Oven

Dear Polly: I would appreciate knowing what is considered to be a simmering temperature in an oven? I prefer to cook soups in ovens rather than on top of the stove because they don't burn as easily on the bottom. - C.S. I have excellent results cooking pot roasts in the oven at 225 to 250 degrees. The result is a very tender, flavorful pot roast. Soups and meat stocks can be cooked at the same temperature. Of course, since ovens vary greatly in their temperature accuracy, monitor the pot to find the optimum oven setting in your own oven.

The oven wouldn't work, but it was a good stove, not something to be cast away lightly. I called a friend who knows about these things and he gave me the name of an appliance repair man. Tom was friendly on the phone. I was hopeful he might bring us good news but braced for the worst. He was even more friendly in person. He had grown up in our neighborhood before moving out to the suburbs. He remembered dances at the Catholic school across the street. He talked as he checked out the oven: "Well, it's an old one, but the problem is really simple.

Whether you are new to microwaving or a long time owner, everyone appreciates microwave shortcuts and tips for success. To quick thaw frozen whipped topping, microwave a 4 1/2-ounce carton on Medium Low (30 percent) for 1 minute. For a browner looking pie crust, brush with dark corn syrup, maple syrup or vanilla for sweet fillings. Brush with Worcestershire or soy sauce for savory fillings. Microwave a two crusted fruit pie for 10 minutes on High, then place in preheated 450 degree oven for 10 minutes or until browned and juices are bubbling through slit.

It is my research partner's birthday, and I want to bake her a cake. Here in this small town in the Peruvian Andes, I am unsure how to begin - I have no electric oven to bake in, and certainly no Internet with which to search for a cake recipe. A growing international health nonprofit sent my partner and me to San Jose de Secce on a reconnaissance mission. We eat and sleep at the Medina family's hospedaje, where women huddle around the wood-burning stove with Se?ora Medina, gossiping and chewing coca leaves while the household band of cuy, or guinea pigs, run rampant at their feet.

Dear Polly: My cookies always burn on the bottom before the tops are quite done. Is there any way I can prevent this? - Terri Dear Terri: Your oven may be too hot. Many home ovens have inaccurate thermostats, so you may be cooking at temperatures higher or lower than what you think you've set them at. An inexpensive oven thermometer, available in most cookware gadget departments, can give you the correct oven temperature, and you can then adjust...

Dear Polly: How can I remove a stale odor from the inside of my microwave oven? - Betty Dear Betty: If you think the oven needs cleaning, wash it out thoroughly with a little baking soda dissolved in hot water. Then, if the odor persists, place a cup of water, with several tablespoons lemon juice added, into the oven. Bring the water to a boil and let it boil for a few minutes. This should freshen up the oven nicely. I'm sending you a copy of my newsletter, "Eliminating Household Odors," which includes other tips for freshening up your household furnishings and appliances, as well as formulas for homemade air fresheners and methods for destroying obnoxious odors such as tobacco smoke, musty mildew, paint and cooking odors.

Four years ago last month, Mark T. Collins, 23 and living alone in a house in the Feltonville section of the city, told his family in a note that he was "going away" and that they would never see him again, police said. Yesterday, police and family members identified his decomposed body, found Monday night in an old bread-baking oven in the basement of the now-vacant house, in the 300 block of East Rockland Street. He apparently had climbed into the large brick oven and shot himself in the head with a 12-gauge shotgun shortly after writing the note, police said.

Microwave manufacturers have designed two new compact microwave ovens that are incredibly versatile. They microwave, toast, bake, broil and microbake using thermal heat. Basically, they are under-the-cabinet units that can replace a toaster oven, thereby reducing some of the clutter in small kitchens. Appealing to apartment dwellers and condo owners, they offer the consumer a combination microwave that is compact and more reasonably priced than the larger units previously available.

Most people who have tasted sun-dried tomatoes concede that they are delicious and lend themselves to many wonderful uses. And all agree that they're expensive, ranging from about $16 to more than $25 a pound. Plus, an 8 1/2-ounce jar of sun-dried tomatoes just doesn't last very long. If you decide to beat the cost and make them yourself, most recipes are time-consuming, requiring a week of drying and turning. They're also barely feasible for urban dwellers or people who live where the sunlight isn't especially strong and the air isn't especially dry. The fact is you can make a good version of sun-dried tomatoes, which is actually a food of the less affluent people of Sicily.

Q. I read an article on how to dry fruit. The process involved constructing wooden frames, using cheesecloth and drying the fruit outside for two to three weeks. I need something faster. Can fruit be dried in the oven? - Jen Haeseler Auburn, Pa. A. "Stocking Up" by Rodale Press gives the following information on how to dry fruit in the oven: The fruit to be dried should be perfect - unblemished, unbruised and fully ripe. One oven can take about six pounds of fruit. Fruit should be exposed top and bottom.

