While the oven has been around for a long time and almost every household has one, most people don’t know how to properly use it. To help you out, here are tips given by appliance repair professionals on how to go about it:
What do most people do when they are cooking meat and other foods? They take the foods directly from the freezer to the oven. Don’t do this. In addition to the food not tasting good enough, it often takes longer to cook. Experts report that you also end up spending up to 30% more energy to cook frozen food than when you would cook it defrosted.
For you to save on energy and keep your food tasting good, you should always defrost the food before you put it in the oven.
Keep it clean
This is a no-brainer. You need to keep your oven clean all the time. This not only keeps it looking great, it also increases the efficiency of the unit. For you to have an easy time keeping it clean, you should get rid of any dirt as soon as you notice it.
Are there burnt-in stains in your unit that you would like to get rid of? You can easily get rid of them by using a rinsing agent. All you need to do is to pour a rinsing agent into a bowl of water and place it in the oven at 100 degrees Celsius for at least an hour.
After an hour has elapsed, you should be able to easily get rid of the stubborn stains by swiping them off with a wet piece of cloth.
You should note that the best time to clean the appliance is when it’s cool. Avoid cleaning it when hot as you will cause irreversible discoloration of the enamel.
Aim at saving as much energy as possible
When you are running the oven, you shouldn’t spend a lot of energy. In addition to ensuring that the food is properly cooked, you also should keep an eye on your electricity needs. As rule of thumb, you should strive to keep your bill as low as possible.
You can do this by doing a number of things. One of the things you can do is to turn off the appliance once you are done with your cooking. Experts also observe that you can save even more when you turn off the unit before the stipulated cooking time.
This calls for you to switch off your oven at least 10 minutes before the time that you had set elapses and let the food stand for the remaining time. By doing this, you will save 10-25 % of your electricity bill.
You will also save some energy by placing multiple items in the unit. For example, you can put baked or roasted potatoes in the oven at the same time. You can also throw in your dessert while cooking your dinner.
It’s common to want to see how your baking is coming along. You should resist the urge to open the oven door. You should note that when you open the door, you tend to lose up to 25 degrees which increases your energy bill.
The best way of going about it is sticking to your timer and oven light. If you want to know how things are going, use your nose but don’t open the unit.
Always use the right rack
Plenty of ovens have been ruined from using the wrong rack. Do you want your unit to last for a long time? You should use the right rack. Using the right rack also leads to proper cooking of the food.
The top rack is meant for food that is meant to be cooked at high temperature. You also should use this rack when you are looking to quickly cook the food.
The middle rack is best used for moderate temperature cooking while the bottom rack is ideal for slow cooking and low temperatures.
While you are at it, you should use the right baking dishes. You should note that glass and ceramic dishes tend to hold the heat much better than their metal counterparts.
Even with the best care, it’s common for the oven to develop problems. When this happens, you should contact an oven repair Alexandria professional to help you in fixing it.
