Instead of preheating the oven, try a cold start and postheating

[vacerator]

Thank's John L., and Matt,

that does make sense. besides, I realized that Dacor likely uses MABE and China sourced parts the same as GE does.
GE has eliminated the burner knob well's on the newer version of my range, and the oven vent is on the top rather than the front between the door and control panel face.
Or we could go the separate cooktop and oven route. A quartz counter top edge can be fabricated and seamed in, and an oven cabinet added. The colors are still available from Silestone and Thomasville. Or, the rear piece of counter behind the range can be cut out, as it is seamed in, then we can get a less expensive free standing range too.
Son is moving out next week, so we won't be cooking nearly as often. Woo Hoo! we're empty nester's at last.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

I did it again w/ a frozen TV dinner yesterday & it turned out good--better than the microwave, although needing 30-minutes...

-- Dave

 

[davetranter]

Finishing cooking with 'waste heat'

It's nice to see that others have had the same idea. For years, I have turned the heat (gas) off in the oven about 5-15 minutes before the end of 'cook time' in order to make use of what would otherwise be wasted gas and money (fuel is very expensive over here!!).
I also add a bit of water to the roaster when cooking meat, not only to help prevent drying in the time before the meat produces it's own moisture, but also to help prevent sticking during the same time period.
Not sure whether anyone else does this, but I also turn off the gas under boiled rice as soon as water no longer runs out of the rice when the pan is tilted. I then leave the pan (covered, of course) on the hot gas ring while everything else finishes cooking. Result:- rice which is always fluffy, never soggy, and cooked to perfection.

All best

Dave T

 

[henene4]

Waste heat cooking

With the EU energy label, manufacturers had to find a way to save energy on every appliance, even ovens.

So they designed a special oven setting, usually called something like "Convection Eco" or "Moist convection".
Things they did was, for example:
- widening the temperature offset the oven maintains
- timeing reheating cycles for the test procedures (there are I think 5 or 6 normed meals they have to prepare, and thus, they can adapt heating times)
- adding automatic waste heat usage into their timers and forcing test procedures to use timerer settings
- optimized heating up cycles by cycleing the heating elements more often and thus getting more even temperature distribution
- some high end models can control the amount of airexchange between oven and surrounding

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Wonder if some PICS of what I put in speak for themselves?

Seems like this could be a never-ending story-thread:

-- Dave

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Oh, how did the steak and eggs get there? I think I meant a pic of the pie that I made...

And,--Oops!--I forgot the CHICKEN NUGGETS...

-- Dave

 

[bajaespuma]

Interesting idea

There are some scratch-made cakes like sponge cakes that would suffer from being started in a cold oven. Yeast breads would likely over-proof in a cold oven and collapse before starches and proteins set properly; they need the boost of a hot "Oven Spring". I wonder what it would do with pastry doughs with very high butter percentages such as puff pastry and pie pastry. I would bet that all of that precious butter would bleed out onto the baking sheet where it would do nobody any good.

 

You might also experience some spoilage with large roasts that would stay in the danger zone for longer than desirable periods of time when started in a cold oven. I'd be careful with this technique.

 

[henene4]

Meat

Actually, I'd rather think that with smaller cuts of meet, the danger would be bigger. With large cuts, the time it takes for the center to heat beyond danger zone is far longer then the heatup time anyway by a factor of 2-6. With smaller cuts, that would be about 1.

What I mean is that a huge roast takes, lets say, 2 hours in a oven when preheated. When not preheated, the roast may take 20-30 min longer. That is only 1/4 of the cooking time more, which means 1.25h times the total cooking time or maybe 1 bacteria generation.
With smaller cuts, which might only take about 30 min preheated, the total cooking time might go up to an hour or so, effectivley dubbleing the ccoking time.

Raw breads and sponge cakes though do need a verry hot oven to start. They absorb a lot of heat at the beginning and need the structure to solidify rather quickly.

One slightly off-topic thing about meat: Miele offers a special function for cooking bigger cuts of meat. The oven automaticly heats to a temperature of about 230C (450F) independet of selected temp to ensure quick heating and a good searing with maximum power used (I think all elements are used) and then slows down to the selected temp using only the convection heating.
Allows you to use lower temps and get more exact results with less effort. Combined with their moisture assist system, most meats do not need to be doused at all and still get a perfectly crispy crust.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

More, O.T. w/ a Sprig of PARSLEY! (& Spinach!)

Yeh, well, that steak 'n' eggs was cooked on the stove, followed by another dish o' that w/ potatoes, tomatoes and toast... I got a few other flanks that I think I will broil...

And also, here are some bacon-wrapped burgers, (though my wife didn't want ANY wrapped around her's) also cooked on the stove, that next time around I'll broil--and they could also use some PEPPERCORNS! Note my attempt at auGratin potatoes, w/ the emphasis on "Rah-Tin!"...

-- Dave

 

[sudsmaster]

What part of the chicken is the "nugget", anyway?

Cooking with waste heat is a good tactic. And not just for roasts and such. It's also a way to get a perfectly good grilled or pan fried steak. You sear both sides, then cook maybe three minutes each side at low heat, then put the steak between two plates, wrap in a towel, and let it sit (rest) for 5-10 minutes where residual heat will do the rest. It also tends to keep the meat juicier by incorporating a cool down period.

I accidentally discovered the value of waste heat when I was roasting a chicken in the outdood covered charcoal BBQ. I had been tending it, and got about half-way through the roasting process, and then my guest arrived, and I got distracted and didn't check the coals again. Might have been a hour or so. Finally she wondered if there was something to eat. I remembered about the chicken - the coals had died down to a very low heat level, but the chicken was delicious. Perfectly browned, tender and juicy.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

How'd that Initial Beefy Mac 'N' Cheese REALLY T

To me, it seemed like from the 1st post onward there'd be no worries over meat--OK, NUGGET-SHAPED CHICKEN--being undercooked by this method, as the few things that I'd made,, not so demanding in the time/temp/heat exposure allowed to 'em, turned out OK, as in fully cooked & edible--& no illnesses or death from food poisoning either...

-- Dave

 

[vacerator]

Kid's today

sure love those chicken nuggets. We didn't have those when I was a kid.
Fish sticks on occasion. We ate what my mom cooked, period! Some things we had to learn to like. My mothers food was seldom boring. Some families ate ground beef 5 nights a week.
Mom never made burgers inside the house, ever. A Spanish style burger/rice pie though. Even salads varied, with endive one day, escarole the next, etc.
Never more than one starch in a meal, and always two green items.

 

[joeekaitis]

"Some families ate ground beef 5 nights a week."

 

 

Perhaps they believed Dr. Salisbury (for whom the steak was named) when he claimed that from teething age to 12 years, a child needs nothing more than Salisbury Steak and water to grow fit and healthy.

 

Seems Dr. Salisbury believed the t-shirt slogan "VEGETABLES Are What FOOD Eats."