That's interesting about an oven causing a house fire. I wonder if it malfunctioned. A lot of newer ovens have a kosher setting or a delay start to solve the issue. There is a well known camera store in NY that even closes down its online order taking during the Sabbath.

Back when I was making pot roast, I used a Dutch Oven, and it cooked for a long time at a low setting, so yes, that would be using the oven as a slow cooker. That is also the idea behind the pork roast recipe that I wrote about in the cooking thread. I'm now wondering if the pork roast recipe assumes an oven with a visible element, and that is why the author had no trouble getting the roast to cook, but the rest of us cannot.

I recall when my Thermador oven (left behind in Texas) developed a stuck relay while I was baking a chocolate cake. Fortunately, I was right there in the kitchen, saw the fire start, and turned off the oven.

A year or so ago, there was an oven fire in the South Bend/Mishawaka area that occurred when the husband set the oven to self-clean, then went out to run an errand. Fortunately, a neighbor saw the smoke and called in the alarm. The house was damaged but repairable.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 9 months ago by BakerAunt.

Yes, Mike, it is a common practice and considered legal to hire someone to turn things on and off, push elevator buttons, etc. during the Sabbath. I've always disagreed with practice of having someone break the law for me, but I also do not "keep the Sabbath". In big hotels in Israel they have Sabbath and non-Sabbath elevators. The Sabbath elevators stop on each floor going up and each floor going down so no one needs to push a button to call the elevator or designate where they want it to take them.

I do not think my wife would allow me to keep the oven on overnight unless I were staying up to watch it. And even then she might not because she knows I would fall asleep.

And since you've taught us the Maillard reaction is non-pyrolytic it shouldn't inhibit browning.

We won't get a slow cooker because it takes up too much counter space. What would be neat is a combination microwave/toaster oven that was big enough to hold a dutch oven. Then I could use that without turning on the entire oven and heating up the kitchen in the summer.

My oven does hold in the heat well when I'm using it, but it seems to be designed to vent the heat when I turn it off if the temperature is over 325 or higher. The fan comes on until the oven is cooled down, probably to around 300F, since when I've baked at that temperature, there is no fan action when I turn it off, and there was for a short while at 325F. So, it would probably not heat up the house too much in the summer.

My husband did mutter about the venting of the heat when I was baking this summer, but in a mostly open concept first floor, it does not stay in the kitchen.