Reflection 7

This week I was able to research reasons why you should pre-heat the oven and the reasons actually surprised me. I was one to believe that it would be more sufficient to simply put the food or baked goods into the oven and heat it at the recommended temperature with a slightly larger amount of time to make up for the lost pre-heat time. But after researching on the internet, I came to realize that this wouldn't be the best idea. I found out that the chemical reactions that come with cooking such as caramelisation and Maillard reactions work better at higher temperatures and therefore the food will taste and look much better than if the baking started at a lower temperature. Also, the pre-heating kills off any bacteria within the oven and also, if the food baking was left in the oven for a longer time than recommended, the food would most likely be dryer and more stale than if it was placed in the oven to heat after the oven was pre-heated. Who knew? The practicality of pre-heating, everybody.