Ovens

Some Grand Secrets of Dutch Oven Cooking

Dutch oven has all the facilities for you. The three short legs with smooth surface fix it on the tripod stand or propane burner needed for burning. Here are eight secrets of Dutch oven cooking you should know before you use the oven.

•  
  • Three legs attached to the bottom
  • The lid without any gap
  • Even thickness of the metal, or it might crack
  • The lid with a loop handle
• You should choose between a cast-iron or aluminum Dutch oven. Cast iron ovens give a special smoky flavor to foods while aluminum Dutch ovens can be used over open fires and with coals/briquettes. However, both the types must have the following features:

•  
  • Put butter, spices and seasonings after the food becomes moist and tender.
• The utensils used while cooking on Dutch ovens must be made of wood, plastic or Teflon. You should also have leather gloves and lid holders at the time of cooking.
• Clean the Dutch ovens by wiping out excess food with paper towel and wash the pot with hot soap water and a sponge to rub it dry.
• Regulate the temperature evenly to prevent burned bottoms and dried out foods. For best cooking, place two extra coals above the lid and two below it to cook the best dish.
• For having tasty dishes in Dutch oven cooking, first cook the item, especially meats, to brown colour. Then drain over the extra fat drippings, add necessary seasonings, put back the lid and cook for 20- 25 minutes to have a flavored dish.
• In Dutch oven cooking you should cook the vegetables in rich creamy sauces, like new peas and potatoes in white sauce, broccoli in cheese sauce and others in fish sauce.
• You should be abided by the following rule when you are cooking in Dutch ovens:

• While you buy the oven, make sure you take the cooking book that will provide you methods of Dutch oven cooking and wonderful recipes for cooking in Dutch ovens.

Dutch oven cooking provides wonderfully tasty and flavored foods. You can cook a wide range of foods from Breads to Prairie Chicken, Trailside Beans, Zucchini Enchiladas, to Easy Taco Bake and Hot sauces. Dutch oven cooking promises a wonderful camping and backyard parties by producing just the right kind of food for everybody.

Dutch Oven - The Wonderful Indoor-Outdoor Oven

Dutch ovens are best ovens you can use indoors as well as outdoors. Hitherto there were more of indoor ovens available but Dutch ovens broke the convention and have proved to be a wonderful example of a perfect outdoor oven. Dutch oven is an amazing invention for it can cook delicious vegetarian dishes, sumptuous roast meats, other non-vegetarian dishes and awesome desserts. So, throw a party in your backyard, the guests will be convinced to return back, for the delicious food quality, once again.

Dutch ovens allow methods like baking, stewing, simmering, frying, steaming, boiling and other methods. You can take it to the camps and be assured of baked breads, stews, fish preparations and other items that will satisfy your gourmet pleasures.

Dutch Ovens - Common Types

Dutch Ovens are mainly of two types - “Camp” or “Outdoor” Dutch ovens and “Bean Pots” or “Kitchen Ovens”.

Camp or outdoor Dutch ovens are made of heavy cast iron. These ovens have a tight fitting lid with a lip or ridge around the outer edge that holds coals and prevents ash from falling into the food. They also have three short legs in the bottom. While you purchase these ovens, look for the appropriate length of the legs for they maintain a level that allows the air to flow around the coals while the cooking is continuing.

“Bean Pots” or “Kitchen Ovens” are also made of heavy cast iron, have a highly domed basting lid without an outer rim and a bottom with no legs. These ovens can be used with briquettes but it is better to use it in a kitchen oven or a stovetop.

While purchasing Dutch ovens another important factor to be kept in mind is roughness of the cast metal. The rougher the surface is, the greater surface area for oil is required while ‘seasoning’ the oven. With regular cooking and required oil used, the surface becomes smooth and the food does not remain sticking to the surface.

Dutch Ovens - Other Types

You can buy any of the two Dutch ovens as suited to your purpose. The varieties are Lodge Dutch Ovens and MACA Dutch Ovens.

Lodge Dutch ovens are the best when you want to cook on embers on a campfire. It is made of cast iron, has a smooth surface with three short legs that raises it above the heat surface.

The MACA Dutch ovens are deeper than any other ovens and hold larger quantity of food. They reduce burning as well as absorb, retain and distribute heat better than any other ovens in the world. The heavy lid on top gives a pressure cooker effect and makes the food soft, moist and tasty.

Dutch ovens serve the multiple purpose of outdoor and indoor cooking. It not only enhances the beauty of your kitchen, it also helps you to cook delicious items when you are out of your home.

