Ovens are changing all the time: new, modern and advanced solutions are applied to them every year. Most built-in ovens, even if you bought them several years ago, are multifunctional devices with many modern, innovative solutions for a wide variety of cooking tasks. In addition to the upper and lower heaters, they are equipped with additional elements for preparing a wide variety of dishes. Perhaps you may well have forgotten about the existence of some elements and functions or... not even discovered them for yourself.
Many systems and functions make it possible to cook even restaurant-quality dishes in your home kitchen, and you can easily share your passion for cooking with professional chefs and gourmet lovers. Anyone who wants to learn how to cook deliciously has an ally who will help create original dishes and guarantee the desired result. This ally is your oven! She knows how to bake cakes, fry, bake and even grill.
What do you need to know about modern oven modes?
Top heat is the simplest heating method, ideal for baking and browning the top layers of cakes and other delicately cooked foods. Bottom heating- heat comes from the bottom of the oven. It is ideal for baking the bottom layers of cakes, including those on the grill.
Top and bottom heating- This traditional method heating, the most popular and most frequently used. The simultaneous use of upper and lower heating allows you to prepare cakes and other dishes according to many recipes. Regular heating allows you to bake a variety of foods, from bread and cakes to baked venison.
Grill- this solution allows you to use the oven as a home grill. It is used for quick baking and frying of kebabs, bacon, chops, sausages and steaks, as well as bread toasts and fish. Depending on the size of the dish you are cooking, it should be placed on the top or bottom tray as this will ensure appropriate heat levels and baking speed.
Grill + top heat- This is the so-called “supergil”, which allows you to grill larger portions of meat. By combining grill and top heat, we get a larger heating space while maintaining the quality and speed of frying.
Fan + grill- This perfect way frying large, juicy pieces of meat. The turbo grill function provides additional heat circulation. The fan ensures further use of the hot air created during cooking. The warmth of hot air envelops the product from all sides; if you are cooking fresh meat, this mode will prevent fat from leaking out and drying out the dish. This function works best with the top two oven trays. This method has the added benefit of cooking delicious meat without the need for turning.
Hot air circulation - fan + ring heater- this is the so-called “forced circulation” or “convection”, when hot air is evenly distributed throughout the oven chamber. Firstly, in the hot air circulation mode, you can bake pies and pastries simultaneously on several oven levels. Secondly, there is no need to preheat the oven for baking times longer than 20 minutes. Thirdly, this mode can be used for defrosting dishes and baking yeast dough. Fourthly, circulating hot air saves energy and time, and also helps keep the oven clean.
Hot air circulation + bottom heating - this mode is best used when preparing a traditional Italian dish - pizza. Hot air is distributed throughout the oven, but concentrated more at the bottom, so you don't have to wait long for the perfect pizza, cookies or even an open pie.
Fan- This is the circulation of cold air. Using this function without setting the temperature is best for defrosting food products or, for example, drying mushrooms or apples. In addition, there are additional solutions that are becoming increasingly popular. The cold air circulation function can be combined with the top + bottom heating to bake perfect cakes. Combination fan + top heating raises the temperature in the upper part of the oven, thereby allowing the top layers of the pie to brown. Fan + bottom heating Best used for baking the bottom layers of the cake. Hot air circulation can also be used with top heating and grilling.
Skewer- this feature is not available in all oven models, but nevertheless deserves mention. It is often used in conjunction with a grill to sear large portions of poultry.
Thanks to the brand experts household appliances Hansa for help in preparing the material.
They have a wide range of interesting functions and modes, depending on the gas ones.
Let's look at the main modes of ovens.
This mode ensures uniform heating of the working chamber before use from above and below. This mode is standard, it is available in almost all models. In this mode, dishes are cooked on one level of the oven. Great for making pies or pizza. In convection mode, the fan and heating element operate, constantly and evenly distributing heat. At the same temperature, you can cook different dishes at the same time. This mode is suitable for baking pies and pastries, using up to three levels simultaneously. It is also good to use when preparing frozen dishes. With the help of convection we reduce cooking time.
In addition to the lower and upper heating elements, there is also an internal fan. Using this mode, you can cook various dishes on two levels, because the heat distribution is not only uniform, but also constant.
