Why do we not cook food at hotter temperatures quicker?

Question

For example why would we cook something at 200c for 20 mins and not at 400c for 10 mins?

In: Chemistry

Answer 1

Heat takes time to transfer from the oven, to the outside of the food, and to the inside of food, and it takes time for the chemical reactions that actually cook the food to take place. Increased temperature also tends to burn food instead of just getting it nicely browned. Plus, 400°C is not actually double the heat of 200°C, but that’s not as important a factor here.

So if you took something that should be cooked for 20 minutes at 200°C and increased the temperature, you’d likely end up with a burnt outside, a cold inside, and a poor end result.