Are boat ovens pointless?

We just replaced our old one with an ENO cooker. I still haven't tested the oven; I'll try it this weekend with pizza!
 
Warm croissants, roasted lamb rump, marinated chicken breasts, freshly-caught oven-roasted mackerel, roasted tomatoes and vegetables, falafels with pre-dinner drinks......
In the absence of a thermostat, a simple oven dial-type thermometer and the occasional adjustment of the paraffin (Taylors again) are all that are needed.
Perhaps some galley staff are pointless?
 
Minerva said:
We have the common plastimo 4500 - works really well with a 21cm (ish) cast iron pot!
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That's the new one I am looking at tbh, now called "neptune 4500". The old one looks identical, but some even older brand. Don't know right now from top of my head but looks pretty much identical, just older.

Either way. The stove top would be with a grill. I think that many people here use the grill but not the oven? And my issue is not so much that it's hotter at the back than the front, but rather that the top is not done when the bottom is burned.
Pizza was one example, but how are you supposed to roast some potatoes or fish with an oven like that? You#re better off frying it in a pan or use a different device as an alternative, no?

I think I'll just get a stove top with a grill and build me some nice drawers and a countertop to go on top of it. Somewhere to "butter the sandwich". ;)

Shame that no one seemed to figure out how to make a proper oven for boats that works the same well as an oven at home. Shouldn't be that difficult to get heat from the top and the bottom at the same time. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
 
You could keep it as a last hope with lightning strikes :)
I,d abandon pizza ideas with any domestic oven, let alone boat ovens; for decent household electric pizza baking one needs triphase current, or try it by yourself to make your opinion (even tried ovens rated at 260deg with thick stone cooking plate). Microwave, I use it to speed-cook courgettes for my cats, nothing else.
Talking about personal tastes after all. :)
 
Dockhead said:
Maybe an electric toaster?
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I used to make toast on a cast iron skillet, thick as you like .
I tried baking bread in the pressure cooker with its rubber seal removed, it was a faii.
Last boat had oven, you can’t beat roast chicken in a tray with all the roastie potatoes and veggies around it.
Turn the pan around once, it seemed to do a grand job.
And fray bentos
Pizzas not so good

Oven on a bumpy passage is a safe thing imo whilst you’re getting cold and wet doing important cockpit stuff . Something to look forward too
Imo
 
Roberto said:
You could keep it as a last hope with lightning strikes :)
I,d abandon pizza ideas with any domestic oven, let alone boat ovens; for decent household electric pizza baking one needs triphase current, or try it by yourself to make your opinion (even tried ovens rated at 260deg with thick stone cooking plate). Microwave, I use it to speed-cook courgettes for my cats, nothing else.
Talking about personal tastes after all. :)
Click to expand...
I never had a problem with a domestic oven in a house. They always worked fine.
 
DangerousPirate said:
I mean it's either buy a new unit without oven or buy a new unit with oven. But if the oven is not even usable, then what's the point?
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But, as a number of people have said they are usable if you learn to use them and cook the sort of food that is best in the oven. I have done half a leg of lamb, 1.6kg chicken, a 2kg turkey breast as well as tray bakes for 2 with chicken, fish and vegetables as well as countless ready meals and baked potatoes.

However not worth buying if you are not prepared to learn how to use it.
 
DangerousPirate said:
The thing: That oven is totally useless. Sure, it gets hot, but the few times I tried to make pizza in there, the pizza showed definite hotspots, and it was always done bottom up. If I have to play tricks with dutch ovens and stuff just to get a decent bake, then what's the point. From looking online, this seems to be a common problem.
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We get a burned bottom if we try to heat something quickly - especially on the lower shelves. I've devised a solution - which is to put two shelves in the oven with an empty baking tray on the lower one - this prevents the direct heat but at least notionally slows down the "pre-heat". You want the baking tray fairly small so there is still plenty of space to get around the sides of the tray. I have a suspicion it works best with the baking tray upside down but the experimental evidence is only preliminary on that!

If you are a big pizza fan a stone might help.

Bouba said:
You do see brand new unused ovens on second hand boats, so I agree that a lot of people don’t use them..
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We look at different boats! I suspect your typical market, marina hop and eat ashore. To me cooking afloat is actually a joy and working out the little curiosities of having just two burners and a ropey oven provides a fun challenge.
 
Burning dinosaur farts is a very primitive way to heat up your dinner.
Embrace the 21st century... Remoska electric oven, air fryer, all powered by the sun.
Although SWMBO insists that we keep the gas oven for Yorkshire puddings, apparently nothing else will do 🤷‍♂️.
 
DangerousPirate said:
That's the new one I am looking at tbh, now called "neptune 4500". The old one looks identical, but some even older brand. Don't know right now from top of my head but looks pretty much identical, just older.

Either way. The stove top would be with a grill. I think that many people here use the grill but not the oven? And my issue is not so much that it's hotter at the back than the front, but rather that the top is not done when the bottom is burned.
Pizza was one example, but how are you supposed to roast some potatoes or fish with an oven like that? You#re better off frying it in a pan or use a different device as an alternative, no?

I think I'll just get a stove top with a grill and build me some nice drawers and a countertop to go on top of it. Somewhere to "butter the sandwich". ;)

Shame that no one seemed to figure out how to make a proper oven for boats that works the same well as an oven at home. Shouldn't be that difficult to get heat from the top and the bottom at the same time. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Click to expand...

Again, even oven cooking is entirely possible through a cast iron pot. He’s the last lost of bread I cooked aboard.
 

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