Calibrating Your Oven

I was just reading in another thread about how your oven could be 75F or more off and still be considered acceptable by industry standards. When it comes to seasoning, that could make the difference between successful polymerization or not, I'm sure.

Of course you could use one of those cheap oven thermometers, but I doubt they are any more reliable than the thermostat. So I resorted to good old Google, where I found this

How to Test Your Oven Temperature Without a Thermometer

To test if your oven is running cold:.
Preheat oven to 375°. (186° C.).
Place a small amount of granulated sugar in an oven-proof dish or on a cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil.
Place in oven for 15 minutes.
If your oven is calibrated correctly, the sugar will melt.
If your oven is running cold, the sugar will not melt.
To test if your oven is running hot:.
Preheat oven to 350°. (177° C.).
Follow the same procedure as above.
If your oven is calibrated correctly, the sugar will not melt (although it may brown a little).
If your oven is running hot, the sugar will melt.
Note: ovens do not maintain a constant temperature, but cycle above and below it, so it is possible that the sugar may melt at 350° if your oven is correctly calibrated but has an extreme cycle (15° F, 8° C.).


Another way to check oven temp is to simply boil water. Put a couple of cups of water in an oven proof pan and set the oven temp to 200F or 90C, the water shouldn't boil no matter how long you leave it in the oven. Set the temp to 225F or 110C. Eventually, the water should boil.

---------- Post added at 12:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:26 AM ----------

Of course, there's always this: http://www.harborfreight.com/infrared-thermometer-93984.html

(just picked one up)

http://www.harborfreight.com/media/...b33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/i/m/image_15154.jpg
 
The canola oil smoke point of 400° F is pretty reliable too. And you get an extra coat of seasoning! That is my stovetop gauge to tell me when the skillet is ready for the steak.

Hilditch
 
The canola oil smoke point of 400° F is pretty reliable too. And you get an extra coat of seasoning! That is my stovetop gauge to tell me when the skillet is ready for the steak.

Hilditch

Good point, Hilditch. Hard to know, though, when a skillet in your oven is smoking though, isn't it? Sounds as though you're talking about on the stovetop?
 
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