Stoves OVen

Dutch ovens can be used practically on any type of cooking. May it be for baking bread or biscuits, for roasting, for steaming or boiling or even for frying, your Dutch oven can surely be a fun way to prepare your meals outdoors.

Here are some helpful tips on how to cook with your Dutch oven:

Use preheated briquettes

Always use preheated briquettes or charcoals to increase your cooking efficiency. You can do this fast and safe in a charcoal starter or “chimney” and no lighter fluid is necessary. Besides, making use of lighter fluids leaves a smell in your Dutch oven that may affect the taste of the food being prepared.

Just place your charcoals in the chimney and underneath, place 4-5 pieces of wrinkled paper. Light the paper with a match through the vent holes and in about 10 minutes, your coals are ready for use.

Watch your oven while cooking

It’s always best to check on the food once in a while. You need to do this to prevent your food from burning especially if it’s your first time to cook outside with your Dutch oven. Just always be careful when lifting your lid and a pair of leather gloves should always come in handy.

Cooking techniques

A Dutch oven lid can also be used as a skillet for frying. This is a very convenient substitute for frying pan because the food stays at the center. You will need more heat at the bottom than on top when doing so and this is also true for stewing, boiling, or simmering. For baking, more heat is needed on top while for roasting, there should be an equal amount of heat both on top and at the bottom.

Seasoning your Dutch oven

If it’s your first time to use a Dutch oven, you have to “season” or “cure” it in order to avoid rusting and to create a nonstick surface. This will make cooking and cleaning up more convenient and easier. It is also proven to add a unique flavor that you can’t achieve from using other types of cookware (See link below on A Step by Step Guide for Dutch Oven Seasoning).

Cleaning your Dutch oven

The best way to clean your Dutch oven is by heat. Just pour water in the pot and bring it boil while scraping out the oven, then rinse. You need to repeat the process until it is completely clean. It is not advised to make use of soap in a Dutch oven because the smell stays long, you might even taste it for days. Before storing, your oven needs to be completely dried to prevent it from rusting.

There is no better way to enjoy your outdoor cooking than to make use of your Dutch oven. For more cooking tips and Dutch oven recipes, please visit our website at: http://www.cooking-outdoors.com.

Cleaning ovens really needs to be split into three parts. In order of ease, they are (1) cleaning the top of a conventional stove (you know –the bit with the elements), (b) cleaning a microwave oven and (c) cleaning the inside of a conventional oven. However, for all three, baking soda is your best friend, in combination with water.

The top of a conventional oven is the easy bit. The best way to keep this clean is to wipe up spills as soon as they happen. The only “cleaning product” this needs is a bit of water. However, if you’ve spilt something right beside or onto a red-hot element, don’t try wiping it up straight away unless you want a nasty burn – best to switch on the fan to remove the ghastly burnt smell and wait until the ring has cooled down before cleaning. If you have the sort of element consisting of a coil with a sort of dish underneath, you will periodically have to clean underneath the element. This can be made a lot easier by lining the dish-type thing that usually sits in the cavity under the element with aluminium foil (this also has the advantage of making the element more efficient: the aluminium will reflect the heat back onto the bottom of the saucepan where you want it.

The rest of the top of an oven can be cleaned easily enough with the help of a bit of baking soda and a damp rag. If you have any burnt-on bits that are harder to remove, dousing them in water will soften them enough to remove. Baking soda will need to be used a bit more liberally if you need to clean off grease splatters (who didn’t put a lid over the frying pan while frying bacon???). Enjo cloths – the special green grease-removing ones – are excellent for this job, and shift stubborn old bits of grease that even baking soda won’t remove, such as the ones this writer had to deal with when cleaning up after her late and very slovenly grandmother.

You sometimes come across those stove tops that are flat and covered in a glass-cum-mica surface. This is theoretically easier to clean, but the manufacturers prefer you to use the “proper” commercial oven top cleaners and protectors, as well as a sort of scraper thing for removing burnt gunk. And it will start resembling the surface of the moon if you spill sugar onto it while making jam or toffee. If you’re stuck with one of these or if you like them, you can get away with using plain old water and/or an Enjo cloth instead of the fancy cleaning products.

The inside of a microwave oven is easier, and all you need to do is wipe it down with baking soda and a damp rag. The glass dish down the bottom can be removed and washed along with your dishes – in the sink or in the dishwasher as you prefer. To clean off really stubborn grime inside a microwave oven – and to make the inside smell nicer – put a bowl of water in the bottom of the microwave and drop half a lemon into it (or a slice of lemon, if you’re stingy like me). Zap the water for several minutes so the whole lot boils into steam. Keep the door shut and leave the steam to get to work loosening bits off. Then wipe down. Really stingy people can leave out the lemon.

Smears on the outside of the microwave can easily be cleaned off with a bit of vinegar. This is great for getting the glass gleaming.

The inside of an oven is a hell-hole and most people turn to those horrible chemical sprays when the time comes to clean inside the oven. However, it can be less of a hell-hole if you line the bottom with tinfoil to catch splatters (remove and replace the foil when it gets grubby), and if you cook wisely and cover anything that is likely to drip, splatter, spit or fizz while inside the oven. And you can clean the rest with natural cleaning products. The first natural <a rel=”nofollow” onclick=”javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview(‘/outgoing/article_exit_link’);” href=”http://www.anyclean.co.uk” title=”House Cleaning”>house cleaning</a> product to use is water – put a cake tin about one third full of water in and turn the oven on high until the water boils away. Then you get out the baking soda. Put a paste of baking soda on the walls and bottom of the oven and leave it to sit for a bit before getting scrubbing. This method requires quite a lot of elbow grease and lots of cloths, so you can probably skip going to the gym on oven-cleaning day. Enjo cloths also help.

The racks can be cleaned by smearing every rung with a paste of baking soda and water, then wrapping everything in tinfoil. Dip the wrapped and pasted racks into a bath of warm water and leave them for about ten minutes. The aluminium and baking soda will react to remove the gunk.

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With the holidays just around the corner and holiday entertaining on the front burner many homemakers are considering purchasing a wall oven. Buying a wall oven is a great space saving appliance. If you have a built in wall oven, you have space for additional cabinets all around the ovens.

Get Free: Home Oven Advice

The cabinets are usually built above the oven and all around the oven. This will give you much more storage space, than the free standing traditional oven. Wall ovens are available in different widths to fit your needs. Almost 50% of all built in ovens are double ovens. Allowing you more cooking space. Some new models come where one of the ovens are a convection oven. So give your holiday preparations a real boost with a new built in oven.

How to: Get DIY Help

First, most built in ovens have large multi-loop bake elements. The large multi-loop element in the bottom of the oven releases heat more evenly for better baking results.

Most important you want to check the oven cavity size when purchasing a wall oven. You want to make sure the oven size fits your needs. Make sure your oven has 6 to 7 positions foroven racks allowing you to cook more than one dish at a time.

Another important element to look for is the hidden bake element. This allows spills and splashes or residue from the self-cleaning cycle are easier to wipe up.

In addition. you want digital touch controls, this allows you to have more accurate temperatures and timing settings.

Most important you want the high low broil feature. You use the low broiling for thicker meats,chicken and fish to make sure it is completely cooked without searing.

Lastly, the large clear view window and oven light allows you to check the cooking process without opening the door.