Tips on Knowing How The Oven Cooks

Have you ever wondered how an oven cooks? I mean, you know that it bakes and warms and all that good stuff, but do you know exactly how it cooks and what rack to use when? Coming up on Thanksgiving and the holidays, your oven is going to come into a lot of use. Here are a few great tips on knowing how the oven cooks. 

Tips On How The Oven Cooks

I hadn’t paid much attention to it, until recently. So, I thought I would share with you some quick tips on how the oven cooks. Quickest tips ever with a lot of good info. Check it out.

First of all, there are three sections to the oven, and each section cooks differently. As we all know, hot air rises. The same rule applies in the oven. There’s an element that gets heated at the bottom of the oven, the hot air rises and cooks the food. The higher the rack in the oven, the hotter the temperature is. Makes sense, right? But where do you put a pork loin to cook versus where you bake a cake? Here are the answers.

The Top Of The Oven Is For Browning

Place the rack on the top section for browning. The broiler is what browns the foods, and usually only takes a minute or two to get the job done. When broiling, keeping the rack around six inches from the broiler with a watchful eye to ensure no burning is what is recommended.

We really enjoy broiled veggies in our house, and cooking them this way makes for a quick weeknight side dish.

If you are not broiling, but rather baking a food like a pork loin, then that would cook best placed in the top section of the oven as well. Chicken breasts, meatloaf – cook ’em on the top. Meats cook best with high heats.

The Middle Section Of The Oven Is To Cook

This is the best section to cook casseroles, cakes and pies. Baking fish is best in the middle section, unless you want to brown the top. Baked potatoes, and actually all potatoes cook best in the middle. Frozen dinners, frozen anything, calls for middle of the oven. This section is the hardest working section, in my opinion, because it simply is the most common section.

The Bottom Section Is To Reduce

This is where you have pan juices that you want to make into a thick sauce, reduce it down. Low and slow is the way to go here, and the bottom of the oven gets that job done. No need to adjust the oven temperature, but rather place the food on the bottom rack to reduce.

The bottom section is also where the Thanksgiving turkey is placed to cook. Yes, Yes, turkey is a meat, but the bird is huge, and if you cook it too fast, then you’ll end up with an extra dry exterior and a raw interior. Turkeys like to be at the bottom of the oven, cooking low and slow, letting their pan juices accumulate and start to reduce slightly, heeding a delicious gravy for the finish.

Great oven quick tips to help you cook everything perfectly. These tips will definitely make your holiday baking and cooking go smoothly.

A VERY Important Thanksgiving Step To Do TODAY!

If you bought a frozen turkey, now is the time to start thawing the turkey. I’m sharing the best way to thaw a turkey and how! CLICK HERE!