wrote on 02 Oct 2006 in rec.food.cooking
> On 2 Oct 2006 02:45:03 -0700, wrote:
>
> > (especially
> >chicken, which doesn't brown nicely but comes out pale and dry). It
> >doesn't seem to matter how much I baste something beforehand, or even
> >during cooking, it just seems to dry out very quickly. I don't know
> >exactly whether this is to do with a "dry heat" or whether this is to
> >do with the way the fan blows the air over the food. From personal
> >experience, I would say there *does* feel like there is more moisture
> >in the air when you open the door to a gas oven.
>
> Oh, my goodness... you have to be over cooking your chicken on too low
> heat. Dry chicken is never an issue for me. I just throw my chicken
> into a hot oven (400+) on a vertical roaster. I don't even bother to
> baste it with anything. I cook it until the skin is brown and crispy.
> The meat (including white meat) is *always* juicy.
>
I find my electric stove's convection oven cooks meats, especially
chicken, very juicy and makes for a golden crisper skin. More juicy than
my regular electric oven ever used too. I mostly cook spatchcocked or
butterflied chickens, as they cook quicker that way. I cook mine on
convection roundabout 400F. I too believe your oven is cooking too slow,
so check out the oven's temperature settings or crank up the dial.
I've never owned a gas stove, but I am quite famillar with other gas
applliances and my father used to work at the gas works. If there was
enough moisture to effect the humidity coming out of your oven; your food
wouldn't be palatible due to the odorant that makes gas smell. That
odorant would make the foodstuffs smell and taste very bad indeed. This
odorant, as you know if you've ever smelled gas, is quite strong in smell
and very dissolvible in water. In fact your whole house would smell
badly due to this chemical escaping thru the ovens heat vent and
permiating the air.
My father's coats had to be kept in the garage, as just walking past the
building where ordorant was added, gave his coats quite a pong. This bad
smell has to be added to gas by law, as under normal conditions natural
gas has no ordour.