Advantages Of Convection Ovens Over Standard Ovens

By Author: Donna Stewart
Total Articles: 102
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If you are curious about convection ovens, you will be delighted with the advantages of convection cooking. Prior to purchasing any appliance it will still serve your best interests to know more about newer cooking technologies. Visit an appliance shop only if you already know more about the oven you want to buy. Sales people can persuade you to buy something that is not right for you.

Once you start talking to a sales representative at an appliance store, you might get talked into buying an oven before you even know how to use it or what kind of food works best with this type of cooking. These types of cooking appliances are a bit more costly than regular ovens and you should study the pros and cons first before deciding to buy one. Find out if you really need a stand alone appliance.

The first thing you should know about these kinds of appliances is that they are able to cook, roast or bake food evenly and faster than standard ovens. The main difference between a convection cooking oven and a traditional oven is the fan. Convections are equipped with a fan that distributes heat evenly all over the interior of ...
... the oven.

Cook food about 25 degrees to 75 degrees lower than you would with a traditional oven. Remember that convections heat up faster and distributes heat efficiently which makes the temperature inside the oven warmer. Start cooking on low temperature and increase it by 25 degrees more each time you think the oven is not hot enough.

Temperatures also differ when you are at a higher or lower altitude. Sometimes the temperature requirements change due to the type of food you cook. One thing though, you will not have to pre-heat a convection oven because it heats up fairly quickly compared to a traditional oven. This will lead to significant savings on power bills.

If you use the oven mainly for baking cakes and cookies, you should really start seventy-five degrees lower as mentioned earlier to avoid burning your cookies, pies and cakes. Speaking of pies, with this type of appliance, expect your pies and pastries to come out with flakier crusts and moist fillings.

Often times, it takes longer to cook or bake with a standard oven. Stand alone cooking appliances can decrease cooking time by a quarter which also results in using that much less electricity. Your roasts will be juicier yet cooked all the way inside. You get better texture and appearance with a convection than with a traditional oven. Practically any kind of food can be cooked, roasted or baked in a stand alone appliance.

Reheating food is another thing you can do with these appliances. Foods reheated in microwaves tend to become dry, hard, and produces uneven heating. With microwaves, the insides of food may remain cold or frozen while the outer part might burn or darken. Reheating food in convections will produce tender meat, crispy crusts, and evenly heated food quickly.

Rebecca Hollifield is a caterer and freelance writer. For more information on convection ovens, visit www.dacor.com.