Guides

Jargon-busters: Ovens

Dual-fuel A cooking appliance that has both gas burners and electric elements; commonly applied to freestanding cookers that have gas burners and an electric oven. Sometimes used to refer to a cooktop or hob that has both gas burners and electric hotplates.

Electric ignition Lights the gas burners electrically without matches or a lighter.

Flame failure cut-out If the flame goes out on a gas burner, flame failure cut-out will stop the gas to that burner for safety.

Induction cooking A type of cooking that uses an electromagnetic process to heat the pots rather than a heating element or burner. Cookware suitable for induction cooking must be used.

Litres (Oven) This is the capacity or volume of the oven in litres.

MJ/h Used to provide the heat output of gas burners. The higher the MJ/h, the more heat the burner will give out to heat the pots and pans. Look for cooktops with burners at different MJ/h for simmering, medium cooking and high-speed wok cooking.

Pyrolitic oven / catalytic liners A self-cleaning oven. Fat and grease is turned to ash under a high-heat cleaning process. The ash can then be wiped away. Catalytic liners work in a similar way, with debris collecting on the liners and burning off. With liners look at how much of the oven is covered.

Residual heat indicators Indicate when the hotplates of a ceramic cooktop are still hot or warm.

Roast probe A spike that can be inserted into roasts to determine when the roast is cooked.

Telescopic shelf holders Provides extra support for oven shelves to slide out of the oven.

Watts (W) — electric cooktops While gas burners are rated by MJ/h, metal, ceramic and induction cooktop hotplates are rated in Watts.