Recipes

[Kachina624]

Ive never heard of leaving the oven door open and have never done it, nor did my mother. 

I've always put a little water in the broiler to facilitate clean-up,  although I don't have a designated "waterbroiler".   It keeps food from sticking and baking on. 

[ValuSkr]

I always leave the oven door cracked open.  Like the others, it's what I've always done and what my mother did.  Here's what my oven's Use & Care Guide says:

"Close the door to the Broil Stop Position (open about 4 inches, 10.2 cm). The door will stay open all by itself."  

and

"NOTE: The door must be partly open whenever the oven is set to BROIL.  Leaving the door open allows the oven to maintain proper temperatures."

This oven is not new - it's electric and about twenty years old - so newer models may work differently.

[x Hedge]

Wow @TeezNu, your question brought a smile to my lips!  I haven't heard anyone mention leaving the oven door open while broiling in at least 50 years.

Growing up, I watched my mother use a stove that was built post World War 1, and that actually did require that the oven door be left ajar while broiling.

But Heavens no! Modern ovens do not require you leave the door open when broiling.

That practice originated in Victorian times when gas light and cooking was new. Closing the oven door would cut off the oxygen supply, the flame on the broiler would be extinguish for lack of oxygen, but the gas would still continue to pour into the oven creating a hazard. That was solved by simply leaving the oven door open a bit while broiling. Modern gas stoves are ventilated and safeguarded in such a way that this hazard no longer exists.

[GCR18]

My mother always left the door open.  I've only broiled a handful of times and left the door open.  I liked looking through the crack to see how things are going.

[x Hedge]

While I was Wenning my hair occurred to me that some readers may indeed be using a stove that old.

☆ If you have to turn on the gas, light a match, wave it around the port and listen for the gas to ignite, then yes, it's wise to leave the door open a little bit while you're broiling.

All that stopped when they gave us gas stoves with electronic ignition and upgraded the internal ventilation for self cleaning ovens. You can close the door now.

[Poodlepet2]

You should try to find the manual: I have a Bosch-and of all things, you close the door....Needless to say, I burned a few things before I figured timing with this.  I love it-it's the most powerful oven I have ever owned.  Most oven, you crack when broiling.

Poodlepet2

[CelticCrafter]

For storage of sheet pans!

Doesn't matter what I'm making, all that happens is that is sets everything on fire and makes one big mess so I stopped trying.

[shaggygirl]

I've had probably 5 or 6 electric stoves over the years and the instructions always said to leave the door ajar when broiling so when I got the one I have now, it's about 3 years old, I did the same when broiling. But I had never read the instruction booklet in regards to broiling, just assumed as with the others that's what I should do. Because you asked, for the heck of it I just got out my booklet for this one and when it speaks about using the broiling feature it says nothing about leaving the door ajar. So that's a first for me.

[ECBG]

Actually, the oven door should be left cracked when using broil unless you are told not to.  

The reason is because broiling is 'grilling" in a range.  If you close the door, the maximum temperature would be reached and the broiling element would cycle off for a few seconds.

Your steak would bake not grill.  Many people have a problem with this methid because until the element reaches its top temperature the grilling is slower.  After it gets throughly heated, the grilling can be very fast.

In my labs we always did homemade cinnamon toast.  We had some burned toast you can be sure!

[faeriemoon]

The instruction book that came with my range says to always broil with the door closed. (Just checked.)