Has anyone added thermal mass to thier oven?

[mikedefieslife]

A baking or pizza stone works well to help distribute heat evenly and to keep the heat in. It does of course mean the oven takes a little longer to heat up.

You can't clean the stone with anything but water since they are porous and soak up whatever chemicals you put on them.

[Mike OReilly]

I placed had a heavy pizza stone in the bottom of our Force-10 for a couple of seasons. But I took it out b/c it really didn’t seem to improve anything.

Perhaps I’m not that finicky, or just not that good a baker, but I simply didn’t see any positive impact. I did, however, notice it took the oven noticeably longer to come up to temperature.

We do use the oven quite a bit, cooking everything from chickens, moose and casseroles to cookies, pizza and bread. Maybe it’s because our stove/oven is the smallest Force-10 they make (Euro 2-burner model), or perhaps our alcove is sufficiently insulating … I dunno. I just don’t seem to have the heating problems others note (and I’m not suggesting they are wrong!).

[wsmurdoch]

My reason for adding something over the sheet metal bit over the burner in my boat's stove was to get a more even heating of the bottom of baked goods in the oven. Pizzas, muffins, biscuits, bread, and all were more browned on their bottoms on one side of the oven than on the other. I thought about adding a quarter inch of stainless steel, aluminum, or copper plate over the sheet metal heat deflector or maybe a bit beyond, all of which I could get at the junkyard, but ended up with a black marble floor tile from Lowes which they cut to fit for free. I figured that marble was metamorphic and had seen even higher temperatures down deep in the earth. It works, but other things may also work as well. I never tried metal. Others, as you have seen, swear by pizza stones. My attempt was not to add thermal mass, but rather to distribute the heat more evenly and to get more even browning of the bottoms of baked goods.

Bill

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

I placed had a heavy pizza stone in the bottom of our Force-10 for a couple of seasons. But I took it out b/c it really didn’t seem to improve anything.



Perhaps I’m not that finicky, or just not that good a baker, but I simply didn’t see any positive impact. I did, however, notice it took the oven noticeably longer to come up to temperature.



We do use the oven quite a bit, cooking everything from chickens, moose and casseroles to cookies, pizza and bread. Maybe it’s because our stove/oven is the smallest Force-10 they make (Euro 2-burner model), or perhaps our alcove is sufficiently insulating … I dunno. I just don’t seem to have the heating problems others note (and I’m not suggesting they are wrong!).

The whole idea of the stone is of course to make it take longer to come up to temp, it’s a thermal flywheel and if it works, it stretches out the time interval between on an off, and hopefully knock off the top and bottom temps and makes it more even.
Perhaps you just got lucky and got a thermostat with less hysteresis?

A thick chunk of aluminum would probably work better as it won’t absorb anything, we have had to burn ours off once, it got so that it’s fumes were burning my eyes, I have no idea why, but getting it to max temp and holding it there seemed to stop it.

[dfelsent]

Mike OReilly I’ve got some frozen Kodiak Island moose a friend gave me. What’s the tenderest or best recipe ? I keep thinking teriyaki sous vide to get medium rare?

[nwdiver]

I use a piece of slate, works great in my propane oven.....not force ten but the same principle......I have thought about a piece of 1cm steel, I may try it......I preheat then turn off the gas about 50 minutes into a 60 minute bake the mass carries it to completion which may be 5-7 minutes longer but I never burn anything........

[nwdiver]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

I placed had a heavy pizza stone in the bottom of our Force-10 for a couple of seasons. But I took it out b/c it really didn’t seem to improve anything.

Perhaps I’m not that finicky, or just not that good a baker, but I simply didn’t see any positive impact. I did, however, notice it took the oven noticeably longer to come up to temperature.

We do use the oven quite a bit, cooking everything from chickens, moose and casseroles to cookies, pizza and bread. Maybe it’s because our stove/oven is the smallest Force-10 they make (Euro 2-burner model), or perhaps our alcove is sufficiently insulating … I dunno. I just don’t seem to have the heating problems others note (and I’m not suggesting they are wrong!).

Maybe smaller oven same size burner as the large 4 burner model, I have the Dickenson 2 burner, its oven is smaller than the 3 burner model but I find the thermal mass helps......I should look and see if the burner parts are the same as the larger stove....

For braising and many other meat dishes I use a thermo cooker get it going on the stove top put it in the vacuum enclosure forget about it until dinner 4-5 hours later, when I have run a pan of corn bread through the oven.......

[nwdiver]

I looked it up force ten 2-3-4 burner stoves of all oven volumes use the same btu output burner 5100 btu, so a smaller oven will heat better.....

Both Dickinson are 7000 btu ovens

I love my 2 burner Dickinson it has a 7000 and a 11000 btu burner, I can really use a wok on the large burner....

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

The whole idea of the stone is of course to make it take longer to come up to temp, it’s a thermal flywheel and if it works, it stretches out the time interval between on an off, and hopefully knock off the top and bottom temps and makes it more even. Perhaps you just got lucky and got a thermostat with less hysteresis?

Could be… I really can’t say. But this is why I noted I only observed the down-side (more time/propane) without any baking improvements. I sure I’m the exception with this, but I can’t be alone.

Originally Posted by dfelsent

Mike OReilly I’ve got some frozen Kodiak Island moose a friend gave me. What’s the tenderest or best recipe ? I keep thinking teriyaki sous vide to get medium rare?

Guess it depends on the cut of meat. I like to make a stew using my pressure cooker. Potatoes, onion, rutabaga, carrots, parsnips, red wine, some bell peppers for colour. Thicken at the end with a roux of butter, flour, spices. Infuses the meat with flavours and makes it very tender, even with tougher cuts.

Last night we had a moose curry. My spouse made this one using ground moose. It was — different. Incredibly yummy, just not your typical curry dish.

Originally Posted by nwdiver

Maybe smaller oven same size burner as the large 4 burner model, I have the Dickenson 2 burner, its oven is smaller than the 3 burner model but I find the thermal mass helps......I should look and see if the burner parts are the same as the larger stove....

Good thought. It would make sense that my tiny oven has the same burner as the larger one. I’ll have to research that.

ADD: I see you’ve already done it nwdiver. Thanks! So there’s the answer to my outlier experience. Answer is to get a smaller oven — unless you plan to cook a turkey on board (which we can’t).

[nwdiver]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

Could be… I really can’t say. But this is why I noted I only observed the down-side (more time/propane) without any baking improvements. I sure I’m the exception with this, but I can’t be alone.



Guess it depends on the cut of meat. I like to make a stew using my pressure cooker. Potatoes, onion, rutabaga, carrots, parsnips, red wine, some bell peppers for colour. Thicken at the end with a roux of butter, flour, spices. Infuses the meat with flavours and makes it very tender, even with tougher cuts.

Last night we had a moose curry. My spouse made this one using ground moose. It was — different. Incredibly yummy, just not your typical curry dish.



Good thought. It would make sense that my tiny oven has the same burner as the larger one. I’ll have to research that.

ADD: I see you’ve already done it nwdiver. Thanks! So there’s the answer to my outlier experience. Answer is to get a smaller oven — unless you plan to cook a turkey on board (which we can’t).

Stuffed turkey breast........yum, the small oven or small crowd solution....