Top heating
We complete the preparation of the dish using the upper heating element. Also, with this mode, we can prepare delicious cookies and give the dish a golden brown crust.
Bottom heating
When using bottom heating, we get a delicious pie with a crispy crust, browning it using the "top heat" mode. In this mode, heat comes only from below.
Using the grill mode we can get a delicious dish. With its help, we not only fry the cinnamon, but also brown it, which makes the dish more original. There are such types of grill as small grill, large grill and turbo grill.
Using a small grill you can cook a toaster.
In this mode, heat is radiated from a large grill surface. This mode is suitable for cooking large quantities of thin foods.
Unlike the “large grill” mode, it is intended for large pieces of meat, while frying well and bringing to a golden brown crust. With this mode, there is no need to rotate the spit, because the prepared dish, for example meat, turns out tender and juicy.
Grill with convection
Here modes such as convection and grill heating element work alternately. With the help of a fan, heat is distributed around the food being prepared. In this mode it is recommended to cook large pieces of meat, poultry, and you can also cook fish.
Top heating plus convection
In this mode, the fan and the upper heating element operate. Convenient for preparing dry baked goods, including pasta.
Bottom heating plus convection
Works using a bottom heating element and convection. Suitable for preparing all kinds of semi-finished products, as well as for preparing food from fish or frozen foods.
"Accelerated heating"
Using this mode we quickly heat up the oven. It is not recommended for use in cooking or cooking. Using this mode, we save not only time, but also energy.
Designed to heat the internal area of the oven. This mode is not recommended for cooking. In this mode, as in the “Accelerated heating” mode, you cannot cook.
With this mode you can prepare pizza in just a few minutes. Also suitable for preparing pies and other dishes, whatever your imagination allows.
A modern electric oven is a rather interesting device; it can do a lot, and sometimes it can confuse an inexperienced buyer: why are there so many modes, how do they differ from each other, and, most importantly, are they needed? That’s why we decided to take a closer look at these very modes, to understand the logic of their impact on products, so that anyone who reads this article can firmly decide what they need and what they don’t.
Text: Olga Kuzmina
Tips: Andrey Rydzevsky, Chef Electrolux
Communicate with ovens in the same language
When a housewife gets acquainted with a new oven, the first thing she encounters is the need for translation. And not in the sense from one language to another, but more often from the names inherent in each company to generally accepted terms.
What is it for? It's simple, you can compare one oven with another only when the object of comparison is clear. Therefore, we avoid pretentious, and most importantly, incomprehensible expressions such as “turbo air”, “maxi-grill”, “intense hot air”, “thermal circulation” or “3-0 convection”. And if the description includes some function like “slow baking” or “gratin”, we strive to “shake” the whole truth from the brand department about how it works.
That's why specifications in manufacturers' catalogs they look much brighter and more seductive than our boring, but understandable data. We will not deviate from this rule now, so we assign the same names to the modes that you will see on the following pages of the review.
Don't forget to reheat
At the beginning of the story there are several general advice. In the instructions for ovens (which we actively use), for successful cooking, it is recommended to preheat them to the required temperature (we focus on the thermostat indicator lamp; it should go out).
Only for very fatty meat can you make an exception and put it in a cold oven. In this case, the cabinet can be turned off a few minutes before it is ready; the residual temperature will be sufficient for the successful completion of the process. It is advisable to open the door as little as possible, and observe the “behavior” of the products through the glass (this is why the backlight often does not turn off while cooking is in progress).
Mode 1: Bottom + Top Heat
This is a mandatory mode for any electric oven. It has many names: static, traditional, classic heating. Two heating elements below and above are turned on simultaneously. The heat generated by the elements creates the effect of natural convection: a hot flow rises from below, and a cool flow falls from above. But this movement is not as rapid as we would like, the process proceeds slowly, and heat does not always fill the oven chamber evenly. The lower heating element is always more powerful.
Andrey Rydzevsky, chef Electrolux professional
Some foods, particularly pies, are more difficult to bake from the bottom. While browning on top is not a problem. The position of the baking sheet in the oven allows in this case achieve balance. Good example- pizza. To make it crunchy from below, the baking sheet with the pie is placed on the lower levels, otherwise the dough will not bake and the filling on top may burn.
