“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

"Gas heat is valved from low to high"

In an oven? I don't believe that's correct, at least not generally. They're on and off also.

I'd be interested in comparing the humidity of gas vs electric ovens, because I've heard it argued that electric ovens retain more humidity (originating from the food itself) because gas ovens are vented a lot more. Interesting theory, goes against conventional wisdom, but seems a bit far-fetched.

I've always heard that since gas combustion produces water as a by-product, that gas heat is "moister" than electric, hence the difference.

"----In an oven? I don't believe that's correct, at least not generally. They're on and off also.---"

Come to think of it, I think you are correct. I was thinking of my old pilot light oven. The newer ignitor and spark type ovens do go on or off only.

"---because I've heard it argued that electric ovens retain more humidity (originating from the food itself) because gas ovens are vented a lot more.--"

I think a lot of the gas also vent into the cooking chamber. Do you remember on a cold morning and you are following another car, you see water coming out from the tail pipe?

Burning carbon and oxygen creates a lot of water.

dcarch

Can we resurrect this thread? I have always had a gas range and oven until we moved 2 years ago to a street with no gas. I cannot get used to electric either, especially the oven. The meat/chicken is so dry, maybe even more in appearance than in taste. So unappealing looking. Are there any tips out there from experienced users? Thank you.

New ovens are different from old ovens in how they handle moisture, and some electric ovens cook moister than some gas ovens. There's info in the Appliances forum about all that.

All you need to make a dry oven moister, however, is add liquid.

Easy as that.

You can either add delicious liquid to the cooking (I'm very fond of beer braises), or just put a ramekin or sheet pan in the oven with a cup of water or ice in it. It heats up. It evaporates. You now have a moist oven.

You'll also get a crisper crust on both meats and baking in a moister oven, which should help your appearance issues. Which is why putting in a pan of water is such an old trick. :) Which you never learned because you didn't need to before now.

Do give it a try. Adjust the pan/quantity to refine your results. Also, make sure you aren't relying on timing/temperatures that were accurate in your old oven. Each oven is different. You might need to cook at a lower or higher setting, and for more or less time than before. A dish is done when it's done, not when it "should" be done.

Location can be different as well. A friend was flummoxed that her pasta came out mooshy near the ocean. It was actually that she had moved down a few thousand feet in elevation and hadn't adjusted her timing, so it got overcooked. That's not even taking into account the change in atmospheric moisture.

Well, you could always get bottled gas and a gas stove that is adjusted to use bottled gas. That's what we have as there is no piped gas in town and not likely ever to be.

Have you used an oven thermometer/s to check the actual temperature to see if the oven is calibrated properly; and have you checked temperature at different areas of the oven? Not everything cooks properly in the center of the oven, you may need to use a lower or higher shelf.... If it has a convection feature, have you adjusted time and temperature when using it? Or made sure the convection was OFF/ON, as needed?

As plllog pointed out, all ovens are a little different one from the other. I've replaced gas ovens with gas ovens, and electric ovens with electric ovens, gone from gas to electricity, and they all had a let's-get-acquainted period.

I always place several oven thermometers in a new oven in different areas so I can locate any hot or cold spots. Log the temperatures on paper. The first thing to check is the actual temperature when the oven beeps after pre-heating. Then check 5-, 10-, and even 15-minutes after the beep to check the actual temperature. Then check temperatures after you place something in the oven. It may be taking too long to come back to temperature.

-Grainlady