Now You’re Cooking with Gas: Cleaning Tips for Your Stove

The odds are the kitchen in your Brooklyn home is going to get a workout during the holiday season. With all the cooking going on, it pays to give a little extra care to your gas stove. Be good to it, and it will be good to you.

Cleaning the stove

If your gas stove has sealed burners, it is not necessary to try to remove the burners to clean the stove top. In fact, don’t try it. They should never be removed except by professionals. For stoves with lift-up cook tops, be sure to follow manufacturer’s instructions about opening the surface.

Once you are done cooking, wipe down the stove top after it has cooled. Cleaning spills means less work later. Clean burners with a plastic scouring pad and dishwashing liquid. You can also wash any removable grates in the since.

Cooking a feast

Speaking of cooking with gas, in honor of Thanksgiving, we’d like to share recipe for roast turkey and oyster stuffing from 1941, courtesy of the Brooklyn Public Library, that originally appeared in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.

Roast Turkey with Oyster Stuffing

Season turkey with one eighth teaspoon of salt per pound of bird. “Stuff, truss, and grease thoroughly with melted or softened unsalted fat.  Salted fat tends to blister and break the skin.  Place turkey, breast down, in open roasting pan. Cover with fat-moistened cloth and roast at a constant low temperature of 300 to 325 degrees.  Turn bird, breast side up, when about half done.  Keep cloth moist by sprinkling it with melted fat.”

Oyster Stuffing: “2 cups bread crumbs, 3/4 cup chopped celery leaves, 1 onion minced, 3 tablespoons diced bacon, 1 quart oysters, cut in pieces, 1/4 pound mushroom caps, halved, 2 teaspoons of salt, 1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce. Mix ingredients by tossing together lightly; pack loosely in cavity.  This recipe yields enough stuffing for an 8- to 10-pound bird.”

If you need help getting your stove and natural gas system ready for the holidays, Petri Plumbing, Heating, Cooling & Drain Cleaning, Brooklyn’s family plumber, is there for you. To make sure your natural gas system is safe and running at full efficiency, call us at Petri Plumbing, Heating, Cooling & Drain Cleaning at (718) 748-1254 to schedule an inspection.