Rachael.
A dive boat with a Rayburn, not what you would expect but do not be afraid! she’s not too difficult to use - you just have to remember to switch it on a good
wee while before you want to cook. Do not do what we did and expect to cook pizza 5 min after turning her on.
On the left hand side of the Rayburn, there’s a switch and a dial.
TO TURN RACHEL RAYBURN ON: flick the orange switch down (from Heating to Cooking) and turn the dial from off to high. The oven door is front top right, and
above the handle there is a silver switch that also has to be flicked to the left from the letter H to C. On the front of the oven door there’s a indicator
needle (simmer, bake, roast), which gives you a vague idea of how hot the oven is. The dial on the left does have different temperatures written on it (in
degrees celcius), however pay no attention to it ’cause it doesn’t heat the oven to what it says on the dial, and its better just to turn it up or down
depending on the needle position on the door. If the oven isn’t heating up as fast as you would like, it can be boosted by turning on the water and central
heating for 1 hour (see the central heating box on the wall to the right of the Rayburn, or ask Bob).
The top plates are always slightly hot, however to get them hot enough to fry or boil, you need to turn on the oven (see above). The left plate is hotter
than the right and is useful for bringing things to the boil before moving them to the right to simmer.
REMEMBER TO TURN OFF THE OVEN AFTER USE (reverse the above process) otherwise, you’ll start to cook the people in the saloon (she puts out a lot of heat).
Ignore Bob when he tells you that baked potatoes cannot be done in the Rayburn - they turn out great.
Turn on the oven at breakfast and allow to heat until the needle points to BAKE. Wrap all the potatoes in tin foil, put them on a tray and shove them in the
oven for 3-4 hrs (monitor the needle and turn the dial accordingly). After 3-4 hrs remove tin foil and stick a knife in a few to make sure they’re soft,
cover them in oil or butter and shove them back in to crisp up. If you have more than one tray, you have to keep swapping the shelf they’re on. Which brings
me to the final Rayburn tip: food must be juggled around to cook properly. The 3 oven shelves have slightly different temps (hotter at the top obviously) and
so things have to be moved (especially pizza). This is also true of the hot plates.
Treat her well and she’ll cook things wonderfully for you. Treat her bad and it’ll come out raw or burnt depending on her mood.
Good luck!