It's something that can't be quantified in resale value or used to impress a prospective buyer. No, the history of life in a kitchen doesn't fit neatly into a real estate ad. For some of us, it might even factor into the reasons we want to sell a house. (Can't open your oven and dishwasher doors simultaneously? Raise your hand.) On this Sunday before New Year's, the history of me in my mother's Northeast Philadelphia kitchen is redolent of Italian fish feasts - almost never feasts of seven fishes, though, six at the most.

Barbara Cummiskey Tacconelli, 70, co-owner of Tacconelli's Pizzeria, a Port Richmond landmark, died Saturday, Dec. 22, of heart failure at Kennedy University Hospital-Cherry Hill. Mrs. Tacconelli grew up with 13 siblings in Port Richmond. At 16, she married Vincent Tacconelli and began helping him operate his family's pizza shop. The couple raised four children on the second floor. Tacconelli's crispy-crusted, brick-oven pizza was always popular with locals. Its fame spread to the suburbs and beyond in the 1980s after it was chosen as a "Best of Philly" by Philadelphia Magazine, and was profiled in The Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News and on local TV stations.

It may seem odd to turn on the oven when making soup, but roasting really is what makes this soup so spectacular. Roasting the vegetables caramelizes them and brings out nutty flavors that enhance all the other ingredients. Feel free to throw in just about any other vegetables you have lurking in your crisper drawer. Roasted Vegetable Soup Makes 6 servings 2 large yellow onions,    cut into wedges 2 medium zucchini,    diced 2 medium summer    squash, diced 4 large carrots,    peeled and diced 2 medium potatoes,    peeled and diced 2 tablespoons vegeta-    ble or canola oil Salt and ground black    pepper 1/2 teaspoon ground    cumin 1 quart low-sodium    chicken or vegeta-    ble broth Sour cream or yogurt,    to serve Chopped fresh cilant-    ro or parsley, to serve 1. Heat the oven to 400 F. 2. In a large bowl, combine the onions, zucchini, summer squash, carrots, and potatoes.

Parchment paper or vegetable cooking spray, for the baking sheet ½ pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter or nondairy margarine, at room  temperature 2 cups sugar 6 large eggs, at room temperature 1 teaspoon kosher-for-Passover  vanilla 2½ cups matzoh cake meal ¾ cup potato starch 4 cups (two 12-ounce bags) semisweet chocolate chips 1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or spray it. Cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes.

You've tried to be faithful. In January, you wrote a check to the farm that runs your CSA, dreaming of ripe tomatoes come July. You've exhausted the supply of corn and green beans blanched and frozen last summer. You've even tried to embrace the curly kale and cabbage at the few year-round farmer's markets. But only so much can be expected of even the most devoted locavore, especially this time of year. By March, those hard tomatoes, watery strawberries, and pesticide-coated grapes start looking pretty good.

Take one bite of the featherweight pitas from Feders, and you'll understand why people travel to buy them. Imported from an Israeli company and baked throughout the day in a special pita oven, the wheat are as good as the white.   - Ashley Primis Pitas, 65 cents for one, $1.75 for three, Feders Fresh Produce & Flowers, 1822 Spring Garden St. (enter on 19th Street), 215-568-8010, federsfresh.com .

THE GIZMO: Kitchen and laundry appliances are called "white goods" by retailers. Firstly, because the items always come (and once upon a time were available only ) in white. Second, because these refrigerators and stoves, washers and dryers traditionally were as boring and indistinguishable as containers of milk. But in recent years, goaded largely by upstart, now market-leading South Korean makers LG and Samsung, white goods have been introducing nifty, high-tech features.

DARK CHOCOLATE, CLOVE AND CINNAMON BROWNIES 9 ounces (2 sticks plus 1 ounce) butter, plus extra for greasing 10 ounces chocolate (70 to 80 percent cocoa) 1/2 cup granulated sugar 2/3 cup light brown sugar 3 eggs and 1 egg yolk, beaten 1 cup pecans, crushed 1/2 cup all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon sea salt 2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, plus extra to serve 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, plus extra to serve Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

PAWTUCKET, R.I. - This is not the Easy-Bake Oven you remember. The latest version of the famous toy oven first marketed in 1963 with a carrying handle and a fake stove top is now all curves and purple and snazzy graphics. And - perhaps most shocking of all - it comes with a new instruction: No lightbulb necessary. Chalk it up as an unintended consequence of the federal government's move to phase out the incandescent lightbulb. The compact fluorescents that are becoming the new standard for household use are so energy efficient that they're useless for baking a brownie - or any of the other miniature treats the Easy-Bake has been cooking up for nearly 50 years.

In backyard and even front gardens, tomatoes are ripening on the vine. So, after you've had your fill of tomato sandwiches, and you've made some tomato sauce, consider making your own sun-dried tomatoes. As the name implies, these are tomatoes dried in the sun, although they also can be dried in the oven or a dehydrator. When dried, the tomatoes shrivel up, become chewy, and develop an intense flavor that's great in salads and Mediterranean platters, pasta dishes, on pizza or on crostini.