Ask Mike: The secret life of ovens
Hey Guys,
Contrary to what my mom says to disinterested strangers, I’m not perfect. Among my many faults is an astounding level of ignorance when it comes to cooking and cleaning. So it was with great confusion that I read a member’s question about using a self-cleaning oven. Ovens that clean themselves? Why was I not notified?
The asker explains that he/she has a self-cleaning oven but has no idea how it works. The answer is heat. The oven simply “uses extremely high temperatures to burn away deposits left from cooking.” How high? Apparently, self-cleaning ovens can reach a temperature of 900 degrees Fahrenheit. Fortunately, according to WiseGeek, most ovens have safety measures that prevent anyone from opening the oven door while it’s cleaning.
The do-it-yourselfers at eHow offer some surprisingly detailed instructions on how to use a self-cleaning oven. Folks should be sure to remove the oven racks and clean out any obvious food debris before starting. Even the fanciest self-cleaner won’t work too well if you have a huge piece of chicken resting at the bottom of the oven.
Also, while self-cleaning ovens have tremendous insulation, HowStuffWorks explains that it “is a good idea to remove any pets from the area when running the oven’s self-cleaning cycle.” According to the site, there have been reports of “oven-heated Teflon-coated items releasing odorless fumes deadly to birds.”
If you’re not blessed with a self-cleaning oven, Acme How To offers helpful tips on cleaning ovens the old fashioned way. And, even if you use a self-cleaning oven, keep in mind that you’ll need to wipe out the ash once its been burnt to a crisp.
Do you have appliances with features that you don’t understand? It’s OK–you can admit it. I’ll start: I’m perpetually amazed when my microwave automatically detects how long to cook the popcorn. My eternal gratitude to anyone who can explain this (with links) in the comments below.
Thanks for reading,
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That would make me nervous to think I had an oven that was going to that temp.(900 degrees). I like the ol’ fashion way. Get my husband to clean the oven with oven cleaners and/or brillo. He does the best he can and what he can’t get off he just leaves it because, after all, the temps ovens get cooking with them could burn off some of the slop. It burns food if you leave it in too long, why not the other stuff? The splattered stuff is baked on so why torture yourself trying to get it off because one wants it to look like it did when it was new. If you ask me we should all have those brick ovens that you see in the old movies that were built in the walls that people baked bread in.
Actually, you’ll use less elbow grease on a non-self-cleaning oven if you take the baking soda and water mixture (mentioned on Acme How To) smear it all over the oven, then let it sit overnight with wet paper towels over the top. The grease seems attracted to the baking soda. You’ll still need to scrub, but it does come off a whole lot easier.
If you line the bottom of your oven with aluminum foil you won’t have to clean nearly so often. Self cleaning ovens use a tremendous amount of power. The sprays use loads of chemicals. Prevention is the key here.
I rarely use the self-cleaning feature because of the enormous energy consumption of the feature.
I’m of the generation that, in days past, regularly defrosted my freezer to keep the build-up of frost from taking over and crowding out the frozen items. We’ve got a “frost free” model purchased about 10 years ago. Yesterday I cleaned out my freezer, just to clean it. There was no frost at all. What did the designers change?
definitionof a “lives” usually a breathing and thinking human being. not for inanimate objects.
Although I see you have the knowledge and ability to acess the internet and use google, I have searched the criteria myself to explain how a “microwave automatically detects how long to cook the popcorn.” This ability in microwave ovens is acquired from the key component of a “sensor cook” which you find in ovens.
As amana.com explains “A sensor in the microwave oven detects humidity released from
the food and automatically sets a cooking time based on the selected pad”. The site goes on to list a set of food items beyond popcorn which can be detected and cooked with the sensor button.
If your microwave has sensor cook you will often see a button with a title similar to that, if not I would refer to your manual and look for the component. I also found the following how to use sensor cook, but again I would refer to your manual to see what foods would be safe for you microwave oven to use sensor cook.
“To Use SENSOR COOK:
1. Place food on the turntable, and close the door.
2. Touch SENSOR COOK until the desired food type is
displayed.
The microwave oven will automatically turn on after a brief
delay.
