I'm a 500°F roaster. I don't use the convection when I use high heat.

Ann

I use convection often. When roasting, I reduce the recipe temp by 25 degrees. When I braise in the oven, I use Pure convection & cook at 285 degrees. I cook all my stews, and many soups using this method in a heavy Le Cresuet dutch oven covered. Always tender & delicious. I also convection broil. I love convection.
My last two ovens have been convection. I am not a baker, so cannot comment about convection baking.

Magothyrivergirl, the whole purpose of convection cooking is to have the hot air circulate around whatever you are roasting or baking. If there is a lid on the pot then convection doesn't really work.

My new oven has "True Convection", meaning not just a fan at the back of the oven, but also a third burner. I've used it a few times when baking cookies and thought it did a better job than other convection ovens I've had.

Ann

My "new" oven (recent Craig's list find) is my first experience with convection. I don't do much in the oven so I have yet to play with it much, but I can say that convection bake (third element) is great for reheating leftovers. I think the even heat promotes getting the food heated throughout without overcooking. Along the same lines it's the best for heating things like the kids' chicken nuggets (yes, I stoop to that), and the speed at which it does that makes it a viable alternative to soggy nuggets from the microwave. Not that the kids notice, but I do!

Based on the oven's display, convection roast is with top element only. I haven't had the opportunity to compare that to convection bake with something I'm roasting. Guess I should play with it.

Ann - I also have True convection with the 3rd burner, and I agree its purpose is to circulate the hot air. The book that came with the oven included recipes and guidelines for the covered stews,etc. I tried it both ways, and the the Pure Convection is my far the best. I think it is the hot air circulating evenly around all sides of the dutch oven for a long time, cooking the stew or soup evenly. The lid keeps all the heat in and juices drop back down into the stews. It is great to cook this way vs on the stove top, because I will stir only once or twice, and basically the stew/soup/pot roast cooks unattended. You should try it! I do start the stew on the stove top just to bring the temp up to simmer, before putting into the oven.

I have had a convection oven for 10 years. It is the best for baking cookies -- I have it down to a science and it can bake three sheets of cookies faster than I can scoop the dough onto the baking sheets.

Roasting? I admit I don't do a lot of it. My experience is yes, it does a good job but... because you have to put your hunk of meat on the pan with no lid -- you rarely get any of those pan juices needed to make gravy. All the juice stays in the bird (or beef or whatever). So, we end up with a nicely roasted turkey breast with canned gravy!

FOAS, when using convection in my oven (Whirlpool) the three elements (Bake, Broil and Convection burners) all work, cycling on and off to maintain the temperature, with the fan working continuously to circulate the hot air. I'm not sure if all convection ovens work the same or not.

Ann

I'm going to play around with the shallow setups. My roasting pan has traditional 2" sides..

The few times I have gone to my sisters, she tends to roast with a baking sheet and prefers the extremely shallow sides..for the most part

I SWEAR convection roasting of poultry in my oven takes much longer than regular roasting. I have a Frigidaire 5 burner stove with "true convection." I don't cook much, so there's that. But I have roasted poultry several times in the oven trying to use the convection function. In all times (incl. this past Thanksgiving), I gave up and turned the convection off because the roasting was taking just too darned long. The roasting convection works differently from the baking convection. With the baking convection feature turned on, the oven automatically converts your keyed in temperature to a lower temperature. With the roasting convection, it leaves the temp. the same as you keyed it in.

I read somewhere that convection is mainly useful for baking, and not so much for roasting. So maybe that's it?

With true convection, air is brought into the oven from outside (the fan at the back of the oven, I guess). I am wondering if that air being brought in (which wouldn't be as hot as the oven) slows down the cooking, so that the convection is mainly for even roasting, but doesn't cut down the time?

My stove has a "roast" button, a "convection roast" button, a "bake" button, and a "convection bake" button.

You think I'm doing something wrong? I am disappointed. Roasting poultry is one of the few things I cook on a somewhat regular basis. I paid extra for this stove, thinking it would make for juicier poultry plus cut down the roasting time.

With true convection, air is brought into the oven from outside...

Incorrect. True convection refers to there being a heating element specifict to the convection fan, as opposed to there simply being a fan that's blowing around heat from the "normal" lower element as seems to be particularly common in gas ranges.

Every company seems to use their own terminology though, so when comparing to other people's experiences it's important to know that you're comparing apples to apples. For example on my oven Convection Roast means top burner on, fan blowing, convection burner not on. Sound like Convection Broil to you? Does to me, but who knows, I could be wrong.