# Delayed start on an oven **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 1, 2009, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delayed-start-on-an-oven/512196 "2009-10-01T02:31:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delayed-start-on-an-oven/512196/1 "2009-10-01T02:31:47Z")
We need to buy a new range, and we’ve narrowed it down to two models. One of them has a delayed start feature. I can’t envision a way to use it that would not create a serious food safety issue. For example, I put the roast in the oven before I leave for work and set the delayed start to come on at 4 p.m. That means meat sitting at room temperature for 8 hours. That can’t be what this feature was intended for. What am I missing? Does delayed start have some fabulous benefit I’m overlooking? ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delayed-start-on-an-oven/512196/2 "2009-10-01T03:03:47Z")
This is a guess, but you could set it in the morning before work to turn on at 5 pm, so by the time you got home at 5:30 it’s preheated and ready for you to slide the food in. I know for me, it’s kind of a pain to get home hungry but have to get the oven going before I can get dinner going before I can eat tasty food. (Yeah, I know, it’s not _that_ big an issue, but hey, convenience.) You wouldn’t necessarily want to leave the food in the oven when it’s not turned on, but you can have the oven preheated whenever you plan to start cooking. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delayed-start-on-an-oven/512196/3 "2009-10-01T03:05:36Z")
I wonder if it might be a Sabbath-related issue - perhaps putting food into/taking food out of an oven is all right, but turning it on is not? I know crockpots are another popular cooking appliance for the Sabbath, at least in some homes. ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delayed-start-on-an-oven/512196/4 "2009-10-01T03:05:41Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > This is a guess, but you could set it in the morning before work to turn on at 5 pm, so by the time you got home at 5:30 it’s preheated and ready for you to slide the food in. I know for me, it’s kind of a pain to get home hungry but have to get the oven going before I can get dinner going before I can eat tasty food. (Yeah, I know, it’s not _that_ big an issue, but hey, convenience.) > > You wouldn’t necessarily want to leave the food in the oven when it’s not turned on, but you can have the oven preheated whenever you plan to start cooking. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Serenata67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/serenata67/32/10646_2.png) [@Serenata67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Serenata67)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delayed-start-on-an-oven/512196/5 "2009-10-01T03:06:18Z")
I use it for preheating. Or in the instance when I’m running errands, I’ll put the french fries or baked potatoes or something in there and have it start in a half hour or something. I would never leave it all day. But putting potatoes in there and leaving them for an hour isn’t a problem. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delayed-start-on-an-oven/512196/6 "2009-10-01T05:29:24Z")
Yet Mom never managed to kill us by putting a pot roast in the oven before going to work and having it turn on at noon or so. It sure was nice to come home to a house that smelled like dinner. I still don’t know if we were lucky back then, or if we had fully-functional immune systems then, or if we’re paranoid today. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delayed-start-on-an-oven/512196/7 "2009-10-01T10:53:40Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#): > > Yet Mom never managed to kill us by putting a pot roast in the oven before going to work and having it turn on at noon or so. It sure was nice to come home to a house that smelled like dinner. > > I still don’t know if we were lucky back then, or if we had fully-functional immune systems then, or if we’re paranoid today. Well, there’s a difference in starting cooking at noon and starting at 4 pm. That’s probably more like 4 hours unrefrigerated (which is just on the border of problematic, I think? That seems to be the case with slow cookers) and 8 hours (real problem). I also suspect we had a lot fewer issues with harmful bacterial contamination then, like the really nasty varieties of E. Coli and the like. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delayed-start-on-an-oven/512196/8 "2009-10-01T12:17:23Z")
My kitchen Aid range has a Sabbath Mode, it lets you cook without all the bells and whistles (lights, beeps, digital readouts) and without touching the controls. I’m not sure why is all? ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delayed-start-on-an-oven/512196/9 "2009-10-01T12:20:40Z")
