Why a clean oven?

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•    A dirty oven can wreak havoc when it comes to baking. Burnt on grease and grime can cause flavour issues and increase the cooking times. ... It's not just your food that's in danger either; dirty ovens can be a serious smoke hazard. Stray food may burn at the bottom of your oven and cause your appliance to fill with smoke.

•    The Teflon coating inside the oven is safe when you bake and broil food items, but the oven heats to 600 degrees Fahrenheit or more during the cleaning cycle and can produce toxic Teflon fumes. These fumes can cause flulike symptoms, such as chills, coughing, sweating and breathing difficulties

•    Most of us keep oven spills behind closed doors for way too long. According toReichert, ovens should be cleaned at least every three to six months, or moreoften as needed. If you don't have a self-cleaning oven, follow these easy “green” steps: Sprinkle the base of the oven with baking soda.

•    If you are cooking something with a lot of fat and grease, it can splatter and cause a flame. If you are baking, the batter could overflow, drip to the bottom and start a small fire. Some people have even reported their ovens catching fire when they had the self-cleaning feature on.

•    But keeping the oven clean can even make you a better, more efficient baker, according to British Gas. Grease and little pieces of burnt food in the oven canabsorb the heat and make the oven less efficient. Keeping the glass clear also means you can take a sneak peek at your bakes.

•    If your oven is coated with grease and grime, it can interfere with the natural travel of hot air around the interior, meaning that food may not be cooked as it should be.

•    Think about it: A filthy oven is not a healthy oven, and it’s tough for your oven to do its job as normal if it’s coated in grease and dirt. If your oven isn’t working properly, you may not be properly cooking your food, even if you’re sticking to temperature guidelines and cooking times.

•    And, as you well know, eating undercooked food can put you at risk of food poisoning and infections such as e. coli.

•    And when there’s too much grime, your food will not cook properly in the allotted time. ‘That puts you and your loved ones at risk of potentially-deadly bacteria, like salmonella and E.coli, particularly if you’re reheating festive leftovers. ‘It can turn a family dinner into a nightmare.

•    Any food or grease that has been burnt on the inside of the oven continuers to burn whenever it’s switched on.’ Dirty cookers could also release pollutants into the home, throwing carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, and sulphur dioxide into the air you breathe.

•    That’s not good. The British Lung Foundation warns that dirty cookers can release two kinds of pollutants in the home; microscopic particles of dust and dirt, and gases like carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and sulphur dioxide.

•    That all sounds pretty scary. So what can you do, beyond adopting a raw diet? It’s simple: Give your oven a proper clean. You don’t need to pay for a cleaner or buy anything fancy, just standard kitchen cleaning products will do the trick.

•    All you need is some baking soda, vinegar, water, rubber gloves, spray bottle and cloths,’ advises Ralitsa. ‘To get started remove oven racks. These racks can be washed in the sink using regular soap and water. They come up cleaner if left to soak for some time.

•    Make a paste with soda and water, mix it together until it becomes spreadable. You’re going to coat the whole oven with this so ensure you make plenty.

•    Spread the paste all throughout the interior of the oven but steer clear of the heating elements. Give the greasy spots a good going over. ‘You will see it start to turn brown as it comes into contact with the grease, this means the paste is lifting the dirt. ‘The next step is a waiting game. Let the paste stay on overnight, giving it 12 hours at least to work its magic.

•    The following day wipe off the paste using a damp cloth. For any stubborn areas you can use a spatula to loosen the grime. Don’t use a solid utensil like a knife, this will scratch your oven. ‘Next put some white vinegar in a spray bottle and spray the oven interior. The vinegar will cause any lingering baking soda to loosen and foam up. Use a clean wipe to give the oven a once over. Put the racks back in and let the oven dry.

•    You can speed up oven drying time by turning it on to a low setting for a few minutes. If you can’t be bothered with mixing your own products and giving your oven a proper scrub, you’ll find plenty of cleaning products specifically designed for cleaning caked on grime in your local supermarket. Easy.

•    Once you’ve done one big clean, you can keep your oven in good condition by giving it a wipe down after each use, thus swiping away any grime and preventing it from building up. It’s an extra step in the existing faff of cooking and cleaning, but if you’re bothered about your health or the time you need to keep cookies in the oven, it’s worth doing.

• Cleaning the oven is always an unpleasant task. It can be tricky, time consuming, involving chemicals, cleanings and a lot of elbow grease.  So it will be good if you can keep it clean and use a professional cleaner at least once every year, otherwise you may need to call an oven cleaner more often.

• Keeping your oven clean is the healthier choice for you and your family and gives you also tastier cooking, faster and safe cooking, economical cooking, cleaner air in your home and an extended life to your oven.

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