Conventional Oven vs. Convection Oven

My friend David and I were talking over lunch yesterday about food prep and he asked me if I had ever used a convection oven and what my thoughts were about using that versus a conventional oven.  Since I think the last time I used a convection oven was when I was working on my culinary degree, I didn't know what to tell him. I may have some problems remembering back that far back these days.  But I did know one thing -- RESEARCH PROJECT!!!

CONVENTIONAL OVEN vs. CONVECTION OVEN

Let's start with some basics...oven cooking is all about heat transfer and that's where the main difference between the two lies.

* A conventional oven uses conduction.
* A convection oven uses convection.

Conduction-duction, what's your function?

In so-simple-even-K2-can-understand terms:

Conduction => something hot touches something cool and that something cool gets hot

Example, put a pot of water on the stove, heat from the burner touches the pot, the pot gets hot, the hot pot heats the water. 

The Convection Connection

Convection => something hot touches something cool and that something cool gets hot faster because the heat is being blown around...usually by a big fan...so it covers more surface of the thing being hotted.  Yeah, that's not really a word, but you get my drift.

Example, put an egg in the pot of water which is boiling all around the egg and the heat transfers through and it quickly cooks the egg.

By having the heat surround an item (versus transferring from one direction) the advantages are a reduction in cooking time (by all accounts about 25%) and more even cooking.  Additionally, convection cooking will brown foods quicker.  So if you are cooking meats, the browning helps seal the surface, trapping in the moisture and resulting in a juicer product.  

Most people use a low-sided baking dish when cooking with convection because it exposes more surface area and allows the heat to circulate around the item more freely.

You find convection ovens in most commercial kitchens, because if you think about it, time is of the essence in getting food prepped for service.  Convection ovens show up in home kitchens too, or more often you'll find conventional ovens that have a convection option.

So there is a quick-n-dirty.  If you have a convection option and want to learn more there are many discussions online that have more detail or you can find convection cookbooks that specialize in that.  I myself only have a conventional oven right now, but maybe in my next kitchen iteration, I'll try something new.