Force 10 Oven Burns Everything

[S/V Mother Ocean]

Use two pans to cook. Place the pan with food in it on another pan to disfuse the heat. Thats an old bakers seceret to double pan pastries. The stone thing is about the same idea.

Dan

[theonecalledtom]

Just to be clear here - I'm a bit slow. You put the stone/tile on the shelf just above the burner to deflect the heat.

Temperature control is annoying for us too. The [3 burner force ten] door is somewhat dark making the thermometer inside difficult to read, and the dial has no indication of what temperature each position maps to. Experiments will need to be done!

[Bash]

We have a 4-burner Force 10 oven in the new boat and are delighted with it. Indeed, there are two potatoes and a ham baking at the present moment, and I can't detect any problems so far with burning.

Our prior boat had a Cheapo 3.4 oven, and we tried the baking stone trick. First time we went to weather offshore the thing split in half. Has anyone else had this problem? Solutions? (other than, of course, never going to weather.)

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by bashful

We have a 4-burner Force 10 oven in the new boat and are delighted with it. Indeed, there are two potatoes and a ham baking at the present moment, and I can't detect any problems so far with burning.

Our prior boat had a Cheapo 3.4 oven, and we tried the baking stone trick. First time we went to weather offshore the thing split in half. Has anyone else had this problem? Solutions? (other than, of course, never going to weather.)

Stone is a fad.

Use a piece of an old cast iron skillet or some such thick metal. These are hard to break.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by Therapy

Stone is a fad.
Use a piece of an old cast iron skillet or some such thick metal. These are hard to break.

2-Burner (Approx. 20" x 10.5" ) Double-Sided Cast Iron Griddle:
About $25/Cdn (@ CTC)

[Iridium]

Forgot to report back until now. The Safeway baking stone diffused the flame and it worked very well until it broke. It didn't fill the entire shelf, had a bit of room to move, likely broke while we were sailing. Have replaced it with a Pantry Chef stone which I wasn't using and fits perfectly and is thicker and more substantial. It works perfectly and won't break like the other stone as it fills the entire rack.

[YourOldNemesis]

It still works if it's in 2 pieces !!

[bobsadler]

in my home oven i use a large terracotta tile (this was for bread baking rather than the problem discussed here). it cost peanuts, it's lasted for years and would do the same job in a force 10

[osirissail]

Assuming you have a recent model Force 10 - the burning of the bottom of things is normal in the oven. If you look closely inside and in between the various walls of the unit you will no insulation except on the top of the oven to keep the wires and pipes for the stove top burners from getting cooked. So the result is a major heat loss through the walls of the stove. Just like a giant toaster oven. In essence what you have in the oven is a upside down broiler so that the bottom of food gets cooked first and by the time the top of the food gets cooked the bottom is burnt. This is especially prevalent if you have the food "on" a metal cookie sheet/pie pan/etc.
- - The use of a stone/tile/cast metal heat diffusion device between the burner and the food greatly reduces the "broiler" effect and allows the food to cook more evenly. But the food needs to be in close proximity to the heat diffuser or the steep temperature gradient inside the oven - hot in the middle to warm at the walls - reasserts itself. An ideal way to equalize the temperatures throughout the interior of the oven would be to line all the walls with tiles/heat diffusers. But that would be a major alteration of the oven.
- - Cruisers have learned how to compensate and/or live with this problem over the years as exemplified by the posts above. It is frustrating at first, but after more than a few rum and cokes nobody notices the burnt bottoms of your buns.

[osirissail]

Originally Posted by GordMay

2-Burner (Approx. 20" x 10.5" ) Double-Sided Cast Iron Griddle:
About $25/Cdn (@ CTC)

These items are "worth their weight in gold" for Force 10 and other 3 burner stoves. They pretty much eliminate the need to broil food in the oven as they are used on the top of the stove. The size is perfect and just fits inside the surrounding stainless top grid. Grilled fish/meat/whatever is easily cooked using the top burners under these iron griddles. Flip it over and you have a flat surface for pancakes, eggs and other stuff like Cajun Blackened fish. Since getting one of these type cast iron griddles we have never used the outside BBQ which is a pain to set up and clean.

[jenny2]

Originally Posted by Therapy

Stone is a fad.

Use a piece of an old cast iron skillet or some such thick metal. These are hard to break.

thats what I use in mine 3/8 steel plate works fine

[osirissail]

But Stone does not rust! And telling folks your bread was cooked in a "stone lined oven" does sound better that a "rusty steel plate" oven.

[Clearsky]

New here. Same Force 10 problem. Does the stone go on the very bottom of the oven?

[osirissail]

Yes - either on the lowest rack or right on top of the ss flame pan.

[The Boat Galley]

I posted a bunch of information on how we solved problems with our Force 10 on my blog -- basically a combination of a better thermometer, a baking stone, AND heavier pans -- all were needed. I also included a bit of explanation of what we concluded the various problems were. I won't repeat it all here -- it's too long.

See Solving Galley Oven Problems

Carolyn Shearlock