"oven" news and stories

In honor of my oven-baked latkes, I decided to opt for a more health-conscious choice for the Cookbook of the Day today with Fry Light, Fry Right: Fried-Food Flavor Without Deep Frying because you don't have to eat a ton of oil just to enjoy the flavor of fried foods (or to celebrate oil, since today is the first day of Hanukkah).

Despite the holiday reference, this is not a Hanukkah oriented book. In fact, it's more about all-American fried foods of the variety that you'll find on hundreds of menus and in bakeries across the country, including things like Mozzarella Sticks, Coconut Shrimp, Chicken Fried Steak and Chocolate Devil's Food Donuts, among its 120 recipes. Each one is simple and all you really need to know how to do is work an oven to turn out impressive (and healthy) results. With only some heat and a little bit of oil, included primarily to prevent sticking and encourage browning, you should be able to obtain crisp exteriors and tender interiors on everything you make - just like deep fried foods, only there won't be as much fat to cover up the base flavors.

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Hanukkah is known as the "festival of lights" and is a holiday in which oil has a special meaning. To put it very, very briefly, Hanukkah celebrates a miraculous occurrence where one night's worth of oil burned for eight. There is a lot of oil used in foods that are served for this holiday and much of it is used for frying. The two most well-know Hanukkah staples are sufganiyah (jelly-filled donuts) and latkes, or potato pancakes. As good as these two foods are, health-conscious holiday revelers don't always want to completely blow their diet with a meal of entirely fried foods, nor do they want to restrict themselves to only a few bites of this holiday favorite.

This is a pie that should have been part of our nut themed day yesterday. It is also a pie that should be a hit with math-lovers, food hackers and anyone who really likes pie. This is a fractal pecan pie.

A fractal is a recursive, self-similar geometric object that continuously reproduces into proportionally smaller shapes. This particular one is based on the Koch snowflake, which is made up of triangles. To put this all into layman's terms, these guys made a giant pecan pie that used the same amount of filling that would ordinarily be found in 21 normal-sized pecan pies. The ratio of crust to filling was the same as a standard pie, so the baking time was only a bit longer than average, despite the fact that it had to be done in a custom-built, propane-powered oven. Just make sure that you have enough volunteers to help you eat all the pie (and construct the tin and oven) before baking!

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Should a holiday turkey be roasted for a longer time at a lower temperature or for a shorter time at a higher one? According to Robert L. Wolke , author of What Einstein Told His Cook 2, the Sequel: Further Adventures in Kitchen Science, one method isn't necessarily better, although the method of using a higher temperature is quite popular at the moment.

A turkey needs to reach an internal temperature of 165F in the thigh meat before it can be considered done. To achieve this, the bird must be cooked at a temperature greater than 165F for long enough to cook it through. The lower the temperature, the longer the time. A common temperature is about 325F, which results in a time of "about 20 minutes per pound." By increasing the temperature to 475F, roasting might take only 2 hours. Time, clearly, is a factor in choosing the latter method. Other advantages include getting a crisper skin and, according to many proponents of the faster method, a moister bird. In the end, it's a flavor and time preference as long as you check the meat with a thermometer to ensure that it really is done.

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The USDA has some comprehensive food safety guidelines to help you cook your Thanksgiving turkey. While some cookbooks, and probably some chefs, might tell you that cooking times and temperatures should be changed to produce a moister bird, at least you'll get a safe bird from using the USDA's guide. First things first, you need to completely defrost your turkey before beginning. Keep the turkey in its original wrapper as it thaws and try to keep it as cool as possible. It should either be defrosted by being submerged in cold water or on a tray in the refrigerator.

Frozen turkey thawing timetable
Weight In refrigerator In cold water
4 to 12 pounds 1 to 3 days 2 to 6 hours
12 to 16 pounds 3 to 4 days 6 to 8 hours
16 to 20 pounds 4 to 5 days 8 to 10 hours
20 to 24 pounds 5 to 6 days 10 to 12 hours

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