A reader asked what is best for baking, a gas convection oven or an electric oven so I asked Chef Leslie Bilderback, a certified master baker what she thought.  As you will see from her anwer, it’s not about gas or eclectic but more about convection or non-convection. I have a 6-burner gas stovetop but the attached oven is electric where Chef Bilderback has a gas stovetop and oven.

So here is Judy’s Ask A Chef Question and Chef Bilderback’s answer. By the way, you really want to read my Novice to Pro Interview with Chef Leslie and if you are thinking of going to culinary school, you definitely want to read her book, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Success as a Chef.

Judy asks, “Would you please inform me if a gas convection oven is better to bake cakes, cookies, etc than an electric oven. I am ready to purchase a gas convection oven to bake with. Thanks

Chef Leslie Bilderback replys,

“In my opinion, convection  ovens are only useful if the fan can be disabled.  The fan makes it hotter, which is useful when you want to cook something faster.  This works for cookies, biscuits, muffins, puff pastry, and other laminates, and small stuff.  Larger items will brown on the outside, and look done, before they are done on the inside.  This is terrible for large loaves of bread, pound cakes, white meringues, or anything that’s delicate, like custards.
 
Gas or electric is not an issue for me in terms of ovens, but I must have a gas stove, and the oven is attached, so that’s what I have.   
 
If you can disable the fan, then go for it.  Otherwise, stick with a conventional oven.  
 
FYI, convection ovens were developed for restaurants to speed things along.  The fan was supposed to circulate air so that things brown evenly.  Unfortunately, it didn’t work.  Things still brown unevenly with the fan.  It is always necessary to rotate pans throughout baking. 
 
One more note…Don’t be in such a hurry… stop and smell the rosemary!  Some of my most enjoyable kitchen experiences happen while waiting for things to be done!

Desperate to Deep Fry

When I received this question from Brenda who was having trouble frying chicken tenders for her kids, I asked a few my chef friends who brilliantly responded with ideas and suggestions.

Brenda wrote, “I need some pointers on frying…I’ve been cooking for years and just recently I’ve been having problems with the grease foaming up when I deep fry meats.

I’m using Canola Oil…and a wok. I flour and season the chicken, dip it in egg, then into Japanese breadcrumbs, then put it right into the hot oil. All of a sudden, it foams up and wants to over flow!!!

This has never happened before and nothing has changed, I’ve been doing it this way for years.  HELP!  I’m getting to the point where I don’t want to deep-fry anything anymore!

My kids MISS my Chicken Tenders and I know they’re much healthier than the ones in restaurants and would like to make them again…but I’m “reluctant”.

HELP ME OUT PLEASE!!!  
Desperate To Deep Fry, VA.
 

THE ART OF FRYING

Moisture 

One thing all the chefs agree on is water and oil do not play well together. Chef Alan says, “All foods contain moisture and water will react violently with hot oil, even in small amounts.”

One thing all the chefs agree on is water and oil do not play well together. Chef Alan says, “All foods contain moisture and water will react violently with hot oil, even in small amounts.”Chef Ricco points out a little more dramatically, “Hot oil or for that matter cold oil and water don’t mix, but hot oil and water, Danger, Danger Will Robinson. “ (a quote from a popular TV show when I was a kid, Lost In Space - rg)

Keeping It Dry Suggestions

It is important to ensure that your food is as dry as possible” says Chef Alan “and this can be achieved by patting your chicken tenderloins dry with a paper towel.  In addition, try to let as much excess egg drain off of your chicken before breading it. You only need a small amount on the surface to adhere the bread crumbs to.” 

Chef Garrett suggests, building a little rack for the chicken tenders and letting them dry for 20 to 30 minutes before frying them.

Keep an Eye On Your Temperature

The chefs agree the type of oil you are frying with and the temperature is critical to successful frying. Although Canola is fine to cook with, it has a very high smoking point of 400 degrees F.  This just means it takes more heat to get it hot enough to fry something. Alternatives are sunflower, safflower & peanut with lower smoking points.

Chef Alan says, “for frying purposes, you don’t need a temperature above 350 degrees F. or so…  at a higher temperature, the oil will be more reactive (to water) and also, an un-necessarily hot pot of oil is a safety concern.”  - 
Chef Ricco also thinks Brenda’s oil may have been old and “one thing for sure, used oil that is already broken down, isn’t any good. “

Consider the Level of Oil You Are Using

If there is too much oil in the pan and you start adding ingredients, the oil level is going even higher. If the ingredient has any moisture in it at all, you are going to have foaming over.

Chef Alan says, “It should never be more than a third of the way up the pan, mostly for safety reasons. “

Don’t Crowd the Pan

Chef Ricco says, “Never crowd the pan. You must make sure the oil can cook all around the food. You can hold cooked food in the oven at 200 degrees F while you fry the rest of the batch.”

Chef Alan agrees and adds, “Consider if you are only making a small number of tenders, for a family of four of five, there is no need to completely immerse them in oil.   Simply put an inch or slightly more in the wok and cook through on one side, then flip over to complete.  This alternative will not only save you oil (and money!), but there will be much less of a chance that your oil will foam over.”

Two Important Safety Tips

“Don’t use those spring loaded tongs to fry with. They are very dangerous.” Chef Ricco says. “If your fingers slip off the tongs while in the hot oil, it’s like a loaded gun of splattering oil.”

Also, if the fry pan catches fire, quickly cover it with a lid and it’s not a bad idea to always have a full chemical fire extinguisher in the kitchen.

This may not be news to you but guess what, “A pizza cutter does more than just slice pizza”!

I was cutting some toast for one of my daughters one morning and the pizza cutter with its new homemade cardboard scabbard was still out from the night before so I decided to see how it would work on toast. To my surprise, it worked beautifully.

So then I tried it on my other daughter’s egg-in-hole and again it performed like a charm. I now figured I was on to something.

For the record, if you make your own pizza or buy frozen commercial brands like DiGiorno, a pizza cutter is a must.  It just makes slicing a pizza into kid-sized slices that much easier. Not that we eat a lot of pizza in our house, but it is a staple when we go out and have babysitters who are early on in their culinary education.

So now I’m thinking what have I been missing all these years and what else might this circular blade be used for cutting. I’m on a mission to see how many unique and interesting ways one can use a pizza cutter besides slicing pizza.

I figure I’m not the first one to think of using a pizza cutter for other kitchen chores so I invite you to share some of your favorite ways you have utilized this handy kitchen gadget.

How Many Ideas Can You Come Up With?

Please share your ideas in the comments section below.  I can’t wait to see what you come up with.