If you put a frozen casserole in the oven before you leave for work, and set the oven to come on at, say, 5PM, by the time the oven starts, the casserole would be thawed, and by the time you get home from work, it should be ready to come out of the oven. > [@gotpasswords](#): > > Yet Mom never managed to kill us by putting a pot roast in the oven before going to work and having it turn on at noon or so. It sure was nice to come home to a house that smelled like dinner. > > I still don’t know if we were lucky back then, or if we had fully-functional immune systems then, or if we’re paranoid today. Well, there have been entire threads full of this stuff. My Mom never used a car seat with any of the five of us, smoked through all of her pregnancies, she and Dad never gave a second thought to smoking like chimneys in a house full of kids. Playgrounds were on asphalt. Yadda, yadda, blah, blah, blah. Just FTR, I _do_ think people are a little too paranoid about germs/bacteria now. But I also wonder how anyone of my generation or earlier managed to live into adulthood. . . ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delayed-start-on-an-oven/512196/10 "2009-10-01T12:26:12Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > Well, there’s a difference in starting cooking at noon and starting at 4 pm. That’s probably more like 4 hours unrefrigerated (which is just on the border of problematic, I think? That seems to be the case with slow cookers) and 8 hours (real problem). I also suspect we had a lot fewer issues with harmful bacterial contamination then, like the really nasty varieties of E. Coli and the like. :rolleyes: Yes, I’m sure E. coli have evolved in the last 40 years to attack us. That’s much more likely than us being overly panicky about this stuff and suffering for living in antibacterial slathered homes. How ever did people survive before refrigeration and Cipro. ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delayed-start-on-an-oven/512196/11 "2009-10-01T12:32:45Z")
I’ll vote for the delayed start being useful for Sunday dinner. You put the roast in before you go to church, have the oven turn on an hour or two later, and it’s either done when you get home, or done by the time you fix the vegetables/gravy/whatever. What do you mean you don’t have a big meal after church on Sunday? Or you do, but you let the restaurant fix it? Or you don’t go to church at all? The nerve of some people. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delayed-start-on-an-oven/512196/12 "2009-10-01T12:49:43Z")
The time bake feature has been around for at least 50 years (I can’t remember a stove without one). People have not been dying off because of it. The “rules” for food safety are conservative in the extreme. I’ve literally had food safety people tell me that I should throw out all the food in my freezer if the power is off for an hour. A century ago, people routinely kept meat unrefrigerated and did fine. As long as things are cooked thoroughly, the chance of disease is no more than with anything kept refrigerated. ---
**Author:** ![Tequila\_Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/41988e/32.png) [@Tequila\_Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tequila_Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delayed-start-on-an-oven/512196/13 "2009-10-01T13:00:08Z")
I am pretty sure the delay option is for strict Jewish folks keeping Kosher, who are forbidden from even turning the oven on or off to cook dinner on the Sabbath. > [@](#): > > Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy…in it you shall not do any work.” Exodus 20:8-11 > Sabbath is the holiest day in the Jewish calendar and it is also a holiday that happens each week, Friday night at sundown to Saturday night at sundown. > > This includes all forms of cooking and baking. Boiling water also falls under this category. > The prohibition against cooking does not prevent Jews from eating hot food on the Shabbat. In fact, part of the Sabbath joy consists of eating hot food. However, this must be prepared in such a manner that no act of cooking actually takes place on the Sabbath. from [here](http://www.slideshare.net/rlchen/dacor-and-the-kosher-kitchen-kosher-101) ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delayed-start-on-an-oven/512196/14 "2009-10-01T13:04:14Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > This is a guess, but you could set it in the morning before work to turn on at 5 pm, so by the time you got home at 5:30 it’s preheated and ready for you to slide the food in. I’m guessing any brand-new electric oven doesn’t take 30 minutes to heat up. My oven is by no means new (15+ years old) but it still takes less than 10 minutes to get from 0 to 350. I don’t think it takes much longer to get to 450 or 475, about the hottest you need for most cooking. Old ovens and gas ovens… that’s a different story. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delayed-start-on-an-oven/512196/15 "2009-10-01T13:44:51Z")
