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?

Question

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?

In: Other

Answer 1

It depends what you’re cooking. Something like a soufflé or a puff pastry of any kind you do not touch. Just time it out.

Now, if you’re cooking a turkey, you need to open the oven every 20 minutes to baste for what could be 4 hours of total cook time. The thermal mass keeps the oven from getting too cool. The food will still come out the correct temp. Nothing will be undercooked unless you pull too soon. Braised short ribs need a bit of fussing too sometimes. My recipe only needs one fussing but my wife’s needs 3 fussings.

Bread, you usually don’t have to check on. Just use time and check when you pull it.

In the end, open the oven if you need to, but if it’s something that is baked based purely on time, don’t. Once you know your oven, you can adjust times accordingly.