You need to buy an oven thermometer now

And it will change the way you look at your oven

A few reasons that you need an oven thermometer:

Calibration of ovens wears off

Ovens are calibrated before they leave the factory, so yours will most likely be very accurate if you happen to have the money for a brand new one. But that wears off over time. Where it may have actually been 350°f when you set it for that in the beginning, a year later it could be off by 10 degrees and even more so the older it gets.

Wear and tear

So over time, all ovens become less accurate with their preheating settings. Whether its electric or gas. Carbon build up can effect the accuracy of the preheating sensors. And in the case of gas, the regulators simply go bad over time. I recently came across this while at work. A wok burner’s regulator went bad and the pilot wouldn’t light so i left it to check it the next morning. But when we turned it on, it was at full blast with a nice 3 foot tall flame expelling like the afterburner of a jet engine.

Accuracy

Ovens can often be inaccurate which can really hurt your cooking and baking in the long run. Temperatures are a vital thing to keep track of when cooking. It can be very dangerous to eat undercooked food. And overcooked food can create bitter, burnt, with unpleasant flavors.

Uneven heat distribution

When cooking a roast or a sheet tray of baked goods, even heating is key. In most ovens there are hot and cold spots. This can effect your end product in unwanted ways. We all want our cookies to come out the same way every time. You can find these spots by putting a thermometer in your oven and moving it around to find them. Once found and you understand your oven you can find out the best ways to place your baking sheet, rotate your trays or flip your food during the cooking process.

Built in thermometers are often inaccurate

This comes back to the calibration again. At one point in time it was probably very accurate. But when you add a few years onto anything and it just doesn’t work the way it used to. Getting a Taylor brand oven thermometer cost only about $8 and are easily replaceable. So why wouldn’t you get one? I can’t think of a single reason.

Lets you know when to start cooking

Another issue in the case of your average oven is that it may say that it has preheated when it has really only just made it to 350°f. This was something that my mom had brought to my attention because her oven does exactly that. She knows this because she has a thermometer in her oven. If you do not have one, then you could be dealing with undercooking and confusion while cooking.

Here’s a simple way to figure out if your oven has hot spots or if it is accurate at all

• Step one: place the oven thermometer as close to the center as possible
• Step two: preheat the oven to 350°f (176°c) for 20 minutes
• Step three: check the temperature on the thermometer after preheating is done
• Step four: check once more after another 20 minutes to see if there has been a change
• Step five: once the temperature has leveled out, using a heat resistant cloth try moving the thermometer to different parts of the oven and waiting 20 minutes to see if there is a temperature change

This knowledge will make your cooking and baking experience endlessly better. Investing in an oven thermometer, which there are really cheap and good options out there, can really save lots of hassle in the end.