Read on Twitter
Your oven is a liar! Let me explain...
When you turn the knob on you oven you’re spinning a roulette wheel. You might think it’s cooking at 400F, but this isn’t the temperature your food experiences. The *true* cooking temperature is surface temperature of the food itself.
/1
When you turn the knob on you oven you’re spinning a roulette wheel. You might think it’s cooking at 400F, but this isn’t the temperature your food experiences. The *true* cooking temperature is surface temperature of the food itself.
/1
Food is pretty much water with shit mixed in, so as it cooks it sweats just like you on a hot day. The sweating cools its surface, which means it’s cooking at some temp lower than the oven’s temp.
How much lower? Difficult to say, but *a lot* lower and it varies for reasons.
/2
How much lower? Difficult to say, but *a lot* lower and it varies for reasons.
/2
Humidity controlled ovens, like the new one from @AnovaCulinary sort of solve this problem by controlling both the oven temperature and humidity. They’re great, but I don’t have one.
/3
/3
And unless their humidity is at 100% (which stops evaporative cooling) it’s still impossible to know the true cooking from the oven’s temp alone.
Your oven *is* lying to you, and this makes it difficult to do things like low-temperature roasting in your oven (or smoker).
/4
Your oven *is* lying to you, and this makes it difficult to do things like low-temperature roasting in your oven (or smoker).
/4
But I have a simple technique that I’ve used for years to get sous vide-like precision from my oven and smokers.
Let’s call it surface-temperature cooking
/5
Let’s call it surface-temperature cooking
/5
Here’s how it works:
1) Insert a probe-style thermometer just beneath the surface of the food. Stick another into the center of the food.
2) Set your oven to ~400F and start roasting. Keep an eye on things as the surface heats up.
/6
1) Insert a probe-style thermometer just beneath the surface of the food. Stick another into the center of the food.
2) Set your oven to ~400F and start roasting. Keep an eye on things as the surface heats up.
/6
3) As the surface temp gets near the desired doneness temp, drop the oven temp to 225-250F.
4) Adjust the oven temp up or down to hold the surface at the doneness temp. As it cooks, you’ll need to drop the oven lower ever 15 min or so.
/7
4) Adjust the oven temp up or down to hold the surface at the doneness temp. As it cooks, you’ll need to drop the oven lower ever 15 min or so.
/7
5) When the core temp just about reaches the surface temperature, pull the food out.
6) Just before serving, crank the oven all the way up and then put the roast back in to sear for a few minutes.
7) Enjoy your perfect roast.
/8
6) Just before serving, crank the oven all the way up and then put the roast back in to sear for a few minutes.
7) Enjoy your perfect roast.
/8
So why bother with all this? A few reasons: it’s easy, I get a sous vide-like result with fussing with my circulator or packaging my food, I get an awesome crust on my roast beast (chicken, brisket, etc).
/9
/9
Give it a try and see what you think. Oh, and if you’re in to the how’s and why’s of cooking, please consider signing up at https://combustion.inc for infrequent emails entirely related to cooking and things that make it enjoyable.
/10
/10
I also made a short YouTube video explaining this, which you might find helpful:
/11
/11
