Everything about Oven totally explained
An
oven is an enclosed compartment for
heating,
baking or
drying. It is most commonly used in
cooking and
pottery. Two common kinds of modern ovens are gas ovens and electric ovens. Ovens used in pottery are also known as
kilns. An oven used for heating or for industrial processes is called a
furnace or
industrial oven.
History
Settlements across the
Indus Valley Civilization were the first to have an oven within each mud-brick house by
3200 BC.
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culinary historians credit the
Greeks for developing
bread baking into an art. Proper front-loaded bread ovens originated in
Ancient Greece. The Greeks created a wide variety of
doughs, loaf shapes and styles of serving
bread with other foods. Baking developed as a trade and profession as bread increasingly was prepared outside of the family home by specially trained workers to be sold to the public. This is one of the oldest forms of professional
food processing.
The Greeks also pioneered
sweetbreads,
fritters,
puddings,
cheesecakes,
pastries, and even
wedding cakes. Often prepared in symbolic shapes, these products were originally served during special occasions and ceremonies. By
300 AD, the Greeks had developed over seventy different kinds of bread.
Cooking
In cooking, the conventional oven is a
kitchen appliance and is used for
roasting and heating. Food normally cooked in this manner includes
meat,
casseroles and baked goods such as
bread,
cake and other
desserts.
In the past, cooking ovens were fueled by
wood or
coal. Modern ovens are fueled by
gas or
electricity. When an oven is contained in a complete
stove, the burners on the top of the stove may use the same or different fuel than the oven.
Ovens usually can use a variety of methods to cook. The most common may be to heat the oven from below. This is commonly used for baking and roasting. The oven may also be able to heat from the top to provide
broiling. In order to provide faster, more-even cooking,
convection ovens use a small fan to blow hot air around the cooking chamber. An oven may also provide an integrated
rotisserie.
Steam ovens introduce
water (in the form of
steam) into the cooking chamber. This can aid the formation of a crisp crust on baked goods and prevent the drying-out of fish and casseroles. The degree of humidity is usually selectable among at least several steps. Some steam ovens use water carried to the oven by the user in a container; others are permanently connected to the building
plumbing.
More modern ovens, such as
General Electric's
Trivection oven, may also provide combined thermal and
microwave cooking. This can greatly speed the cooking of certain types of food while maintaining the traditional characteristics of oven cooking such as
browning.
Ovens also vary in the way that they're controlled. The simplest ovens (for example, the
AGA cooker) may not have any controls at all; the several ovens simply run continuously at various temperatures. More-conventional ovens have a simple
thermostat: this both turns the oven on and off and selects the temperature at which it'll operate. Set to the highest setting, this may also enable the broiler element. A
timer may allow the oven to be turned on and off automatically at pre-set times. More-sophisticated ovens may have complex,
computer-based controls allowing a wide variety of operating modes and special features including the use of a
temperature probe to automatically shut the oven off when the food is completely cooked to the desired degree.
Orthodox Jews may purchase ovens whose controls include a
sabbath mode automation feature.
Some ovens provide various aids to cleaning.
Continuous cleaning ovens have the oven chamber coated with a
catalytic surface that helps break down (oxidize) food splatters and spills over time.
Self cleaning ovens use
pyrolytic decomposition (extreme heat) to oxidize dirt. Steam ovens may provide a wet-soak cycle to loosen dirt, allowing easier manual removal. In the absence of any special methods, chemical
oven cleaners are sometimes used or just old-fashioned
scrubbing.
Industrial, scientific, and artisanal use
Outside the culinary world, ovens are used for a number of purposes.
- A furnace is used either to provide heat to a building or used to melt substances such as glass or metal for further processing. A blast furnace is a particular type of furnace generally associated with metal smelting (particularly steel manufacture) using refined coke or similar hot-burning substance as a fuel, with air pumped in under pressure to increase the temperature of the fire.
- A kiln is a high-temperature oven used in ceramics and cement manufacture to convert mineral feedstock (in the form of clay or calcium or aluminum rocks) into a glassier, more solid form. In the case of ceramic kilns, a shaped clay object is the final result, while cement kilns produce a substance called clinker that's crushed to make the final cement product. (Certain types of drying ovens used in food manufacture, especially those used in malting, are also referred to as kilns.)
- An autoclave is an oven-like device with features similar to a pressure cooker that allows the heating of aqueous solutions to higher temperatures than water's boiling point in order to sterilize the contents of the autoclave.
- Industrial ovens are similar to their culinary equivalents, and are used for a number of different applications that don't require the high temperatures of a kiln or furnace.
Further Information
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