To not preheat my oven?

[passemoilevin]

Just did a BuzzFeed quiz that said 96% of people preheat their oven.

Genuinely shocked. I just chuck it in for an extra 5 minutes. Does it really make a big difference?

I always preheat. You're supposed to. Putting food in a cold or lukewarm oven increases the amount of time it sits at a temperature where bacteria could breed.

Depends what you are cooking really.

Food tastes crap when you don't preheat, I find.

I do the same, add 5/10 minutes which is usually just the right amount of time.

DH insists on preheating the oven. I just chuck it in for a few minutes longer like you and everything seems to turn out ok.

So I say YANBU and await an oven expert telling us why we’re doing it all wrong

Always preheat

Cake baking is the only time I preheat, I rarely make cakes.

My DH doesn't pre-heat whereas I always do.

The idea of putting food into a cold oven and it just sitting warming up at the same speed the oven does just leaves me feeling a bit off

Before being heated for 20 minutes or whatever at temperatures high enough to kill all the bugs... nah, 5 minutes extra and bung it in from cold.

If you’re making a roast do you not preheat? Eg roast beef - you put it in a higher temp for a bit then turn it down.

If I was making jacket tats I wouldn’t preheat. But for most dishes I absolutely would.

Ovens heat up much faster than they used to and it's not necessary any more for most things. Ours takes about 5 minutes and I don't think any bugs are going to multiply in that short time.

I try to make sure the oven is up to temperature for cakes but I never switch on at the beginning like it tells you in recipes, just when I'm nearly ready to put the mix in the tin.

It depends what I'm cooking. A cake, a pie, bread etc - yes, I preheat. Some things need that immediate blast of heat. If I'm warming something up that's precooked I don't bother.

I always pre-heat. Unless I'm baking something like frozen ciabatta or frozen cookie dough.

at temperatures high enough to kill all the bugs

its not just whether all the bugs are dead, though, is it, it is whether they had the time and opportunity to produce toxins in your food before they died.

If you don't preheat, higher risk of food poisoning

Cooking times on most packaged food are only a guide anyway. Some are far too long and some nowhere near long enough, such as potato products because they want you to eat them half cooked to reduce the acrylamide content. No thanks, I'd rather things are nice and crispy and I'll take the slightly increased risk.

Depends what I'm cooking, and how important timings are, ie if other things are being cooked for the same meal. So, oven chips with nothing else for myself (as the world's laziest lunch) - probably won't bother to reheat. Most of the time though, I need a firmer idea of timings so all dishes for a meal are ready at the same time, so will preheat. You have to preheat for baking, otherwise you'll fuck it up

I hardly think it matters, but it might depend how quickly your oven heats up.

Some are far too long and some nowhere near long enough, such as potato products because they want you to eat them half cooked to reduce the acrylamide content.

is this why we're always told to cook chips 10-15 minutes before they're remotely done?!

And yeah, baking I preheat. But only because I'm in the kitchen already. Laziness really. So I'll come in and switch the oven on. If I'm baking I'll get prepping then put it in the oven. Same with roasts, I'll spend a few minutes chucking butter and herbs or whatever on. So I guess they preheat in this time.

But preprepared stuff, I'll just chuck stuff in. Never got food poisoning. But currently have numerous m&s prawn toasts cooking in the oven. So hopefully won't be a first tonight.

Modern ovens often use the grill element to rapidly pre heat, so you run the risk of exposing whatever is in the oven to excessive temps. This is particularly problematic for ready meals and similar in those plastic trays - they can melt if exposed to the direct heat from the grill.

Having said that I know my oven doesn't because it's old an knackered so I don't preheat. I'm really not convinced that 30 mis rather than 25 for a frozen pizza is going to result in a toxic bacteria-fest. Something like a casserole in low for hours - maybe a legtimate concern!

I pre hear for most things, except jacket pots, so I can tone things and make sure they're cooked but my oven's so inefficient it takes longer to pre heat it than cook the bloody things I'm cooking.
Barbara What's acrylamide content? Should I be worried?

I never bother..

Does seem to cook better when you do though

I generally do but overall I don't think it makes much difference as I assume everyone leaves it in for X + 10/15 mins to compensate if they put it in from cold so it's much of a muchness in the end.

I turn it on when I walk into the kitchen to cook...
so the amount of preheating depends on how complicated the meal is. Always preheat for baking though.

I only preheat if baking, don’t bother otherwise. But I also never adjust the time for my fan oven, so I guess it all evens out

Of course I always preheat. YABVU.