When the cycle ends, “END” will appear in the display, and
the end-of-cycle tones will sound.
3. Touch OFF/CANCEL or open the door to clear the display.”
I use the self clean cycle only when I am going to be out of the house, becasue it STINKS! I start it before I leave. It takes about three hours, and it shuts off automatically, releasing the lock when it’s done..
I have a self cleaning oven and I many never use that feature again. It made my entire house way too hot. I stopped it before it ended. I had to open some windows (in winter). My hubby and son were upstairs sweating!
Recently I baked an apple pie that threw up all over the bottom of my oven and I have a self cleaner. It made such a burned on mess there was no way I could just let it self clean it would have turned my apartment into a smoke bomb. My shark steam cleaner came to the resecuse it steamed off all the new and old gunk so fast I don’t think I’ll even bother wtih the stinky self cleaning mode again.
I actually have a new wall oven that heats so high, that when a fire started inside(the new broiler was lower in the ceiling than the old one & I failed to notice it) the oven door refused to open. Yeah, it was not fun seeing flames coming out of the wall & I called my FD. It was a “safety feature” not mentioned in the manual & their hotline was all automated–no real people to answer my Q’s of help. After leaving numerous messages with the company, someone did get back to me to let me know about this wonderful feature. It only confirmed my doubts as to ever having another wall oven again. The FD guys were good sports as this was the 2nd wall oven fire I’d had & same crew responded. First fire was oven just got old(came w/the house)and chose my steak as its breaking point…2nd fire was my carelessness in not noticing the broiler being lower in the oven. I’ve proven my point to hubby, next oven is a regular one.
who knew you were supposed to clean the oven? i’ve been married (and using my own oven regularly for almost 9 years)……yesterday, ironically, was the first time i took a brillo pad to the inside. it did little to help make it look pretty. i suppose i will have to wait till my child is born and then use those AWFUL cleaners and leave the house with my loved ones, all so people won’t give me the stink eye when i open my oven.
just out of curiousity, are we suppose to be cleaning bbq’s too? lol.
Actually all of this advice should be completely ignored. Ovens should NEVER be cleaned. Over the years, the build-up adds a highly efficient extra layer of insulation that at the same time adds a wonderful extra robust smokey flavor to your foods, much like the drippings in your backyard grill. The ONLY time you should remove any of this precious material is if it builds up to the point where the inside of your oven becomes too small to get your food in.
what would happen if that thing blew up?! it could, couldn’t it?
some times i have a hard time figuring out the microwave,i usually just push the popcorn time on everything i cook
the popcorn is probably done with a humidity sensor although I have heard of special popcorn sensors that use a microphone to listen for the pops and stop the microwave when they start slowing down.
Also, you might want to look up the real meaning of ‘disinterested’
Only comment I can make is, they need to make cleaning regular ones easier to get into.
Like removable door, or one that will only fold down out of the way when it’s cold.
By now they could have made some easier way to clean it!!
“A “sensor” popcorn button will shut the oven off as soon as it senses a certain level of humidity, indicating the popcorn is fully popped.”
http://aginfo.psu.edu/Psa/fw98/food.html
While browsing for the answer I saw a patent for an audio sensor which would listen for when the popcorn stopped “popping” which I thought was pretty nifty.
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/4952766.html
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/5693247.html
my wife loves this feature in her oven,i asked her if the self cleaning oven thing works and she was happy answering me: yeah!!!,it saves a lot of work in at family like ours where her and i have to work in multiple schedules.
what a question is that, everyboby have to clean oven, we don’t have magic to do that, that’s my best answer
We don’t clean our oven on the inside at all unless something is smoking or burning on the floor of the oven lol I would never buy a self cleaning oven. I just don’t think if I had to clean it, that it would consume so much of my time that i would need it to clean itself?? lol
Bruce, you probably meant disinterested in the traditional sense; there’s a modern usage of the term that Mike is using which is actually correct (”lack of interest,” “having lost interest”). (Dictionary.com)
Hmm…I’m with those people who say “You’re supposed to clean your oven???” Really, I didn’t know you were supposed to, but my culinary skills are highly lacking.