ovens

In this module, we will learn about ovens, need of ovens, history of ovens, and the principle used in ovens. We will also discuss the types of cooking and ovens. Skip to quiz!
Introduction to Ovens

An oven is a tool that exposes materials to a hot environment. The oven contains a hollow chamber and provides a means of heating the chamber in a controlled way. Ovens have been in use since ancient times in different forms and techniques.
Ovens have been used to achieve a wide variety of tasks requiring controlled heating. Ovens are of many different types like toasters, electric, and microwave ovens and are used for various purposes. Ovens differ depending on their use and based upon how they generate heat.
Cooking is a basic need of humans, and it can be achieved using various ways. Cooking requires heat to cook the food. The heat is generated from open fire cooking, gas stove, and heating elements in ovens.

Ovens are useful for a variety of cooking processes like

Baking,
Defrost,
Roasting,
Boiling, and many more.
In ovens, the food is cooked faster than the conventional methods. Modern day ovens are simple to use.

Ovens serves the purpose of:

Faster cooking,
Better cooking, and
Easier cooking
The food is cooked evenly in the oven. While in a conventional method, the surface in contact with the heat is cooked first, than the others.

For example, heating a frozen food can take approximately half an hour on a gas stove. But when we cook it in a microwave oven, the frozen food gets heated in a few minutes. Now let us look at the history of ovens.
In the early part of the 19th century, coal ovens were used. It was cylindrical and made of heavy cast iron. The gas oven was used as early as the beginning of the 19th century. Gas oven became very common household cooking method, once gas lines were easily available to homes.

Electric ovens were invented by Canadian inventor Thomas Ahearn in the late 19th century. The popularity of the electric oven was slow to pick up due to the high prices of electricity. By the 1930s, when electricity became cheaper, electric stoves started gaining popularity.

In 1946, Dr. Percy Spencer discovered the heating properties of microwaves while studying the magnetron. By 1947, the first commercial microwave was in use in Boston, Mass. More recently, ovens have become slightly more high-tech in terms of cooking strategy.

The oven is a heating device that uses radiant heat generated by various sources. Radiant heat is a mechanism for heat transfer that does not require a medium in which it propagates. Radiant heat is generated by burning coal using gas burners, electrical coils, and radiation energy.
Fo example, humans are alive because radiant heat from the sun is available in abundance. Sun’s radiant heat interacts with the Earth, driving important environmental cycles and allowing life to flourish. Cooking is done using the radiant heat available from different sources.
Electric coils are heated using electrical energy and supplied in the required amount to cook the food. There are many electrical coils available depending on the type of material used, similar to filament bulbs.
The electromagnetic radiation transfer the energy at atom levels, the exchange of heat takes place between photons. The radiation energy in the form of microwaves is suitable for cooking purposes.

Cooking is the art of making food for consumption. Cooking is done in various methods and numerous processes, but some are used regularly for daily consumption. Each of these methods

uses heat to cook foods differently.

Cooking can be of many types, but some of them are:

Baking,
Roasting,
Frying,
Grilling,
Steaming, and
Boiling.
As we are familiar with the above methods, we will look at the short description.

Baking is cooking food at lower temperatures; usually, cakes and bread are made using this process. Roasting is the process of cooking food evenly on all sides from an open flame or another heat source. It is best for cooking meat, roots, and mushroom-like vegetables.
Frying is cooking the food in an oil bath; often after, breading it, crispy food is made using this process. Broiling is the process of roasting the food from the above side, keeping the liquid as it is. Grilling is the process of cooking food, exposing directly to an open flame or coal.

Types of Ovens

Ovens are of many types, and ovens are categorized based on their:

Process,
Operation,
Heat transfer methods, and
Mounting type.
Let us see the types of the oven in each category.

Ovens based on their process are:

Earth oven,
Gas oven,
Brick oven,
Toaster oven,
Electric oven, and
Microwave oven.

Ovens based on their operation are:

Residential,
Commercial,
Industrial, and
Kiln.