Advice needed- gas hob rings wont go low enough to simmer

[owlelf]

My gas hob has four rings- one big, two medium sized, one small. All of them burn things when I attempt to simmer. The flame goes low but it is still too hot for a simmer.

I've tried one of the metal disks that is designed to help with this and it helps for 5-10 minutes but then things start burning again.

I would love to sort this out- not least as I am inspired by the thread currently in AIBU where people are talking about making lovely fresh sausec that need simming for a long time!!

Can anyone help?

Better quality saucepans? I.e. heavy grade, good thick bottoms that distribute the heat evenly?

I've found that if you very carefully turn the dial towards the off position whilst watching it you get a very low burn just before the ring goes out. It does take pratice

I simmer like this on the smallest ring setting.

Thanks for the suggestions- I thought my saucepans were quite good. Maybe this is the excuse I need to get a cast iron one .

I will try the nifty gas turning off / down trick too.

Cast iron pans are a pain, they are heavy and you need to dry them straight away or they go rusty. I got rid of mine.

Not an everyday solution, but would making bigger quantities of things mean that the same flame strength would result in a lower simmer? I only suggest it as if you were planning long-simmering sauces, the chances are you would be batch cooking, in which case you could try a bigger batch.

these although I think you get better ones with a handle that work a bit better (I know, I know, the shock of not thinking Lakeland is the best. It's the only time. I promise).

We have one which we got at John Lewis. It's amazing and I use it whenever I need to simmer something slowly on the stove.

Sounds to me like the burners need altering. We are on bottled gas and when we bought our hob it was set up for town as with the burners supplied for propane; We had to fit te new burners then alter them to get the right simmer rate. I can't remember exactly how but it wasn't difficult.

Is this a new cooker? I had the same problem with a new hob,struggled for a few months then rang the manufacturer who sent an engineer to adjust the burners. Simple job, took about ten minutes, and free of charge.

Agree it's the burners you need adjusted if the smallest setting is still too high. We got an engineer out, but iirc it's a wee screw needs turned in behind the knob at the front. Took him 10 minutes max.

I have pretty much ceased to simmer since being inspired to make a hay box.

We have a similar problem: the La Crusset pans sadly don't really help, neither does making large quantities (other than the fact that you burn sauces onto the bottom of pans less frequently).

Thanks for the tip that the hob can be adjusted. Time to read the hob manual (I think the house came with one) or call a repairman.

Gas cookers are good for heating things quickly. I often only used the smallest ring and even on the lowest flame the food overheats quickly - meaning destroyed nutrients and oxidised oil.
Best to switch to an electric hob if you don't want to keep lifting the pan off the flame.
I switched back as I found it ridiculous the way the gas rings just overcook everything. I want my food to be healthy.

if you put water in pan and then got one of those thermometers would there be an ideal simmer temp.i say this as pp have mentioned needing an engineer to sort out the real temperatures if there is a mistake in the way its been fitted?this might help you gage whether you need to call someone out?

The tip about turning towards the OFF position really works!

Best tip is the one re turning towards off position carefully rather than just the low setting, it does require trial and error and a window open for example can blow out the slight flame.

That said it's hard to simmer anything really low on a gas hob, rice pudding being a perfect example! Lot to be said for a slow cooker for this sort of thing and just make a good bit and freeze extra for another day. If I'm making meat sauce for pasta/lasagna I fry what needs frying, bring to boil and dump into slow cooker then to do it's thing, easier than burnt pans.