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Kenneth Ko

Towngas is marketing an aluminium cooking range that meets the exacting demands of Chinese food preparation

Award winner Towngas

The 'Super Flame' aluminium built-in hob, designed by the Hong Kong and China Gas (Towngas), won the company a top prize in the consumer product design category at the Hong Kong Awards for Industries.

According to Towngas product development manager Sham Man-fai, the large wok burner was entirely developed by its in-house designers and engineers to cater for the specific needs of Chinese cooking.

Flame cooking is an integral part of Hong Kong's gastronomic culture. In any Chinese kitchen, you will find a wok - the most popular cooking utensil used for stir frying.

'High power and heating seals the juices or flavour of food, which is essential to Chinese cooking. This is especially the case in the big kitchens of restaurants where wok burners produce powerful and even heating to create perfect Chinese dishes,' Mr Sham said.

'But household wok burners on the market are mostly developed by foreign designers and may not necessarily meet the demands of Chinese cooking.' Towngas began working on the new design two years ago with a view to providing a locally-designed product suited to the cooking culture. Unlike the traditional design of built-in hobs, the Super Flame burner made better use of air flow to reinforce the inner ring's flame power, Mr Sham said.

'In the traditional double-ring design, the inner ring flame is mainly concentrated at the centre of the cooking utensil,' he said.

'The Super Flame burner seeks to produce the ideal flame for Chinese cooking by balancing the inner and outer flames.

'The design positions the slots of the inner ring at an angle, which enables tiny flames to collide and merge together to create an expanse of flat flame.'

Mr Sham said Towngas had carried out stringent tests on the heating evenness and efficiency of the new product.

Test results showed that the Super Flame burner's energy efficiency was five to 17 per cent better than traditional products when used with a wok, and three to 11 per cent better when used with a flat-bottom pan.

He said his design and engineering team had refined the hob's specifications, making it easier to clean and stylish enough for the modern kitchen.

'A 6mm thick aluminium top plate gives the hob a solid feel, which is also durable and corrosion resistant. The burner has robust pan support and it is easier to clean in case of spills [during] cooking,' he said.

Mr Sham said the new design paid attention to detail which won it the approval of the panel of judges. The Super Flame hobs had been on the market for several months and customer response had been encouraging, he said.

Product design and development is a critical part of Towngas' business.

In November 2000, Towngas launched its own TGC brand of home appliances to suit the needs of young families.

Mr Sham said the company continued to develop its brand of appliances with the release of about 10 new designs every year. Its comprehensive range of products includes hotplates, built-in hobs, temperature-modulated gas water heaters and gas driers.

The company is also expanding the sales of its gas appliances on the mainland where it has launched the Bauhinia brand.



New gas burner is built for the wok