How To Clean Porcelain Dutch Oven

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In order to keep your kitchen sparkling, it's important to stay on top of cleaning your appliances. However, some are harder to clean than others - case in point: the oven.

When it comes to keeping the oven in tip top shape, cleaning as you go really is the best course of action. Wiping down the inside of the oven after each use can save a lot of scrubbing and elbow grease further down the line. Taking a little time once the oven is cool to clean up any spillages will help prevent the stains from setting and becoming baked on next time you heat the oven up.

But getting your oven sparkling needn't be a workout. In fact, the answer could be as simple as a container of water.

The easiest oven cleaning tip

The Good Housekeeping Institute recommends taking action with a heat-resistant tray of water while the oven is still hot. Before you turn off the oven, carefully place a heat-resistant container of water inside for 20 minutes to loosen dirt and grease. Once 20 minutes are up, switch off the oven and allow it to cool, then wipe the interior surfaces with a paper towel.

For particularly greasy areas use a good homemade degreaser by mixing 2 tablespoons of baking soda with 1 teaspoon of water to make a thick paste. Add a few drops of essential oils for a clean scent! Spread this over the cold oven surfaces and leave to do its magic overnight. Using a solution of equal parts warm water and vinegar, wipe off the paste and buff up with damp kitchen paper.

While these methods are hassle free, they do take time and require a certain amount of effort, so some may prefer something that's slightly quicker.

To make cleaning your oven less of a chore, line the oven base with an easy-clean oven sheet. You can buy these in most kitchen shops. It will catch any splashes and, once cool, you can rinse it under the tap or put it in your dishwasher and continue using it.

As the base of some ovens can't be covered, make sure you check your oven user manual first.

The GHI's top ovens

Joint Best Oven

Neff N70 B27CR22N1B Built In Electric Single Oven

At first glance, Neff's oven boasts minimalist-elegance. Its digital control panel is easy to use, coloured and high-resolution. We were spoilt for choice when it came to its 12 useful oven functions, including the unique time-saving "CircoTherm" fan (that ensures the desired temperature is achieved quicker and more evenly than in a conventional oven), conventional heating, and the choice of a full or half grill. It also has special functions for bread baking, dough proving and low-temperature cooking. The quadruple-glazed door remained a cool 32C even with the oven set at 200C.

Joint best oven

AEG BPE842720M Built-In Single Oven

This is a versatile single oven with plenty of features, we found the LED digital display clear and intuitive to use. The thermostat is very accurate and we were impressed that the oven door stayed a cool 33C even after operating at 200C for over an hour. The grill is very fast and browns evenly across the grill rack. The interior light system together with the large viewing window makes it really easy to see food while it cooks. There are plenty of functions and it has a "SenseCook" feature that can be used with the food probe to make sure you get your food cooked exactly to your liking.

Runner-up oven

Gorenje BOP747S32X Built In Electric Single Oven

This oven from Gorenje produced fantastic results when baking, roasting and grilling. On our baking tests it cooked fairy cakes evenly with an equally even rise, and the fruitcake had a great colour. We were also impressed by the roast dinner as it cooked a golden and moist chicken and lovely potatoes as well as having plenty of space to cook an apple crumble at the same time. The internal thermostat is accurate, deviating no more than 3.7C to the allocated setting, and the doors remained just 33C in use, even with the oven set at 200C. It is easy to see into the oven thanks to the large viewing window which allows you to see the full width of your food while it cooks.

Best Smart Oven

Samsung NV73J9770RS Single Oven

This multifunction oven from Samsung comes equipped with an intuitive and easy to navigate LCD touchscreen display. There are a generous 14 cooking functions and an extensive 80 auto cook programmes, which we think is slightly excessive as most will probably never get used. The thermostat is true to temperature and there is also a steam setting for baking and roasting with the addition of steam. The control panel is a flat LCD screen which is easy to clean and avoids children tampering with the controls thanks to the child lock feature, and the oven also has wi-fi connectivity and an app which allows you to control some functions from your phone.

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