Cooking with gas versus electric heat reveals a surprise: Ciampa - The Providence Journal

I'm not a jealous person. Even my mother said so. But I let envy get to me six years ago and I still have regrets.

It's all about cooking with gas.

I grew up in a house with a gas stove. But from my first apartment on, I always had an electric stove. I made the best of it, cooking plenty for family and friends, nightly dinners and holiday feasts, too. I cooked for my three kids and their friends. (I still do.)

But I always longed for a gas stove. They are the choice of all the experts, right? The gold standard for cooking, everyone says.

My dear husband did not want to bring gas into our house. With each new stove we bought over four decades, we stayed electric.

Then I got jealous. Friends were building a new house. Ms. H wouldn't accept an electric stove. They had to add propane so she could get a gas stove. Mr. E said he was happy to do it. Why was I jealous? Ms. H doesn't cook. Ever. Ms. H doesn't even make coffee.

Yes, I was green with envy. When my stove died a natural death a few months later, I made the compelling argument that it was time for a gas stove. I engaged the support of Mr. E to add peer pressure. I got my gas stove with the addition of a propane tank to our house.

I finally had my gas range.

Six years later, I'm here to tell you life is not better for me with that stove. It's fine. I'm grateful that my husband got me the stove I craved. But I no longer think it's so superior as a cooking instrument.

Could it be my gas-fueled dreams were powered by propaganda?

It all goes back to a marketing campaign that began in 1939, according to the American Gas Association. That's when the expression "Now you're cooking with gas" rang out from the radio programs of the Maxwell Coffee Hour, Jack Benny, Chase and Sanborn, Johnson Wax, Bob Hope and others. By 1941, advertising by local companies around the country, like the Nashville Gas and Heating Company, included the phrase.

The campaigns tied gas cooking to success as a home cook. There was a rush to hook up gas at homes across America.

Businesses like the Providence Gas Company jumped on the trend. They hired women, home economists they called the "Girl in White" to visit new brides in their homes. They shared recipes to cook on their gas stoves. I interviewed one, Sylvia Denhoff, in 2011 when she was 93. She was a delight and she made me cookies.

She also shared some of those old recipes from her collection. How could I not fall for the gas campaign after meeting that wonderful woman?

But as with so many things, the reality did not match the anticipation and expectations.

Perhaps it is because I developed a lifetime of ease cooking and baking with an electric stove. What I miss the most is the ability to cook something until it's just about done. That's when I could turn off the heat to let it finish. With my electric cooktop, the temp went slowly down and that's perfect for making rice or risotto and other simmered foods. With gas, it just goes off. You can't walk away.

But ultimately, I have not been swayed that cooking with gas is a better way to cook. Maybe it's just me and my oven, but it takes longer to heat up. The temperature difference from my top oven to the bottom remains different to this day, though it has been checked. A baker knows.

I'm willing to place a wager that boiling water takes longer with gas, even with a covered pot. I also think my kitchen is hotter with the gas stove. I like that in the dead of winter, but I'm not a fan during the warm months.

Then there's the clean-up. It is so much easier with a flat electric cooktop. There are so many extra steps with the gas stove. First, you have to lug the grates to the sink, wash and dry them. Then there's the delicate sponging around the burner heads. Depending on how messy my cooking has been, (usually pretty messy) this requires several cleanings before drying it with a soft cloth.

I admit these are all first-world problems, and you can call me a brat. It's OK, I accept it.

But a year ago, Consumer Reports weighed in on the subject. Turns out, my assessments are not original to me.

In their tests for "Gas versus Electric," electric won for high heat boiling, low heat simmering, and even for broiling. That surprised their testers. Ultimately, they give baking with gas a narrow edge. I don't.

Chefs in restaurants always use gas, and that makes sense for their elaborate cooking and for the teams of people in the kitchen. But do we need the over-hyped "cooking with gas" at home? I'm convinced now we don't.

Please don't tell my husband.

Here are two of the recipes shared by Sylvia Denhoff. She died just short of her 100th birthday in 2018.

Dining out in RI: 4 must try new restaurants around RI. Here's what they are serving up

The Girl in White Apple Brown Betty 

8 tablespoons melted butter 

4 cups soft bread crumbs 

4 apples, sliced or diced 

3/4 cup sugar 

1 1/4 teaspoons cinnamon 

Grated zest of 1 orange 

1/2 cup orange juice 

Mix melted butter with bread crumbs. Arrange apples and the buttered crumbs in alternate layers in a greased dish, seasoning with cinnamon and sugar and orange rind. Finish with a layer of buttered crumbs and pour orange juice over all the mixture. Cover and bake with dinner. It’s ready when apples are fork-tender. 

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The Girl in White Pumpkin Chiffon Pie 

1 cup sugar, divided use 

1 1/4 cups pumpkin 

1/2 teaspoon salt 

1/2 teaspoon ginger 

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg 

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 

2/3 cup milk 

3 egg yolks 

1 tablespoon gelatin 

1/4 cup cold water 

3 egg whites 

Baked pie shell 

Whipped cream 

Mix together 1/2 cup of the sugar, spices, salt, and pumpkin. Add milk beaten with egg yolks. Stir over boiling water until thickened. 

Mix gelatin in 1/4 cup cold water. Blend it into the hot mixture. Cool. 

Beat egg whites until stiff. Beat in remaining 1/2 cup of sugar and fold into pumpkin mixture. Turn it into the baked pie shell. Garnish with thin spread of whipped cream. Chill until ready to serve. 

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2023-09-13 09:21:46Z
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