Every kitchen has an oven, but not all ovens are created equal. That’s because there are gas convection ovens and gas ovens out there, and they are designed with their unique features. With this article, we are shedding light on the differences between these two types of the oven!
Gas Convection Oven vs Oven
Gas Convection Oven
In the most simpler words, gas convection ovens are designed with an exhaust system and a fan that your regular oven doesn’t have. The combination of exhaust and fan allows proper blowing and flow of the hot air around and all over the food. Then, these components also vent out the hot air. That being said, the gas convection oven ensures quick-cooking, and the food is always evenly cooked. Everyone loves having a gas convection oven because it cooks really faster.
In fact, the food is cooked 25% quicker as compared to conventional ovens. In addition, it’s common for regular ovens to leave hot and cold spots, depending on the placement of the heating element. However, since the convection oven has a fan, it circulates the air to ensure the air is properly circulated around to cook food. In addition, the gas convection oven develops a dry yet hot atmosphere which ensures proper browning of food and helps caramelize the sugar during roasting.
For this reason, gas convection ovens are perfect for baking and roasting veggies and meats to ensure they come out brown without taking away the moisture from the interior part. In addition to this, gas convection ovens work at a lower temperature, which makes them energy efficient. For this reason, these food items will have a caramelized exterior and crispy skin. In addition, it creates steam quickly and melts fat, which makes them suitable for baking croissants and pies.
Gas convection ovens allow the users to bake more cookies at home. This is because you can cook an entire tray of cookies, and you won’t even have to rotate them since the air blows all around. Not to forget, it is a suitable choice for dehydrating the food and toasting it. On the other hand, it cannot be used for delicate food items because it can result in non-smooth and lopsided food. For this reason, gas convection ovens aren’t suggested for making soufflé, cake, custard, bread, and flans.
Gas Oven
These are our regular ovens that have been around since the 19th century and are still being used all over the world (for a reason, of course). The gas ovens are cheap to purchase, which makes them suitable for people who have a low budget but want an oven. The gas ovens are designed with oven burners, spark generators, thermocouples, and a thermostat. As far as functionality is concerned, it cooks food through a gas-fuelled burner. For this reason, the natural gas supply is needed.
When the burners receive the gas, it will be ignited by the spark generator, and the burners will be lit up. It has a thermostat that is responsible for measuring and regulating the heat to ensure the oven keeps cooking at the same temperature without making the oven too hot. The gas ovens are designed to use fuel directly, which means they will heat up pretty quickly. However, with gravity, the hot air will rise while cold air will fall, resulting in uneven distribution of heat.
As a result, the food turns out to have cold spots and hot spots. In addition, when the heat is not properly distributed, you will need to open the oven door, again and again, to rotate the dishes, leading to a loss of temperature and energy. As a result, the gas oven will create heat from scratch, using more fuel and increasing the gas bills.
Moreover, the gas oven is designed to create a humid environment within the oven, which means it won’t turn our crispy and caramelized. On the other hand, they are perfect for baking bread, custard, and all other products that you cannot bake in the convection oven. To summarize, using the gas oven and yielding the right results will require some experience.
The Bottom Line
To summarize, choosing between a gas convection oven vs. a gas oven depends on what you need to cook and what you can afford. This is because conventional gas ovens are affordable which convection ovens can be expensive. So, think about the pros and cons to find the right choice!