Conclusion: you can use the guides in the middle of the oven. But, if you want the heat to flow more strongly from above or below, the grille is moved one floor in the desired direction.
We obtained a variety of dishes suitable for cooking in this mode from catalogs and instructions:
- These are savory pastries, muffins, cookies, delicate cakes, biscuits, bread;
— Stuffed vegetables;
— Lasagna;
— Roast, pork ribs, lean beef, poultry;
- Fish, fish casseroles.
Mode 2: Bottom Intensive Heat + Top Heat
This is a variation of the traditional mode, here a more powerful lower element is installed than usual. Turn on this mode if you want to quickly fry the dish from below. In addition, it is suitable for forms that do not conduct heat well, such as glass and aluminum vessels.
I prefer this mode for dishes in pots, so-called Casserole. The presence of liquid will prevent the roast from burning, and the dish will cook faster, since the bottom it's going well heat from above - as a result, the pot simmers evenly on all sides.
Mode3: bottom heat + top heat + fan
Two heating elements are working, but they are also connected to a fan installed on back wall. When the turbine rotates, streams of hot air rapidly spread throughout the oven. This creates the same climatic conditions throughout the entire volume, which means a uniform effect on the products. It is preferable to choose a medium level of guides in order to take full advantage of circulation and an even microclimate in the oven.
It is very important that heating of dishes due to the movement of air masses becomes more intense, the set temperature is reached in a very
In a short time, the food browns faster and on all sides. The speed of the process allows you to preserve the internal juiciness of the dish. In this mode, it is possible, and sometimes necessary, to reduce the usual temperature. In addition, cooking will take much less time; according to some data, the cycle time can be reduced by 30%.
In the vocabulary typical for describing ovens, the operation of a fan can be called convection. This is quite acceptable, although, strictly speaking, in the traditional mode there is also convection. Let's clarify.
Convection is the phenomenon of heat transfer, in our case, in the air. Natural convection occurs when a volume of air is heated unevenly, warmer is lighter, colder is heavier. But the fan creates forced convection, that is, the mixing of flows depends not on temperatures, but on the speed of rotation of the blades. In our magazine, a fan may be called a convector, but the word convection is not used as the name of this mode.
Ovens equipped with a fan (or a ring element with a fan) are called multifunctional. If these devices are not available, the model is static.
The mode is suitable for large dishes that require uniform cooking inside and out, for example, fried rolls, pork trotters, cakes, puddings, casseroles, roasts.
Some manufacturers specify that you can cook on 2 levels at the same time.
Andrey Rydzevsky, chef at Electrolux professional:
Dual heating mode with fan is good for large pieces of meat, fish and whole poultry. This mode is also suitable for large dishes that require even cooking inside and out, such as roast rolls, pork trotters, cakes, puddings, casseroles, roasts.
On the other hand, some dishes, for example, meringues and omelettes, do not like convection, so static is preferable for them.
Mode 4: Bottom Heat
The lower heating element is the most “secret” element of the oven; it is not visible, it is hidden behind the bottom of the chamber. Heating from below is often the main thing in very simple ovens; in more complex ovens it rather serves as an auxiliary one. It is recommended to use it for drying the bottom of pies with a wet filling, for example, fruit, browning on the bottom, and for canning. Bottom heat is also chosen for long-term baking.
The mode has significant disadvantages - longer cooking compared to the two options already described. The housewife is forced to pay more attention to the process itself: unfolding the baking sheet, moving it lower or higher.
Mode 5: Bottom Heat + Fan
The principle of this mode is the same as when the lower element is working, only cooking proceeds more quickly. The heat from below rises to the ceiling, is captured by the currents created by the fan and spreads throughout the oven. This mode is often recommended for baking open-faced cakes or quickly finishing baking when required. heat from below, for example for low-rising baked goods made from yeast dough. Pros: juicy inside and evenly browned on all sides, especially the bottom. The instructions for the Gorenje oven do not advise using tall pans, so as not to disturb the circulation of heated air over the dish.
Mode 6: Top Heat
The upper heating element is placed along the perimeter of the oven ceiling; this tube is always visible. In this mode, the element works solo. The heating is not so intense and, in addition, natural convection is difficult. The mode is selected for frying almost finished dishes on top, for example, cakes, casseroles, browning breading, as well as cooking lightly fried vegetables on the grill. In the instructions for the Ardo device we found the following dishes: dumplings, polenta, rice, lasagna, pasta casseroles, vegetables with bechamel. And Miele has puddings and baked vegetables.
