4) Cooking time: fan vs conventional oven
To cook well with an oven, it’s important to understand the difference between convection and conventional heat. Some ovens offer other modes, but these two are the most important.
We’ll explain everything you need to know. This will help you choose the best mode for your dish: fan heat or traditional heat.
Convection oven
The convection oven is shown by a fan symbol. Heat is spread by a fan. This gives even temperature, no matter where your dish is in the oven.
Convection oven is generally the default mode. It works for most recipes. It’s great for quick and even cooking. For example, macarons need this to rise well.
If you are unsure which mode to use, choose convection heat. It works for almost everything.
Want to go further?
Try the Galette des Rois recipe by chef Anthony Courteille. You need fan heat for high and steady temperature. It helps steam escape the dough and makes layers in puff pastry. You can find the full class on puff pastry on Tchac.co.
Conventional oven
The conventional oven is shown by two bars (top and bottom). Heat comes from these bars. It moves naturally from bottom to top.
This is good for baking cakes or soufflés that need to rise. It also gives gentler heat. So it’s great for slow-cooked dishes like roasted vegetables or meat.
This gives soft and tender results.
Want to go further?
Try the Savoie cake with chef Aurélie Collomb-Clerc. It rises nicely in conventional heat. Enjoy it with chocolate ganache or vanilla cream. Her full pastry class is on Tchac.co.
Grill mode
This mode is shown by a triangle symbol at the top of the oven. The grill gives strong heat from above. It’s perfect for browning dishes.
But it can dry out food if used too long. So, cook your dish with fan or conventional heat first. Then finish with the grill. Watch carefully—it can burn quickly.
Want to go further?
Chef Eric Teyant shares his croque-monsieur recipe. Start with fan heat for 10 minutes. Then switch to grill for a golden crust. He gives tips for making tasty versions all year. Watch his full video class on Tchac.co.
Cooking time: fan vs conventional
What changes?
Convection ovens are good for fast and precise cooking. Heat spreads evenly with the fan. This works well for things like puff pastry.
Conventional ovens give slower heat. Perfect for long cooking. For example: roasted or stewed vegetables.
In short:
If the recipe takes less than 45 minutes, use convectionheat.
If it takes more than 45 minutes, choose conventional heat.
How to choose?
Here’s a simple chart comparing fan and conventional ovens. Keep it in your kitchen for quick reference.
Now that you know the different oven modes, try all kinds of recipes: puff pastry, chouquettes, croque-monsieur, or roasted veggies.
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