Laboratory Ovens

Laboratory ovens are usually used for laboratory purposes like drying and curing the laboratory instruments and others. The laboratory ovens are triple walled with FAC/ FAD for critical applications and precision control.

Grand Features of Laboratory Ovens

The laboratory ovens possess the following appliances:

# Flame Proof Heating Jacket

# Titanium Equipments

# Conveyor furnaces

# Heaters Immersion

# Heaters Infrared

# Kilns and baths

# Oil fired furnaces

# Thermocouple wires

# Heat control Measures

Types of Laboratory Ovens

The laboratory ovens offer economical approach to thermal processing applications for they have a forced convection. Moreover the “uniflow” air circulation pattern provides excellent temperature regulations. But each type of laboratory ovens has special features of its own.

Following are some of the type of laboratory ovens:

Imperial V Mechanical Convection Oven

# It ensures temperature uniformity and control

# Its stainless steel interior provides a clean and long lasting heating environment

# It has dependable hydraulic temperature controllers and back up thermostats

# It possesses microprocessor controls

Class 100 Cleanroom Oven

# It is available in two designs - with HEPA filters and without HEPA filters. This helps to maintain the class 100-particle requirements.

# It has 4-program Microprocessor controller.

# It has safety features, which protect against over-heating and regulating temperatures.

“Squaroid” Vacuum Oven

# It is available in two chamber sizes.

# It is available with dial thermometer.

# Its hydraulic temperature controls temperature up to 220°C.

# Its radiant warm wall heating provides even chamber temperature.

L-C Economy Oven

# High temperature safety thermostat of this oven guards against overheating and maintains even temperature.

# The aluminum interior prevents corrosion and helps in easy maintenance.

# The operation temperature up to 210°C.

The laboratory ovens can be safely used because they have temperature regulators, which prevents over heating. The other laboratory instruments remain unaffected but your purposes of laboratory drying and curing are fulfilled.

Wonderful Microwave Ovens

Microwave oven is one of the best gifts that this magnificent millennium has presented to us. It is a marked invention of the 20th century that serves multi various purposes of people all through out the world. Microwave ovens are very popular because of their amazing speed of cooking foods.

An added advantage of microwave oven is, it requires less electricity since it heats only the food and nothing else. Microwave oven offers ultimate convenience and versatility.

A microwave oven consists of following features:

# A Magnetron

# A cooking chamber

# A waveguide

# A magnetron control circuit mostly with a microcontroller

A microwave oven passes the microwave radiation through the food at a frequency of 2450 Mhz. Water, sugar molecules and fat of the foods absorb this microwave and the food gets cooked in an instant.

Advantages of Microwave Oven

All the microwave ovens have several valuable features like push button doors, enamel painted inner cavity, safe-from-children lock features, instant cooking and heating facilities, cooking signals, 99 min 99 sec digital timer, digital clock [12 hours system] and weight defrost [meat, poultry, seafood].

There are several advantages of microwave ovens:

# Food can be cooked easily and quickly.

# Fast food cooking does not mean burned food or overcooked food.

# There is no smoke or grease so the kitchen remains clean and tidy.

# They have multifarious uses of defrosting and re-heating.

# Nutrients are preserved and the actual taste of the food is retained.

Types of Microwave Ovens

The microwave ovens are available in two types. They are Simple Microwave oven and Microwave and Convection Oven.

Simple Microwave Oven – It cooks food as well as re-heats it.

Microwave and Convection Oven – It helps in heating and drying the food surface, which makes the food crispy. It is very useful for baking cakes, pastries etc.

Microwave Ovens- Some Precautions

There are certain precautions that should be followed while using the microwave oven. They are as follows:

# The oven door should not be subjected to any strain.

# Do not install the oven near gas burners, TV or other electrical appliances.

# Do not operate an empty oven as it can cause much damage.

Microwave ovens most efficiently heat the liquids and fats, frozen water and sugar molecules. Starting from great hotels to small households, microwave ovens had been a big success. It is a great help for everyone. So look for your requirements and get yourself a microwave oven before it is late.

Pizza Oven - Your Unique Collection

Pizza oven is a wonderful invention that allows preparing pizza at home. Now you do not have to go to shops to have delicious pizza. Put the seasonings of your choice on your baked pizza bread and put it inside the pizza oven, provide the required temperature and your pizza is prepared. Then get ready to have the delicious pizza, no less than that of Domino’s!

