Wayne Boatwright wrote:
> On Mon 30 Jan 2006 06:25:03a, Thus Spake Zarathustra, or was it Stark?
>
> > What's the deal here? I've got one of those glass Vision oval roasters
> > which I occasionally use for braising when the roast won't fit my Dutch
> > Oven. Using time and temp for a Dutch Oven, this glass thang cooks the
> > roast in half the time,
I don't believe you.
> A general rule of thumb for glass bakeware is to reduce the temperature by 25
> degrees F. compared to one made of metal. With braising meat, I would
> probably even consider a reduction of as much as 50 degrees F.
Nonsense... baking and braising are two totally different cooking
methods. Braising entails cooking *in liquid in a covered vessel at a
relatively low temperature*, whereas no temperature/time compensation
is made regardless of cookware material, whether it be metal,
ceramic/glass, or a combination thereof.... with braising the liquid
controls the temperature and the lid keeps the liquid from escaping.
Most people oven braise at much too high a temperature, whereas the
liquid escapes, giving a false impression that high temperature has
reduced cooking time, well it has, only the result of what's being
cooked is much different... more closely resembling something cooked
without a lid at too high a temperature, whereas those people know it's
done when the smoke detector goes off.
Baking is done at relatively *high temperatures, in an open vessel,
without liquid*... and since glass is a poor conductor there's a time
lag between vessel temperature and that which is being baked, because
the vessel temperature remains too cold too long at the onset but then
once finally reaching temperature continues to rise as the liquid
contained in that which is being baked diminishes, so oven temperature
must be reduced to prevent that which is being baked from overbaking on
its exterior before developing a fully baked interior. Real bakers
never use glass bakeware, because glass bakeware is simply not
temperature reactive/sensitive enough for proper baking to occur.
Glass insulates too well at the onset and then becomes too hot at the
end... glass is a hindrence to even baking... typically the top of a
cake will burn before its bottom and sides even become warm... lowering
the oven temperature is really not the answer, not unless you enjoy
stewed cake. Lowering the temperature for baking in glass is a
compromise, albiet a poor one... its results in no way approaches that
which is baked in proper metal bakeware. The only advantage I can
figure out to using glass/ceramic bakeware is that it looks nicer then
metal bakeware, but unlike yoose I don't eat bakeware.
Sheldon
