Cooking in the oven - the correct temperature setting

Food prepared in the oven is much more healthy and tastier than that cooked on the stove. Such dishes are prepared in their own juice, with a minimum amount of oil. Any favorite dish that you used to cook on the hob can be cooked in the oven just as well. Even people who do not want to completely give up fried foods like this food. You can reduce harm and add value to dishes by combining these two types of cooking. Even professionals often fry food first on a stove to a golden crust, and then bring it to readiness in the oven. It is not only what we cook in the oven that matters, the right temperature setting, the optimal mode, the right utensils - they also require the right approach. We will talk about all these subtleties in this article.

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How to choose the level for cooking in the oven?

So that your favorite food does not burn, remains juicy, fragrant and completely cooked, you need to know how to choose the right level in the oven.

You can use the following rules for this:

1. The best option is the average level, on it all the food is cooked evenly and does not burn.
2. If you need a delicious golden crust, it is better to raise the dish for a short time not a level higher.
3. The trend of our time is cooking at low temperatures for several hours. It is this cooking method that allows you to save all the taste, aroma, the correct texture of any products.
4. If you choose products that are difficult to brown from below, it is better to put them at the lowest level and turn on the strong heating of the lower heater. This is the best option for making pizza - on top it will be ready, and on the bottom crispy.
5. It is not recommended to push the baking sheet close to the back wall so that air circulation is not disturbed, food is baked evenly. By the way, if you haven’t gotten it yet or your old one is already of little use, read our articles:
   • Choosing a good baking sheet.
   • How to wash a baking sheet from old fat?

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How to determine the optimal mode for cooking?

Modern ovens have a large number of modes, thanks to which you can cook the most complex multi-stage dishes with maximum comfort. Setting the temperature of the oven is not an easy task, especially for a novice housewife, but if you know some secrets, you can choose the optimal values.

Tips for choosing a temperature regime:

• The traditional baking format is to use both upper and lower heating. In this mode, you can cook any dishes due to the fact that it provides an even distribution of heat and heat, as well as natural convection. But keep in mind that this is a slow version, while the lower heater is more powerful.

Important! Thus, more often cook bread, biscuit, cookies, fries, stuffed vegetables, fish, beef, casseroles.

• At the same time, intense heating of the lower level and standard heating of the upper heater are used for quick frying from below, or to get a golden crust from above. This is the optimal mode for baking in small forms or pots.

Important! If you like to cook in dishes that do not conduct heat well, for example, aluminum or glass, then use this method. You might also be interested in reading about how to choose a good dish for the oven.

• The mode of simultaneous heating of the upper, lower level and fan contributes to the uniform effect of temperature on the products; an even microclimate is created inside. In this mode, the dishes are heated more intensively due to air masses, the food is browned on all sides. This is an ideal setting for large baking trays, cooking a large number of products in one dish and large pieces of meat. For example, rolls, casseroles, roast, boiled pork, whole bird.

Important! At this temperature, it is better not to experiment with meringues and omelettes, as they do not tolerate convection.

• In the mode when only the lower level is heated, it is recommended to dry pies with moist fillings from below, preserve, and brown pizza. But at the same time, you have to constantly rearrange the dishes from one level to another, so that cooking occurs evenly.
• The fan and bottom heating mode is best used to complete the preparation of open pies, poorly rising pastries, dishes in dishes with low sides. The food is juicy inside, has a crust on the bottom.
• Top-heated fan mode is appropriate for dishes that must be baked on top and evenly cooked inside.

Important! This is the best option for soufflé, casseroles, julienne, lasagna.

• The grill mode is best used for chops, steaks, rolls, vegetables, fish fillet, bacon, toast, sausages, barbecue, pork ribs.

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What is the best way to bake dishes in the oven?

The most diverse baking dishes are sold in stores today. The safest are cast iron, glass, ceramic forms. It is more convenient to bake on baking sheets; they, as a rule, come complete with an oven.

