About the Chef Pad
What is a Chef Pad?
It’s worth taking a bit of time to explain just what a Chef Pad is. Whether is an Aga, Esse, Everhot or Rayburn this cloth hob cover might seem like a strange invention but it the perfect tool to accompany cooking on range cookers.
AGA & range cooker ovens are deep and hold lots of dishes and pans, sometimes this means rearranging and moving things about, getting a hot lasagne or a roasting tin out of the oven and resting it on your chrome or enamel lids might mean a scratch or a balancing job.
Even if you’ve only got one thing on the go being able to whip it out of the oven and know your lids are safe is important. By covering your hob lid with a Chef Pad you’ll save a scratch & create a surface that’s less slippery.
Most of our Chef Pads come with a hanging loop that you can attach to the handle of your hot plate lid so when the lid is raised you don’t find your Chef Pad shooting down the back.
The loop can be taken off quickly if you need to mop a spill, wipe the top of your cooker, throw it onto the kitchen table or work surface to work as a trivet.
We all know that keeping heat in your AGA, Everhot, Esse or Rayburn means less fuel burnt, by covering your hob lids with an additional layer of insulation it will also help to keep heat in which is always a good thing!
Using & looking after your Chef Pads
Chef Pads are not oven gloves, cooking on a range cooker can be dangerous always take care, we always advise long oven gloves when reaching to the back of the ovens.
Chef Pads will protect against heat to a degree, but they are not fail safe, do take care on work surfaces or tables when getting hot things out of the oven.
All natural fibres will shrink and change with washing & use, we’ve all experienced the curling hob cover (personally we quite like the worn in working look, after all we work with these heavy imperfect cookers & put up with their cantankerous ways!) but this can be prevented to a degree but not drying wet chef pads on hot cooker lids, letting them dry at room temperature is best however tempting it is to get them back on the cooker!
Cast Iron Range cookers are hot, leaving a Chef Pad for a prolonged period of time on your hob lid may result in scorching, we take ours off at night or when we’re not there, better to be safe than sorry!
Hanging loop or no hanging loop? We prefer a hanging loop, watching a hob cover slide down the back the lid when it’s raised, we think is annoying and potentially dangerous near the hot plate. However we dont recommend leaving them on hot lids unattended for a large amount time.
Chef pads put up with a lot, they work hard and are in contact with the hot lids, made form predominantly cotton fibres naturally they don’t last for ever. To prolong their life they should be washed at 40 degrees and air dried at room temp, no tumble dryer (as if you would with an AGA in the house) or on your range cooker.
Always wash dark colours separately.
