Commercial Conventional vs. Convection – Find Out What’s Best for Your Kitchen!

When buying a commercial oven for your restaurant, are you still worried about choosing a conventional oven or a convection oven? Traditional ovens are affordable. Although the food baked in a hot air circulation oven is more professional and more suitable for restaurants and private baking studios, the price is also much higher.

Don’t worry, this article will tell you about their working principles, suitable menus and usage scenarios. You can purchase an oven that suits your business activities according to your needs.

Working Principle

Conventional oven: Cooks food by heating the upper and lower heating elements, which transfer heat to the air inside the oven, and then the air heats the food by convection. The whole process does not involve any fans or air flow.

Convection oven: Usually the heat is generated by the ring-shaped heating tube at the back of the oven, and the heat is blown to every corner of the oven by the fan, forming a hot air circulation to heat the food evenly.

Advantages and disadvantages of each

Conventional oven: The advantage is that it is low-priced and has a relatively gentle heating method, which is suitable for foods that require a long time to slowly bake or gently heat.

The disadvantage is that it is not suitable for baking more than one plate of food, because the food is heated by the upper and lower heating tubes. When you try to put multiple baking trays in the oven at once, no matter how you adjust the temperature of the upper and lower heating tubes, the baked food always appears to be burnt on the top and raw on the bottom.
When baking food on multiple baking trays in a conventional oven, the upper and lower layers are likely to block the heat, resulting in uneven heating and uneven quality of the cooked food.

Convection oven: The core advantage lies in its heating efficiency and temperature uniformity. Conventional ovens often have uneven temperature distribution, while the hot air oven circulates hot air through a built-in fan to ensure consistent temperature in the cavity. No matter how many layers of food are in the oven, each layer can be evenly baked to ensure the color and taste of the food, and the working efficiency is several times that of an ordinary oven.

The disadvantage is that the price is higher, but from the perspective of long-term time cost, etc., the hot air circulation oven is more affordable!

Applicable menu

Conventional oven: Suitable for slow baking or gentle baking of food.

• Slow-roasted meat: Roast beef, lamb chops, etc. The gentle heat of a traditional oven is suitable for slow-roasted meat to keep the meat tender and flavorful.
• Stews, kebabs: For example, slow-cooked lamb, stewed beef, etc., the slow heating of a traditional oven can fully release the flavor of the ingredients.
• Baked rice, baked vegetables: Traditional ovens are very suitable for such dishes that require long-term stewing, making the bottom slightly crispy and the top cooked through.
• Fermented bread: For bread that takes a long time to ferment, traditional ovens provide a stable temperature, suitable for long-term gentle heating, which helps the baked food to expand evenly without causing excessive charring on the surface or undercooking inside.
• Caramel pudding and cheesecake: For desserts that require long-term temperature control and high humidity, traditional ovens can provide a stable cooking environment.
• Baked sweet potatoes and roasted chestnuts: The stable temperature of a traditional oven is suitable for slow heating of food, such as sweet potatoes, chestnuts, etc., which can be evenly heated and are not easy to over-char.
• Baked noodles, baked pasta: The heat of traditional ovens is more concentrated, which is suitable for baking heavier foods such as baked noodles, ensuring that the bottom will not be burnt and can be fully cooked.

Convection oven: Suitable for foods that need to be heated quickly and evenly.

• Roasted chicken, roast duck, roasted pork and other foods: can ensure that the skin is crispy while the meat inside remains moist.
• Puff pastry products such as Danish bread and cookies need to be crispy on the surface: The hot air circulation function of the convection oven can significantly improve the crispness;
• For European bread such as baguette:the convection oven can make its skin crispy and the inside tough. This effect is achieved through fast and even heating.
• For Chinese pastries such as moon cakes and egg yolk cakes:the convection oven can help achieve the ideal crispness and color.
• Chiffon cakes, sponge cakes and other cakes that require multiple layers to be baked at the same time and the surface to be evenly colored:Uniform hot air circulation helps keep the cake moist and elastic.

Use scenarios:

Conventional oven:

• Slow-baked meat restaurants
• Low-temperature baking places such as pastry shops and dessert shops
• Family-style restaurants or small-scale restaurants
• Small catering places with limited budgets such as small restaurants and food trucks

Convection oven:

• Efficient, large-volume cooking places such as fast food restaurants, pizza shops, bakeries
• Kitchens with high requirements for baking effects High-end restaurants:
• Commercial places that require fast service such as cafes and snack bars

Summary

Conventional oven: Suitable for kitchens that require gentle and stable heat sources for slow baking and fine control, such as high-end restaurants, pastry shops, slow-baked meat restaurants and small catering places with limited budgets. Conventional ovens are suitable for slow-cooked meats, low-temperature baking and dishes that require precise baking effects.

Convection oven: Suitable for places with efficient, large-volume cooking, fast baking and baking food, such as fast food restaurants, pizza shops, large bakery rooms and commercial kitchens that require fast service. Its uniform heat distribution and fast cooking in a short time make it perform well in high-frequency and high-efficiency kitchen environments.

Now do you now know how to choose an oven based on your specific business needs, types of dishes, and kitchen working environment?