Preheat electric ovens?

[sausage lips]

I am currently in disgreement with someone else about the nessesity of preheating an electric oven.

He says that it is not nessisary to preheat an electric oven because it takes such a short time to heat up.

I believe that it depends on what you are cooking. If you are cooking a frozen food and you put it in the oven while it is heating up it will affect the qualtiy because while the oven is heating the food will be thawing. If the food is supposed to be put into the fully heated oven while frozen then you should comply with the directions.

Does it really matter?

 

[Michael in FtW]

Your friend is wrong - follow the directions - preheat!

The directions (if they say a preheated oven) are based on how the recipe was developed and tested ... in this instance for example - cooking in an oven that is x-degrees for y-minutes. If you start with a cold oven - the time will be off. This is really crucial in baking ... but that's another story.

Not all ovens heat at the same rate (that's why you pre-heat them - kind of like bringing somethig to a boil and then reducing to a simmer before you start the timer) .... so you can't count on that. My old gas oven heated up faster than my new electric oven - my daughter's oven has a bigger element than mine and heats up faster. Without going in to test and time it - 350-450 (F) takes 10-15 minutes or longer for my oven.

So, in this round ....

Sausage Lips - 1 .... "clueless guy" - 0

 

[urmaniac13]

There are certain things that preheating doesn't matter that much, also things that it WILL matter very much.

As you said, many of the frozen foods are best cooked directly from their frozen state without thawing themselves, also if you are baking something that needs to rise, the proper temperature is absolutely crucial.

If I am baking something like lasagne, I would just put it in after a while, maybe 5 minutes or so after I turned it on, even if the temperature hasn't reached 180°C yet, but I wouldn't put anything in from the starting point (while oven is not at all heated), unless the recipe states so.

 

[skilletlicker]

Sausage lips, I agree that it depends on what you are cooking but if preheating is important I like to preheat much longer than the 10 or 15 min. it takes to attain the temperature the thermostat is set at. My oven will get to 350F in slightly under 10 minutes but if I open the door then it will drop 50 or 60 degrees quicker than I can put anything in and close the door. How long it takes to recover the temp. becomes critical with things like biscuits, cookies or bread.

I preheat for 30 or 45 minutes because I want the walls and ceiling of the oven to heat as much as possible in order to not depend exclusively on the heating element to return the air temp to max. as soon as possible. I also keep a pizza stone in the oven all the time which, I believe, prolongs the optimum preheating time but hastens the temp. recovery.

My oven takes a couple minutes to switch the oven element on after the door is opened and the temperature drops below the the temp. on the dial. I wait until the element has cycled to on before opening the door which lops 2 minutes off the recovery time.

 

[VegasDramaQueen]

When I set the temperature of the recipe to my electric oven, it preheats in a matter of 3 to 5 minutes depending on the temp. The readout and bell signal tells me when the oven is at the right temp. I always preheat - maybe just a habit.

 

[TATTRAT]

I am a preheater. Most directions will state place in preheated oven, though some things,admitadly, don't matter...but I do preheat.

 

[GB]

I am another who will say it depends on what you are cooking.

I have an electric oven, but I rarely preheat. If I am just cooking a frozen meal (prepackaged stuff from the freezer isle in the supermarket) I never preheat. At most I might add 5 minutes or so to the cooking time, but I usually find that is not necessary.

I have also found that the longer something needs to cook (things like frozen meals that is) the less the need to preheat. If something is only supposed to be in the oven for 10 minutes or so then I will preheat, but not for very long. If it is in for 30 minutes then I do not bother.

Why don't you do a test? Cook a couple of the same meals. Preheat for one and not for the other and see what you think.

 

[vagriller]

I am currently in disgreement with someone else about the nessesity of preheating an electric oven.

He says that it is not nessisary to preheat an electric oven because it takes such a short time to heat up.

I believe that it depends on what you are cooking. If you are cooking a frozen food and you put it in the oven while it is heating up it will affect the qualtiy because while the oven is heating the food will be thawing. If the food is supposed to be put into the fully heated oven while frozen then you should comply with the directions.