Andrey Rydzevsky, chefElectroluxprofessional:
Andrei Rydzevsky chooses this mode for “juliennes, French-style meat and all dishes that require giving them a golden “cap” of cheese and mayonnaise.” We cook only on the upper tier of the guides.
Mode 7: top heat + fan
This is an accelerated “version” of the previous mode 6. The combination of heating and the movement of air masses allows you to achieve a light golden crust on the surface of products with uniform internal heating. Therefore, the mode is chosen for dishes baked in molds: casseroles, soufflés of vegetables, meat, lasagna.
Andrey Rydzevsky, chefElectroluxprofessional:
Sometimes the difference between some modes is very speculative, that is, we are not dealing with technical, but rather with marketing categories.
Regarding the use of some modes, I have my own opinion, different from what is usually written in the instructions. It is based on my daily experience. I think housewives will also quickly be able to master the intricacies of their new ovens and adjust their capabilities to suit themselves.
Mode 8: ring heater + fan
A spiral heater is placed on the back wall of the oven, folded into a ring, and inside this ring there is a fan. The circular shape was not chosen by chance; the warm air coming from the element is completely captured by the vortex flows created by the fan. The flows are distributed horizontally and then quickly fill the entire chamber.
It is the horizontal movement of hot air jets in this mode that allows you to cook not one, but several dishes at once, placing them on 2-3 levels of the oven. There is only one condition - the required temperature must be the same for all dishes. The drier air inside the oven and the removal of moisture prevents flavors from changing and flavors from mixing, which can result in different dishes.
The mode combines high speed and economics. The benefits of this achievement are especially obvious on the eve of the holidays, when you have to cook a lot.
A simple example: at one time we bake not one, but three cake layers. Some of the difficulties faced by cooks disappear; now there is no need to worry that the pie dough will overheat while the first batch is “sitting” in the oven, or that the dish baked first will hopelessly cool down while we are working on the next one.
In addition, housewives are practical people, and sometimes they simply refuse a menu with a few goodies out of the oven, and with this mode the problem becomes irrelevant.
Comment from the Indesit Company press service: “This heating does not cause the dish to burn on either side; its advantages are that it is possible to maintain a low temperature, for example, for defrosting or for raising yeast dough. The mode is gentle, since infrared rays do not affect the dish.”
The operation of a ring heater with a fan is suitable for puff pastry, drying herbs, mushrooms, fruits, sterilizing home canned food and all dishes that should be soft and juicy inside and at the same time well baked.
If food is being cooked on one level, then, according to Electrolux, it is wiser to use the lower guides so that the food is better visible. It is also recommended to use one level in the instructions for the Gorenje oven for juicy pastries and fruit pies. When cooking on 2 tiers, it is better to occupy the 1st and 3rd (Zanussi). As already mentioned, several baking sheets are placed in the oven at once, so it is not recommended to occupy the upper level. The instructions for Neff and Bosch ovens indicate that pies and pizza can be baked on two levels, but flat cookies and puff pastries are better on three.
The operation of the fan increases the intensity of the impact on the products, that is, the operating temperature of the mode should be lower. It is important that you do not need to preheat the oven, although there are exceptions. An example from Miele's instructions is frying roast beef or baking dark types of bread, while Gorenje's is any pastry. Cooking speeds up - baking takes less time. In addition, dishes are subjected to uniform temperature treatment.
In our publication, this mode is usually called convection.
Mode 9: ring heater + fan + bottom heating
This is a combined mode that takes advantage of convection, that is, uniform and intense heat, and heating from below. But unlike the first one, only one oven level is involved here, the middle one is best. According to the recommendations of the companies, in this mode you can cook unfrozen semi-finished products, French fries, strudel (from the Neff instructions). Moreover, preheating is not necessary.
European oven manufacturers in this mode saw analogies with an oven, where heat comes from all sides, but especially from below. Such conditions turned out to be ideal for preparing pizza - an open-faced pie, which is very easy to buy in a store as a semi-finished product or to make yourself. The pizza must have well-baked and browned dough - the basis of the dish, but the filling must be warmed up, but not lose its juiciness.
