Help with oven use please

[MrBee]

I did a quick search so sorry if this has been asked before.

We have an oven onboard and I have tried it a few times just to bake muffins or a cake.

It seemed to overcook to outside like what was against the pan to fast. Dark brown and would have been burnt before the inside was done. I read about adding a pizza stone and tried that.

It worked better but still not right. We leave in a week for several days and I want to roast a chicken so I need to figure this out. I have check to temps and it is not that. Since the outside gets overdone before the center does, would it help to lower the temp setting and give more time to cook or maybe raise temp and shorten time?

I'm not new to ovens at home but am new to using an lpg oven on a boat.

Thanks for any help.

Hoping for some roasted chicken and maybe a brisket with pie for dessert.

 

[Delezynski]

MrBee,

IF you are sure that the oven temp (inside) is what it should be, and you are getting over done outside and raw inside, turn the heat down, like from 350 down to 275.

Do you have an oven thermometer in there?

Greg
PS Replied in consultation with Jill!

 

[Ross]

MrBee, You are just bumbling around in the dark without an oven thermometer. My Force10 range has no thermostat just a thermometer and a continuously adjustable burner control for the oven. I have to monitor it but it works fine simply a bit primitive.

 

[Ralph Johnstone]

I have check to temps and it is not that.

Since you have checked the oven temperature and it corresponds to your desired temperature (set point), I agree with Delezynski in that turning it down 25-50 deg. will slow the cooking process and allow the heat to penetrate to the centre and cook it more completely.

I suspect the problem may be due to the gas oven behaving more like an electric oven set to convection cooking.

 

[MrBee]

Sorry about my typing. Smart phone is only as god as the user.

I have checked the temp and although the dial is a little off I have a digital thermometer that I use. One of those where I ran the probe into tue oven and have the display sitting beside it. So controling the tempurature is not the issue.

I was thinking the smaller confines of this oven versuse a home oven might make a difference.

 

[MrBee]

Thanks guys.

I'll try reducing the temps next. Guess I'll find out a week from Tuesday. Gonna put a chicken in when we leave the dock and see what happens.

I'll try to remember to report back on what happens.

 

[Delezynski]

Does the thermometer have a probe that you are using? If so, test it by measuring boiling water, 212 Deg. F.

Is the item cooked showing overdone only on one side? Like the back? If the burners are located in the back, that might be something to consider.

It can ONLY be temp.

 

[Benny17441]

I have a simple solution to your problem. Roast the chicken at home and just use the oven to heat it up before serving. You can do the same for a brisket or pies. It is not only easier to cook at home but it is simpler to refrigerate a cooked meal than raw meats and poultry. We precook most of our meals before a trip, we freeze some and just refrigerate others. We enjoy cooking but realized that the logistics of trying to prepare a full meal from scratch in the confines of the boat galley was mildly frustrating and not at all the rewarding activity that was anticipated. Simplifying the galley chores provides more time for everyone to socialize. I mean we do carry dry goods and canned meats and can cook up a meal in an emergency. Our temperatures down here are a lot warmer so running an oven inside the boat for a couple of hours just overheats the cabin. Heating time is a lot shorter so less heat and the food aroma is infused into the cabin. We started when our refrigeration consisted of an ice box and could not keep uncooked meats for long but we got used to the advantages pre-cooking provided and even now that we have refrigeration we still prefer it.

 

[MrBee]

Yes the thermometer is correct. Example is - if I make brownies All parts that touch the pan will be way overdone befor the middle is done. That seems to me to indicate to higj of heat.

As for precooking at home, I do agree sometumes. I'm on the Chesapeake bay and in summers heat we do just that. But with the temps outside like they are now I prefer to cook or bake from scratch.. I'm not talking a thanksguving dinner. Just putting some seasoning on the bird and popping it in the oven with some baked taters next to it and some carots in the bag also. Pull it out a few hours later. Easy peasy
I actually like cooking onboard.

Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[Ross]

In my Force Ten oven there is an aluminum plate over the oven burner that shielded the item cooking from the direct heat of the burner. If that is not in place then the bottom of the baking pan will get the direct heat from the burner.

 

[Ron20324]

In a smaller oven, the food is closer to the flame than at home. That's why some instructions say to not cook in a toaster oven, as the heat coils are just inches away from the food- and container. There are double-walled oven pans for exactly what you complain about. They're not "insulated" double walls, just an an air gap layer between the inner and outer layers.

 

[MrBee]

Thanks Ross and Ron.

Yes the shield over burner is in place. I did place a pizza stone in there also to insolate the bottom of the pan from some of the heat and it did help but not enough.

Ron I think you have the issue correct. I'll see if I can find a double wall pan but in the mean time I will keep temps lower and see how that works.


Thanks fellows