cooking turkey in gas oven

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stormy2000

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well almost 2 full months of FT and we are trying out our gas oven with a nice size turkey.  first Thanksgivings in our new TT, will let all know how it
turned out : )  and will be using our gas stove also for the first time cooking the other dishes.  after this, we will have used every appliance/thing
in our TT.  much different than electric oven which we are used to.

  note: it took us a little while to figure out how to light the oven, but it is lit and up, warming up to temp now, have a heat meter thing in our
oven to let us know the temp.   

bill & jodi
 
Have you installed a pizza stone yet?  If not after this experience you should stop by one of the big box home improvement stores and buy yourself one of the large UNglazed floor tiles and drop it I. Your oven.  It sure will help even out the temperature swings that can happen
 
We usually cook outdoors using a camp stove and grill since the weather is so nice here in southern Az. It saves us having to uproot to fill our propane (need to install a "T" inline).

Anyhoo, we are cooking at a neighbor's  mobilehome and sharing dinner with him.

Hope everyone has a good meal no matter how it is cooked.

We're thankful for this great community of wonderful folks.

HAPPY TURKEY DAY
Jay & Margie
 
Bill and Jodi,

RV ovens can be tricky so do make sure your turkey is up to the proper temperature before removing it from the oven.  It may take less time than expected or it may take more time than expected.  Glad you have a thermometer.

ArdraF
 
hello again,

  everything went great! some notes: the temp meter did not register what our oven said; i.e. oven to 350 and the temp meter showed 275, so we
ended up raising the oven temp and the temp meter raised also.  not sure if that's the norm with gas oven, and do not know what the pizza stone
is, our first time ever with a gas oven. 

  at times it looked like the metal rod where the flame in the oven was, turned a very bright red like color, and then later the flame came back, so
not sure if that is norm.  the turkey cooked longer than when we did it in electric, but again, we wanted to cook our first thanksgivings turkey
in our tt gas oven. 

  and now we know a few things; how to light the oven,  the temp meter is a necessity as our oven did not match with the meter's reading, cooking times will vary,  on the stove we heated up the corn, beans w/ham, gravy, and that the high heat stove eye is kinda near the edge
so that our pot will not directly sit squarely over it. 

  but all in all, the food cooked great and everything made for a great thanksgivings, will see about the pizza stone and what that is all about.

hope everyone had a great thanksgivings.


bill & jodi

 
 
It is quite common for the dial on the oven to be far off, so an inside oven thermometer is essential. Also be aware that temps inside an RV gas oven are typically very uneven, so hots spots are the norm. A pizza stone or similar helps even out the temperature, though.

Often the dial on the oven is adjustable. Pull of the knob and see if there is a little screw underneath that will let you rotate the part that slips over the shaft independent of the outside piece with the temperature calibration. Loosen the screw and turn the knob so that it more closely matches the oven thermometer reading.
 
A lot of us use a pizza stone in the oven under what we're cooking to help even out the temps in the small oven.
 
Do you place the pizza stone directly on the cooking rack and then place what you are cooking on the pizza stone?
 
A pizza stone is just that.  A unglazed clay disc that you used to cook the pizza on before the days of papa murphies take and bake pizza.  As a first class substitute go to the big box stores and buy a large unglazed clay tile.  Stick it on the pan just above the burner.  You will be amazed how much it evens out the temps inside the oven.  Ours ans ridden in the oven for about 10 years and still is in one piece.
 
The metal rod is a thermocouple used to insure the pilot is iit, it is normal for it to get quiet hot when the burner is burnering,

The dial being off,, mine is off fifty degrees, Very normal.

There is a slight difference in cooking with a gas oven over an electric, Generally (And this is one of the cases that fit) you likely won't notice it, but on a very very few recipies you do.  Has to do with water behing a byproduct of combustion.

Been cooking with Gas since I was a "tween" as that age is now called,  Really prefer it to electric.
 
Maybe nobody else likes explanations of why to do things but I do, so, here's my explanation of why to put a pizza stone or unglazed tile in a gas oven.

The standard gas oven has the burner in the middle of the oven directly under a thin metal shelf or pan which acts as a diffuser to send the heat out to the sides of the oven rather than going straight up and burning the bottom of whatever you are cooking. That metal piece still heats up quickly right in the middle and gets very hot while the outsides stay cooler. If you've tried frying bacon in a thin stainless steel fry pan you know how the middle cooks quickly and the outside edges never get done.

So, the pizza stone or the large tile acts as a buffer for the heat. It allows a more uniform distribution and eliminates pretty well, the hot spot that otherwise occurs.

I think it's also important to note that there needs to be clearance on the sides of the stone for heat to travel up. So if you use unglazed tile, don't totally cover the diffuser. You probably have holes along the edges of the metal diffuser that comes with the oven, don't cover those with you new and improved diffuser.

Ken
 
bucks2: 

Just so you know your time was not wasted, I really enjoyed your explanation of how it should work.  I've procrastinated buying a pizza stone for years, but now that I'm doing more baking, I think we'll look for an unglazed tile.  Your description was very clear.  Thank you!

Margi
 
Thanks Ken. That made perfect sense. No one else has ever explained why/how the unglazed tile works. Now if I can just find one....last time I looked at the big Orange store, they said they didn't carry any ?

Wendy
 
Instead of a tile I use a double-insulated cookie sheet under my pans in the oven.  It keeps foods from burning.

And, yes, as Gary said, RV ovens tend to be uneven in both temperature and baking so the thermometer is essential.  You get used to it after a while.  ;)

ArdraF
 
Well, phooey!  Loew's in Roseburg, OR does not carry unglazed tiles.  Any suggestions for where to buy one?  Didn't try Home Depot, but sounds like Wendy tried there.

Margi
 
Unglazed tiles are used for outdoor paving. Patios, pool areas etc. Now if you can find the right size....that's another problem.
 
This one should do the trick. http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-25ecodZ5yc1vZ1z1191k/R-202653747/h_d2/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&keyword=unglazed+tile&storeId=10051

It says it's available in Roseburg, but who knows if it really is. At least you have a part # to ask for. It may very well be that the sales person was mixing paint yesterday and didn't realize what tiles were on the shelf.

I don't think I've ever found an insulated cookie sheet small enough to fit in my oven and still have circulation room on the sides. It's a great idea though if you could find one.

Ken
 
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