Stop Overcooking the Outside of Your Meat
Ever tried to cook a thick cut of meat and ended up with a charred exterior but a center that’s still practically raw? It’s frustrating. Most convection ovens just push hot air around, which means the outside takes a beating before the middle even knows it’s in an oven. We found a better way to handle this using quartz infrared tubes. How it actually works Think of it this way: standard heat just sits on the surface. But short-wave infrared radiation is different. It actually digs deep into the protein fibers. Instead of waiting for the heat to slowly crawl inward, these waves hit the center of a thick steak or roast much faster. You get a much more even cook from edge to edge. Keeping things under control Now, you can’t just blast these tubes at full power or you’ll turn your dinner into charcoal. That’s where the PID controllers come in. They act like a smart dimmer switch, keeping the heat steady so the outside doesn’t burn while the core temperature is climbing. We use quartz for the tubes because it’s a beast when it comes to heat shock. It doesn’t soak up the energy itself; it just lets the IR waves pass straight through and into the food. It’s way more efficient. The “Gotchas” (What to watch out for) This setup is powerful, but it’s aggressive. You can’t just set a timer and walk away. You need a closed-loop system—basically a thermocouple or pyrometer—to make sure the heat doesn’t overshoot. And a fair warning: quartz is fragile. If your loading gear bumps into those tubes, they’re gone. You’ll want to build some solid guards to keep the food and your team away from the elements. One last tip: wire everything to a high-speed SSR (Solid State Relay). It gives you the fastest response time possible. It’s the best way to kill the “carry-over” cooking that usually ruins an expensive piece of meat.