Convection Oven Cooking, when to use? (conversion, convert, cost, electricity)

[nynraleigh]

Okay, so I am in my home over 1 year now, when I had the home built, I opted to put in a range/oven with a convection feature. I need some input on how to use this feature, such as cook times, when not to use it, etc...Hopefully this doesn't sound silly, but I have no clue when I should use it or not use this feature. I consider myself a good cook and always had the standard oven, I have always heard, convection oven cooking was better, especially for baking, which I love to do. I have tried the convection a few times to brown things up the last 3-5 minutes in the oven, cooked french fries in the oven...I am sure this feature can be put to better use. Thanks

[LeeB]

Originally Posted by nynraleigh

Okay, so I am in my home over 1 year now, when I had the home built, I opted to put in a range/oven with a convection feature. I need some input on how to use this feature, such as cook times, when not to use it, etc...Hopefully this doesn't sound silly, but I have no clue when I should use it or not use this feature. I consider myself a good cook and always had the standard oven, I have always heard, convection oven cooking was better, especially for baking, which I love to do. I have tried the convection a few times to brown things up the last 3-5 minutes in the oven, cooked french fries in the oven...I am sure this feature can be put to better use. Thanks

Let me start and say there are many web sites about convection ovens. As they say "Goggle It"
Now I can say we have a convection oven here in the house and 1 in the Motor Home but my wife is like you she is a great cook BUT she refuses to use it on a regular basis. For some reason she is afraid to move into the 21st Century WHY? I have no idea. We are retired and in our late 50's so SHE has plenty of TIME to read the manual and learn. I am sure it would cut down on coking times and cut the cost of Electricity also. As I type this my wife is sitting right here... I am NOW GETTING "The LQQK"
Best of luck to you...

[CouponJack]

I/we use it all the time. To me there's no difference w/this type of cooking, just cooks faster.

The DW won't use convection though for certain dishes (ie Meat loaf, oven stuffers..) I do and it tastes the same..

just my .02

[NCyank]

I don't think I have ever used my oven without using the convection settings. I even got a convection toaster oven for when I am baking something small and don't need the big oven.

My oven will automatically convert time and temp to convection but you can google to find conversion tables as well.

The big advantage is that any food will cook faster, at a lower temp and more evenly. For example, when I bake a cake now it actually bakes pretty flat instead of with a raised 'bubble' in the center. A meatloaf might take 40 minutes instead of an hour and end up more moist because it bakes at a lower temperature. Note, I try not to put some items directly in front of the circulating fan because it can dry them out a bit.

You do need to know if your oven is a true convection oven or just has a fan to circulate air, some even bring in air from outside the oven which defeats the purpose of convection cooking.