I now have a true cooking stove/oven that I think will be one of the best pieces of equipment in my culinary arsenal.
I recently was given a 1952 Western Holly. This is a true thing of old school design, beauty and strength. It must weigh around 280lbs plus and has great layout. It was used by my great aunt and uncle for only a couple of years and than put into storage in the lower level. It is basically in brand new condition.
1st up is the cooking top: It has two 9,000 + BTU burners in the front and two 6,000 + BTU burners in the rear. All four burners are the two stage “ALLTROL Center Simmer” brand burners. They have a small 6 point center burner that comes on in the 1st stage and can be turned down to almost nothing. The second stage allows the outer ring large burner to come on in addition to the center burner. On the 1st stage center simmer setting you can simmer food for over an hour with only 1 cup of water. According to the manual this whole burner set up was actually suggested by a house wife to the company back in the late 1940’s.
The burners are below heavy steel burner plates which spread out the heat evenly across the surface of the burners.
I have not had the chance yet to do much cooking, but just turning on the burners I can already see the unbelievable control to bring the heat down to very low settings with extraordinary control.
The cooking top also has a 16” x 17” grill. It has an impressive 12,000 BTU burner running under it. It also has a temp gauge embedded in the grill itself.
There is a nearly full size oven (about 5” less wide than a standard oven). The oven is controlled with a Robertshaw-Fulton control. Basically it controls the temperature and provides a red light showing the oven is on. When the oven reaches temperature a green light also comes on so you know the oven is ready. You can also adjust this setting to make sure your temperature is exactly set. Variation on oven temp with this control is less than 5 F.
Under the oven is a broiler, pretty standard like the modern ones.
On the left side is a Broiler Oven with room for a large roast and has adjustable racks for suspending the meat above the broiler pan.
Needless to say I am excited to get going with this newest addition to my kitchen. I will be cooking up a big meal tomorrow night and will let you guys know how it comes out.
Please see pictures below.
