General Oven Temperature

[CollegeChef]

Helloooo,

I did a little searching for some generalities about oven temperature, but I couldn't find a 'general' thread about oven temperature and only specific threads tailored to certain recipes/foods.
I also tried Googling it and asking my mom, but all of those searches resulted in 'weak' arguments as to why different recipes use different temperatures.

So, my question(s) to you all:
Why do certain recipes call for oven use at temperatures ranging between 350 to 375 to 400 and up?

-and-​

Could we generalize which foods would require one temperature (pasta vs roasts, etc) as opposed to another?

Thank you very much for all your help!

-=CC

 

[blissful]

Oven temperatures are really recipe dependent.

As a general discussion.
Some temperatures are better at Toasting, Browning and Crisping--like bread crust, turkey skin or pizza: 350 F to 450 F.
Some temperatures are better at setting a custard, warming, slow roasting--like a cheesecake, quiche, mac and cheese, slow cooked pork: 270 F to 325 F.

Some recipes require a high initial temperature then reduced to a lower one. Some recipes require a low temperature followed by a high one. Some require a constant temperature.

Does that help?

 

[Frenchys]

Yes specific food requires specific heat, you should look for molecular french stuff on the web

 

[Rocklobster]

It all depends what you want to do with the food. Like the others said, temp is recipe specific. I don't think that you have to be accurate to the exact degree, but you have to be in the general area. Some recipes can call for changing temperatures during the proccess.

 

[GB]

It all depends on what you want the end result to be. You can roast a chicken at 350 or you roast it at 500. Each will work depending on what you want.