I have a quick rant for today that I want to get off my chest:
Where did convection ovens get their name?
By convection oven, I mean the new generation of microwaves and ovens that are fan assisted. What I don’t understand is that traditional ovens are really convection ovens. They transfer their heat via convection. Convection is the way that heat moves through liquids and gases. Basically, it is the process of hot air rising and cool air sinking. This is exactly what happens in traditional ovens without fans. Why aren’t traditional ovens called convection ovens?
Some fan assisted ovens are called by their correct name, but not all of them are.
Here are my definitions:
Convection Oven: Traditional ovens that do not use fans.
Fan-assisted Ovens: Newer ovens that are, you guessed it, fan-assisted.
Those are the only two terms that are needed. Now just go out into the world and use them correctly.
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Dictionary.com = “the transfer of heat by the circulation or movement of the heated parts of a liquid or gas.” – without a fan in your oven heat pockets build and the contents being cooked can be heated unevenly (most often as in when baking 2 sheets of cookies and the bottom rack of cookies bakes faster because it deflects the radiant heat).
A convection oven is named so because the fan artificially creates convection currents which occur more readily in liquids and/or open environments (rather than a closed stove. When boiling water in an open pot, there are strong convection currents because the water cools as it reaches the top of the pot.
I think the important part is the “circulation or movement”. My wife would be so proud of me.
haha…thanks Jason…I think we agree on this, don’t we?
Heh, no, I was making the point for convection ovens being correctly named. But now I think we’ve both spent too much time on the subject. I’m going to call them the “things that bake stuff” instead.
Yes, definitely too much time has been spent on this.
This reminds me; I always liked how brits call stoves ‘cookers’.
…which reminds me of how the old, grisly guy who made the baked beans over a campfire in every cowboy movie ever was named “Cookie”