Modern oven how-to guidance
April 8, 2024 5:39 PM Subscribe
I've been cooking since I was a little kid, and all my life I've had ovens that either had one setting (bake) or two settings (bake and broil). For the first time in my life, I have an oven with multiple settings, including convection. My question is basically, if you are a person with a fancy oven with multiple settings, which setting do you use for what kinds of cooking and why?
Please assume I've googled this and read the owner's manual. I understand what convection is, ditto convection-roast and so on. What I'm confused about is why to use convection vs bake, for a given dish, or roast vs convection-roast. Is it just a fast/slow thing, or are there foods that come out better one way than another?
I'm most interested in anecdotal "this is what I do" answers but would also welcome pointers to good online or book resources.
Please assume I've googled this and read the owner's manual. I understand what convection is, ditto convection-roast and so on. What I'm confused about is why to use convection vs bake, for a given dish, or roast vs convection-roast. Is it just a fast/slow thing, or are there foods that come out better one way than another?
I'm most interested in anecdotal "this is what I do" answers but would also welcome pointers to good online or book resources.
I use convection on roast chicken and it roasts a good 15 minutes faster.
posted by shock muppet at 6:11 PM on April 8
posted by shock muppet at 6:11 PM on April 8
At the end of the day, "convection" means that a fan is running in the back of the oven to spread the hot air more evenly across what you're trying to cook. You know that.
The side effect of convection is that it can cook evenly more quickly than just running the heating elements without the fan (like a normal oven would). So, you can run convection mode, which will run the fan and can speed cook times, or also choose a standard bake or broil mode, which will just operate your oven as you're accustomed to.
When you hear about "air fryers" they are very small convection ovens, that allow for fast, even cooking. Your oven can also functionally do that (albeit with a larger space).
If instructions in recipes have "convection oven" or "air fryer" instructions, you can largely use those with the convection settings of your new oven. They'll be a little faster, and may heat more evenly.
If you're not comfortable with that, just use the standard bake/broil settings, and they'll work without the fan, as a conventional oven would, at the same (slightly slower) speeds a conventional oven would.
You might want to do some low-stakes experimentation to figure out what you prefer, or how much more quickly your specific oven bakes in convection mode. But, generally, follow the recipe. You can still run the oven like a standard oven.
But yeah, it adds up to "slighly faster or slower".
posted by eschatfische at 6:28 PM on April 8 [1 favorite]
The side effect of convection is that it can cook evenly more quickly than just running the heating elements without the fan (like a normal oven would). So, you can run convection mode, which will run the fan and can speed cook times, or also choose a standard bake or broil mode, which will just operate your oven as you're accustomed to.
When you hear about "air fryers" they are very small convection ovens, that allow for fast, even cooking. Your oven can also functionally do that (albeit with a larger space).
If instructions in recipes have "convection oven" or "air fryer" instructions, you can largely use those with the convection settings of your new oven. They'll be a little faster, and may heat more evenly.
If you're not comfortable with that, just use the standard bake/broil settings, and they'll work without the fan, as a conventional oven would, at the same (slightly slower) speeds a conventional oven would.
You might want to do some low-stakes experimentation to figure out what you prefer, or how much more quickly your specific oven bakes in convection mode. But, generally, follow the recipe. You can still run the oven like a standard oven.
But yeah, it adds up to "slighly faster or slower".
posted by eschatfische at 6:28 PM on April 8 [1 favorite]
I ignored the convection option for a while, and then I started just using it for preheating because it seemed to take less time to come up to temperature, and then I finally took the plunge and am now convinced that it’s definitely better for roasted vegetables & potatoes (better meaning faster, crispier results). For things like a slow braise in a Dutch oven it doesn’t matter much. I guess for me the difference is whether the surface of the food is exposed to the oven air.