In addition to pizza, the mode is selected for baked potatoes, fruit pies, cheesecake, Kirsch Laurent, pies with glaze, cheesecakes, and buns.
Several other areas of application are reheating, keeping dishes hot, defrosting.
Comment from the Indesit Company press service: “This mode is optimal for fruit pie: when we bake a fruit pie with shortcrust pastry, we need, on the one hand, that the dough is not sticky and baked well, for this we use bottom heating, but, on the other hand, the filling, i.e. upper layer, should be baked, but not burnt; for this, a ring heater and a fan work.”
Mode 10: ring heater + fan + bottom + top heating
This function is not common, as you can see, almost all oven heaters are used here, why is this done?
First of all, this is a very fast achievement. desired temperature, so the mode is sometimes used to preheat the oven before placing a dish prepared for baking into it.
Secondly, this is quick cooking. Convection is enhanced by additional heat flows and optimal temperature distribution. The function is selected for dishes that require deep baking to form a golden brown crust.
Sometimes heaters are not used to their full potential, for example, the upper and lower heating elements use their power partially. In other cases, on the contrary, all elements work to the maximum.
Comment from the Indesit Company press service: “This mode is intended for large dishes (leg of lamb, suckling pig), which take up a lot of space in the cabinet itself, or, for example, several pans of pies, which also fill most of the space, then the temperature distribution occurs evenly at all levels."
Special Modes
|
PECULIARITIES |
OPERATING ELEMENTS |
EXAMPLES |
|
For raising yeast dough, making yogurt. |
Bottom heating, 40°C |
Hotpoint-Ariston, Gaggenau, Whirlpool |
|
Defrosting (40°C). |
Fan + ring heating. |
Hotpoint-Ariston |
|
Also - heating in a warm air environment. Defrosting (30°C). Heating 40-100°C. |
Fan + ring heater + bottom heating. |
Only De"Longhi |
|
Temperature 80°C. Fast heating (90°C). |
Bottom + top heating. |
Electrolux, Hotpoint-Ariston |
|
Keeps the finished dish hot, temperature 66-100°C. |
Bottom + top heating. |
Bosch, Siemens, Candy, Hotpoint-Ariston, Whirlpool |
|
For professional serving of food, temperature 30-65°C. |
Bottom + top heating. |
Grill
The grill is a tube-shaped element that is attached to the oven ceiling. It differs from a simple heating element, including the top one, in the specificity of its impact - using infrared radiation. It does not heat the air, but the food itself. The grill radiation acts strictly under the element, that is, by placing sausages or chicken legs slightly to the side, you can achieve desired result it will be hard.
The grill can be used as the main cooking mode, as well as final stage, when you want to crisp up a dish appetizingly.
Manufacturers are unanimous in the name of this mode, only the Hotpoint-Ariston company calls it barbecue, and Gorenje calls it infraheating.
Grills come in several varieties.
The usual one is U-shaped or in the form of a zigzag, the sphere of its “interest” is the entire area of the lattice. Some models use a more economical option - a grill with two contours, a small one inside (for example, the so-called middle part of Neff) and a large one along the perimeter of the ceiling.
The small circuit is included if the portions are small, for example, 4 pieces of toast or several thin pieces of meat. And big and small together in the case when the products are spread out over the entire grill. Grills can differ not only in area, but also in power, so it is easy to choose softer or, on the contrary, stronger frying.
Grills can operate exclusively at maximum (meaning their own temperature limit, for example, 250°C for Ardo, 200°C for Kaiser, or 180°C and 220°C for Neff), but manufacturers often produce ovens with variable power to adjust the intensity of frying, say, Whirlpool has 5 power levels, or ovens with a choice of operating temperature.
The oven is preheated for 3 or 5 minutes, as recommended in the instructions from Gorenje and Ardo; Neff experts suggest preheating it for 10 minutes, but only for frying toast. The cooking level is upper or one level lower, depending on the thickness of the pieces of meat. Frying is most often done on a grate, and to prevent fat from burning and dirtying the bottom, a tray is placed on the lower level; water can be added to it to avoid smoke and fumes.
Examples of using the grill: steaks, sausages, bacon, frankfurters, kupaty, chops, liver, rolls, hearts, fish fillets, vegetables, toast, as well as dishes in small or large ramekins.
