Question:

My food doesn’t bake right. It gets done outside and the inside isn’t done. Can you help? I have looked everywhere.

—Linda

Answer:

It sounds like your oven is too hot. To check the temperature of your oven, purchase an oven thermometer and compare the reading on the thermometer with the temperature on your oven dial (be sure to allow plenty of time for your oven to pre-heat before checking the temperature).

If the temperature is accurate, the problem could be a ‘hot spot’ in your oven – certain areas of your oven can become hotter than others. To compensate, remove your food from the oven half-way through the baking process, rotate the pan 180 degrees (so that the front becomes the back), and return it to the oven. If you are using multiple racks in the oven, e.g., the top and bottom racks, you should also move the food from the top rack to the bottom and vice versa.

And, if you need a recommendation on an oven thermometer, I’ve been happy with the personal experience I’ve had with the CDN MOT1 Multi-Mount Oven Thermometer.

—Chef Dennis

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