|
Ovens
Once you have your cook top figured out, it’s time to consider the options available for an oven. Basically ovens can be conventional, microwave or a combination of conventional and convection or microwave and convection. No one’s figured out how to do all three versions in one yet.
A conventional gas oven produces heat with flames located at the bottom of the oven. The heat is controlled by a thermostat. The trouble with a conventional oven is that it tends to be hotter at the bottom than at the top, which means that sometimes foods need to be moved about to get the right amount of heat. It’s also difficult to use more than one shelf in a conventional oven since whatever’s on the bottom shelf blocks the heat from rising.
Think of a cook top as a stove that isn’t resting on an oven, but is built-in to your countertop. The same burner features that you find in a stove cook top can be found in a counter top cook top as well. But before you buy either one, there are several decisions you’ll need to make.
The first is how much room you have. Stove and cook tops come in a wide variety of sizes including 20, 30, 36 40, 42 48 and 60-inch widths. They also come in a variety of depths with cook tops ranging from “narrow” at 18 inches to as deep as over 26 inches for some of the more upscale and commercial ones. For ranges, the depth measurement can be anywhere from about 24 inches to more than 32 inches for some of the commercial varieties. Figure out what your kitchen can handle and decide if you want to invest in a lot of remodeling or just want to slip a new stove or cook top into the spot the old one occupies.
Convection Ovens
A convection oven uses a fan to circulate the heated air from a conventional oven throughout the interior. This eliminates the hot spots that conventional ovens alone have. It reduces the cooking time for most recipes by about 20 per cent and the cooking temperature by about 25 per cent depending on how much food is being cooked.
A microwave oven uses radiation to cook or heat food and is not the best choice for anything but boiling foods, since it does not allow browning—which adds flavor—to take place,. A combination convection and microwave oven allows foods to brown and produces results closer to what a conventional oven does.
If you’ve purchased a counter cook top you’re free to mix and match your ovens depending on the space you have. If you’ve purchased a range, it already as an oven and a broiler built into the unit. The wider models sometimes have two ovens—one of them conventional and one convection—and two broilers or an oven, a warming oven and an extra-wide broiler. Sometimes a second oven—usually a microwave—is mounted over the cook top.
Broilers
A quick note about broilers: In a gas oven, the broiler compartment is located beneath the oven and has a fold-down door for easy access. Some gas ovens are equipped with a variable broil feature that allows you to adjust the temperature down from the normal broiling level to as low as 350°F for more control. A gas broiler door can remain closed while food is being broiled, unlike an electric one.
In an electric oven, since broiling is done in the oven itself with only the top element providing the heat, it’s necessary to leave the door slightly ajar to allow outside air to circulate and “fool” the thermostat. If the door remains closed, the heat will rise to above 500°F. Most electric ovens turn off at some point between 500°F and 550°F, leaving your food to bake in a rapidly cooling oven rather than broil.
|