General information.
Built-in electric ovens can be static And multifunctional.
Any electric oven has heaters- Heating elements, due to the heating of which food is cooked.
Bottom heater usually hidden under a metal sheet and not visible to the eye, but the upper heating element and grill are located under the ceiling of the oven, you can look at them and touch them with your hands. They are not hidden under a metal sheet, because... infrared radiation does not pass through metal.
Top heaters- the thing is quite interesting. Firstly, there is a heating element that runs along the perimeter of the oven ceiling and is called the upper heating element. Secondly, it is a curved heating element located in the middle - a grill, which looks similar to the heating element of a kettle or an automatic washing machine. At maximum temperature(usually 220-250°C) the grill becomes red hot. In this case, the surface of the dish located on the middle part of the grill, placed on the upper or middle level, is heated directly.
Ovens with two heating elements and a grill are called static. But such technology cannot be called modern. This is yesterday’s, or maybe the day before yesterday’s, level of comfort. Static ovens have been confidently replaced by appliances that are rightly called multifunctional or multifunctional.
What changed? The upper and lower heating elements remained in their places, but a small but fast fan appeared on the back wall of the oven, which circulates air throughout the entire interior of the oven, providing faster heating and uniform distribution hot air. And in many models of MIDEA ovens there is also a ring heater located on the back wall, around this fan.
By simultaneously operating the bottom heater with a fan or two heating elements with a fan, the time required to prepare any dish is reduced. In addition, as mentioned above, the cooking temperature in this mode can be reduced by 20-30°C, which is recommended in some instructions.
The number of heating modes also depends on the number of heating elements. MIDEA ovens can have from 2 to 4 heaters. Accordingly, the number of heating modes varies from 3 to 8.
Interesting detail. Most manufacturers artificially increase the number of modes, including the lighting mode. Thus, upon careful examination, in cabinets with declared 8 or 9 modes, in fact there are only 7 or 8 of them. After all, the function of lighting the inside of the oven cannot be called a heating mode. MIDEA does not resort to such a trick and honestly names exactly the number of heating rekhims.
Designations and brief description of heating modes.
Top heating.
The mode is selected for frying almost finished dishes on top, such as cakes, casseroles, browning breading, and also for cooking lightly fried vegetables on the grill.
Bottom heating.
This mode is ideal for individual large dishes such as cake. The best result is achieved if you place the dish in the center of the oven. Selecting this mode is recommended for long-term cooking.
Grill.
This solution allows you to use the oven as a home grill. It is used for quick baking and frying of kebabs, bacon, chops, sausages and steaks, as well as bread toasts and fish.
Double grill.
In this mode, the two upper heaters are activated. High power allows you to significantly reduce cooking time, and also allows you to grill larger portions of meat.
Top and bottom heating.
Traditional heating method. It allows you to prepare cakes and other dishes according to many recipes. This setting allows you to bake a variety of foods, from bread and cakes to baked venison.
Convection.
The formation of hot air by the heating element around the fan and its uniform distribution throughout the chamber. Firstly, in the hot air circulation mode, you can bake pies and pastries at the same time on several oven levels. Secondly, there is no need to preheat the oven for baking times longer than 20 minutes. Thirdly, this mode can be used for defrosting dishes and baking yeast dough. Fourthly, circulating hot air saves energy and time, and also helps keep the oven clean.
Double grill with fan.
The ideal way to roast large, juicy pieces of meat. Allows you to fry them evenly on the inside, and at the same time create a crispy crust on the outside. This method also allows you to cook delicious meat without having to turn it over.
Top and bottom heating with fan.
Thanks to more uniform heating, 30 - 40% energy savings are achieved. The dishes are lightly baked on the outside and well cooked on the inside. This mode is ideal for frying large pieces of meat at high temperatures.
Defrosting.
Circulating air at room temperature allows frozen food to defrost faster without using heat. This is a gentle way to speed up the defrosting time for delicate foods, as well as fish and poultry.
Lighting.
Not a heating mode. Used for convenience when manually cleaning the oven.
On our website you can choose an oven with various parameters according to your needs. Read the availability of modes in detailed description for each model in the Product Catalog on the Ovens tab.
