As seen from rec.food.equipment, on
Fri, 12 Aug 2005 16:01:24 -0400, "Ellen" > wrote:

>"Jeff" > wrote in message
...
>>
>> Did you get one of the star burner models, or one of the conventional
>> ones?
>
>I think it is conventional -- I don;t think they offered whatever the star
>burner is when I bought mine

Something on their website left me with the impression that it is new.
The "star" burner is shaped like a five-pointed starfish . The idea
is to get more even heating.

>>The burners have removeable caps
>> like mine, but the burner holes (which are located in the base) must
>> still be poked out with a paper clip or some such to clean them.
>
>This is true, the caps are removable and if not precisely put back then all
>the burners sit there and cheerfully spark. My vocabulary has increased as a
>result of this stove.

Heh, that's a creative way to put it.

> Ok so now I am curious enough to go look at where the
>holes are ... The caps have holes in them.

That's a good thing-- at least they'll be easier to clean out than if
the holes are in the part of the burner that stays on the stove.

>Yeah I suppose I ought to soak mine one of these days.

They don't really clog up that quickly unless food gets spilt on them.
I think the gas itself leaves something-- on really old stoves, I've
seen these white deposits around each hole. When I've had to use such a
stove, that's when I got busy with a paper clip.

>The front led for the time and the oven temp has gotten dim enough so that
>figuring out if the oven has reached the temp or what temp the oven is at is
>a real PITA. Of course a service call to repair that is probably several
>hundred $$ so I suppose I will wait til something else fails and get it all
>fixed at once. I am sure that won't be too long :-(

Yikers.. The only place I've ever seen the Thermador name before was
on those ancient electric bathroom wall heaters they used to put in old
apartment buildings.

>What I think is that this is a very mediocre product and for mediocre I
>could have spent a whole lot less and been equally as depressed :-)

I know just what you mean. I live on a strict budget so I have to get
my depression for as little as possible.

> Next
>time I will just buy some middle of the road range and be done with it.

I know it is time consuming and a lot of work to shop, to read reviews,
ask questions, and so on. I spent about a week trying to find a current
review of pressure cookers, looking on websites, searching Google for
something useful in the cooking groups, going and looking at cookers,
and so on. I don't always avoid disappointment by doing that, but
seldom are the times when I didn't come to regret it when I didn't.

> I
>don't need a super high temp burner as far as I know -- what do people do
>with that anyway?

Well, I managed without one for many years but, having one, I do use
it. Besides the obvious use of bringing a pot of liquid up to boiling
more quickly, I find that it makes a better stir fry. The idea of stir
fry is to cut the food small and thin so that it cooks quickly. With a
hotter fire I find that things get cooked before they can dry out, that
the veggies stay more crispy and retain more flavor.

It probably does the same for frying meats. The best way to ruin a
steak is to turn it too many times, or cook it on too low of a fire. A
good hot fire sears it to keep the juices in and cooks it before it can
dry out. Frying is probably what the manufacturers have in mind, since
the high output burner is located at the front.

Jeff