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Thread Number: 72258
/ Tag: Recipes, Cooking Accessories
Instead of preheating the oven, try a cold start and postheating |
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Post# 955271 8/30/2017 at 08:52 (2,429 days old) by joeekaitis  (Rialto, California, USA) |
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A few decades ago when I was in my teens and still living at home with the parents, both of our local utilities (SoCal Edison and SoCal Gas) encouraged customers to skip preheating their ovens for recipes with baking times of 30 minutes or more. I've been doing that ever since with excellent results and have added an extra step, especially when cooking meats and poultry: leave the food in the oven for an additional 15 minutes, i.e.: cooking on stored heat.
We have a Hotpoint gas stove with a self-cleaning oven/broiler so heat loss is not a major problem. The oven also lacks a fast preheat cycle which would light both burners and probably scorch the top of the food on a cold start. Similarly, most fast-preheat ovens have a way to disable the feature.
If you want to give it a try, here's a no-boil version of my Baked Chili Cheese Mac recipe.
2 15-oz. cans chili (with or without beans as desired) 2 chili cans of water 1 lb. uncooked elbow macaroni 1 lb. shredded Cheddar cheese
Spray your 5-quart Corning Ware Pyroceram or Visions Dutch oven with non-stick cooking spray.
Combine chili, water and macaroni in a large mixing bowl. Stir together for about a minute to make sure every elbow is saturated inside and out. Fold in the cheese.
Dump the mixture into the prepared Dutch oven, poking any errant elbows below the surface. Don't worry about the soupy consistency.
Set the Dutch oven on the middle rack and bake uncovered from a cold start for 1 hour. Leave in the oven an additional 15 minutes, then remove and let stand at room temperature for 15 more minutes.
Total cooking time is comparable to par-boiling the macaroni first.
Shovel into bowl, admire, then DIG IN!
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Post# 955292 , Reply# 3 8/30/2017 at 10:54 (2,429 days old) by turquoisedude (.) |
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Post# 955299 , Reply# 4 8/30/2017 at 11:26 (2,429 days old) by DADoES (TX, U.S. of A.) |
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Post# 955301 , Reply# 5 8/30/2017 at 11:27 (2,429 days old) by Tomturbomatic (Beltsville, MD) |
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I remember a recipe from the 40s and 50s for a "cold start pound cake." As I remember, it did not make a lot of difference whether you preheated or not except for a lengthening of the bake time when started in a cold oven. | ||
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Post# 955307 , Reply# 6 8/30/2017 at 12:51 (2,429 days old) by JoeEkaitis (Rialto, California, USA) |
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Note also that this seems to work best with glass (Pyrex) and vitroceramic (Corning Ware Pyroceram, Visions, etc.) bakeware, possibly due to the heat-retaining nature of the material with fewer hot spots than metal. Yeah, l know, it's exactly the opposite of what people say about using Corning Ware on the stove. | ||
| Post# 955310 , Reply# 7 8/30/2017 at 13:09 (2,429 days old) by LordKenmore (The Laundry Room) | ||
 My mother had a Farberware convection oven, and we never preheated as far as I can recall. IIIRC she said the manual (or a cookbook or something) had said it wasn't necessary.
But I preheat these days, unless I'm directed otherwise. (I think there are/have been frozen pizzas that direct one to use a cold oven...but I can't say for sure. It's been so long since I'd have baked one.)
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| Post# 955311 , Reply# 8 8/30/2017 at 13:14 (2,429 days old) by LordKenmore (The Laundry Room) | ||
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I haven't baked anything in years. The bending and stooping involved with using a typical oven is too painful. Any kitchen I have a hand in designing or renovating will have 42" counters, a drawer dishwasher, a GE Cabinette, and a Flair or Flair-style stove. I wouldn't be surprised if baking came back onto my radar then, lol.
A wall mounted oven might be worth adding to your list. Countertop ovens of some sort can also be a nice solution--I mentioned the Farberware convection oven we had. That was our only oven for more than 10 years, and we never felt particularly limited. Indeed, my mother came to really like convection ovens, and swore that was her ideal even if/when getting a "real" oven again.
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Post# 955320 , Reply# 9 8/30/2017 at 14:34 (2,429 days old) by DADoES (TX, U.S. of A.) |
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Post# 955322 , Reply# 10 8/30/2017 at 14:59 (2,429 days old) by petek (Ontari ari ari O ) |
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 Other than cakes and pastries, neither of which I make any more I never preheat, even for bread. Just put it in, set the temp and timer if necessary. As well, say I'm boiling spaghetti noodles.. I let the water boil maybe 5-6 minutes (with the noodles in it) and shut the burner off for rest of the time.. | ||
| Post# 955334 , Reply# 11 8/30/2017 at 16:53 (2,429 days old) by norgeway (mocksville n c ) | ||
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Some Monarchs Had automatic preheat, fine for some things, but several cake recipes work better with a cold start. | ||
| Post# 955347 , Reply# 13 8/30/2017 at 18:38 (2,429 days old) by jkbff (Happy Rock, ND) | ||
This is why I pulled out that modern whirlpool that I had.
I had gotten so used to not preheating the oven when we'd start cooking in the mornings at the catering places. Grandma has always used the oven warming to temp as a way of getting that last bit of oven spring on fresh bread. This race for fast preheat just changes the way everything works. | ||
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Post# 955348 , Reply# 14 8/30/2017 at 18:50 (2,429 days old) by DaveAMKrayoGuy (Oak Park, MI) |
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Looks like a great AMKrayoKookingProject!