Does it really matter?

Are you my wife? I have the same disagreement with my wife. She thinks it's crucial to preheat the over all the way to the temp on the box when baking a frozen pizza. I don't put the pizza in cold, just when it is convenient. The over may be between 250-300.

 

[GB]

vagriller, my wife and I have the same arguem...um discussions. When making a frozen chicken pot pie she will preheat the oven for 30 minutes before cooking the thing for 45 minutes. I just pop it into a cold oven and cook for 45 minutes. They both come out exactly the same IMO.

 

[Half Baked]

Well this is interesting. I will certainly try not preheating frozen and other types of food.

My oven is so cheap (I guess) that it seems to take forever to preheat. It doen't ever heat up in 4-5 minutes.

 

[vagriller]

It's a waste of electricity to preheat in some cases. Lets all conserve people. To preheat is selfish...energy hogs!

 

[licia]

Most things that I cook in the oven says "preheat". In what instance would you not do so? except maybe toast?

 

[GB]

MMMMM energy hogs. Those are so tasty, but only if cooked in a preheated oven

 

[GB]

Most things that I cook in the oven says "preheat". In what instance would you not do so? except maybe toast?

In a lot of those cases I find that preheating is not needed. Give us an example of some of the things you are cooking where the package says to preheat and I will tell you if I follow those instructions or not.

For instance, I made my daughter some fish sticks the other day. The package said to preheat, but I did not.

I do make sure the food is under the heating element though and not super far away from it so it gets a lot of direct heat.

 

[BreezyCooking]

I have an electric oven & ALWAYS preheat it - whether baking or broiling. And I don't think the extra 3 to 10 minutes spent doing so makes anyone an "energy hog" (good grief!!) - just a good cook!! Rarely do you NOT see the phrase "preheat oven" or "preheated oven" in any recipe, & starting in a cold oven just increases your overall cooking time, sometimes adversely I would imagine.

When baking anything (& that includes anything that's frozen), I set the oven temp & my oven "beeps" when it's reached that temp, in just a few minutes. When broiling, I preheat the oven for 10 minutes so that the elements are super-hot to do what "broiling" is supposed to do - BROIL - not slowly dry out the exterior while the interior remains raw.

 

[GB]

Rarely do you NOT see the phrase "preheat oven" or "preheated oven" in any recipe

Breezy, you more than anyone should know that a recipe is just a guide. Just because every recipe says to preheat does not mean that you absolutely must.

Again it all depends on what you are cooking. Somethings do require the oven to be up to temp first, but other things it really doesn't matter and does not increase cooking times at all (usually).

 

[BreezyCooking]

GB - yes, I know full well that recipes are really just a guide, & I adapt them more to my liking than not. BUT - I don't feel that adapting a recipe has anything at all to do with whether or not one preheats their oven. Whether I change a recipe or not, I still preheat, & don't see why/how adapting a recipe has anything at all to do with that. You're talking about apples vs. oranges.

I think this is going to be one of those subjects where folks are going to just have to agree to disagree. The non-preheaters & the preheaters are never going to change their positions.

 

[GB]

All that I ask, Breezy, is that you give it a shot. I do not think this has to be one of those things were we have to agree to disagree. It is not something subjective like what type of apple is the best or something like that.

Just try it once. Take something from your freezer that says preheat and try cooking it without preheating. You may find that you are absolutely right and that it was much better when you did preheat, OR you may find that manufactures print that on the packaging more out of habit than anything else.

 

[BreezyCooking]

Agreed GB.

While I will never not preheat my oven for anything that isn't frozen, the next time I make something that's frozen, I promise to not preheat, & will report back. In fact, I just made myself a sticky note & stuck it on my fridge to that effect.

 

[GB]

Very cool Breezy and I will do the same thing, but in opposite.

That is why I love ths place so much. We are both going to try something new that we otherwise would not have. No matter what the outcome, we will have learned something.