Why Cook with Convection Ovens?

Convection ovens are the most flexible oven in the marketplace today. 

They are more than just ideal for cooking. You have so many more cooking options such as convection warming, roasting, re-heating, baking and more. No matter what you are cooking whether you’re roasting a turkey or baking croissants, convection ovens cook/bake more evenly and thoroughly than the conventional oven.

Why cook with Convection Ovens

With convection cooking, you have the convenience of being able to place several trays of foods in the oven at the same time and get even results on everything. You also don’t have to worry about the transfer of flavours from other foods.  You can cook salmon and apple pie at the same time with confidence. Convection cooking can roast, brown and crisp food more efficiently than a conventional oven but with the speed of a microwave. Convection cooking also reduces food shrinkage. Anything that you have cooked in a conventional oven can also be cooked in a convection oven but with much better results.

You ask, “Why do these ovens have such flexibility?” Well, that is because of the way they operate. They are very similar to a  conventional oven with one physical feature that sets them apart and gives the user so many more cooking options. That difference is the built in fan that allows the hot air in the oven chamber to circulate. Some models that are called true convection have elements behind the fans to make convection cooking even more effective. This major difference has revolutionized cooking into an art form. 

Now let’s take a look at the different cooking modes the various convection ranges are providing you with to help you not only have better cooking results, but will bring out the professional chef in you.

Bread proof - In proof mode the combination of the broil and bake element are used to maintain a gentle, low heat to allow the bread to rise properly.

Convection -- Uniform air movement makes it possible to multi-level cook with even browning. Great for making cookies!

Convection Bake - Ideal for baking pies and pastries.

Convection Roast - Perfect for roasting tender cuts of beef, pork, lamb and poultry.

Convection Broil – Great for broiling thicker cuts of meat, fish and poultry and shorten cooking time.

Bake - Best for single-rack cooking, primarily baked foods. Use for your standard non-convection recipes.

Roast - Best for roasting less tender cuts of meat, such as chuck roasts and stew meat that should be covered.

Broil – This mode is for broiling meats, fish and poultry pieces up to 1" thick.

Bake Stone – Baking pizza and bread on a ceramic stone.

Dehydration – Drying fruits, vegetables and meats.

Because convection ovens cook considerably faster than conventional ovens do, many of the recipes you have been using on your conventional oven will need to be adapted somewhat for convection cooking. Many of the ranges we sell come with a convection conversion system built right into the controls.  The internet is also a fabulous place to look up recipes specifically for convection cooking or to help calculate conversions from traditional recipes to convection.

A few extra tips for using a Convection oven that you might find helpful:

1) Correct rack position is important for air circulation. Refer to your User Manual for the manufacturers guidelines.

2) Start checking for doneness about ¾ of the way through the cooking time until you get used to your oven and how it functions.

3) When cooking on multiple racks it helps to achieve even results if you use the same pan on all racks.

4) When baking in Convection, don’t use cushion-air cookie sheets as they are designed to improve baking results in radiant heat ovens only.

5) Dark coloured pans or glass cooking vessels can increase browning, be sure not to over brown.

6)And lastly the air supply. Remember if the air can not circulate over and around the food, your new convection oven will be ineffective making cooking very frustrating.  Use trays and baking pans with lower sides, then the air can flow evenly around what you are cooking, giving you optimum results.

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