One mental block for me was the way my oven adjusted the set temp down (I guess to compensate, assuming you were using a recipe for a standard oven). I found that confusing and kind of annoying, like my oven should be honest with me about what temperature it is. I think I got comfortable with the convection function around the same time I started using an instant read thermometer more, so that I was relying more on empirical observation rather than on elapsed time to figure out how the food was progressing.
posted by yarrow at 7:45 PM on April 8 [2 favorites]
One mental block for me was the way my oven adjusted the set temp down (I guess to compensate, assuming you were using a recipe for a standard oven). I found that confusing and kind of annoying, like my oven should be honest with me about what temperature it is. I think I got comfortable with the convection function around the same time I started using an instant read thermometer more, so that I was relying more on empirical observation rather than on elapsed time to figure out how the food was progressing.
posted by yarrow at 7:45 PM on April 8 [2 favorites]
Convection doesn’t just move heat, it also moves moisture, so fast convection, “air frying” can get crispier surfaces than normal baking…which you might not always want. Think bread.
posted by ixipkcams at 7:47 PM on April 8 [1 favorite]
posted by ixipkcams at 7:47 PM on April 8 [1 favorite]
i always* do convection, 25 degrees less and/or 25% less cooking time. I almost always use a quick-read thermometer for non-braised meat.
* i actually tend not to use it for baked goods unless there are convection specific directions, but i’m a much less intuitive cook for baking. Also, i just do what Bravetart tells me.
posted by supercres at 7:48 PM on April 8
* i actually tend not to use it for baked goods unless there are convection specific directions, but i’m a much less intuitive cook for baking. Also, i just do what Bravetart tells me.
posted by supercres at 7:48 PM on April 8
Hello, former appliance repair tech here.
Your oven may use the bake or the bake+broil for preheating, or even the fan if you've chosen convection.
Once the measured temp reaches a point above your set-point, it will cease preheating and then follow an on-off cycle for your chosen heating elements.
For example, if you've typed in 350F and chosen say, Convection Bake, it will turn on the 'preheat' or 'heat' light or symbol, then activate the lower 'bake' heating element (and possibly the upper 'broil', and the fan) until it hits a point about 60F above what you've chosen.
Then it will turn off the preheat phase, and idle with the bake element deactivated (though it may be glowing hot). The design is expecting you to open the door to put in your food, so it will lose a bunch of heat from the hot air spilling up and out. That's what the +60F preheat temp is for, to compensate. You typed in 350F and you're putting your pie in a 410F oven that's just lost a bunch of its heat when you opened the door.
When the measured temp falls to about 20F or 25F below your set point (such as 330F for your goal of 350F) the bake element will be activated again, until the temp reaches +20F or +25F (say, 370F for your goal 350F) and the elements cycle off. This is the operating on/off cycle. Most domestic electric ovens, even the fancy ones I worked on, had a huge temperature swing of this 40-50F range during the operating cycle.
(This cycle can take 10-20 minutes to play out! If you want exact temperatures for small amounts of time you want something almost industrial, like what's in a caterer's kitchen, an oven the size of a fridge, with a huge fan and airspace within.)
With a convection fan operating, the hot air molecules will bump into the outer surfaces of your food more evenly, instead of the heat passing mostly through your pan, or down from the broil element. So food will cook from the outside-in a little more consistently. If you're doing some foil wrapping or dutch oven stuff, the convection is pointless. But if you have pieces of food separated on a pan, or want to brown the surface of a pie, or some other substitute for combining bake+broil, the convection is great for that. Sometimes there is a wind/air heat pattern from the fan, so don't expect uniformity.
Frequently an oven that has a computer control for the bake/broil/fan choices, even if it's only has complex as a digital clock, will automatically subtract 20-25F from your chosen temperature if you choose Convection. If they're nice about it, they show you the altered temperature or reduced timer length. It's beyond me, whether or not you should trust the judgement of the manufacturer's food scientists on these numbers. :)
posted by panhopticon at 9:24 PM on April 8 [5 favorites]
Your oven may use the bake or the bake+broil for preheating, or even the fan if you've chosen convection.
Once the measured temp reaches a point above your set-point, it will cease preheating and then follow an on-off cycle for your chosen heating elements.
For example, if you've typed in 350F and chosen say, Convection Bake, it will turn on the 'preheat' or 'heat' light or symbol, then activate the lower 'bake' heating element (and possibly the upper 'broil', and the fan) until it hits a point about 60F above what you've chosen.