When you purchase a pizza oven of any company, make sure of the following features:

# Temperature range - 0 to 450° C

# Independent temperature regulations of the bed and the top

# Flap door

# Baking with or without baking pans

# Safe Thermostats

Pizza Ovens Varieties

Though you will find a large range of pizza ovens in the market you should choose your pizza oven as per your requirements. If you are unsure of your necessity you can visit the websites of the major pizza oven companies on the Internet and take their online support to have the details of your required pizza ovens.

Following are some significant pizza oven companies that ensure you the best appliances:

Baker’s Pride Electric Counter Top Pizza Oven

These pizza ovens usually have single compartments and stainless steel exterior. They bake pretzels, flat breads, pizza and other bakery products. In all these ovens you can bake directly on screens, pans, baking sheets and hearth decks.

Following are the types under Baker’s Pride Pizza Ovens:

# Top pizza Oven P22-BL - Ideal for high volume operation

# Top Pizza Oven P44S - Contains two independently controlled cooking chambers, with two ceramic baking decks on each chamber

# Top pizza Oven P44-BL - Designed for quicker recovery and top-heat intensity

Peerless Pizza Ovens

These ovens have a stainless steel front. They are energy efficient and stackable for double cooking capacity. They usually have removable crumb tray, which ensures quick and easy cleaning. The ovens are spacious with two decks. Each deck can hold twelve 12” pizzas, eight 16” pizzas and six 18”pizzas.

Following are its types:

# CW-100 – Maximum 75000 BTU input

# CW- 61 – Gas maximum 60000 BTU input and electric 220V single phase

Star Ultra Max Oven

These ovens are designed to deliver ultra high volume and maximum performance with minimum counter space. They can accommodate variety of pizzas and even sandwiches. They use hot air under pressure and produce unmatched quality of food.

Labour is saved and equipment cost is reduced, for the airflow design bakes excellently and provides high quality tasty food.

Following are the types of Sun Ultra Max Oven:

# Star electric Ultra Max gas Conveyor oven - Contains conveyor belt and baking chamber

# Star Ultra max gas Conveyor Oven - the easy-to-operate mechanism and flow through design allows immense kitchen output

Pizza ovens change your life style for you can bring the authentic flavor of the restaurant pizzas or flavors of Italy right to your own home. So get yourself the best pizza oven as suited to your purpose to give your guests a special treat.

Versatile Solar Oven

Solar oven harnesses the sun’s power to cook food. It lets you bake, boil or steam food with the power of the sun. There is absolutely no fuel needed for cooking in solar oven. Solar oven provides you the amazing experience of creating your favourite recipes as you feast upon natural sun baked treats.

Features of Solar Oven

The key feature of solar oven is the power of the sun. It doesn’t matter whether there is a power shortage at your place since solar oven doesn’t depend on the power supply. However, it can cook anything that a conventional oven can cook.

# Solar oven lets you cook anything – bread, cakes, muffin, pizzas, vegetable, poultry, fish, meat, casserole, grain, pasta, dessert and many other things.

# Solar oven provides cooking in high temperature - 360o to 400o Fahrenheit, which is more than enough to boil, bake or cook.

# Since sun-baked food remain moisture and has less shrinkage than conventional ovens, you will never get any kind of burning or scorching in the food.

# Solar oven is totally safe.

Each solar oven is constructed with a strong plastic or steel case, which is durable and easy to clean. It uses reflectors and tempered glass doors to retain the sun’s powerful heat. It also features an easily adjustable, self-contained leveling leg to maintain the oven’s maximum exposure to the sun.

Solar ovens are totally portable; when it is closed it looks like a small suitcase and also has a carrier handle.

Cooking in solar oven is a great pleasure. You can enjoy the peace of mind of knowing that as long as the sun is there you have the power of cooking in solar oven.

Types of Solar Oven

Box Cooker – Box cooker is the common type of solar oven, comes in both rectangular and circular shapes. It consists of an enclosed inner box covered with clear glass or plastic, a reflector and insulation. Box cooker provides slow but even cooking. It is easy and safe to use.

Panel Cooker – Panel cooker consists of flat reflective panel that focus the sunlight on the cooking vessel without the inner box common in box cookers. Though these solar ovens are easy to use and quite cheap they are not able retain much heat for cooking when the sun is behind clouds.

Parabolic Cooker - Parabolic cooker retains more temperature than other solar ovens. It requires more precision to focus the sunlight on the cooking vessel. However, if the sunlight is not focused exactly on the cooking vessel it will not cook the food. The main drawback of this oven is the risk of burns and eye injuries.

