Avoid These Common Mistakes While Using Your Oven

If you have a home oven and you cook regularly, then you know it’s easy to miss just how dirty the inside is getting. Smoke, steam, food spatter and oil pops are all contributors. However, it’s more than just a visual problem—stuck-on food debris and caked on grease not only creates unsightly messes, but can also affect the taste and smell of your food. What can you do to ensure your oven lasts a long time without problems and always produces delicious dishes? Clean it and use it correctly!

Here’s a look at five of the most common operating and cleaning mistakes that could lead to costly oven repair in St. Peters, MO:

• Food too close to heating source: Larger foods like whole turkeys, whole chickens and roast beef may not be on your daily cooking schedule. Because of this, you might forget to remove an oven rack or two to accommodate the height of the meat, and it could make contact with the heating element. But more often it’s greasy foods and cooking oils that come too close to the oven’s heat source. Since oil and fat spatter on broiler coils can start fires, cook high-moisture foods on the lowest oven rack.
• Not using baking sheets: Cookie sheets aren’t just for baked goods—they are also great at catching food drips. Place a baking sheet under dishes like casseroles, cobblers, pies and pizzas; use a baking sheet under any dish that calls for cups of liquid ingredients or includes ingredients that melt. For extra protection, place a baking sheet on the rack beneath the rack you are cooking on. If food spills, drips or spatters, clean it up as soon as the oven cools completely.
• Using wax paper in the oven: Wax paper is not heat-resistant and cannot be used like parchment paper. When exposed to high heat for a prolonged period of time, the wax on wax paper melts. This creates a horrible smell, and the paper can catch fire easily. Parchment paper can darken in the heat, but it’s oven-safe and won’t catch fire.
• Not cleaning food off the racks or door: It’s important to clean grease and small bits of food off oven racks as soon as you can. Cleaning the racks is good for your health and can help your oven last longer, not to mention your dishes will taste better. The oven door is another part that gets dirty over time. Keep it clean to be able to view your meal while it’s in progress.
• Relying only on self-cleaning: The self-cleaning feature on your oven only works well on a moderately dirty appliance. In some cases, using this function to clean away large amounts of food debris can cause your oven to start smoking. Cleaning an oven by hand is the safest and most effective method.

If you are in need of oven repair in St. Peters, MO, look no further than the experts at Crews Appliance Repair. Call today to schedule an appointment for service!

Categorised in: Oven Repair

This post was written by Writer