Boiling food in the oven.

Daylight goes away fast now. Not much time for things after work.

My wife wants a Mexican soup tonight. I got the soup going. Boiled, dumped out all the foamy water, refilled with boiling water from electric kettles. I had the oven preheated to 320 degrees. (I use 300 for slow braises). My new dog is energy insane. I got the soup up to a rolling boil and popped it into the oven.

Running shoes, hyper ass dog - went for a jog. No fussing with the gas burner trying to get the gentlest boil going. I just left. I run slow.

I get home and it hits me right in the face. The smell of beefy soup. I pull it out of oven and the water is gently simmering. I didn’t even stir it. Washed up, and chopped my veggies and I’m ready for the next step of the dish. Man, what a time saver! I didn’t have to mess with it at all.

I’m going to do more soups in the oven

An oven you trust is the slow cooker of those with a small appliance aversion. Goes great with a lidded, oven safe, nonstick pot. Of course, leaving it totally unattended is a judgement call, and an oven thermometer is essential here.

Also consider using it for rice pudding, mulled wine, tomato sauce, dashi stock ...

LifeByA1000Cuts said:

An oven you trust is the slow cooker of those with a small appliance aversion. Goes great with a lidded, oven safe, nonstick pot. Of course, leaving it totally unattended is a judgement call, and an oven thermometer is essential here.

Also consider using it for rice pudding, mulled wine, tomato sauce, dashi stock ...

Click to expand...

.....best way to get carmalized onions. But that pot you cannot leave unattended.

LifeByA1000Cuts said:

An oven you trust is the slow cooker of those with a small appliance aversion. Goes great with a lidded, oven safe, nonstick pot. Of course, leaving it totally unattended is a judgement call, and an oven thermometer is essential here.

Also consider using it for rice pudding, mulled wine, tomato sauce, dashi stock ...

Click to expand...

An Aga cooker is the ultimate extension of that idea. You learn to use the ovens for things formerly done on stovetop like tomato sauces, soups of all kinds, stocks, chili. Great for overnight slow cooking of pork roasts. No variation in temperature, so you adjust recipes for time instead of temp.

One (of many) drawbacks is that you can't smell anything when you forget something and it burns in the oven, because everything is piped outside!

Our next house will have a more conventional oven, but I'm going to remember how to use it as a slow cooker.

I would suspect the temperature the pot contents have when entering the oven has more relevance than the exact oven temperature, certainly with a still oven ...

LifeByA1000Cuts said:

I would suspect the temperature the pot contents have when entering the oven has more relevance than the exact oven temperature, certainly with a still oven ...

Click to expand...

I ran a probe thermometer into the pot when I was starting. Just in case. IIRC. 300 Deg gave me 180? I should go find my note pad.

You really risk boil overs, and if left long enough, evaporation/burning. Nothing is going to cook at over approx 212F (plus or minus a few factors like ingredients and altitude). At 212, the water is changing to gas, so it won't get over the boiling temp, even when the oven is higher.

Vaporizing water takes MUCH more energy than heating it to 100°C, so something like an oven, with little heat coupling, is less likely to do that compared to a stove...