Truck Oven - An Industrial Wonder

Truck ovens are usually gas or electric ovens with cart drive tracks and heating chambers of 90, 125, 180 cu.ft. Truck ovens are made of aluminized steel exterior, stainless steel interior, thick insulated walls and back welded seam construction. Apart from industrial uses, these ovens are specially used for paint baking purposes. There are additional fan forced horizontal air circulation methods to control and maintain uniform temperature throughout the heating chambers.

Truck Ovens - Special Features

The truck ovens are needed specially for industrial purposes. Following are the standard features of truck oven:

# Oversize push buttons and big pilot lights

# Multiple heater bank wiring

# Digital indicating microprocessor based set-point controller

# Modulating burner

# Incoloy Sheathed durable heating elements

# Easily adjustable louvered ductwork

# Full horizontal air-flow pattern

# NEMA ball bearing motors

# Structurally framed welded doors

# Oversize rockwool insulation

Apart from these standard features there are some code features that every truck oven should contain. These are:

# NEC codes [electric and gas]

# Underwriters Laboratory

# Industrial Risk Insurers [over 400,000 BTU/hr]

# OSHA standard [electric and gas]

Types of Truck Ovens

Truck oven application includes depyrogenation, sterilization, drying and curing. All the types usually come in five sizes and the operating temperature goes up to 700° F with workspace volumes ranging from 57.8 to 163.6cu.ft. The exterior construction minimizes particle generation.

Following are some important types of truck ovens:

# TA Truck In/ Walk in Oven - these truck ovens are designed for industrial process versatility. The applications include curing, drying, baking, aging, bonding and burn-in.

# TF class A Truck in/ Walk in Oven - these truck ovens deal with cases with inflammable solvents. They can operate at maximum 650° F temperature. They are designed for industrial process dependability and versatility and include applications like curing, bonding, baking, curing and heat-treating.

# PW series ovens- these truck and shelf-loading ovens operate with temperature ranging from 350°F to maximum 850° F. They are available in five sizes, from 52 to 216cu.ft. These ovens are used for applications like baking, bonding, curing, heat-treating and burn-in.

# PS-S series Ovens- these truck ovens are available in 34 various sizes with the advantages of temperature and atmosphere rating facilities. They feature uniform flow for tight temperature tolerances. The maximum temperature is 650°F/ 343°C.

Truck ovens are the real industrial necessity. An added advantage of purchasing truck oven is its parts, which are fully assembled and individually factory tested. So now you just need to be sure of your requirements to have the best truck oven, to serve your industrial purposes.

Wall Oven - A Necessity For The Disabled

Wall ovens, available in electric and gas forms, are best ovens for the people with disabilities. The ovens can be placed considering the required height of the user, and the controls can also be placed within the reach of the standing or sitting user. The wall ovens usually have three types of doors: side-hinged, drop-front and swinging doors.

Features of Wall Ovens

Following are some of the features of wall oven that make it a convenient one for disable people:

Knee space: knee space is very important for wheelchair users to access ovens in their own way. For side hinged and swinging doors, knee space should be available under the oven or side closest to the door handle. For a drop hunt door, the knee space must be on either side of the oven.

Height: the height should be appropriate for the user. The lowered wall ovens are usually installed 30” to 40” above the ground.

Installation Methods of Wall Ovens

Electric wall ovens are often safe and more widely used because there are no combustion products like carbon monoxide used. Moreover, people with the disability in smell, will not be able to detect a gas leak. However people without these disabilities can easily install the gas wall ovens also.

Following are the ways Electric wall oven and gas wall ovens are installed:

Electric Wall Ovens Installations -

Tools needed: Flathead Screwdriver, Straight Edge, Ruler or tape measurer, Drill, Saw and Straight edge.

Electrical Requirements: 3 wire single phase- A.C. 208Y/120 Volt or 120/240 Volt, 60 Hz electrical system is needed. It should be connected to a properly grounded branch circuit, protected by a fuse.

Other requirements: the wall ovens should be securely fastened to a cabinet which in turn should be fastened to the house structure. The flexible medium must be attached to the junction box and to the connector.

Gas Oven Installations -

Tools needed- Flathead screw driver, Straight Edge, Ruler or tape measurer, pipe wrench and open end or adjustable wrench.

Gas requirements- normally installed to local gas codes. In the absence of local gas codes, the installation must conform to Natural Fuel Gas Code.

The wall ovens can be double or single types, with or without convections and self-cleaning or manual types. You can easily install them at a height of the eye level or waist level. The width available is usually 24, 27 or 30 inches. Since these ovens have maximum flexibility of space, you can place them in your kitchen or other places where the installation requirements are met. You should clean it regularly. There is an added advantage of a light burning to indicate the heat generated, which saves children and old people from burning themselves.