eli5 Why do foods baked in an oven taste different from the same foods cooked on the stove?
In: Chemistry
Ovens create convective heat, or heating the air, to cook. Because of that, the temp can stay relatively controlled and have little moderation. Many oven recipes rely on that consistency of temp to produce the intended result, often slow browning (Maillard Reaction) for baked recipes. Secondly, unless using cast iron, most bakeware does not impart a flavor into the food (glass, silicon, parchment paper).
Stove top uses conductive heat, or heating of the material, to cook. Temperatures can have variation depending on the material and its variance of conductivity or heat transfer. Often stove top cookware can achieve higher direcrt/conductive temps in order to sear or sauté food by forcing it to brown faster. Not to say that bakeware is not as heat resistant, but because stove top uses direct flame or direct heating element in an open environment, the stove top cookware acts as a conductor of heat with much greater effect than the air surrounding the heat source. Stove top cookware may have a higher instance to impart flavor into the food as well.
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