What's the most "accurate" type of oven?

OCdude

OCdude

OCdude

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I've always had electric fan ovens.. which meant 99% of the time, I have to set the temp to about 30°C less than what 'any' recipe suggests. Also every oven i've had, has had hot spots, which meant if I was baking a cake, i'd constantly have to re-position it, so it browned evenly.

I'm about to buy a new oven and I keep hearing that gas ovens are much more "accurate" (as in, gas mark x will be the same temp, across the board - pretty much). Also I've heard they generate a more 'moist' environment and are therefore slightly better for baking.

Anyway, I'm just tired of having to constantly adjust and guess how long I should be cooking stuff for - so if a gas oven will simplify things - I think i'll go for one - anyone care to share their experiences? :p

(and before you say it: yes I know that, at the end of the day, cooking will always come down to your own judgement of how "cooked" something is - but from my experience, fan assisted electric ovens are pretty damned random!)
 
paradigm said:
Get an AGA and go to AGA cookery classes.

Cooking with an AGA is an art form :p
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Hah, i'd love to see someone get one of those up my stairs into my flat :D

Defo leaning towards gas at the moment.. the only annoying thing is, I hate gas hobs! (i'm getting a free-standing cooker, not separate hobs).

All the dual-fuel ovens seem to be electric oven with gas hobs... the exact opposite of what I want lol
 
They are electric ovens with gas hobs because that is by far the most desirable combination.

Gas hobs will heat even the most heavily warped pans evenly, quickly and controllably. Generally an electric hob is only used where mains gas is not available at the point of install for whatever reason and the customer does not want to go to the expense of re-routing and/or a tanked gas solution to facilitate this (A friend of mine runs a company involved in Kitchen design).

Electric ovens heat up faster and provide a much more uniform and controllable heat than a gas alternative. Never seen a customer order a gas oven in recent times.
 
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Gas ovens are awful for getting even and low temperature cooking. Avoid at all costs. I would suggest an AGA if no budget here, otherwise new electric oven as fan assisted you are always meant to lower the temperature that the recipe states due to them having a more even temperature control than non-fan assisted ovens where you have a larger differential in heat through the oven height. And most people do not cook in the very top bit of the oven so you would raise the temperature to compensate.

You must get gas hobs with your electric oven, they millions of times better than electric.
 
I haven't found electric ovens have provided a uniform temperature at all, if anything, it's been the exact opposite!
 
You have a bad oven then. My Stoves double electric fan oven unit is perfect, although yes i do have to set the temperature slightly lower than suggested.
 
After having a gas oven at Uni I'd happily never have to use one again. It was rubbish.
Gas hobs + electric oven for me.
 
I have a De Dietrich free standing cooker with induction hob (fantastic) and fan/no fan oven with pyroclean feature (cleans by burning off at high temp).

Expensive (~£1k) but well worth it IMO. and as you can see, I can have the fan on or off, so the best of both worlds.

The hob is something else though and I can't recommend induction highly enough.

Hope this is of use.
 
Get an oven thermometer?

But as you say it's largely down to judgement. With any oven, after a while, you get a feel for how long things should take to cook.
 
Why would anyone want electric hobs! We dont have gas where we live at the moment and I miss it. Electric is such an art form as the hobs hold the temperature for so long once you turn them down.

Cant say I've ever noticed a problem with our electric oven though. Given the choice I would go back to gas.
 
gAs ovens are horrible, slow uneven heat.

You must have had some shocking electric fan assisted ovens. They will be the most accurate it terms of heat distribution. If you do baking you should already know to buy a oven thermometer.
 
Kearney_1988 said:
Gas ovens all the way, electric just dries everything out
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Funny that - I'd have said the exact opposite. Either that or it was just the way my Grandmother made cakes (I always recall them being at least OK, then she went gas and even she would say she rarely got a good one).

Good fan oven > conventional oven > gas

(I've left AGAs out as I have no experience).

And yes, I'm not using my own experience because I'm **** at cooking most things. :o
 
Jez said:
They are electric ovens with gas hobs because that is by far the most desirable combination.

Gas hobs will heat even the most heavily warped pans evenly, quickly and controllably. Generally an electric hob is only used where mains gas is not available at the point of install for whatever reason and the customer does not want to go to the expense of re-routing and/or a tanked gas solution to facilitate this (A friend of mine runs a company involved in Kitchen design).

Electric ovens heat up faster and provide a much more uniform and controllable heat than a gas alternative. Never seen a customer order a gas oven in recent times.
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brilliant piece of info 2bh !
 
Get a proper Oven thermometer. A tv chef, think it was Jamie Oliver or Ramsay, said you cant rely on the overn thermostat.
 
Jez said:
They are electric ovens with gas hobs because that is by far the most desirable combination.

Gas hobs will heat even the most heavily warped pans evenly, quickly and controllably. Generally an electric hob is only used where mains gas is not available at the point of install for whatever reason and the customer does not want to go to the expense of re-routing and/or a tanked gas solution to facilitate this (A friend of mine runs a company involved in Kitchen design).

Electric ovens heat up faster and provide a much more uniform and controllable heat than a gas alternative. Never seen a customer order a gas oven in recent times.
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Spot on.

beh said:
Get an oven thermometer?

But as you say it's largely down to judgement. With any oven, after a while, you get a feel for how long things should take to cook.
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Quite right - Oven thermometers are very, very useful. No oven thermostat is going to be perfect and you'll be much better off with a proper thermometer.
 
OCdude said:
Hah, i'd love to see someone get one of those up my stairs into my flat :D

Defo leaning towards gas at the moment.. the only annoying thing is, I hate gas hobs! (i'm getting a free-standing cooker, not separate hobs).

All the dual-fuel ovens seem to be electric oven with gas hobs... the exact opposite of what I want lol
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Your thinking is the opposite to mine. I think a good electric oven is best and gas hobs and night and day better than electric hobs.
 
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