Cooking it old school
Charcoal stoves a fuel-saving alternative
Charcoal stoves are still in use especially for the Ong family who uses it to cook up a storm on special occasions.
THE charcoal stove is still a widely used cooking appliance even though the process of starting a fire in it takes about 20 minutes.
First, crumple some old newspapers and start a small fire. Then, add small pieces of charcoal, followed by bigger ones, one at a time leaving sufficient time for each to thoroughly ignite. The stove is ready to be used when you see burning red charcoal, by which time sweat is trickling down your forehead and back.
Despite the tiresome process just to light it up, the charcoal stove has been in use in Ong Gui Sen’s house every day until today.
“My university friends were surprised to see my family still using this old method of cooking even though gas and electric stoves are easily available and affordable too.
“My friends were further amused because my father had built a customised marble counter top to place the charcoal stoves for convenience,” said the 23-year-old sales engineer from Sabak Bernam.
Ong said although his family also owned a gas stove now, the charcoal stoves were the only ones used when his grandmother was still alive 20 years ago.
“Charcoal is very cheap compared to gas. In the past, people tried to save as much as possible as times were hard. Besides, any dish cooked using the charcoal stove tastes better than those cooked on other stoves,” he said.
Ong admits that using the charcoal stove is tedious.
“Not only does it take a long time to start the fire but it is also difficult to control the flame. One method is by covering the stove using plates with different sized holes. If you need a big fire, use a plate with a big hole and viceversa.
“My grandmother was an expert, she did not need plates as she knew just how much charcoal to place in the stove to get a specific volume of fire,” he said.
Ong said the family had four charcoal stoves but only one was still in use — for boiling water to drink and bathe.
“The cooking is now done using the gas stove as it is faster and easier to clean as well.
“I am sure my grandma would not approve of this if she was still alive, but times have changed and we need to adopt to the current situation.
“However, during special occasions, my mother still uses the charcoal stove to cook special soups and dishes which take hours to prepare as it saves a lot of gas,” he added.