Cleaning the cooker

Deedaa: that reminds me of many moons ago when we used to live on a narrowboat.
In the back cabin we had a little Rayburn stove that I occasionally used to cook in. One day I opened it up and was horrified to discover dog poo in the bottom of the oven, near the back.
Try as I might, I couldn't think how our dog, although small, could have got in there and done that.
Eventually I had to pluck up the courage to remove it. I got the coal shovel and scooped it up. That was when I discovered that it was actually a very charred (and misshapen) home-made croissant that must have fallen off the back of the shelf several weeks earlier!!!

When I was working in a cafe we once took the oven apart to give it a good clean, and lurking at the very back we found a carbonised quiche. Heaven knows how long it had been there

It's when he pulls it out I am most afraid of - I just do not know what lurks behind there. I may just go out for the morning and let DDH deal with it.

My cooker man says he is really busy in the lead up to Christmas as everyone wants a clean oven for their MiL to check on. Seriously,how many of us go to someone's house and look inside the oven?

I take everything apart and put it all in a very hot bath with soap powder.

I am booking a cooker cleaner for after Christmas, he is fully booked before. I do get a £15 discount the two weeks after Christmas. He assures me it will look like new.

We are of one mind on that, inishowen!

For a very lazy kitchen floor clean, I drop a floor wipe on the floor and push it around with my foot! I said it was lazy!

One of my friends only ever cleaned her oven on Christmas Eve because her mother always came for lunch on Christmas Day and she knew she would have a look inside it.

I take your point kitty but with all my elves in the kitchen I don't want to be ashamed of my slovenly habits, whereas after Christmas, there's only me to see it so it can wait another 11 months.

I'd leave it until after Soutra, it'll only go and get dirty again.

I used to have a Neff oven which did that Pyro thingy - I only ever used it once as it terrified me! This is why: We had just moved into our house in this village 2 weeks after Christmas and heard the tragic story of 2 little boys who died in a fire in their house on Boxing Day. The effects in the village were tangible as they were a very well known local family and as we had acquired our first open fire and a huge inglenook fireplace I was very twitchy about the risk of a fire.
I decided I wanted to clean the oven properly not long after moving in - so turned the switch etc and went to bed for it to do its business overnight. Woke up about midnight to a house full of smoke! Got the DDs up and down by the back door and went to investigate - yes, it was the oven, not on fire but apparently there must have been some fat on the floor of the oven . So sent DDs back to bed and opened every window in the house to clear the smoke . Tried to rouse DH but he was having none of it. When I challenged him the next morning for his lack of response he just said "Oh you seemed to have everything under control"

PS on advice I tried Oven Pride and was very pleased - doing it again before Christmas!

Had dear GS last night, he is a wee!! bit messy, DD went through the place like a high wind,Tidying up after him, now cooking dinner for my dear friend in my Schemmertopfh before we go to the brussels Choral Society Christmas concert, cooking Hare, have a good evening everyone.

I use Ovenu too Charleygirl. I think they are really good.

Does she do brasses as well felice ? Mine are desperate for a clean but can stay desperate for some time to come - I don't have much.
Could you send your DD round when she's finished your silver ?

felice please join the orderly queue!

Merlot, she can come down and dust and clean the silver here whenever she wants !!

I also get Ovenu to do the job every 2-3 years and it is a new oven afterwards. I think that it is worth every penny.

Be careful what you wish for, felice

i had a very frightening experience last week,,, wandered upstairs for my fruit tea with DD, to find her cleaning silver !!!! come on !!!!!! This is a DD who was a Goth, Gay and the ultimate Feminist,,, now she critisises my dusting,,, umm whats that....

My oven cleans itself. Every so often it beeps at me, I turn it onto the Pyro setting, which means it heats up to an extremely high temperature, thereby burning off anything that has burnt onto the oven, and then cools down, leaving a covering of ash which just needs wiping off with a damp cloth. This all takes a couple of hours. It's the best oven I've ever had, it's wonderful not to have to get down on my hands and knees to scrape at the thing!

I've got a brand new cooker, having given up on myBelling after 5.5 years. I will not be buying another from them. Their attitude is that if it lasts a year it conforms to industry standards and can't have an inherent problem - even though there is a website out there specifically warning that Belling electric hobs have a habit of failing almost as soon as the warranty runs out!

That aside, I have to admit that I came close to ruining the brand new hob in under a week when I took a microwavable plastic lid off something and plonked said plastic lid on still-hot hob. Oops!

I have my oven cleaned by a specialist firm once a year, as I find it too difficult, and then just wipe it down after use. It costs £40 but it's like a new oven afterwards, so worth it.They do everything, including taking the door 'to bit's' and re-assembling, even the grill pan and the shelves.

sunseeker

I looked on YouTube to find out how to replace a bulb in a fitting which is recessed into the ceiling. Very clear video showing how to get the spring thingy out (technical term!) which holds the bulb in place. Problem is no matter how hard I try the spring won't shift - so have had to place a call to brother in law and asked him to drop in when he is in the area to do it for me! (Hate being the helpless female but sometimes you just need a strong man).

On the oven cleaning front - put in a call to Ovenu as it was so highly recommended, the man actually came to have a look at the oven so he knew the extent of the job before giving a quote - have booked him for next week so will report back.