Buzz
A convection oven is reasonably priced and very convenient to use, you may not even need to buy a microwave if only for reheating food. But do you know what...
1. How to Use an Oven Effectively?
A convection oven is reasonably priced and very convenient to use, you may not even need to buy a microwave if only for reheating food. But do you know what...
How does an oven work?
First of all, you need to distinguish between a conventional toaster oven and a convection toaster oven. Basically, these two types are similar but conventional toaster ovens are smaller and do not have a convection fan, usually only used to bake small items like baked potatoes or chopped chicken. Convection ovens use a reverse fan, also known as a convection fan, which helps to evenly distribute heat in the oven, making food cook more evenly and faster. The price of convection ovens will be slightly higher than those without a convection fan.
Ovens have some heating elements, which may be in the form of straight or curved bars, attached close to the top of the oven and close to the bottom of the oven to create heat. Depending on your needs, you can choose to bake with top or bottom heat (only heating the top or bottom heating element), or both top and bottom heat. The convection fan will help circulate heat and stabilize the temperature inside the oven. The airflow created by the convection fan will remove the layer of cold air around the food and make the food come into contact with hotter air more frequently, thereby reducing cooking time. Therefore, if you are considering buying an oven, you should choose a convection oven.
Both conventional toaster ovens and convection toaster ovens can bake meat, fish, and some types of cakes, but convection ovens allow you to lower the set temperature (for example, instead of setting it to 200 degrees Celsius, you can set it to 170-180 degrees Celsius), helping to save electricity, while also reducing cooking time and evenly cooking food.
In addition, most convection ovens allow you to turn off the convection fan for use as a conventional oven. The size of these ovens, ranging from 30-40 liters, is suitable for most household needs, such as baking a 25 cm diameter pizza or roasting a 1.5-2 kg chicken.
Usage notes
- Oven placement: The oven should be placed at eye level, preferably on a spacious kitchen shelf, so that you can easily operate it, without bending down or reaching up to see the food in the oven or to remove food. You should also choose a location for the oven that is not close to other electrical appliances such as TVs, refrigerators, washing machines... to avoid adverse effects on these appliances. The space around the oven should also be ventilated, and you should place the oven so that both sides of the oven and the back wall of the oven are at least 10 cm away from the wall. The top of the oven should also be ventilated.
- Safety rules:
+ Before using the oven for the first time, make sure that the power consumption is compatible with the instructions behind the oven and that the power cord is securely connected to the power grid. Do not let water touch any electrical/electronic parts.
+ There are some types of food containers (bowls, plates, trays...) that you should not put in the oven, such as plastic, metal, metal-edged ceramic, foam, paper bags, wooden items, nylon bags. Metal items can cause electric discharge and oven explosion, plastic boxes and nylon bags can melt or produce harmful substances sticking to food, wooden containers will crack or even burn. Food containers suitable for use in the oven are heat-resistant glass or ceramics, porcelain, stoneware (these materials can also be used in microwaves).
+ Although heat-resistant ceramics, porcelain, and glass all have high heat resistance because they have undergone a high-temperature firing process during production, you should not create a thermal shock: if you want to heat up a ceramic bowl of food just taken out of the refrigerator, you should leave it outside for a few minutes and then wipe the sweat on the outside of the bowl before putting it in the oven, to avoid the ceramic bowl from cracking due to thermal shock.
+ The temperature inside the oven is very high so absolutely do not touch the glass layer on the oven door. You should use tongs and thick gloves when pulling the baking tray out. Also, pay attention to avoid the hot air stream when opening the oven door, do not let children stand near the oven and do not let children open the oven door.
Some Tips for Using the Oven
- Use bamboo skewers to skewer grilled meat: boil or soak bamboo skewers before skewering meat and grilling, to avoid burning.
- Common types of paper cannot be put in the oven, but you can use wax paper - paper that has been coated with heat-resistant wax, however, you still should not let the wax paper touch the heating element because the wax paper will still burn when in direct contact with the heating element.
- Use wax paper to prevent food from sticking, or you can also brush a layer of cooking oil on the tray/container before adding food to prevent sticking.
- You can use the oven to reheat leftover food or thaw food without needing a microwave. You can reheat/grill multiple different dishes at the same time by placing them all on one baking tray.
- There is a handy trick I learned from the Internet, which is to make crayons anew for children. Children often break crayons into small pieces and then throw them around the house, you can pick up those crayon pieces and place them in the molds you want and then put them in the oven, set at a temperature of about 250 degrees Celsius for a few minutes, the crayons will melt, you take them out and let them cool, they can be used as new. When the crayons are broken again, you repeat the process above.
- Always marinate food with spices before grilling to make the food more flavorful.
- After grilling, use a wet cloth to wipe off any stains (when the oven is still warm) then use a dry cloth to wipe again, avoid leaving food residues for a long time or water residue in the oven causing unhygienic conditions and later will be difficult to clean and unhygienic.
- Set the baking functions: Each type of food will require a different temperature level when put in the oven.
+ For meat dishes like chicken, beef, pork, you should set the highest temperature (the highest temperature in most ovens is 250 degrees Celsius, some high-end models have higher temperatures). For whole grilled fish, you should set the temperature at about 200 degrees Celsius because the fish skin is easy to burn, it may burn on the outside without being cooked on the inside. You can use aluminum foil to cover the meat surface when the skin has burned but the meat is not cooked, however, be careful not to touch the heating element of the oven because the aluminum foil will melt. If you marinate with honey, you should reduce the grilling temperature and only apply honey when the meat is almost cooked.
+ For vegetables, you should set the temperature from 150-170 degrees Celsius to avoid vitamin loss. If you plan to make baked chicken with vegetables for example, you should grill the chicken first, when it is almost cooked, then add the vegetables for grilling together.
+ For cakes, you need to adhere to the exact temperature specified in the recipe. The more difficult the cake is to make, the more accurate the temperature is required. If your oven temperature is unstable, you need to gain experience through each baking to adjust the temperature appropriately.
+ Before grilling anything, you need to preheat the oven for about 5-10 minutes before putting the food in to grill, this helps the food to immediately come into contact with high heat will help the dish taste better. Usually, cold and cold foods so even if you have preheated the oven, when you put the food in, it will still reduce the temperature in the oven, so if you do not preheat the oven, the food will take longer to cook and the grilled dish will lose its crispness due to water leakage when the temperature is not high enough. If you bake cakes, especially cakes that need to rise high like gateaux, the cake will not reach the necessary rise when the oven is not preheated.
+ You can also set the minimum temperature (usually 100 degrees Celsius) when drying food, for example drying snacks, or drying various cold cookies, they will quickly become crispy. I often dry seaweed the day before eating to keep them crisp as new. Or you can dry sliced almonds until golden before making almond cookies, they will taste better.
