‘Turn the oven down to’ question

[ChevronB19]

Inspired by Yorkshire puddings posts, but applicable to many other recipes.

If a recipe says (for example) to start something off at 220c, cook for 20 minutes, then ‘turn the oven down to’ say 190c and cook for a further 10 minutes, does this mean let the oven cool down to 190, or literally just turn it down? Surely heat soak over a period of 10 minutes would mean (at best) the oven actually just cools down a few degrees? So in short, pointless?

(partial) James Martin Yorkie recipe by way of illustration…

Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7.

Put a little of the dripping in the holes of three non-stick Yorkshire pudding tins. Place the tins in the oven until smoking hot.

Remove from the oven and quickly fill the moulds with the batter. Return to the oven and cook for 20-25 minutes.

Turn the oven down to 190C/375F/Gas 5 and cook for a further 10 minutes to set the bottom of the puddings.

[21TonyK]

You're right about the heat soak but it does mean exactly that, just turn it down at a set time and leave it to continue.

[ChevronB19]

21TonyK said:

You're right about the heat soak but it does mean exactly that, just turn it down at a set time and leave it to continue.

Thanks Tony! Having looked at your threads you obviously know your beans, as it were.

[dickymint]

In todays modern ovens (highly insulated etc.) I'd say it is pointless. In fact there would be a significant energy saving to just turn the oven off for ten minutes. Well worth an experiment as we have two identical ovens but I'm not allowed anywhere near an oven when it comes to Yorkies

[Badda]

If you turned the oven off on my Yorkies I would take you outside and bury you head down.

[ChevronB19]

Badda said:

If you turned the oven off on my Yorkies I would take you outside and bury you head down.

Don’t worry, I had an Xmas fail and forgot to take the Yorkies out of the oven. For 5 hours.

[Murph7355]

For Yorkshires, just turn the oven down. Try not to be opening the door on them all the time.

For meat, the higher temp is to get the skin to start crisping. You then turn the oven down so it doesn't become tough as old boots.

My single favourite gadget I've ever bought for cooking is a meat thermometer. Within reason you can turn the temp down to whatever you want and just wait for the meat thermometer to tell you when it's ready.

We had a joint of pork the other day that my OH was going to simply cook by the label. That would have left it in the over for the best part of 2hrs. It was done at least 30mins before that and was perfect.