Thursday, February 20, 2014

Convection Oven Class - Movie

(Avon Park, FL) Hi 86 Lo 64 -- We both are fighting colds so we're not getting out much except for shuffleboard and card playing.

Last week Judy, Rosemary and I went to a convection oven class in Tampa. I thought I'd pass on a little of what we learned.

The instructor is a chef with many years in the restaurant business, and he's the main chef at the restaurant at Lazy Days in Tampa, where the class was held. He was very entertaining and very informative in his presentation. He started out by saying he and his partner had the same frustrations as everyone else when trying to use a microwave/convection oven; recipes didn't come out as good as they should. After much trial and error they finally got it right.

He covered how to convert temperatures and timing for convection cooking. Here's the printed information he handed out. (Click on the photos to enlarge.)



Here are some random notes from the class:

-- Two great websites to use for recipes:

www.allrecipes.com
www.cooks.com

-- Don't be afraid to use the mix or combination settings, which use both the microwave and convection oven. There's usually a low mix and high mix.

-- To cook a 9 lb. turkey: 350 degrees for 55 min., then turn to broil for 10 min. to brown the skin. Be sure your meat thermometer reads 165 degrees when done. It will be juicy and tender with a brown skin. 

-- For a golden crust, reduce baking time and broil the remaining time to get the browning on top. 

-- It's best to use round or oval dishes rather than square or rectangular. Corel, corning ceramic are the best baking dishes. 

-- Always use a probe to test for the recommended temperature. 

Poultry is 165 degrees
Pork  is 170 degrees
Beef  is 155 degrees

-- When defrosting use precise weight of the meat that you're defrosting. (Most microwaves allow you to do this.) If it gets cooked around the edges, the weight was set incorrectly. 

Since we went to the class I've baked a cake and brownies using the new low mix setting, and broiled some pork ribs, and they all turned out great. So the class was really worth it! 

Tuesday Hank and Selene, our friends from NC arrived at the park for a five day stay. It's nice to see them again. We don't have anything planned, except some socializing. We did go out to dinner to Homer's Smorgasbord Tuesday evening.

Today Judy and I went to a mall in Lake Wales (about 23 miles up the highway from us) for a little shopping and to see the movie "Winter's Tale."


It was a very different kind of movie. Part romance and part science fiction. We both enjoyed it.

See you in three days.

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