WEBVTT - How do bake and broil settings differ?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff from how stuff works dot com

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<v Speaker 1>where smart Happens. Hi, I'm Marshall Brain with today's question.

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<v Speaker 1>In a kitchen oven, what's the difference between the bake

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<v Speaker 1>setting and the broil setting? Baking and broiling are completely

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<v Speaker 1>different ways to cook food. In baking, you're trying to

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<v Speaker 1>heat food by surrounding the food with hot air. In broiling,

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<v Speaker 1>you're trying to heat food using infrared radiation. Infrared radiation,

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<v Speaker 1>especially at close range, has a tendency to char things,

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<v Speaker 1>which is great when you're trying to cook steaks, while

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<v Speaker 1>hot air does not have that tendency, which is great

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<v Speaker 1>for cakes. In a normal kitchen oven, what most people

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<v Speaker 1>are interested in is baking things like cakes or biscuits.

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<v Speaker 1>In the ideal case, what baking means is immersing the

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<v Speaker 1>object to be cooked in an environment of still hot air.

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<v Speaker 1>So if you're baking a cake in the direction say

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<v Speaker 1>bake at three fifty degrees for twenty minutes, then ideally

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<v Speaker 1>you would place the cake in a box or an

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<v Speaker 1>oven that contains still air at a constant temperature of

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<v Speaker 1>three fifty degrees. There would be little or no infrared

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<v Speaker 1>radiation to brown or char at the top of the cake. This,

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<v Speaker 1>by the way, is why you preheat an oven. The

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<v Speaker 1>idea is to get all of the air in the

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<v Speaker 1>oven up to the proper temperature so the burner doesn't

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<v Speaker 1>have to come on very often or for very long.

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<v Speaker 1>That keeps the infrared radiation from the burner to a minimum.

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<v Speaker 1>That also explains why only the lower burner comes on

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<v Speaker 1>during baking. The radiation that does get generated by the

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<v Speaker 1>burner hits the pan rather than the top of the cake.

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<v Speaker 1>When you want to grill a steak, what you should

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<v Speaker 1>use is a barbecue grill outside. A barbecue grill cooks

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<v Speaker 1>with infrared radiation je rated by hot coals beneath the food.

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<v Speaker 1>If you don't have a barbecue, or if it's raining outside,

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<v Speaker 1>you can broil the steak in your oven. When you

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<v Speaker 1>set the oven on its broil setting, the oven turns

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<v Speaker 1>on its top burner and leaves it on. This creates

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<v Speaker 1>lots of infrared radiation above the food, so you put

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<v Speaker 1>your steak in a broiling pan to catch the juice,

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<v Speaker 1>and then place the steak very close to the top burner. Normally,

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<v Speaker 1>you'll leave the door of the oven slightly open while

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<v Speaker 1>you're broiling. The broiling burner is an upside down barbecue

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<v Speaker 1>with the burner replacing the coals. Broiling generally creates a

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<v Speaker 1>huge mess inside the oven from all the splattering, as

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<v Speaker 1>well as tons of smoke outside the oven and therefore

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<v Speaker 1>in your kitchen, which is why most people use the

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<v Speaker 1>grill outside instead of the ovens broiler. Be sure to

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