I'm going to make another trip tomorrow morning as I'm favouring doing a roast rib eye of beef for Sunday night. I think I'll follow Neil Perry's slow roast recipe in his "The Food I Love" cookbook. Off memory, I think it involves roasting at 70 degrees for around 4 hours. The upside is that it'll taste really good, especially with the fat slowly melting into, and basting the meat. The downside is that with two expectant ladies at dinner, neither will stomach the sight of pink meat. But the upside of the downside is that it'll mean more for me. Still, I might get around this problem by slicing off the two end sections and grilling them 'til they're as dry as a bone.

[Shinboners]

Well, I buggered up the garfish. A combination of not cleaning out the guts properly, and allowing them to half-fry, half-stew rather than a nice clean grill.

However, what was more successful was the rib roast. Three kilograms of meat, in two pieces (5 ribs in all). I salted it 24 hours in advance, brought it out of the fridge in the morning to give it time to get to room temperature, another sprinkle of salt and generous splash (or two) of olive oil to coat. The Neil Perry recipe says 75 degrees for 4 hours, but I went for 90s degrees for 4 hours, plus a further hour for the meat to rest. The result was a delightful brown crust (only a millimetre or two thick), but once that was cut open, it was all tender, moist, pinkish-red meat. It all went down a treat with the family.

The bones are in the fridge, ready for me to make beef stock tonight. I am well and truly won over by electric ovens, especially the one I've got.

In other shopping news, I bought a set of Global knives for around $260 at Supply and Demand in Richmond. I am a very happy camper.

[Mishka]

Shinboners - you rock! Having just endured some strenuous oven research myself, i was very pleased to stumble on this thread. It confirmed a lot i have learnt - incl. that salespeople often don't know much at all... I too have decided on a Blanco set-up in a kitchen reno. Its now been a few weeks since you got yours - any further comments? Good or bad? I'm thinking of the 75cm model rather than the 60cm - did you consider this at all? I went to the Scoresby showroom yesterday to compare the two and a customer with the 60cm told me to def get the 75cm as she has trouble fitting 2 spongecakes into hers. In an earlier comment in this thread someone said the Blanco broiler (grill, i assume) is wimpy -any comments on that?? And is the cooktop performing well? Other 70 cm ovens i have been considering are Baumatic, Andi, Technika - any opinions out there on those?

[PCL]

one word... Miele... so expensive, so beautiful, so functional, so good.

[Shinboners]

one word... Miele... so expensive, so beautiful, so functional, so good.

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Love them too. It's the small details like the seamless inside cavity and the accuracy of the heat. But it's the big details like the price that put Miele out of my range.

Incidentally, we found a toy oven, complete with Miele labelling, in a kids shop last week.

[Shinboners]

Shinboners - you rock! Having just endured some strenuous oven research myself, i was very pleased to stumble on this thread. It confirmed a lot i have learnt  - incl. that salespeople often don't know much at all... I too have decided on a Blanco set-up in a kitchen reno. Its now been a few weeks since you got yours - any further comments? Good or bad? I'm thinking of the 75cm model rather than the 60cm - did you consider this at all? I went to the Scoresby showroom yesterday to compare the two and a customer with the 60cm told me to def get the 75cm as she has trouble fitting 2 spongecakes into hers. In an earlier comment in this thread someone said the Blanco broiler (grill, i assume) is wimpy -any comments on that?? And is the cooktop performing well? Other 70 cm ovens i have been considering are Baumatic, Andi, Technika - any opinions out there on those?

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I went for the 60cm model simply because I didn't want to do a minor renovation job on the kitchen to fit in the 75cm model. Someone else pointed out earlier that with a 75mm oven, you do have more space to heat up - so it'll use a bit more energy and take up a bit more time. I would think that with something like baking 2 cakes at once is only an issue if that's what you intend to do with your oven on a regular basis. If not, maybe you won't need a larger oven.

I haven't tried using just the griller yet.

As I posted earlier, I did have a problem with my oven (the computer chip that controls the lights wasn't functioning properly), but they fixed that very quickly. Overall, I am very happy with my oven. I used the pyrolytic cleaning the other night and it worked a treat. Overall, I'm very happy with my Blanco.

[PCL]

one word... Miele... so expensive, so beautiful, so functional, so good.

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Love them too. It's the small details like the seamless inside cavity and the accuracy of the heat. But it's the big details like the price that put Miele out of my range.

Incidentally, we found a toy oven, complete with Miele labelling, in a kids shop last week.

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It's all market protection driven. The taxes and duties we pay on European imports are just stoopid.

I checked out the Miele prices say in the UK, and I just might get my sis-in-law to pick up a stand alone stove unit, use it for 6 months and then ship it back to Australia minus taxes. It will set me back $$2000 plyus shipping say $400 for a six burner + oven stand alone unit.