'What's That?' Wednesday: Ovens

I'm going to talk about a 'hot' topic today...OVENS!

DUTCH OVENS:

These ovens are usually made of heavy cast iron or aluminum.  The first photo shows a dutch oven that can be used on your stove top or in your oven.  The second photo shows an outdoor dutch oven.  Most of the time they have 3 legs so they can stand over a hot fire, but this one hangs.  You can cook almost anything in these ovens!

  

MICROWAVE OVENS:

Almost every home has one of these.  They are quick and easy to use.  They're great for reheating food, cooking popcorn, making hot beverages and more.  "Microwave ovens are electrically operated ovens using high-frequency electromagnetic waves that penetrate food, causing its molecules to vibrate and generate heat within the food to cook it very quickly."

Some important tips on microwaves:

• Follow safety steps written in your instruction manual.
• Don't use it if the door does not close properly.
• Do NOT stand in front of it while it is on.
• Don't slam the door!
• Don't heat liquids up for too long.  They can 'explode' when you take them out and you can get burned.

MULTIFUNCTION OVENS:

These ovens look like normal ovens, but you can do several things at once on the same appliance.  They usually have more than 1 oven and you can set set each one at a different temperature.  This is great for cooking 2 different things at the same time that need 2 different temperatures.

BRICK OVENS:

These ovens look fun and are mostly used outdoors.  You better be patient if you cook in one of these, it takes a long time to heat up the oven, and then when it's hot, you need to let it cool down a bit so the temperature is even throughout the oven.  Some things you can cook in these ovens are:  pizza, stews, casseroles, bread, sweet tarts and pies.

  

CONVECTION OVENS:

These ovens cook with fans.  The fan blows the hot air constantly around the inside of the oven, cooking the food more evenly.  These ovens are usually more expensive than a normal oven.  They save you time and energy because they usually cook faster too.  Other benefits:  retains the flavor of your food, you can cook more at once and you can broil foods in them.  They come in counter top models, or large oven models.

PIZZA OVENS:

These ovens in the pictures below are a modern version of the old pizza ovens.  They are electric and don't need wood fires to heat them up.  Most pizza ovens were made of brick until now.

DOMESTIC OVENS:

This is your basic home oven.  It has a stove top with burners of different sizes on the top.  It's got knobs or buttons to change the temperature/time etc. and it has one or two large ovens.  The first picture is a professional model, and the second picture is your basic model...but in a pretty pink!   I'd love to combine them both and have a large professional pink oven!!

SOLAR OVENS:

These work well on sunny days.  If it's cloudy outside, maybe you should just make a sandwich.  "Solar energy is reflected into the cavity of the oven and a glass door or lid keeps the heat in allowing the temperature to rise quite rapidly." You can cook anything you can in a regular oven in these with the same cook times.  The downside...cloudy days and having to move the oven every 30 minutes to follow the sun.

 

TOASTER OVENS:

These ovens are small counter top ovens.  You can use them for toasting, cooking, baking, reheating and more.  I like to reheat pizza in our toaster oven.  It comes out a little crispy, not soggy like it would if you microwaved it.

EASY BAKE OVENS:

These are the most fun ovens to use!  The original oven came out in 1963 and used 2 100 watt candescent light bulbs to heat the food.  The newer versions have a stove top and heating elements.  I had one that looks similar to the first photo, but my Mom's looked more like the 2nd photo.
 

So, what oven do you like to use?  I like the brick ovens the best.  I'd love to cook a pizza in one of those!