A Note on Ovens

A NOTE ON OVENS

Every oven is different. I was fascinated to learn that top oven manufacturers employ home economists to bake a tray of equally measured, standard British fairy cakes in their prototype ovens, to check for hot and cold spots depending on which cakes brown more, and then adjust the ovens accordingly to provide an even heat. (Sadly, I’ve never met one of these evenly browning ovens in real life, please advise if you have.) Cheffy types often use oven thermometers, which sit in your oven to tell you the exact temperature on the inside, which is almost always different from the temperature to which you turn the dial on the outside. (The oven in my mother’s kitchen runs 10–20°C hotter than mine, so we often reduce either the temperature or the cooking time. The one at my sister’s flat runs 10–20°C colder, so she usually adds 5–10 minutes to the cooking time.)

If you have an oven thermometer, by all means use it. But I don’t think it’s necessary to get too science-ey with roasting tin dinners. If you’re already familiar with your oven, you may instinctively know to turn the dial up or down a bit more to allow for its foibles. If you’re not a habitual oven user, it’s easy enough to pick a simple recipe (cakes are good as it is very easy to objectively see how cooked they are within an allotted time), make a note of the results, then the next time adjust the temperature or cooking time up or down as needed.

All the recipes in my three Roasting Tin books have been tested for oven timings in my oven at home, many in my mother’s kitchen, a good proportion at friend’s houses, an endearing number by the team at VINTAGE books and all of them in the oven where we shot the photographs you see in the book. If you find that the recipes consistently cook in more or less time in your oven, consider that it may be the oven and adjust the temperature or the timings as needed.