Cooking with gas oven - All 14 formats
Article by: Kimberly Guest
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Pros and cons of gas ovens

Unstable electricity supply and loadshedding have made gas appliances more attractive than ever before. However, there are a few things you should know before splashing out on a shiny new gas oven.

Gas ovens typically come in 2 varieties: convection or conventional. Convection ovens use fans to disperse the heat evenly throughout the oven. This means that regardless of where your food is placed in the oven, it will have the same results. With conventional ovens, the heat either comes from the top or bottom of the oven, resulting in layered temperatures. An advantage of this is that you can place three dishes that require different heat levels in the oven simultaneously.

But this isn’t all you need to know about gas ovens.

Pros of gas ovens

  • Tired of waiting for the oven to reach the required heat? A gas oven heats up within minutes.
  • Increasing or lowering temperatures also happens instantaneously.
  • Gas ovens are more humid resulting in tastier food and less chance of your roast or cake drying out.
  • Not only are gas ovens loadshedding proof, but they use energy more efficiently than electric ovens too, meaning lower costs.
  • Gas is far friendlier to the environment than our coal-powered electricity supply, so you’ll be doing your part for climate change.

Cons of gas ovens

  • While your food will be tastier and moist, the humidity found in gas ovens makes it harder to brown and crisp those roasts.
  • Despite the different technologies, gas ovens do tend to have hot spots, so it’s important to rotate containers.
  • Gas ovens tend to be more expensive and if you are moving from an electric oven, your installation costs will be higher.
  • Gas ovens require less maintenance, but you will need to make sure that your gas installation is checked annually for safety.
  • Talking about safety, gas is hazardous to the health and steps should definitely be put in place to ensure the health of your family. For more information, refer to our Gas safety in the home article.
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