How to Maximize the Performance of Cooking Appliances

Everyone can relate to the smell of freshly baked cookies, pies or bread in the oven. We all love the smell of baking pastries, a nice crunchy pizza or dishes of all sorts lingering throughout the house. With all these smells of delectable foods buzzing in the kitchen, there is one we often take for granted —The Kitchen Oven.

An age-old tradition
The oven is one of the few universal appliances that have been in existence for centuries. And in all those years, its basic principle —surrounding uncooked food with hot air — has remained virtually unchanged. Today, however, we get to choose the preparation time, temperature, and whether we want the food to be baked or broiled. The list of things we can prepare in the oven seems endless: pizza, cake, steak, fish potatoes, you name it and it probably can be cooked to perfection in an oven. The list doesn't end with food however: even bricks for example, are baked to industrial ovens which use the same physics as your kitchen oven. Modern kitchen ovens give you the choice of baking or broiling. The difference between them is simple: baking prepares the food by surrounding it with hot air. Broiling heats the food by infrared heat.

General Tips Regarding Cooking Products:

• Food does not cook any faster at a higher setting flame size than that which maintains a gentle boil. Water boils at the same temperature, whether boiling vigorously or gently. If too high a setting is used, food may burn on the bottom before it is completely cooked.
• As a range or oven gets older, it is not uncommon for the oven temperature to shift higher. It is normal to notice some cooking time differences between a new oven and an old oven.
• Do not cover an entire rack or oven bottom with aluminum foil, this reduces air flow and may cause poor results.
• Over-peeking can reduce temperature 25 degrees with each door opening and affect results.
Don't open the door until the specified cook time is up. If you do it will extend the cooking time tremendously!
• The finish on the pan affects the amount of browning. Dark, dull pans absorb heat and result in darker browning, faster cooking and crispier crusts. Use these for pies and breads. Shiny, bright pans reflect heat and result in lighter, more delicate browning
Use these for cakes and cookies. Glass baking pans and some very dark pans perform better with recommended temperatures reduced 25 degrees.

Fast facts:
• When boiling or grilling, leave the door of the kitchen oven open just a bit to vent the smoke. When baking, keep the door tightly closed to prevent hot air from cooling down.
• Some kitchen ovens can clean themselves. By using the temperature to about 500 degrees Celsius, baking leftovers are burned away. This automatic pyrolytic process takes about three hours to complete.
• Some models circulate the hot air around the food. This evenly bakes or browns the food, resulting in the same quality that you know from some restaurants or bakeries.