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Nothing compares to the satisfaction of taking a lasagna or deep-dish casserole recipe out of the oven to find it topped with melted cheese and creamy sauce, knowing that soon you'll be biting into the noodley goodness that is making your entire kitchen smell tempting. Due to its popularity for being both delicious to eat and simple to prepare, oven-baked meals frequently appear on busy households' menus. It simply makes sense that you would want to locate the best pan if you plan to make more than one casserole in your lifetime. Yet, how can you decide between the various oven-friendly options?
As opposed to other materials frequently used for baking, glass is a non-reactive substance, therefore cooking your oven-baked foods in glassware offers many distinct benefits, including easier cleanup and no lasting aftertaste from the pan. There are many benefits, but not all oven-friendly dishes work well with glassware, nor are glass dishes necessarily the easiest to use. Shattering pans and burned food are two common problems that might arise while using glass in the kitchen.
But many cooks swear by glassware, and if you're willing to put in the time and effort to learn, you might find that your favorite casserole dish is as indispensable to your kitchen as any other appliance.
Here are simple tips
Galssware for versatality: Any regular user of glassware is aware that it is a useful container and a reliable option for cooking some foods. A glass pan can be quickly covered after cooling and placed in the refrigerator without having to wonder whether it will last. Several glass dishes even come with fridge-friendly coverings to make storing even simpler. Glassware's ease of cleaning is another one of its key advantages. The residual food will soften after a little soak, and using a scrub pad without worrying about scratching the surface will put your mind at ease.
Preheat the oven: Preheating the oven is an essential step whenever you bake since it ensures that the temperature stays constant and stops your food from cooking in an uneven manner. This is especially true for glassware because it heats up more slowly but maintains a steady temperature for a longer period of time. For cooking dishes like enchiladas to perfection, a preheated oven and glass dish are ideal. If the slow process is timed correctly, it can be magical, and preheating will be crucial to it.
Grease the glassware: Depending on what you're creating, you might also use ingredients like butter, ghee, or vegetable shortening, but the most important thing to keep in mind is that, whether or not the recipe calls for it, you'll want to oil the pan before you start baking. This avoids scorched edges and facilitates the eventual cleaning process. Similar to preheating, it's essential to do before cooking anything in the oven, especially if you're using glassware. The pan should be buttered, floured, and even lined with parchment paper to prevent sticking before baking any form of cake.
Not for dry dishes: It is advised not to cook any dry dishes since uneven heat distribution poses an additional risk to glassware. Glassware is ideal for foods covered in sauce and less suitable for dry ribs and the like because the liquid is a key component in what helps transmit heat safely and consistently. Despite this, cooking meat in glassware can be a great idea if you follow a few safety guidelines. Doing so will ultimately save you a lot of time and misery.
Place it on a cooling rack: What should you put a hot pan on now that you are aware of what you should not place your glassware on? In this case, cooling racks will provide adequate time and airflow for your dinner's temperature to stabilise. Similar to how a plastic cutting board might, a wooden cutting board could work because the wood won't react negatively to the hot glass. Don't discard what you've learned simply because the pan has come out of the oven because most of the heating and cooling recommendations also apply to heating.
Not everything cooks well in glassware: Every baking pan has its limitations, and understanding a dish's weaknesses can be just as helpful as understanding its advantages. For instance, because glass cookware has a slow burn nature, you should avoid using it if you want to whip up a good bath of cookies. Glassware does the fast-baking biscuit no favours when it comes to heating up, but it also hinders the need for swift cooling due to its inclination to hold on to heat. Not that baking the ideal biscuit in glassware is impossible, but it does present a number of difficulties that are far easier to avoid by using a metal baking sheet in its place.
