Do toaster ovens shorten bake time?
 

I use my toaster oven almost daily to make dinner, typically baking various fish items or chicken. Whenever I look at a recipe, they always suggest quite long bake times... which I very rarely follow. For example, I will bake salmon for roughly 13-16 minutes and yet the typical salmon recipe suggests a much longer time.

Is this okay to do? It always tastes good and looks right, I've never gotten sick from it. I always figured that since a toaster oven was so small that bake time would be shorter.

Do I look like Martha Fucking Stewart to you?

Seriously tho, it should cut down the time a little bit, but not a lot.

Yes it does. It's a smaller area, and you're closer to the radiant heat of the elements because of that.

Meat thermometer :winkwink:

If you have it on max then hell ya.

Whatcha cookin?

My wife recently bought a toaster oven. I used it the other day to cook a frozen pizza. I set the timer for 12 mins like I always do in the oven and it was burnt to hell.

I think I'm going to try this today: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Lemon-G...ia/Detail.aspx

Sounds pretty good.

Beats the shit outta me Sly....you know me...i stay away from fishy smells :winkwink:

What warchild said.
Smaller area, closer to heating element. Acts almost like a broiler.
Some toaster ovens now do have pre heating and more inside radiant heat instead of overhead heating coils.

You also will not get sick from undercooked fish, beef, or duck. Just be more careful with poultry (chicken/turkey), and get pork to at least 155 with carry over time or 160. Pork can have some pink though and the Gov standards are way to high of a serving temp. Plus nobody has really gotten sick off of undercooked pork from the supermarkets in this country for decades.

Standard old school oven thermometer is a good idea for all ovens, at least to calibrate them.
My main oven is about 40 degrees hotter than the dial would have you think. My bread machine also is hotter than it's supposed to be, since every loaf is actually done perfectly about 20 minutes before the built in timer thinks it should be.

Instant read digital meat thermometers kick ass too as suggested. Can use em for lots of things.

I've read that the reason people used to get sick from pork was mainly due to the hogs diet of scraps. Now they all eat feed and whatnot, less chance of getting worms.