Dear Home Ec 101:
Please solve an argument between my husband and myself! When heating up the oven, I don’t wait for the required temp to reached before putting the food in, but do give extra time in case it wasn’t quite hot enough. My husband says that you have to wait until the temp is reached or the food won’t cook right. Who’s right?
~Consternated in Concord
Heather says:
I have the feeling that neither of you will be happy with the answer. You are both right.
The temperature is very important with baked goods such as breads and cakes. A lot is decided in the first few minutes of baking. Take bread for example, if the oven isn’t hot enough the crust may not form properly.
If you do a lot of baking, I highly recommend investing in an oven thermometer. Oftentimes the thermostat may not be calibrated and that can effect some recipes.
Temperature is also important when trying to achieve certain effects when roasting. Some cooks swear by “blasting” roasts and whole chickens and turkeys.
With many items it doesn’t matter, things like baked chicken, casseroles, or the kid’s fishsticks. In those cases check at the end of the prescribed time. Often the cooking times are generalities and not exact in the first place.
I hope this information helps and I hope it didn’t take all the wind out of your sails. I know I get far too much enjoyment out of a big “I told you so!”
Good luck!
Send your domestic quandries to helpme@home-ec101.com.
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Something I read, in Alton Brown's book, "I'm Just Here for the Food," that I had not considered before..
I, usually, wait for the oven to click off (the light to go off) to know the oven is hot enough.. but Alton says that is only the air temperature, and that recovery is long.. he suggests waiting 5 minutes, in one section, and 20 minutes, in another.. so the recovery, to the right temperature, after you open the door, is faster..
In my opinion, this could make or break a recipe.. and with bread.. it makes a difference, I'm learning. My buns cooked 3 minutes faster when I waited longer for the oven to pre-heat, today.
Absolutely. This is an excellent tip for very touchy items like pies and souffles. Now that I think of it, I have never actually made a soufle. Have you?
Our success rate went up a bunch when we started using an oven thermometer. We haven't ever had an oven with an accurate thermostat, and we had a lot of different ovens as we moved 17 times in 23 years!
Excellent tip. I should probably do a post in the future about placement of items in the oven itself. Since, that can definitely have an impact on some items. Thank you!