And what I'd either call a practice makes (or WILL make) perfect, or almost made it on the first try... First of all the directions on these bread sticks call for preheating to 425°, but just SET at that temperature and popped 'em in (on a pizza rack, that I right away, using for biscuits and cookies, found it was for MORE than just PIZZA!) while setting the timer for eight-out-of-the-four-to-eight-minutes, stated, then, flipping them over, gave 'em an additional two-minutes, flipping them over again, to the original right size up, (and then there goes the (BEEP!, BEEP!, BEEP!) preheat-alarm) watching them (maybe I needed to turn the heat off, to do the post-heating, but the oven arrived right AT the proper temp.) real carefully, gave the finished product: (Click & guess the Before-and-After shots) -- Dave CLICK HERE TO GO TO DaveAMKrayoGuy's LINK | ||
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Post# 955369 , Reply# 15 8/30/2017 at 22:56 (2,429 days old) by panthera (Rocky Mountains) |
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That chili recipe sounds great! | ||
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Post# 955514 , Reply# 17 8/31/2017 at 19:49 (2,428 days old) by combo52 (50 Year Repair Tech Beltsville,Md) |
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 Hi Mike, regarding your 10 YO GE dual fuel range, fix it, it is a far better range than a Viking or a Dacor, if fact I can not imagine anything worse than a Dacor.
If you want a new range get another GE, it is not throwing money away to spend $500 fixing your GE if you are willing to spend $3000 on a POS.
John L. | ||
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Post# 955529 , Reply# 18 8/31/2017 at 23:46 (2,428 days old) by MattL (Flushing, MI) |
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I concur. Viking and even Dacor are overpriced and under-performers. I too like duel fuel, but went the separates route, gas cooktop electric oven in the space formally occupied years ago by a slide in range. | ||
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Post# 955565 , Reply# 20 9/1/2017 at 08:23 (2,427 days old) by DaveAMKrayoGuy (Oak Park, MI) |
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Post# 957112 , Reply# 23 9/11/2017 at 11:45 (2,417 days old) by DaveAMKrayoGuy (Oak Park, MI) |
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Wonder if some PICS of what I put in speak for themselves?
Seems like this could be a never-ending story-thread:
-- Dave | ||
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Post# 957128 , Reply# 24 9/11/2017 at 15:01 (2,417 days old) by DaveAMKrayoGuy (Oak Park, MI) |
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Oh, how did the steak and eggs get there? I think I meant a pic of the pie that I made...
And,--Oops!--I forgot the CHICKEN NUGGETS... -- Dave | ||
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Post# 957150 , Reply# 25 9/11/2017 at 17:19 (2,417 days old) by bajaespuma (Connecticut) |
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Interesting idea There are some scratch-made cakes like sponge cakes that would suffer from being started in a cold oven. Yeast breads would likely over-proof in a cold oven and collapse before starches and proteins set properly; they need the boost of a hot "Oven Spring". I wonder what it would do with pastry doughs with very high butter percentages such as puff pastry and pie pastry. I would bet that all of that precious butter would bleed out onto the baking sheet where it would do nobody any good.
You might also experience some spoilage with large roasts that would stay in the danger zone for longer than desirable periods of time when started in a cold oven. I'd be careful with this technique. | ||
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Post# 957167 , Reply# 27 9/11/2017 at 19:38 (2,417 days old) by DaveAMKrayoGuy (Oak Park, MI) |
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More, O.T. w/ a Sprig of PARSLEY! (& Spinach!)
Yeh, well, that steak 'n' eggs was cooked on the stove, followed by another dish o' that w/ potatoes, tomatoes and toast... I got a few other flanks that I think I will broil...
And also, here are some bacon-wrapped burgers, (though my wife didn't want ANY wrapped around her's) also cooked on the stove, that next time around I'll broil--and they could also use some PEPPERCORNS! Note my attempt at auGratin potatoes, w/ the emphasis on "Rah-Tin!"... -- Dave | ||
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Post# 957188 , Reply# 28 9/12/2017 at 01:49 (2,417 days old) by sudsmaster (SF Bay Area, California) |
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What part of the chicken is the "nugget", anyway?
Cooking with waste heat is a good tactic. And not just for roasts and such. It's also a way to get a perfectly good grilled or pan fried steak. You sear both sides, then cook maybe three minutes each side at low heat, then put the steak between two plates, wrap in a towel, and let it sit (rest) for 5-10 minutes where residual heat will do the rest. It also tends to keep the meat juicier by incorporating a cool down period.
I accidentally discovered the value of waste heat when I was roasting a chicken in the outdood covered charcoal BBQ. I had been tending it, and got about half-way through the roasting process, and then my guest arrived, and I got distracted and didn't check the coals again. Might have been a hour or so. Finally she wondered if there was something to eat. I remembered about the chicken - the coals had died down to a very low heat level, but the chicken was delicious. Perfectly browned, tender and juicy. | ||
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Post# 957229 , Reply# 29 9/12/2017 at 09:25 (2,416 days old) by DaveAMKrayoGuy (Oak Park, MI) |
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How'd that Initial Beefy Mac 'N' Cheese REALLY T
To me, it seemed like from the 1st post onward there'd be no worries over meat--OK, NUGGET-SHAPED CHICKEN--being undercooked by this method, as the few things that I'd made,, not so demanding in the time/temp/heat exposure allowed to 'em, turned out OK, as in fully cooked & edible--& no illnesses or death from food poisoning either...
-- Dave | ||
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Post# 957236 , Reply# 31 9/12/2017 at 09:59 (2,416 days old) by joeekaitis (Rialto, California, USA) |
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"Some families ate ground beef 5 nights a week." | ||
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