If you are not living on a compound which tend to have more modern facilities and renting an apartment or villa which came with appliances, you may likely find yourself with a circa 1950’s style stove and oven. It will be gas, large, dials will be difficult to read and of course the temperatures will be in Centrigrade.
I’m presently living on a Saudi compound which was built in 1983 and has pretty much remained in the same style since it was built. I am learning how to use such an antiquated stove and oven. I’ll try to describe it accurately. For starters, the model or brand is called “Glem Glass.” It is quite large as far as stove’s go, almost five feet across. It has two burners on each side of the stovetop as well as a fifth, extra large burner in the center. Naturally it is a gas stove/oven which takes small tanks of gas which need to be refilled circa every two months. As a result, one needs to be watchful and monitor the gas capacity so as not to be in the midst of a meal and run out of gas!
Some of these stoves will light automatically and many will not. Mine seems to be in the middle with two burners that will light automatically and the remainder requires the use of an igniter (similar to what one may use with a gas BBQ grill).
The oven is another story. It is a wide black chamber with only one rack on which to place items for baking. Thank goodness for the internet where one can easily look up temperature conversions to figure out the difference between Fahrenheit and Centrigrade. In many cases and in my case the oven temperature gauge has many of the numbers rubbed away due to usage and age. This can make baking challenging to say the least!
While I may find it challenging to use as I continue to adjust to the different style, the Saudi women who have been using these antiquated stoves for years are masters at turning out delectable meals and dishes with them. I watch my mother-in-law as she prepares meals and continue to be amazed as she sets the oven thermostat to exactly the right temperature considering that it is just a blank dial with no numerical temperatures written on it.
Because we are in a compound provided by my husband’s employer we are choosing not to make any significant changes such as replacing the stove. I’m determined to learn how to conquer the differences and turn out meals as tasty as my mother-in-law. My mother-in-law on the other hand will not even hear of replacing her stove with something newer. When asked she says it is the one which she grew up on and knows as well as the back of her hand. She will not replace it until it stops working and cannot be repaired.
I searched and searched through google images to try and find a picture accurately depicting these stoves but was not successful. The closest one I found is this one although this stove is more modern than the ones I am describing (and using!).
Filed under: culture, Saudi Arabia, Saudi culture, Saudi customs, Uncategorized
I bet all of your beloved recipe books are in fahrenheit.
Due to living as an expat for so long, thinking in centigrade is probably second nature to you. I’d have to do the computation in my head.
I feel the same as your MIL about my oven. I know that it heats 25 degrees hotter, so I adjust. I am used to all its kinks and works fine. I bet if I got a new oven, I would wonder why I waited so long.
Yes; all my recipes are indeed in Fahrenheit. Actually in all my travels this is the first time to have a stove in Centrigade. All my embassy postings in the post I was provided with an American stove. Thankfully the internet gave me ready access to a conversion chart.
I avoided the trials of using the oven by doing stove-top cooking only. As a man with three other male roommates in a Jeddah compound it was no problem. But the challenge was the washing machine. It took well over an hour to wash a load of laundry and we were told never to use hot water because the water was so filthy and your clothes would turn to gray. Often the machine would stop in mid cycle or it would never completely drain. My clothes never turned gray and were clean, but by the end of six months they were in tatters.
When I worked abroad my appliences were sometimes provided by the DoD and other times I used the ones provided by the locals.
In my last house in England I had a refer that the owners of the house provided and another one the DoD gave me. If you know the average size of a European refer you’ll know why.
Even when government supplied often they are just newer versions of what most locals have anyways, ie washers and dryers that only can do a load that consists of two pants and two shirts.
The last oven I had in England was a very small model, probably about 2 1/2 feet across, with four small burners and an oven that barely fit an American sized broiling rack.
I dont know, maybe I am strange, but I actually love the differences. I know many Americans abroad who had a really hard time with it all, the change in culture, appliances, language, driving, I thived on it and actually miss it.
Rob – I consider myself fortunate that my villa does have modern American washer & dryer as well as a good clean water supply. One of my relatives lives in another section of Riyadh where the water pressure is so low it takes an hour just for the washer to fill with water!
Abu Sinan – what is a refer? I’m not familar with that term. Yes; I’ve noticed in Europe and Asia the appliances like stoves, ovens, washers/dryers all seem much smaller than the American Standard. Like you said, it is indeed part of the expat experience!
Well, at least it is gas which is a superior cooking method to electric and that fifth burner is wonderful. it is also quite large on top.
I once visited a French family and Annie’s oven was counter top and about the size of a large toaster oven . I was amazed at the delectable meal she served us using that oven. But she , as your mother-in-law, had been doing it for many years.
Ah, sorry, I guess it is slang I picked up somewhere. I come up with words from all of my travels and sometimes never remember where I picked them up.
It is for a refrigerator.
You should see the kids laugh when I get mad and call something “rubbish”. They think I sound “so English”.
Yes; I also do prefer gas overall to cooking on an electric stove.
Abu Sinan – thanks for the clarification!
Well, as Oscar Wilde said: ”The English and Americans have everything in common. Except their language”
I know people who can create miracles on Aga cookers! (I’m not one of them)
And I agree; you can only do real serious cooking on a gas stove!
What’s wrong with centigrade, lol?
Yes, gas is the only way to go for stove top cooking. I don’t know how my sis-in-law in the UAE cooks such delicious meals with her oven (sounds like yours); it only has one temperature: HOT. Scary.
I think these kinds of stoves definitely distinguish who the true cooks are!!! hmmm..wonder what that British guy with the restaurant show would say?
You mean the one with really réally bad language?
The concept scares me!
Yes, that’s him and his name still escapes me!
Gordon F*#^&g Ramsey?
Yeeeessssss.