When choosing the right dishes, use the following recommendations:

1. For wet, juicy dishes, it is better to choose dishes with high sides, but for dry ones - on the contrary, flat baking sheets.
2. Ceramic forms and pots before baking, it is better to warm up so that they do not crack from high temperature.
3. In cast iron pans, it is better to make casseroles so that they cook evenly and quickly.
4. Silicone molds are best used for baking bread, cakes, muffins, cheesecakes. Even without lubrication, nothing burns in them.

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Useful Oven Cooking Tips

The optimal temperature in the oven should be selected in accordance with many important nuances, so that the food is not only fully prepared, but also healthy and tasty.

Professional Tips:

• Before each cooking in the oven, be sure to warm it up. 10 minutes are enough for a gas cabinet, 20 minutes for an electric cabinet.

Important! Exceptionally fatty meats can immediately be placed in a cold oven.

• So that the vegetables do not fall apart during cooking, do not become cotton, it is recommended to turn off the device until it is ready, so that it can be reached on its own in a cooling oven.
• When cooking, do not open the lid so as not to disturb the air circulation and microclimate. Just periodically look through the glass, the backlight function will help you. This is especially true for baking and baking.
• Be sure to observe the temperature regime specified in the recipe. Of course, if you are not a professional chef.

Important! If your plate is too old and does not have a thermometer in it, then you can determine the temperature using plain paper. So at 100-120 degrees, the paper begins to turn slightly yellow, when the temperature rises to 190-210 degrees, it turns brown, but at 220 degrees it already starts to burn.

• Salt and water can save from burning. Therefore, it is better to cook delicate products through a water bath.To prevent burning, you can use a kilogram of coarse salt - just sprinkle it on the lower baking sheet.

Important! Remember: puff pastry can be baked exclusively at high temperature, biscuits or muffins - at medium, but protein dough - at the lowest.

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Solving Common Problems

We figured out how to determine the correct temperature in the oven, in which dishes to cook and in what mode, but this is not enough. It is also important to know how to independently cope with the typical problems often encountered in novice housewives.

You can solve typical problems yourself as follows:

1. In the process of cooking roast, the sauce burns. This is a fairly common problem. More often the problem lies in the wrong form, or rather its size. Next time, be sure to use smaller dishes and constantly add fluid.
2. Dishes are constantly getting dry. In such situations, it is recommended to cook less time at high temperatures or use an artificial shell.
3. If you plan to bake meat in one piece, then take at least a kilogram so that it does not dry out inside.
4. White meat is advised to bake at a constant moderate temperature of 150-175 degrees, but red meat - at 200-250 degrees.
5. About an hour before cooking, red meat must be removed from the refrigerator to make it soft.
6. The meat is often poorly fried due to the fact that it was salted before cooking, so it is better to do it in the middle of the process.
7. Small fish should be cooked at a constant high temperature. Medium - first at high, and then at low temperature. Large carcasses are best cooked in moderate mode.
8. If you constantly burn pies, turn flat, it is recommended that you always follow the kneading time indicated in the recipes, add less liquid. On the edges of the pies often do not rise due to the fact that the sides of the mold are very greased. If the cake burns on top, then it is better to rearrange it to the lower level and bake longer.
9. Baking unevenly roughen more often due to improperly selected dishes. It is better to abandon the brilliant and bright forms.
10. To make the cake juicy, it is better to pierce it with a stick before baking, and pour fruit juice, syrup into these holes, and also reduce the cooking time.
11. If the pastry looks ready on the outside, but inside it is raw, it is better to increase the cooking time at a lower temperature.
12. To make the filling juicy, you can bake the base and cakes in advance, then lay the filling, after sprinkling the cakes with crushed almonds or crackers.

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Knowing all the tricks and subtleties of cooking in the oven, at what temperature to cook in the oven, you are guaranteed to always delight your family with delicious, juicy, ruddy dishes. Try not to neglect the advice of specialists, do not violate the recipe for the preparation of certain products, so as not to spoil the dish and your own mood.