The Nuwave I love Has Failed

Posted on 19/02/2012 by Grumpa Joe

It happened last week. I put a couple of frozen steaks on the grill, and turned the timer knob to what I thought was fifteen minutes. The knob came off in my hand. Looking back on it, the knob was getting harder and harder to turn, and the dinger at the end of time did not ding anymore.

My Nuwave oven, everything looks normal.

The engineer in me said, “look for spare parts.” The Nuwave website does not get into specific parts, only complete assemblies. I can buy a whole new heating head for $55.00 or even upgrade to digital for $65 but I can’t buy a knob or a timer switch.

Broken Timer Knob

Down to the shop I went yesterday. In five minutes I had the patient opened for examination. Four of those five minutes were spent in cleaning a space on my cluttered workbench.

The Heart of the Beast

The switch came off easily, but disconnecting the wires was harder.Eventually, I got them off and had the heart of the beast in my hand. The timer shaft was hard to turn. In fact it made a horrible grinding noise when I forced it to move. That is not a good sign. What the heck, shoot some WD40 down the shaft to loosen it some more. All it can do is blow a fuse if I over juice it. Now it moves easier, but still with noise.

Hang Zhou Westlake Timer Switch Factory DKJ/1-60

I copied the numbers off the switch and reassembled the unit. I went to Google and searched for the Hang Zhou Westlake Timer Switch Factory. It came up at the top. A click took me to their website. I found the DKJ/1-60 switch just as easily as I did the website. There was only one problem, there is not a single reference anywhere on the site about sales, purchase, price, etc, only specifications of the switch. How can these guys be beating the pants off the USA in manufacturing with errors like that? Not a single mention of sales anywhere.

If I read the specs correctly, this timer should last until the world ends. Are they lying, just putting out some grossly deficient product, or didn’t they test under real conditions? What ever the reason Hang Zhou owes me a replacement.

Note! As I searched for the company again to copy the link, I noticed numerous websites all offering switches for sale by Hang Zhou.

I resorted to sending an e-mail with my request through the “contact us” button.

I went back to the shop and made a new knob for the oven. The quickest was to grind down the thickness of a washer to fit into the slot on the  shaft. I’m anxious to try it out.

My new timer switch knob

While I am at it, there is opportunity for severe finger cuts on the head. There are four metal clips which hold the head centered on the see through spacer. Be careful when removing or replacing the head. I cut my finger on one of those clips and bled profusely. I did not love my Nuwave during the time my finger was healing.

Nuwave head upside down revealing sharp clips

Close up of lethally sharp edged centering clip

One of four very sharp clips under the head

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Political Grace Before Dinner

Posted on 27/11/2011 by Grumpa Joe

The Thanksgiving holiday is over, and I made it without a mental breakdown. Grandma Peggy and I entertained the kids and the components of their families that could make it. The highlight of my day was saying Grace.

I went off the deep end and veered into the political arena, but recovered quickly. I thanked God for the current President who is  teaching us how fragile our liberty is. We have lost liberties throughout his tenure. One of the worst is the government take-over and ultimate ownership of two car companies, and some banks too. How about the President firing the CEO of a major car company? The entire Board of Directors at GM lost their rights on that one. The Constitution does not cover that detail anywhere, not even between the lines. I recently re-financed my mortgage and had to sign several documents pertaining to the Department of Homeland Security. A pure waste of paper, and probably the time of several bureaucrats hired to review the document; for what?  I’m sure I could put together a pretty good conspiracy, and pull it off before anyone at Homeland Security can detect a problem by the review of those documents.

Anyway, after my political Grace, I got down to thanking God for the food on our table and editorialized the fact of how lucky we were to have food at all because I had personally delivered food to a family in need just a few days earlier. They were desperate and very grateful to have that which I delivered. Finally, I got to:

Bless us oh Lord and these thy gifts which we are about to receive from thy bounty through Christ our Lord. Amen

The food on our table:

Turkey, stuffing, corn, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, gravy, lasagna, tossed salad, cucumber salad, a relish tray, wine, and desert too: Cherry pie, apple pie, brownies, cinnamon cookies, a giant chocolate chip cookie, ice cream cake, and more.

No, we didn’t have cranberry sauce or pumpkin pie.

