Q: When baking something in the oven, is the lowest rack position the default? Is this something so blindingly obvious that everyone knows it? Can the rack position change the cooking time noticeably?
Back story, if you’re interested:
Based partially on recommendations from people here, I signed up for the food service where they mail you all the ingredients and you cook the meal at home. “Blue Apron” or one of its clones, I don’t remember which one. Anyway, I cooked the first meal tonight which was a breaded chicken breast baked in the oven. I’m not much of a cook, which is why I signed up for the service; otherwise Hamburger Helper is about as adventurous as I get. Anyway, I didn’t know where to put the oven rack to cook the chicken. Top? No, I know that’s the broiler. Anyway, I settled for the exact middle level rack. My wife wasn’t home so I couldn’t ask her.
Fast forward to waiting for the chicken to cook. It’s taking a bit longer than it says and my wife says it’s because I’ve inexplicably chosen to use the middle rack, which is wrong and slowing down the cooking. I point out that the recipe doesn’t say anything about rack position and she says, somewhat exasperated, that it’s because no one needs to be told to use the bottom position, everyone already knows you always use the bottom position unless otherwise directed. It’s just understood, something that everyone (except me) knows.
Is this true? I guess I never considered that there would be much temperature variation inside the oven itself. Please fight my convectional ignorance.
I think your wife is wrong. I have always used the middle as the default as has everyone I have ever cooked with. The bottom rack will often burn the bottom of the food and leave the top raw.
Also I think being exasperated with someone who is cooking your dinner is bad form.
I also am not much of a cook, but I always use the rack in the middle. Often times, frozen items will actually tell you do do so (pizza, for instance). Because the space is equally heated if the door remains closed, I don’t think the temperature is any different if the rack is lower or higher. It is possible that my mother or grandmother is the one who taught me to use the middle rack, either verbally of be demonstration and it is likely that that is how your wife learned also, unless she took some cooking class (did she take home ec in high school, maybe).
Are there any professional chefs or advanced home cooks here who can chime in, please?
I was under the impression that once properly preheated, oven temps are for the most part even everywhere in said oven. As such I just jam whatever slop I’m making onto the rack at whatever position it already is, only adjusting it if said slop won’t fit at the rack’s current position.
Unless of course you are specifically using the broiler, then yeah, put it on the top.
Middle rack is the default. If your wife needs confirmation, here you go. But I’ve never noted it making that much of a difference. I use whatever rack is open.
Thanks for all the quick replies and especially the link. I sent it to my wife and was treated to ten minutes of muttered “What?” and “This can’t be right!” and finally “Everything I know is wrong.”
This tasted much better than the dinner I made tonight.
middle rack? my oven only has 2. top and bottom racks. I have the top rack in the 2nd set of notches and is the one I use the most.
bottom rack is in the 2nd set of notches from the bottom. I only use it for roasts because mylarge pot has enough room to fit without hitting the top rack.
As others have said, your wife is wrong about the bottom rack being the “default” position. That would be the middle rack where the average air temperature would be closest to the set temperature. Generally, the bottom rack would concentrate heat on the bottom of the cooking vessel whereas the top rack would heat the top of the food more.
The above only applies to standard radiant ovens you find in your typical home. Convection ovens you find in commercial establishments heat food evenly at a constant temperature so rack position is mostly inconsequential.
See above. I am not a chef, but my wife works at a culinary school. We have a convection oven at home but it isn’t commercial grade. The pastries she makes at the school comes out differently from the ones she makes at home because of heat fluctuation.
I find it gives better results for pizza. Sometimes, when I make pizza myself, I actually start the pizza on the oven floor. In about 30-45 seconds or so, I get the crust cooked and crispy most of the way through, and then finish the pizza on the top rack. It’s not really a method I recommend, but it works well for me in my particular oven.
My oven has two racks (plus I’ve two more that fit from my previous oven, allowing me to cook up to 4 trays of cookies simultaneously!) and 5 rack heights. It’s also convection, but I learned on a non-convection.
In a standard (non-convection) oven, you want the FOOD in the middle of the oven. So for something like a turkey, or dutch oven cooking, you may want the rack one below the middle setting. If doing two trays of cookies, you may want the rack not in the middle, but in the top half and the lower half, turning trays front to back and swapping positions at the midway point. One tray of brownies, though, would be right in the middle.
Another trick that works in my oven is broiling using the bottom rack. For quick cooking foods like chicken parts, I start broiling skin side down on the bottom rack, turn skin side up, then finish on level 4 (counting up from the bottom) to really crisp the skin. I find, in MY oven, the level 5, the closest to the top burner/broiler, is nearly useless. It’s simply too close to the heating element.
It seems that people who bake cakes, cookies and maybe breads needs different placements for their racks. Items cook better depending on where they are placed.
We only use the oven to cook roasts, casseroles, frozen items like pot pies, and things like that. Doesn’t seem like it matters that much. The oven space isn’t that big to vary all that much. 400 degrees is 400 degrees.
If I have two cookie sheets, I put one rack higher than middle and one rack lower than middle. I know, technically you’re only supposed to bake one sheet of cookies at a time, but that takes too long. The cookies turn out fine anyway.
If I am roasting potatoes or veggies, I like the bottom position because the food browns faster.
We used to have a convection oven that came with three racks (makes Christmas cookie baking 50% faster!) and not only did it have different convection settings for two vs three racks, it had printed instructions on how to position them for general baking or for convection roasting (which was also another setting on the control panel).
Despite enough buttons to launch a moon mission, it all worked out to having the mass of the food in the center, or every other position for doing three racks of cookies.
