Most cooks know that opening the oven releases heat which slows cooking. But on cooking competition shows, many skilled chefs check their oven often, resulting in undercooked food. Do these chefs know something we don’t know, or are they actually making this rookie mistake?

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Most cooks know that opening the oven releases heat which slows cooking. But on cooking competition shows, many skilled chefs check their oven often, resulting in undercooked food. Do these chefs know something we don’t know, or are they actually making this rookie mistake?

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15 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Not an expert chef but I would say it’s not all about saving the heat like you say. Also consider that they don’t want to over cook what’s in the oven and the only way to check is to open it. So it’s a risk either way but they might still open it less than a rookie does?

Anonymous 0 Comments

Professional ovens tend to be convection ovens. They have a fan that moves the air around which prevents uneven cooking (hot and cold apots) and will bring it up to temperature faster.

Standard home ovens have radiant heat, which will take longer to get back up to temp once it has dropped from the door being opened a lot.

Anonymous 0 Comments

On cooking competition shows, there’s some range of cutting and editing going on depending on the show. If your only comparison is shows, you’re probably overestimating how often their ovens are being opened.

Anonymous 0 Comments

They are used to commercial kitchen where the oven is being opened and closed all most constantly, so the temp is set much higher.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Does that really result in undercooked food? It seems to me that undercooked food would only happen if the chef checked the food, found it to be undercooked, and then *removed it from the oven prematurely*.

Anonymous 0 Comments

One, on a cooking show, your audience doesn’t eat the food, they see it. Likewise, in competitions, your food has to be as perfect as you can possibly get it. Losing a little heat and upping the cook time a bit is a small price to pay for knowing the exact status of your food. You lose drastically more time by having to redo it if you burn it, and being able to see exactly how it looks allows you to know exactly when to take it out.

Two, those ovens are mad good. Your glorified toaster doesn’t even begin to compare. These ovens cost thousands, sometimes tens of thousands, of dollars. They heat up far more efficiently than what you’re used to, and reheat faster after they’re opened.

Three, anxiety. In competitions, the *only* thing you’re doing is cooking, and there’s money on the line, so it’s stressful. Especially in baking shows, there’s a lot of downtime while stuff is in the oven, so they’re sitting there stewing in their own stress while they wait. Opening the oven to check your food is similar to checking the clock when you’re almost off work, or peeking out the window when you’re expecting someone to come over. It’s just a tic, and a way to distract yourself from the stress.

Anonymous 0 Comments

The oven door opening is more disruptive when baking a cake (which likes consistent convention heat) compared to baked potatoes under the broiler or something.

I think being on camera makes a lot of people nervous too.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Expert chefs are not following the directions on the box. I’m assuming you think they are gonna pull that food out at 20 min on the dot when the bell rings on their timer or some shit

Anonymous 0 Comments

If you’ve made the same recipe a thousand times using the same equipment, it’s probably safe to go by a time measurement. Chefs on cooking shows are using ovens they’ve never used before, so they don’t know the irregularities of their equipment. The only way to know if something is done is with a thermometer or by looking at it. A measurement of time is not useful on equipment you haven’t used.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Professional working chef here. You can open an oven when something is cooking often depending on what oven you have. Most ovens in professional kitchens have multiple fans or an advance heating method as opposed to what most people have at home with just a raw heating element. It heats up really fast so opening it and checking to see what your food looks like won’t really drop the temp that much. Overcrowding the oven will mess with the heat source more than opening it a lot.