When it comes to oven cleaning, there is hardly a different opinion from this: it is bothersome, difficult, complicated and requires time and knowledge of what cleaning solutions to use. With these significant drawbacks, it is wise to consider how you can actually reduce the hustle. One logical way is to reduce the mess your oven is forced to endure.
Most of the oven spoils are developed during cooking. That delicious roast turkey and the last night’s unsuccessful homemade pizza experiment often come at a price, different from just shame – a messy and grease-covered oven is usually the collateral damage of both successful and unsuccessful cooking projects. Luckily, there are few ways you can help the oven stay clean:
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- Use enclosed containers for cooking – if you think about it, the only reason you need to clean spills from the walls and shelves of the oven is that they have escaped the dishes in the process of cooking. All sorts of liquids, such as oils, juices and fats vaporise when introduced to high temperature, inevitably ending up on the interior of your oven. It may look good on the outside, as there is no more satisfying feeling than watching your favourite meal in the making, but as far as your oven is concerned, it is nasty. To prevent the problem, you can use covered containers for most dishes, including glass which allows you to watch food being cooked inside.
- Minimise grease deposits when cooking meat – we all love the crisp crackling on meat, regardless of its type, when cooking it in the oven. Most cooking experts advice on watching for this effect on meat so that you know it is ready. To reduce the mess in your oven, you can cover the meat in aluminium foil and pre-cook it. Remove the foil about three quarters through cooking and let direct heat do its magic for the remainder of the time. That way you will have a crisp crackling without the mess oven.
- Keep a spare roasting tray on the bottom of the oven – this is actually a very useful strategy, which kills two birds with one stone: gives you a place to store your spare tray and eliminates the need to clean greasy stains off the oven floor.
- Use baking sheets – in case there is no additional roasting tray, you can substitute one with baking sheets. Any spills or overflowing casseroles will cause no problem, as all drips will be caught on the sheet.
- Don’t let spills linger for long – you can save yourself a tonne of trouble if you address spills directly after each cooking session instead of leaving them to sit. If you tackle the issue immediately, plain water will often do the trick. If you procrastinate, the stains will require serious solutions.
By implementing any of these strategies in your cooking, you can significantly reduce your oven cleaning requirements. If you take note of all 5, then you will surely forget about tedious oven cleaning chores for a while.