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I Hate My Nu-Wave

Posted on 11/05/2011 by Grumpa Joe

It wasn’t long ago when I posted a short piece titled “I Love My Nu-Wave” about how great my Nu-Wave infrared cooker is. Oh how I gave it lauds. It is a great cooker, but on Easter Sunday, I learned its limit. We invited the family for dinner. Grandma Peggy and I decided to put a ham on the table. I decided to use the Nu-Wave. I have never cooked a ham this way before, but the cooker works so good on everything else I’ve tried why not use it on the ham?

The cooking chart instructed to give it fifteen minutes per pound. The ham we bought was ten pounds. That translates into one hundred and fifty minutes, or two and a half hours. Not bad for a chunk of meat that large. We asked our guests to arrive in time for a four o’clock dinner. I made a note to start the ham at one o’clock.

Everything was going on schedule and as planned. Then it happened. What? I’ve left out the part about this being a spiral  cut ham.  I placed the ham into the cooker with the bone horizontal. The traditional way. I placed the cooking dome over the ham and set the timer.

An hour later the aroma of fresh-baked ham filled the house. I love the smell of freshly baked ham. Something told me to check things out. I stopped the machine and lifted the dome. There was the ham with the spiral slices fanned out like a blooming onion. The outer one inch of the edges were dark red, no, they were black. When the ham fanned, the individual slices exposed themselves to the heater and cooked rapidly. Thank God, a section in the center was still pink, and edible.

I checked the internal temperature.  It was ready after one hour, and the guests don’t arrive for another hour and a half. I tore off a piece of the dark red outer edge and popped it into my mouth. Yep, it was crunchy, but still tasty. Grandma Peggy got on the phone and called our guests and explained. She asked them to come earlier if they could. Since the guests were all of our children, they did us the favor.

Instead of serving at four, we served at three. I explained my error in cooking and presented the ham on a platter. I suggested that they eat the pink parts only. To my surprise several of the kids loved the crunchy outer pork chips. The company politely said nothing and ate the burnt offering. Actually, many feasted on the sides.

After the party ended, it occurred to me that I should have stood the ham on end.  Oh well, next time.

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Tradition, Ah the Aroma to Die For

Posted on 07/05/2011 by Grumpa Joe

This year the urge to bake bread for Easter became overwhelming.  The aroma of fresh bread permeated my brain and olfactory senses. I dreamed of  big loaves of white bread. Childhood memories of slicing a huge slab from a fresh loaf and smearing it with thick gobs of yellow butter played in my mind. I had to do it. At one time I baked bread often. Many times the dough was flat. The number of times I killed yeast escapes me, but killing yeast became my trademark. Either the water was too hot, or not warm enough. Sometimes the water was just right, but the bowl too cold. A lot of dead dough went into the trash.

This year, my determination to make the yeast perfect  dominated the process. The persistence paid off, the dough rose to the occasion. Here is how I did it:

1. Place two tablespoons of tepid water in a clean soup bowl.

2. Mix in tow packets of dry yeast and stir

3. Place the bowl in the microwave and heat it for ten seconds. This heat the bowl as well as the mixture. Set is aside

4. Place a greased mixing bowl into the micro and heat it for thirty seconds. We don’t want to chill the yeast when we pour it into the bowl.

5. Continue with the remainder of the recipe.

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A Challenge For Bakers

Posted on 21/04/2011 by Grumpa Joe
Monday is the day the agency I work for makes ...

Image via Wikipedia

This special recipe for chocolate chip cookies is for the bakers in the world.  This flavorful cookie guarantees to make you the hit of any small town. The assembly of the recipe will present a challenge to even the most experienced baker, i.e. unless you cook for large groups. I discovered the recipe while touring on a vacation in Charleston, South Carolina. The ingredients are simple, and easily accessible from any grocery store.

These cookies will make your taste buds jump for joy. They will bring you satisfaction for  a long time, and they freeze well too. The chocolate speckled wafers make a wonderful treat for great grandfathers who served in the Navy during WWII. No doubt, the taste will awaken a memory cell tucked deep within the recesses of  a sailor’s brain.

If you decide to bake up a batch using this recipe, send me a few dozen, I love them

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