Ovens - Electric vs Gas
jlirot
12 years ago
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plllog
12 years agocooksnsews
12 years agoRelated Discussions
gas vs electric oven
Comments (6)There are gas wall ovens if you want one. I posted this on the chowhound cookware forum and this is the gist of what I posted. It used to be conventional wisdom that gas was moist heat, due to the release of water as part of the products of combustion and electric dry heat. No one has actually measured humidity, that I can find, in ovens to say if this is the case. I have used both kinds of ovens over many(50) years and found very little difference. I almost think that gas may be a little drier,due to the following reasons. There is much more ventilation with gas so the humidity from the products of combustion are ventilated out. If you read the bread baking forums, you will find they have a hard time keeping steam in a gas oven needed for the first part of baking and resort to covering the bread to steam it. I have read stories of roasts being better in a gas oven. Sometimes they will say it makes a better crust or is juicier. People will attribute this to the moist heat but in reality it is not going over the optimum internal temperature that makes a roast juicy and it is a drying effect that makes the external parts crispy. This is why convection is such a good thing. On the other hand the electric oven is more of a closed system and does hold the humidity given off by food or added humidity better. I think an electric oven may be better for baking cakes and things that rise better because it does hold a little more humidity and allows the rising action to work a little more before it sets and have read baking forums that say this. I have seen it advised to open the door of an electric oven a little, a few times to let the moisture out toward the end of baking a cake. Another consideration is that once you raise the temperature of the air, the relative humidity is much less in both and not that different percentage wise. All these things are going to depend on what you are cooking and the build of the oven. Some advantages of electric that may depend on the brand and features it has. Some ovens have a thermostat that has a very narrow temperature swing, as litle as 2 degrees. Some have the more conventional 25 degree swing on each side of the setting. Some electric ovens have a third element around the convection fan that can produce a more even heat especially when it is full. All gas oven and some electric have just the fan. There may be additional baking and roasting modes that make use of top and bottom elements to produce certain effects. For example a roasting mode may utilize the top element more to produce more browning from the top. Electric ovens are more inclined to be self clean but there are gas self cleaning ovens. Gas ovens may have an infrared broiler. Good Luck in your search....See MoreInfrared broiler in gas ovens versus broiler in electric oven
Comments (6)Gary, You seem to come through for many of my questions. Thanks. I have DCS BBQ with infrared rotisserie, which works similarly to Viking infrared broiler. They are slightly different given that they are positioned differently: side versus top. I use them both and love them both for intended purposes! I am lucky in that I have a lot of "good" cooking appliances... hehehe.... I am trying to learn how to best use my new Speed oven....See MoreGas vs. electric oven
Comments (15)If you can cook and bake you can cook and bake in anything. I'd done it in a special pot on a gas ring (inc. chocolate chip cookies), in totally awful appliances, and in the very best ovens. Re moisture: It's true that there is a slightly higher amount of moisture in a gas oven because of the burning fuel, but if that's your deal you can also use an electric oven with a bain marie, put a ramekin of water in the oven, or crack it open and spray with mist. Re char: Char comes from heat, and especially proximity to heat, not from fuel. Some electric ovens come with high intensity broilers. Re control: I don't have personal experience with top notch gas ovens, but from what I've heard they make them nowadays with convection, good sensors and electronic temperature controls. They may not have the precision of a Gaggenau electric, or even a Miele, but it should be possible to get a very good result on your delicate baking. I have made all kinds of touchy things, including souffles and brioches, in the really crappy gas oven that came with the house. It has no proper temperature control and is very uneven. It should be a lot easier in a really good gas oven. Personally, I like the precision. I like it because sometimes I just have to turn out scads of food and don't want to be bothered "interacting" with the oven contents-- checking on them, rotating them, adjusting the temperature, etc. So I don't just want an electric oven, I only want a Gaggenau....See Moreelectric vs. gas oven- what am I missing?
Comments (8)“I've never had anything but electric, but I've always turned my baked good 180 degrees at least once. None of my ovens have ever had the same temperature front and back...the back half always cooks faster!” To the food, it makes no difference what kind of heat is being used. Heat is heat, simply BTUs. However, how the heat is delivered will make a big difference on how the food end up being cooked. Here is the science on heating (cooking) food. There are three main and different ways to heat up food: 1. By microwave, which I will not discuss because it’s OT. 2. By infrared radiation 3. By conduction. Before I move on, let me point out that “Convection oven” is somewhat a misnomer. It should be called “Forced hot air”, because all heat produces convection, with or without a convection fan. Infrared (IR) heating is when you are in sunlight, you can be heated up even the air temperature is freezing. Conduction is when you park your car under the sun and you first entry your car and you feel that blast of hot air. Electric oven has electric heating elements which can generate IR only. The IR hits the food and the oven walls, raising the temperature of the walls and the food, which then heats up the air, the air then heats everything by conduction. Gas heats by exothermal chemical reaction. The heat generated heats the air and any objects near the flames. The heated food and objects then heat up the air by conduction. IR is a form of light, which is electro magnetic radiation, and light travels only in straight line, therefore anything in shadows will not be heated. Furthermore, Dark color objects get heated faster. Gas heats up the air, hot air moves by convection and heats the food all around. Electric heating elements are either on 100% or off, there is no in between. When it is on, the food gets the maximum IR heating. Electric heat is 100% dry heat. Gas heat is valved from low to high and gas combustion does produces water as one of the by products of the chemical reaction. All the above, combining the particular design characteristic of the physical oven, will give you different end results, depending your cooking skills, habits and recipes. I am not sure I answered your questions. :-) dcarch...See MoreEmilner
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