If you have any questions or suggestions about MIDEA ovens, please ask them on our blog, on the page dedicated to Ovens. or by email This address Email protected from spam bots. You must have JavaScript enabled to view it.
Designations on the oven in the form of icons or icons help the housewife to choose the appropriate mode of operation of the device for the occasion. Explanation of symbols must be present in the operating instructions.
Modern ovens delight their housewives with abundance. But understanding them can be not so easy, especially when you have to read not advertising brochures, but small icons on the control panel. The pictograms around rotary knobs, on buttons and even on touch screens are numerous and varied - so you won’t remember them all the first time, much less figure out what they mean. Of course, you should first read the instructions for yours, but sometimes even it may not contain the answer to this simple question.
Designations often differ depending on what type of control is implemented in a particular model. Therefore, we will divide them into groups according to the same principle to make it easier to navigate.
Mechanical control panel
Conventional rotary knobs are most often found on inexpensive ovens with a small number of modes, as well as on gas models, since they do not have rich functionality. The number of icons here is usually small and it will be easier to understand them. The easiest way to navigate is with the indicators of a timer or thermostat, around which the manufacturer has simply prescribed the heating temperature. You will have to get acquainted with other icons.
The most popular designations:
- “Light” – turns on the lighting in the oven for visual control of food preparation.
- “Snowflake” or “Snowflake with drops” – defrosting food.
- A horizontal line at the top of the pictogram, at the bottom, or simultaneously in two parts of the square - respectively, heating by the upper, lower heating element, or both at once.
- If the lines are dotted, this is a low-temperature or gentle cooking mode at +70..+120 °C.
- The fan symbol indicates convection mode, that is, blowing hot air into the chamber. As a rule, it is supplemented by the position line of the working heating element.
- The wavy line or teeth symbolize the grill. An additional horizontal stripe above the icon is the fast grilling mode, and the convection icon corresponds to the turbo grill program.
- Double-sided horizontal arrow with a pair of arms – skewer.
When using convection in the oven, it is recommended to choose a heating temperature 20-40 °C lower than in the case of conventional modes.
Sometimes on the oven panels there are simple and recognizable symbols of modes for specific dishes, for example, for baking pizza, bread or pastry. It’s easy to guess the purpose of the selected option, but its characteristics (cooking time and heating temperature) are best clarified in the instructions.
Electromechanics
This control panel allows you to more accurately set and control the operating modes of the oven. That’s why we use our own icons here – in much larger numbers. And although different manufacturers may have its own set of pictograms, large and most popular brands like Siemens, Bosch, Electrolux and Hotpoint-Ariston chose to simplify the task for their customers and adhere to approximately the same notation system.
- A horizontal line with a wavy “stream of steam” rising above it (one or three) – maintaining the temperature of ready-made dishes at +60..+100 °C.
- A pie shaped with three vertical wavy lines is the so-called Gratin mode, which allows you to create a brown baked crust on the surface of the food.
- The same three waves, but on their own, or the “Sun” icon indicate the drying mode.
In addition, on the panels of multifunctional ovens you can find icons corresponding to such modes as: heating plates before serving, and starters (“Glass”), proofing yeast dough, sterilizing canned food.
Today, quite a few additional icons have appeared for various convection modes. The following symbols may appear next to the fan:
- LTC – Slow cooking, which results in juicier, larger roasted cuts of meat.
- Three drops – additional processing of products with hot steam.
- “Leaflet” is the so-called eco mode with minimal energy consumption.
Electronic PU touch screen
LED symbols look attractive and intriguing on the screen of such a panel. And all because there can be an unlimited number of them, which is what manufacturers take advantage of, coming up with new designations for the cooking modes being introduced. In addition, the operating features of the sensor allow you to set additional options for individual programs, which are also displayed in the form of icons.
- “Clock” or two vertical stripes with an arrow pointing to the right indicate that the cooking time can be set for the selected mode. If the arrow points to the left, it means you are required to set the end time for the oven.
- “Bell” – a sound notification about the end of the program and the readiness of the dish.
The number of various icons on touch panels is really large, so it is better to clarify their decoding in the instructions for a specific oven model. At first, keep it at hand, on the right page, and you will soon get comfortable with it. new technology and you can remove the “cheat sheet” from the rest of the documents.
