Hints and tips for using the oven
Always cook with the oven door
closed.
Conventional cooking
Heat comes from the top and from the bottom,
therefore it is preferable to use the central
runners. If cooking requires more heat from
the top or from the bottom use the top or the
bottom runners.
Some hints
For baking cakes
Cakes require a moderate temperature
(normally between 150 and 200°C). In addition,
the oven must be heated up beforehand - for
about 10 minutes.
The oven door should not be opened before at
least 3/4 of the set cooking time is up.
Normal short pastry dough should be cooked
in a mould or tin for 2/3 of total cooking time
required and then garnished as desired before
being cooked completely.
Clearly, the remaining cooking time depends
on the type of garnish used (jam, fruit, etc.).
Care should be taken to ensure that any dough
and cake mixes are of the right consistency
since an unduly moist mix lengthens cooking
time unnecessarily. The raw dough or mix
should therefore be fairly difficult to detach from
the spoon or beater.
For cooking meat and fish
Meat cooked in the oven should weigh at least
1 kg to prevent it from becoming too dry dur-
ing cooking. Very tender red meat to be cooked
rare, i.e. well cooked on the outside but
extremely
juicy
high-temperature cooking (200-220°C).
White meat, poultry and fish instead require
low-temperature cooking (150-175°C).
The ingredients for the accompanying sauce
or gravy should be put in the baking pan at the
very beginning only when cooking times are
inside,
requires
short.Otherwise they should be added during
the last half hour. A simple way of checking
whether meat is done or not is to press it with
a spoon; if the meat does not yield under this
pressure it means that it is done to a turn. In
the case of roast beef and fillet steaks, the
inside of which should remain fairly pink in
color, cooking times must be short. The meat
can be cooked in a baking pan or else directly
on the shelf - in this case a dripping pan must
obviously be placed underneath the shelf to
collect the juice. Once the meat is cooked, it
is advisable to let it rest for at least 15 minutes
before carving so that the juice does not seep
out. To prevent the formation of too much
smoke in the oven during roasting, it is a good
idea to pour a little water into the dripping pan
and—to prevent steam—to add a little bit more
during cooking if the original amount dries up
too much.
Before serving, the various courses can be
kept hot in the oven which should be turned
down to the minimum temperature.
Attention! - Do not place objects on
the bottom of the oven and do not cover
it with aluminium foil while cooking, as
this could cause a heat build-up which
would affect the baking results and
damage the oven enamel. Always place
pans, heat-resisting pans and
aluminium foils on the grid which has
been inserted in the oven shelves.
Cooking times
Cooking times vary according to the type of
food to be cooked, its consistency, and
volume.We suggest that you take particular
note of your first cooking experiments with the
oven, since operating in the same conditions
for the same dishes you will of course obtain
similar results.
Only experience will enable you to make the
appropriate changes to values given on charts.
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