19
Oven Cookery Notes
The charts on page 20 are a guide only, giving approximate cooking temperatures
and times. To suit personal taste and requirements, it may be necessary to increase
or decrease temperatures by 1 gas mark. If large quantities are being cooked it will
be necessary to increase the cooking time somewhat to compensate for the extra
oven load.
It should be noted that at the end of a cooking period there may be a momentary
puff of steam when the oven door is opened, this will disperse in a few seconds and
is a perfectly normal characteristic of an oven with a good door seal.
Oven Utensils
To ensure even circulation do not use meat pans larger than
390 x 300mm (15ins x 12ins) and baking trays no larger than 330 x 255mm
(13ins x 10ins), these should be positioned centrally on the oven shelf.
Important:
Food or cooking utensils should not be placed on the floor of the oven.
To prepare Meat and Poultry for Roasting in your Oven
(a
)
Wipe the meat or poultry, dry well and weigh it. Meat which has for been stored
in a refrigerator should be allowed to come to room temperature before
cooking, and frozen meat or poultry must be completely defrosted before
placing in the oven.
(b) The weight of any stuffing used should be added before calculating the cooking
time.
(c) Place meat/poultry in the main oven meat pan supplied with your cooker. Small
joints weighing less than 1.75kg (31/2 lbs) should be roasted in a smaller meat
pan/tin – or they may be ‘pot roasted’ – a small joint or a large meat pan
causes unnecessary oven splashing and evaporation of meat juices.
(d) Additional fat should not be added, except for veal, very lean meat or poultry
which can either be ‘larded’ with fat bacon or brushed very sparingly with
cooking oil or melted fat.
(e) Beef, lamb, mutton and poultry may be dusted lightly with seasoned flour to give
a crisp outer surface. The skin of duck and goose should be pricked to release
excess fat during cooking, and the rind of pork should be scored, brushed
lightly with oil, and rubbed with salt to give crisp crackling.
(f) Meat and poultry wrapped in, or covered with a tent of aluminium foil will be juicy
and tender. Roasting bags offer the same advantages. Always follow the
manufacturer’s pack instructions
.
(g)
Potatoes for roasting only require to be brushed with cooking oil or melted fat.
