Oven temp for dishes with different nominal cooking times

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I want to cook two dishes simultaneously (for efficiency's sake): carrots, which have a nominal cooking temp of 350 F / 180 C for 30 mins. and chicken, which has a nominal cooking temp of 400 F / 200 C for 45 mins. The Seasoned Advice posts I've read on this subject (here, here, here, and here) suggest the thing to do is cook at the lower temp first, then turn the oven to the higher temp; I can do that if necessary, but if possible I'd prefer to have everything in the oven at once, since the second dish cooks for a while.

If I put the carrots in at 400, how much should I reduce the cooking time? And how severely will it affect the result?

Best Answer

Roasting carrots at 400F for 20 minutes, according to this Food Network recipe: Roasted Carrots

I haven't followed that specific recipe, but changing your temp and time accordingly shouldn't create any problem.

Related Solutions

Time vs. Temperature – What changes what

One fundamental error in this question: 400 degrees is not twice as hot as 200 degrees. Temperature is a measure of the kinetic energy of the particles involved. The only scale on which you can do the kind of ratio you are imagining is Kelvins - you have to measure from absolute zero.

400 F = 477.59 K
200 F = 366.48 K

so the kinetic energy of the air in the oven is only about 477/366 = 1.3 times as high at 400 F as it is at 200. For simple cases, like how long it takes to evaporate a pan of water, 1.3x is probably pretty close to right, but as is pointed out above, there are a whole host of other variables that come into play with real food.

So ...

Bake time variations for a recipe that calls for 400 degrees for 30 minutes converted to a 450 cooking time and a 350 cooking time:

400 Farenheit = 477.594 Kelvin

477.594 x 30 minutes = 14327.82 HeatPoints

450 F = 505.372 K

14327.82 HP / 505.372 K = 28.35 or 28 minutes 21 seconds

If braised meat is cooked at 200 degrees in a perfectly sealed pouch in the oven, does the temperature rise above boiling

Any increased steam pressure would raise the boiling point, not lower it. However, I doubt that you will be able to seal the pouch well enough to withstand any serious pressure.

What may cause boiling though, is the fact that ovens cycle on and off, especially at low temperatures. The amplitude of the cycles depend on how good your oven is. At 200°F, your pouch will probably experience above-boiling ambient temperatures during the on-part of the cycles. Of course, that doesn't mean that the contents of the pouch is above-boiling, but there may be.

However, I don't think that the braising liquid boiling slightly now and again is going to be a big problem. Sometimes when I've braised meat, there's been some boiling, and the results have still both looked and tasted great.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Time vs. Temperature – What changes what

If braised meat is cooked at 200 degrees in a perfectly sealed pouch in the oven, does the temperature rise above boiling

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