Solving Boat Galley Oven Problems

At first, a galley oven seems like a regular gas oven. And it might be, if it’s newer. Try baking in one that’s more than about ten years old, though, and you’ll soon find some differences.  Below are some tips on dealing with the most common boat galley oven problems.

No Oven Thermostat or Thermometer

Older ovens, like the one I had aboard Que Tal, don’t have a thermostat where you just set a temperature and the oven heats to that and stays there. Instead, it has an unmarked dial. You then need to look at the thermometer once the oven has heated up. Once you see the temperature, you can adjust from there. Several of my friends also reported that their thermometer was not very accurate. I’ve heard that the sensor can get out of position and not read correctly.

If your oven doesn’t have a thermometer or if it’s inaccurate, get an oven thermometer. I got an external digital thermometer and absolutely loved it! (NOTE: The model I owned is no longer available. But Maverick offers a 2-in-1 digital oven thermometer (Amazon) that measures both the air and has a probe for meat. Older oven thermometers hung in the oven. They work, but you have to open the oven to read it, letting all that nice hot air out!

Once you figure out about where to set the gas dial for 350 and 400, make a mark on the dial for each with a felt pen or a dab of nail polish. You may still have to make adjustments each time you use the oven, but you’ll be in the right ballpark from the start.

Oven Not Hot Enough

This is one of the two biggest oven problems with a galley stove. Most of them are fairly easy to resolve.

Reasons Your Boat Oven Isn’t Hot Enough

First, let’s look at some possible causes of a galley oven not being hot enough:

• Clogged jet or orifice. This is the most common cause of insufficient oven heat. Check your owner’s manual for information on how to clean it.
• Low gas pressure. Check the pressure regulator at the tank. Verify that it’s sufficient according to the specs in the owner’s manual.  If you previously had good oven temperature, carefully check the gas hoses and connections for leaks. This is a BIG safety issue.
• The heat shield/deflector over the oven flame may have gotten warped or broken over time. This causes the oven to struggle to reach the proper temperature.
• If your stove/oven is new enough to have a heat distribution plate on the lowest oven rack, you must use it.  It serves much the same purpose as a baking stone. 
• Check the troubleshooting guide in the owner’s manual for any other potential causes with your model stove. Also, visit the manufacturer’s website to see if it contains additional information.

Despite all the troubleshooting, you may not find a cause – that was the case on Que Tal.  If you aren’t ready to replace your oven, you’ll need to find a workaround.

Ways to Cope With a Too-Cool Boat Oven

To cope with low oven temperature, I learned several tricks:

• Bake the item at the highest temperature you can achieve, but longer. This is generally the first thing people try, and it works well for some foods. In general, the result will be drier and won’t have as “crunchy” an exterior. Meats and vegetables are almost always fine with this approach, particularly if they are covered or in a casserole.  Breads are also usually okay, although the texture is affected.  Cookie texture will be less soft and more wafer-like.
• Use the broiler (if you have one) along with the oven element to heat up the oven interior to the required temperature. However, when you open the door to put the food in, some of that heat will escape. If you leave the broiler on for a few seconds after you put the food in, you can bring it back up to temperature, then turn the broiler off. But for anything that has to be baked more than 10 or 15 minutes, the oven is likely to cool down below the desired temperature.  Admittedly, this technique isn’t perfect, but it can improve the results over just baking for a longer time.
• The best answer is to use a baking stone, also called a pizza stone. The stone heats up and holds heat as described more fully in my article on using a baking stone. If your oven is not hot enough, using a baking stone can dramatically improve your results. It will also even out hot spots.

A good baking stone will cost somewhere around $50. You’ll probably have to have a tile shop cut it down to size, but it’s a lot cheaper and simpler than buying and installing a new stove.

Oven Hot Spots

The second common problem with boat ovens (typically older ones) is that they have uneven heat, or hot spots that cause some areas to burn. It’s annoying. And it can be a real waste of food.

Causes of Oven Hot Spots

Generally, this is due to one (or more) of three reasons:

• A small heat shield over the flame at the bottom of the oven causes the heat to concentrate in the center of the oven.
• The small size of the oven in general causes a short distance from the flame to the rack where the pan is. This causes the heat to be concentrated and provides for a smaller volume of hot air. That means a higher percentage is lost each time the oven is opened.
• Poor quality pans.

I’ve found a few partial solutions to hot spots. Most of them are inexpensive and worth trying.

Solutions for Boat Oven Hot Spots

You may need to experiment to find a solution that works for you.

• Move the rack your pan will sit on as high as possible in the oven. This will get it further away from the flame, and the heat from it won’t be as concentrated.
• Turn the pan 180 degrees halfway through the baking process. Or, if it’s a small pan, put it first on one side of the oven, then the other.
• If you have one, put your cookie sheet under the pan or on the lower rack. This will help diffuse the heat. It does not, however, do as good a job as a baking stone.
• Reader Sami Bolton told me about her method:  “I found out that if I put a muffin tin under a cookie sheet, then the food on the cookie sheet, either directly or in another pan, it helps food cook more evenly and helps keep things from burning on the bottom. The muffin tin is in between the bottom burner and whatever you are cooking. I still rotate halfway through baking.”

Quality Baking Gear Helps

If your oven pans are on the thin side, they won’t conduct heat evenly. Food may also scorch in spots.  My recommendation is heavy stainless pans with high-quality nonstick, such as the Chicago Metallic pans. They’re sold on Amazon (amongst other places), and you can check out the huge variety of pan sizes available in the nonstick Chicago Metallic pans. Many are actually of a useful size for a boat oven.  

Yes, they are about 40% to 50% more expensive than the Baker’s Secret pans you can buy in every Walmart, but you’ll have much better results with them.  Not only are the Chicago Metallic pans heavier, but the nonstick is higher quality, pans clean up much better (less water used), they’re less likely to warp, and they will last far longer. In the long run, they are less expensive as you won’t have to buy new pans every couple of years.

Using a baking stone also dramatically helps even out hot spots!

Once I began using both a baking stone and a heavy Chicago Metallic pan, I no longer had a problem with hot spots!

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