How to Use an Electric Oven - Paper Example

Introduction An electric oven is one of the most common kitchen appliances in homes. The devices primary function is the cooking of food. An electric oven operates by passing electricity through of elements which in turn produce heat. The appliance can be regulated using buttons or knobs. Due to the danger associated with the handling of electric devices, an electric oven requires high precision and handling procedures. This article provides comprehensive guidelines on how to safely and efficiently use an electric oven.

Familiarization

After buying an electric oven, you should familiarize yourself with the way it is supposed to be used. It is paramount that you read the user manual which will provide you with the necessary guidance on its use. It is essential to adhere to this first stage as each oven has unique features which can only be entirely taken advantage off after reading the manual.

The next phase will be to try out the various properties of the device. At this stage, you should make sure that you know how to turn the oven on and off apart from setting and regulating the various temperatures. Further, you should familiarize yourself with how to use the thermometers which will is vital to determining the oven temperatures.

Using the oven

First step:

The first step involves preheating the oven for five minutes. Specifically, one is required to turn the knobs to the specific temperatures under which the food will be cooked and leave it to preheat for 5 to 10 minutes. Some ovens fitted with electric control systems will make it easier to complete the process. In such a case one has to press the preheat button after which the system will manage the process. Once the oven is preheated, the system will beep to notify that it has completed the process.

Turning on the oven SEQ Turning_on_the_oven \* ARABIC 1

Second step:

Once preheating is achieved, open the door and put in the food that you desire to cook. It is advised when placing the food in the oven; you should ensure that it is set at the center of the oven. Further, if your oven has more than one rack, you should ensure that you put your food items on the center rack. You are also advised to avoid covering your food with aluminum foils or any other similar coverings as it prevents the free flow of air which is vital for the cooking process. In other words, the use of an aluminum foil will significantly increase the cooking time hence leading to energy wastage. Ceramics or glass utensils are a viable alternative to the aluminum foil. Using such tools can allow you to reduce temperatures by 25 degrees Celsius without affecting the overall cooking time.

Placing food items inside the oven SEQ Placing_food_items_inside_the_oven \* ARABIC 1

Third step:

After correctly placing the food items in the oven, you can close the door and set the timer. In the instances where an inbuilt timer is not available, you can use an egg timer. Setting the timer, in this case, will help in ensuring that the food is not overcooked. During the entire cooking time, it is not advisable to open the oven door. On the contrary, you can track the cooking process by turning on the ovens internal light. You can locate the light switch on the frame of the stove next to the other control buttons.

Fourth step:

Once the timer notifies you that the set period is completed, you can open the ovens door and ensure that the food is cooked as required. For backed food items you can pierce with a toothpick to determine if they are prepared. If the inserted object comes out clean, the food is adequately cooked. Besides a toothpick, you can use a thermometer to measure temperatures on the different parts of the food item. Each food item has its unique cooking temperatures. For instance, if you are cooking meat, insert the thermometer into the thickest parts to ensure that they have attained the required cooking temperature.

Fifth step -Cleaning

After the cooking process is complete, you are advised to initiate a cleaning process to ensure that the oven is devoid of food remnants. In this case, you have an option of using the self-cleaning system within your oven or using manual procedures. If your oven is fitted with a self-cleaning system, you can use a knob or button to turn it on. It is advised that you conduct the cleaning process when the oven is still hot as this will hasten the process apart from saving on energy. It is also vital that you refer to the oven's manual on how to carry out the cleaning process as it varies from one device to another. The cleaning agents can vary depending on your financial capability. For instance, you can acquire an oven cleaning agent like the one highlighted in the figure below or prepare a mixture of warm water and baking soda.

The manual cleaning process

First, ensure that the oven is turned off and that the cord is disconnected from the wall socket. Secondly, remove the racks from the oven. Dip the shelves in a bowl containing dishwashing detergent mixture. The racks should stay in the water up to four hours. The shelves should then be cleaned and the tough stains removed using a scrub. You should ensure that the scrub or brush used is nonabrasive to provide that it does not cause damage to the racks. You should then rinse the racks with clean water and leave them to dry.

While the racks are drying, you can apply a mixture of warm water and soda ash to coat the inside of the oven. This procedure will help get rid of bad odors which may accumulate during the cooking process. After that, apply vinegar to remove the excessive backing soda coating from the oven. A dry cloth can be used in ensuring that the device is sterile. Finally put back the racks and prepare the oven for next use (Gibbs, 2017).

Reference

Gibbs, D., (2017). How to Use an Electric Oven. Hunker. https://www.hunker.com/13408121/how-to-use-an-electric-oven