NESCO 6 QT (?) roaster N-105 questions

[paulg]

Hi. Questions follow.
Purchased this never-used NESCO roaster at an estate sale. It is small. Six quart??
Brought it home. It was malfunctioning. Unit would stay at highest temperature and would never turn off.
Culprit: The thermostat shaft had been turned many times to the point it was stuck permanently on max temp. Knob was loose too. I suspect this pot may never have worked properly.
OK. Easy fix. Wound the shaft back to "just off". Reinstalled knob set to "off". Tightened lock nut securely.
However, that in my opinion is the "rough-in" adjustment. Currently, with the knob to "off", the pot is indeed electrically "just off " or perhaps " barely off ". Although this setting is rough and the pot seems to work now, it may not be the correct or optimal setting for accuracy.
I understand that this type of thermostat isn't expected to be supremely accurate. However I would like to fine-tune the adjustment as best I can.
QUESTION: How to set the thermostat more accurately? Do I fill the pot with water, set the thermostat to a particular temperature and measure the water temperature after the indicator light cycles off?
Or perhaps....
Set the pot to a particular temperature, run the pot empty and place my FLUKE temperature probe in the cavity to measure the ambient air temperature?
....Perhaps my rough-in adjustment with the thermostat set to off and the knob set to off ... is basically correct. What confuses me is the various uses for this pot. Indeed you can use it to make liquid-based foods like stews and chili - which would make me think you would make temperature tests with liquids.
However, it is my understanding that you can bake potatoes in this thing. (I may be wrong, but I poked around the internet and instructions manuals seem to state you can do this). In the case of the baked potato, ambient temperature rather than liquid would seem to be the temperature of interest.
Then I started to think how NESCO set the temp on the assembly-line. I have no knowledge of what they did in... 1964... However I highly doubt they filled each unit with liquid. Nor do I think they got each unit medium-hot and settled on a temperature test probably mid-range. I believe their assembly-line temperature alignment would probably have been simple, mechanical and fast.
Clearly I am probably overthinking this.... a lot... But perhaps, just perhaps someone knows the scoop on adjusting these things. I suppose this temperature adjustment dilemma would apply equally to the Westinghouse Roaster. Dunno.
Your opinions please....
SECOND QUESTION:
Have any of you used one of these? NESCO still makes a modern version and their website seems quite nice. Want to hear your opinions though.
Much obliged!

 

[tomturbomatic]

Congratulations & Great Fix!

This has a rack in it, right? I think mine does. Do you have a Taylor Oven Thermometer or just the probe which I guess would work as long as it doesn't touch anything, but you could put the oven thermometer on the rack. Try setting it at a temperature and operating it empty to see what the probe thing reads out. It will take a while for it to reach the temp and stabilize so be patient. It will bake like a small oven and work like a small roaster. It is  more economical to use this for a small meatloaf and a couple of baked potatoes than it is to heat up the oven and, like some here have said, it can be used in the basement or outside in hot weather, although microwave cookery has dinged the demand for these types of cooking appliances somewhat. Nesco was a big name in roasters and roaster ovens.

 

Have you ever heard of Nathalie Depree? She ran a cooking school at Rich's for a while and those of us in Housewares were her guinea pigs. One of the things she tried was making pate a choux and then beating the egg yolks in with the Cuisinart (this was 1974) and then deep frying little balls of the stuff. Well, she had chosen this exact appliance because she thought it could deep fry which it could not. When she said that she was having trouble with the frying operation, I told her she needed a deep fryer and went out onto the sales floor and requested one for the school. I could not believe she knew so little about small electrical appliances.

 

[rp2813]

I found basically the same model Nesco at a thrift store a while back, barely used, but mine has a silver- blue background on the "Full Range Cooking" guide.

 

I've used it as a slow cooker and have also done a small pork roast in it.  I like that the insert is light weight porcelain-on-metal compared to the heavy removable ceramic of a crock pot, and the Nesco is quicker to respond if you feel the need to kick things up a notch.  Indeed, a slow cooker only offers two settings:  Slow and Less Slow.

 

I think Tom's suggestion of an oven thermometer is the best method to test your thermostat.   I'd wait about 45 minutes before checking it. 

 

If your Nesco still has its rack, can you post a picture of it?  I'm currently using one I found that fits inside mine, but would like to know what the correct one looks like.

 

 

 

 

 

[paulg]

Rack is MIA. Rats!

Mine either wasn't equipped with a rack or it is missing. RATS! Usually if I am at an estate sale and know a unit was equipped with accessory(s), I'll do a hunt through the house and try to piece it back together. Oh well... I DO save misc racks from other dearly departed appliances.... I suppose I can rig something.
I wonder if a new replacement NESCO rack would fit this. Hmmmm. Maybe I can use onions and carrots in place of a rack in some cases.
Thank you both for the insights. I will try your tests. I will be patient. And I'll probably use my Taylor thermometers and maybe the FLUKE thermocouple and see if I can trim up the temp adjustment.