Then it will turn off the preheat phase, and idle with the bake element deactivated (though it may be glowing hot). The design is expecting you to open the door to put in your food, so it will lose a bunch of heat from the hot air spilling up and out. That's what the +60F preheat temp is for, to compensate. You typed in 350F and you're putting your pie in a 410F oven that's just lost a bunch of its heat when you opened the door.
When the measured temp falls to about 20F or 25F below your set point (such as 330F for your goal of 350F) the bake element will be activated again, until the temp reaches +20F or +25F (say, 370F for your goal 350F) and the elements cycle off. This is the operating on/off cycle. Most domestic electric ovens, even the fancy ones I worked on, had a huge temperature swing of this 40-50F range during the operating cycle.
(This cycle can take 10-20 minutes to play out! If you want exact temperatures for small amounts of time you want something almost industrial, like what's in a caterer's kitchen, an oven the size of a fridge, with a huge fan and airspace within.)
With a convection fan operating, the hot air molecules will bump into the outer surfaces of your food more evenly, instead of the heat passing mostly through your pan, or down from the broil element. So food will cook from the outside-in a little more consistently. If you're doing some foil wrapping or dutch oven stuff, the convection is pointless. But if you have pieces of food separated on a pan, or want to brown the surface of a pie, or some other substitute for combining bake+broil, the convection is great for that. Sometimes there is a wind/air heat pattern from the fan, so don't expect uniformity.
Frequently an oven that has a computer control for the bake/broil/fan choices, even if it's only has complex as a digital clock, will automatically subtract 20-25F from your chosen temperature if you choose Convection. If they're nice about it, they show you the altered temperature or reduced timer length. It's beyond me, whether or not you should trust the judgement of the manufacturer's food scientists on these numbers. :)
posted by panhopticon at 9:24 PM on April 8 [5 favorites]
Bake: bottom heating element
Broil: top heating element
Convection: fan
posted by rhizome at 2:51 AM on April 9
Broil: top heating element
Convection: fan
posted by rhizome at 2:51 AM on April 9
I would use the convection instructions for a professional recipe that included them.
The general rule of thumb is that convection can take less time and at a lower temperature for a "standard recipe". With that said, you should experiment in situations where you are ok with the results aren't exactly what you want.
I personally wouldn't use the auto-convection downscaling that your oven probably has (I have friends who use it i.e. you enter the standard recipe's time & temp and it picks and lower temperature & duration). I like a bit more control over things. I'd be more inclined to use it for things like pot roast where the speed up would likely have zero downsides and be more weary of baked goods where they are naturally more finnicky about time and temp.
posted by mmascolino at 8:00 AM on April 9
The general rule of thumb is that convection can take less time and at a lower temperature for a "standard recipe". With that said, you should experiment in situations where you are ok with the results aren't exactly what you want.
I personally wouldn't use the auto-convection downscaling that your oven probably has (I have friends who use it i.e. you enter the standard recipe's time & temp and it picks and lower temperature & duration). I like a bit more control over things. I'd be more inclined to use it for things like pot roast where the speed up would likely have zero downsides and be more weary of baked goods where they are naturally more finnicky about time and temp.
posted by mmascolino at 8:00 AM on April 9
to call out something already said: my oven turns on all the elements for preheating faster, including the top broil element. i have ruined things in the oven by putting them in while preheating forgetting that the broil element will be on!
posted by supercres at 8:20 AM on April 9
posted by supercres at 8:20 AM on April 9
I basically always use convection for everything, except when I’m broiling things. Just because (I assume) it uses less energy.
posted by Bloxworth Snout at 10:31 AM on April 9
posted by Bloxworth Snout at 10:31 AM on April 9
According to Molly Stevens' All About Roasting, convection helps dry the surface of foods, promoting browning and crispness. It also helps the oven recover its temperature more quickly after opening it. But! She also says lower quality ovens with convection settings heat unevenly and not worth it. Roast a chicken with and without convection to test? The introduction of the book goes into considerable detail about the difference between baking and roasting and different roasting methods.
posted by umwelt at 4:01 PM on April 10
posted by umwelt at 4:01 PM on April 10
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posted by citygirl at 5:57 PM on April 8 [3 favorites]