What do the symbols on my oven mean?

The fan oven symbol is a fan. With this setting, the oven uses a fan to evenly distribute the heat throughout the entire oven. The advantage of this is that you can bake relatively fast and on different levels. This setting is less suitable for baking pies, but handles casseroles well, for example.

In case of lower heat, all heat is generated by a heating element at the bottom of the oven. You can use this setting for au bain-marie or to finish cooking a dish. If you're making an oven dish, quiche, or pie, this setting will heat the bottom without burning the top. For this setting, you should preferably only use 1 baking sheet or oven rack. That's because the heat from the bottom heating element won't reach the second baking sheet or second oven rack.

If you choose upper and lower heat, the heat comes from both above and below at the same time. You can use this setting to make casseroles, meat, and pies. This setting is also the preferred setting for baked goods that need to rise, like bread. The air stream produced by the fan of a fan oven might cause your rising pastry to collapse. For this setting, you should also use 1 baking sheet or oven rack. That way, your dish can be heated from above and below. An extra baking sheet or oven rack would block the heat.

In the case of upper heat, your oven only activates the upper heating element. You can use this function to bake pies with a pre-baked crust. That way, you keep the bottom of your apply pie from burning. You can also use upper heat if you want to gratinate your dish, like a lasagna or chicory with ham and cheese.

With this setting, you use the entire grill of the oven. With the grill, you can gratinate a dish or give a piece of chicken or fish a crispy crust. You can also make tasty vegetables, like bell peppers, zucchini, or aubergine. Thanks to the grill setting, the food gets that typical, sweet grill flavor. The grill isn't suitable for preparing thick pieces of meat. If you grill a piece of meat that's too thick, it's difficult to fully cook the inside without burning the outside.

With a number of ovens, you can easily use just part of the grill. Make sure to check which part of the grill you're using, so you can place your dish in the right spot. Usually, this is the center of the grill. You use the part grill function the same way you'd use the full grill function, but for smaller amounts.

If you choose the fan grill setting, your oven will alternate between the grill and the fan. That way, the oven blows the hot air around your dish every now and then. You can compare it to preparing a piece of meat on a spit. As a result, large pieces of pork fillet, pork chops, or roast beef cook faster. If you only use the grill for larger pieces of meat and fish, you run the risk of burning the outsides while the inside is still raw.

The pizza setting often uses a combination of the fan oven and the heating element at the bottom of the oven. The extra heat from below ensures your pizza gets a crispy crust. You can also use the pizza setting for other dishes that need to be properly cooked on the bottom, like a quiche.

The steaming function allows you to steam vegetables and potatoes, but also rice, meat, fish, and poultry. If you steam a dish, the flavors and nutrients are better preserved compared to other preparation methods. In addition, you can also use a steam oven to heat up leftovers. It takes longer to heat a dish in a steam oven than in a microwave, but your dish will taste a lot better.

With the microwave setting, you can defrost food and reheat your leftovers from yesterday. In addition, this setting is very suitable for boiling broccoli, beans, or potatoes. With the microwave setting, you need less water to boil vegetables than you would in a pan. This way, the food retains its vitamins and you don't pour them out along with the water.

With the defrost function, you defrost products without heating them up. You can quickly defrost a slice of bread for breakfast or the minced meat for your pasta sauce. The defrost setting works differently for ovens and microwaves. When you use the defrost setting on a microwave, you select the weight. The microwave will then use the right wattage and defrost time. After, the air circulates through the oven at a low temperature.

You can only find a crisp function on microwave ovens. With this function, you can make crispy oven fries, give your pizza a crispy crust, or give your chicken a crispy layer. The crisp function only works in combination with a crisp dish or crisp plate. The extra-hot dish heats the bottom, while the grill is aimed at the top of your dish. You can use the crisp function to speed up the cooking process, so you'll be able to serve a crispy dish quickly.