 

[rp2813]

I found a picture I lifted from somewhere, and it shows what is apparently the correct rack.  I wasn't expecting a rectangular shape.  On my mom's old '40s Nesco, I'm pretty sure it was an oval shape.  She had that sturdy little oval rack in with her others because she didn't use the Nesco anymore, but it fit inside it perfectly.  I wish I had saved it, but I never thought I'd own a small Nesco.  I found a circular rack at a thrift store for those times I need one.

 

[tomturbomatic]

If you check cooking emporiums and catalogs, you can find various sizes and shapes of cooking/cooling racks. Just keep the dimensions you will need with you and you will probably find one sooner or later. Don't forget that there are various shapes of cooking/steaming racks available in Silicone that might work.

 

[tomturbomatic]

I just thought that even a small fish poaching rack might work.

 

[paulg]

Adjustment time.

Well, I sorta came up with my own method to try to adjust the roaster's temperature...
Using my previous method of setting the thermostat to "just off" and fixing the knob to "off" accordingly, the temperature of the roaster was not correct using my goofy adjustment
procedure as mentioned earlier.. It actually was about 100 degrees too high.
So what I did next was take my Taylor probe-type digital thermometer and stuck it in the top vent hole to check the air temperature of the roaster.
The foil collar was added later as I noticed that the hot roaster was softening the plastic on the thermometer slightly. I wadded up some foil, poked a hole with a pen and placed the thermometer through it.
This testing method is not ideal and could be thoroughly incorrect, but it SEEMED to work. If the probe hits any metal, the reading can be skewed. For that reason I placed the probe carefully and did the tests repeatedly.
As the roaster's temperature settled, I adjusted the knob to match the temperature. I rocked back and forth from 300 degrees to 400 and back. I was able to get the roaster temp very close to the setting on the knob with very good regulation.
The next morning, I checked the cool roaster to see where the indicator light would start lighting on the dial. When cold, the indicator light started lighting JUST before the 200 degree mark. "OFF" setting turned the unit off. I think I am good.
And so we are going to roast a chicken tonight. As insurance we have a frozen pizza ready. Wish us luck.

 

[rp2813]

". . . started lighting JUST before the 200 degree mark.

That sounds like what mine does.  I'm looking forward to your report on the roasted chicken, but my money is on the GE rotisserie . . .

 

Can we get a look at that Osterizer next to the roaster?

 

[paulg]

Chicken was terrific!

SUCCESS!
No pictures, but chicken tasted great, lots of juice for gravy. We used a bed of carrots, celery, garlic. Some chicken stock. Added medium potatoes to the pot. Shoved onion, salt, pepper etc in the chicken and just let it run until the meat thermometer indicated cooking was done.
Didn't brown until just near the end where it browned the littlest bit. We didn't expect browning. This unit cooked our test chicken in much the same way as the Westinghouse roaster cooks a turkey; pale but great tasting.
We both agreed that the 1960s GE Rotisserie wins the award for best-tasting chicken, but by a small margin. The GE makes a great looking, crispy-skinned and juicy chicken. The NESCO's chicken is great tasting, juicy but pale.

I'll get pictures of the Osterizer(s) shortly. The one pictured is the spare. Our daily driver died during smoothie blending. Will explain later....

 

[tomturbomatic]

You could have slipped the porcelain pan under the broiler element in an electric range for a minute or two and had browning to your liking.

 

[paulg]

Great idea.

I forgot the porcelain pan can take the heat...
Thanks for the tip!

 

[paulg]

Osterizer

Here is a pix of the Osterizer Galaxie blender.
It is made up of new and vintage parts. Ahhhh.... the joys of owning Osterizers.
I bought it at an estate sale not to use... but for parts for another blender I will explain next.
This blender is excellent at its tasks. We like it. But it wasn't our first choice.

 

[paulg]

The John Oster 411

We bought the older, 1950's era John Oster "Electro-Blender 411" at the same estate sale. The newer Oster was to be used for jar parts.
It was so weird. When we brought both blenders home, I placed them on the island. By some freak accident, the older jar catapulted from our hands and smashed on the floor. We saved the handle and used the newer jar. So glad we bought it. Didn't think we'd need the new jar within seconds of ownership.
Ultimately we rebuilt this (what I believe to be) bar blender. It worked well for a number of years.
While making a smoothie, we damaged a part. I will call this part a "coupling".
Ya know what? I am going to reopen this as a new thread. I really would like to fix the old blender but cannot find the part.
See you at the new thread.