> " RJ " >
>
>My early xmas gift was a Digital Oven tThermometer.
>
>Stainless steel probe, long braided wire leading to
>a digital temp displlay/timer.
>
>No more peering inside a dark oven
>at some miniscule dial to check that roast temp.
>
>I used this gadget to check my oven temperature,
>and was surprised at the results.
>
>I laid the probe on the middle oven shelf,
>and set the Oven Dial to 275,
>
>I watched the temp climb to 300 before the element turned off.
>then, a slow descent to 265 before the element turned on again.
>
>So the oven isn't one smooth heat source,
>but rather a series of spikes from 10 below to 25 over the dial temp.
>
>If you put in a large cold item ( turkey ) the oven would spend
>most of its time at 25 degrees over the dial setting.
>
>I don't know if 25 degrees "over" is critical,
>but it may explain some of my mystery baking results.

Laying a thermometer probe directly on a metal oven rack is not a good idea.

However, that's a meat thermometer you're using, not an oven thermometer. I
would suggest you check your oven temperature with an "oven" thermometer, and
do not lay it on an oven rack, suspend it from the rack so that it is in the
center portion of the oven. Then if your oven temperature is still having such
wide swings you either have a very old or bottom of the line oven (has no
anticipator) or there is an electromechanical malfuntcion associated with your
oven's thermostat and/or anticipator. With a properly functioning modern oven
(whether gas or electric) the temperature should not vary more than +/- 3º F.

---= BOYCOTT FRANCE (belgium) GERMANY--SPAIN =---
---= Move UNITED NATIONS To Paris =---
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"Life would be devoid of all meaning were it without tribulation."
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