The Ultimate Stove for The Ultimate Stove for Your Kitchen
By Elizabeth Dougherty
Does the thought of eight burners, dual convection
and miles of stainless steel get your heart racing?
Maybe you're set on that ceramic flattop stove that's
so easy to clean, or the traditional four-burner gas
cook top that's been reliable for years. Whatever your
preference, the range is undoubtedly the heart of
any kitchen. It's where everyone congregates waiting
for that perfectly bronzed turkey to emerge on
Thanksgiving, or that succulent glazed ham on Easter.
Probably the most well known company in premium
stoves is Viking Range Corporation. They claim to have
the most "popular widths, surface confi gurations and
color fi nishes" around. Viking offers widths from 24" to
60" with all gas or dual fuel options. (Dual fuel means
the cook top is gas while the oven is electric.) The home
cook can achieve perfection in cooking with 15,000 BTU
burners along with a low simmer setting to heat the
most delicate sauces. The oven can be set for convection
or conventional baking.
Dacor offers several professional style ranges for home
cooks. Besides being a truly beautiful stove to look
at, the options with a Dacor range seem endless. The
Dacor Epicure offers an infrared ceramic gas broiler. This
allows the indoor cook to achieve the flavor and texture
of grilling outdoors while never leaving the kitchen.
There is a fi ltration system that ensures an entire meal
can be prepared all at the same time with each dish
in the oven retaining its own flavors. The Perma-Flame
feature allows seamless cooking by re-igniting the
burners at exactly the same level as when they were put
out. There is much more to say about this oven, but you
can see it for yourself at www.dacor.com .
The term "convection" causes some confusion among
people. A convection oven is an oven with a highpowered
fan inside that circulates the hot air evenly
around the food, generally cooking it faster than
conventional means. There's a difference between
convection, true (or European) convection and dual
convection, however. True convection means there is a
third heating element where the fan is located so that
the air it is blowing around is hot as it enters the oven
cavity. Dual convection (not to be confused with dual
fuel) is a newer option (available from brands like Wolf)
that has two heated fans plus two elements for more
even cooking. The bottom line is, if an oven is described
simply as convection, you might want to fi nd out exactly
which type. True convection is the tried and true system
used by most professional cooks.
When you are getting ready to shell out some serious
dough (no pun intended) for a premium oven, think
about your needs in the kitchen. Do you bake more
than you cook? Some ovens contain a different type
of heating element that will achieve near perfection in
baking even if every rack is used. It's called a butterfly
element and (alongside true convection) you may
wonder how you ever managed to live without it.
The real point is, the more you love your oven, the more
you will use it to offer your family more home-cooked
food more often. Whatever it takes for that to happen, is
probably worth the price.
Liz Dougherty has been a freelance food
writer and culinary consultant through
her company, Culinary Pursuits, Inc., for
the past six years. She trained under a
maniacal Swiss-German chef and later
received her Bachelor's degree, Magna
Cum Laude in Hospitality. Prior to that,
she was a licensed real estate broker and
mortgage broker with a total of over
ten years experience in real estate and
finance. She can be reached at
EADougherty1@aol.com
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