Tips for cooking on bottled gas out here in the sticks?

[mad4amanda]

Hi all , it`s the time of the year where I get to cook Christmas dinner in Brittany , the house we have has a good cooker but runs on bottled gas (butane).
As a confirmed electric cooker user at home I always find this a problem ; oven not getting hot enough to do crackling , predicting timings for beef etc . The cooker is a 2 year old large range with the correct jet installed for bottled gas. the 13kg bottle is stored alongside the cooker in a cupboard built for it and connected with a braided metal hose.
So any tips from more expearienced users?
we have just changed the bottle over as the oven wasnt getting to 200 degrees Measured on oven thermometer
it appears to only get to 190 ish on a full bottle ?
is this normal for butane in the winter ?
how does the ambient temp effect gas cooker performance ?
should we change to propane during the winter , if so what will be the effect and do we need to do anything different in terms of storage etc?

Joyeaux Noel

[Le Pop]

I'm interested in replies to your query as we are looking at the use of propane/butane for cooking (and we live in rural France too), but I think you might get more responses if this was posted in the DIY forum...

[magooagain]

My other half says the best way to go is gas hob electric oven.

[mad4amanda]

Just to let you know it would appear that the ambient temp in the kitchen has a lot to do with the gas pressure and subsequent oven temp acheived .
We are using a new butane bottle as reccomended by the cooker manufacturers and eventually got the oven temps up to 210 220 ish on my oven thermometer. So far in the last weekI have roasted the belly pork which came out good even got crackling , Gammon and 3.7 kilo of 3 rib roast wing rib of beef which was wonderful .
We eventually lit the open fire in the kitchen to raise the temp which in turn raised the oven output.\This year has been milder so far than pevious years .
Going to have to find a way of heating the bottle or insulating it at least?

[Le Pop]

I think propane will burn hotter than butane when operating in lower temperatures...
See here for details... http://www.avantigas.com/propane-butane/

[Le Pop]

I think propane will burn hotter than butane when operating in lower temperatures...
See here for details... http://www.avantigas.com/propane-butane/

Edited by Le Pop on Saturday 29th December 07:39

[mad4amanda]

yes it says on the primagaz website that butane wont flow at all at zero celcius I am just concerned as to whether a propane bottle is safe to store internally ?
That and the cooker instructions reccomend butane.