> [@Omniscient](#): > > Yes, I’m sure E. coli have evolved in the last 40 years to attack us. That’s much more likely than us being overly panicky about this stuff and suffering for living in antibacterial slathered homes. How ever did people survive before refrigeration and Cipro. It’s not evolution, it’s the increased prevalence of factory farming with the concentration of more and more animals into enclosed spaces. Salmonella in chickens wasn’t the problem back then that it is now, either, and it’s only been decreasing from poultry somewhat since [new cleanliness regimes were added to the egg industry a few years back.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salmonellosis#Up_to_2005) And yes, frozen casserole going in is a different thing than a piece of thawed meat sitting around at room temp for hours, too. Plus a big, thick piece of meat will cool more slowly than a boneless chicken breast, and so on. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delayed-start-on-an-oven/512196/16 "2009-10-01T13:51:23Z")
Missed the edit window. The advent of refrigeration is a good thing - sure, people kept meat unrefrigerated in the past. They also tended to cure or smoke it if they kept it for long, or they used iceboxes (the ones with actual ice) to keep it cold. And they also got food poisoning sometimes, like some people do today. (An infamous example is Lizzie Borden’s family who were all ill before the murders - it wasn’t poisoning, it was spoiled food.) Yes, some people are insane about food - especially the “1 hour shutdown of a freezer, left closed, means throw it out” people. I put my crock in the fridge with food in it overnight so it’ll be nice and cold when I start up the crockpot in the morning, and I have a “keep warm” feature which keeps it well in the safe range. I also try to not do quick-cooking recipes in it if I’ll be gone all day. There’s a happy medium in food safety, but I don’t love tempting fate needlessly when I could just make something else. ---
**Author:** ![schnuckiputzi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecb155/32.png) [@schnuckiputzi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/schnuckiputzi)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delayed-start-on-an-oven/512196/17 "2009-10-01T14:30:45Z")
I’m not Jewish, but I have used this option frequently to cook a frozen casserole/lasagna. Probably more often during church, so a 3 - 4 hour window more than 5 - 6 hours, but if the food is frozen when it goes in, I don’t see the problem. It certainly makes life easier when you come home to a dinner already hot. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delayed-start-on-an-oven/512196/18 "2009-10-01T15:57:04Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#): > > Yet Mom never managed to kill us by putting a pot roast in the oven before going to work and having it turn on at noon or so. It sure was nice to come home to a house that smelled like dinner. > > I still don’t know if we were lucky back then, or if we had fully-functional immune systems then, or if we’re paranoid today. Most likely you had a local butcher shop, which would have done the job in a more clean and careful way than the factory abattoirs of today. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delayed-start-on-an-oven/512196/19 "2009-10-01T16:02:39Z")
> [@norinew](#): > > If you put a frozen casserole in the oven before you leave for work, and set the oven to come on at, say, 5PM, by the time the oven starts, the casserole would be thawed, and by the time you get home from work, it should be ready to come out of the oven. > Well, there have been entire threads full of this stuff. My Mom never used a car seat with any of the five of us, smoked through all of her pregnancies, she and Dad never gave a second thought to smoking like chimneys in a house full of kids. Playgrounds were on asphalt. Yadda, yadda, blah, blah, blah. > > Just FTR, I _do_ think people are a little too paranoid about germs/bacteria now. But I also wonder how anyone of my generation or earlier managed to live into adulthood. . . I don’t remmeber any of my friends being infected with MRSA (or anything like it). We know two families who have suffered this in the last three years. The germs have evolved considerably, and they are beginning to fight back against the “miracle cures” of our youth. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delayed-start-on-an-oven/512196/20 "2009-10-01T16:17:28Z")
> [@Athena](#): > > I’m guessing any brand-new electric oven doesn’t take 30 minutes to heat up. My oven is by no means new (15+ years old) but it still takes less than 10 minutes to get from 0 to 350. I don’t think it takes much longer to get to 450 or 475, about the hottest you need for most cooking. Eh, either way. The example wasn’t the point. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delayed-start-on-an-oven/512196.md?page=2)