Notes for those preparing food to cook at home

[Rapscallion]

Why is it that every food I buy that's prepacked and ready to cook in the oven demands the middle of the oven?

There's only one area that could reasonably be called the middle of the oven, and it's taken up by one such product. I need to cook two items? I need to borrow my neighbour's oven.

Why?

Rapscallion

[Eben56]

That is because the test kitchens of the corporations that make the pre-packaged food base their cooking times and directions on the assuption that temperature will be constant through the process. This does not happen in the real world but the closest you get to it is the center. Heat rises so that even though the average temperature in the oven is what you set it to, in actuality when the bottom element is on the bottom of the oven is hotter than the top. Alterantively, when the lower unit is off, the top of the oven is hotter than the bottom.

One must also factor in the high radiant temperature while the unit is on.

As an example.. If you want a pizza cooked about the same on the top and bottom, you would put it in the center. If you prefer a crispy crust, place it near the bottom. If you prefer a soft crust and well browned top, place it near the top.

I wouldn't worry too much about the center thing.. Every oven is different, some even having temperature differences front to back... Besides, every time you open the door to look, you throw the whole equation off again. Get to know your own oven, and you will truly be a happy and fulfilled man.:muya:

[depechemodefan]

If you want a pizza cooked about the same on the top and bottom, you would put it in the center. If you prefer a crispy crust, place it near the bottom. Oh, I need to do that from now on!

[draggar]

Just to piss them off I put it on one rack LOWER than the middle and 1-2 inches off center. I take pictures and email it to the company.

I tell them "SEE! I'm NOT LISTENING TO YOUR DIRECTIONS!!"
I am so evil. ;)

[Rapscallion]

I now have a new hobby.

Rapscallion

[Chromatix]

This is where I would experiment a bit. Probably the easiest thing to do, with most "ready meals", is to put the side by side (or front and back) on the middle shelf. Then check whether the baking is even afterwards. On future cooking expeditions, you can turn them around part-way through to even it out if necessary.

Fan ovens, however, are designed to circulate the hot air more evenly through the oven compartment. This makes it more likely that cooking will be even no matter how you arrange things. However you should still try to keep it as symmetric as possible.

[crazylegs]

Hmm, I'm pretty sure faggots need to be in the top, as do a couple of other things (fish fingers for example).

[BookstoreEscapee]

Hmm, I'm pretty sure faggots need to be in the top, as do a couple of other things (fish fingers for example).

Uh, please to 'splain for us 'mericans who don't speak Brit...

[crazylegs]

Uh, please to 'splain for us 'mericans who don't speak Brit...

They are a pork product, in a gravy sauce, they're almost meat balls, but the meat isn't minced as such.

That probably doesn't help all that much, but I've been up since silly o clock this morning and it's not nearly midnight so...

[Jester]

Just to piss them off I put it on one rack LOWER than the middle and 1-2 inches off center. I take pictures and email it to the company.

Holy Chipotle! You are channeling George Carlin! :eek:

[Spiffy McMoron]

That probably doesn't help all that much, but I've been up since silly o clock this morning and it's not nearly midnight so...

Well, that makes more sense than using the American definition for the term... ;)

[BroSCFischer]

Well, that makes more sense than using the American definition for the term... ;)

You mean a bun (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fagot[1])dle (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/faggot) of some sort? :angel: or something else? :devil:

Beware, there are two in one!:devil:

SC

[Spiffy McMoron]

You mean a bun (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fagot[1])dle (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/faggot) of some sort?

The bundle of course!

Stuff cooks much faster and more evenly if you spread it out a bit.

[dendawg]

Uh, please to 'splain for us 'mericans who don't speak Brit...

This should clear it up.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faggot_(food)

[Evil Queen]

Would you brits make up your minds? I thought a Faggot was a bundle of wood, a cigarette or Sheldon. It's also a metalworking technique and a Novel.

...anyone else think we live in a mixed up fucked up world?

[Becks]

...anyone else think we live in a mixed up fucked up world?

No.

I *know* we do. :runaway:

[Jester]

It gets even screwier down here in Key Weird.

After all, we have a lot of foreigners in Key West, including Brits.

We also, notoriously, have a lot of homosexuals.

So at some point, I imagine someone took offense to someone else saying, "I need to go smoke a fag." :lol:

[Boggles]

It gets even screwier down here in Key Weird.

After all, we have a lot of foreigners in Key West, including Brits.

We also, notoriously, have a lot of homosexuals.

So at some point, I imagine someone took offense to someone else saying, "I need to go smoke a fag." :lol:

Whilst leaving a Meat Loaf concert in the States, someone took great offence to me remarking to my British concert-buddy "God, I could murder a fag!"

[Jester]

I've been engaged to a Brit and have a brother-in-law that is a Brit, so I am used to such comments and such vocabulary. (Though BIL doesn't smoke.) As I tell people, I understand three languages: English, American, and Redneck.