Convection oven?
 

I'm wondering if anyone here has a convection oven? I don't mean the rectangular ones, I mean the compact round ones that apparently can do almost everything.

I am currently without an oven and thought this might be a cheap alternative that I can use in the meantime. It's portable too and that is what I'm needing.

Prices seem to vary a lot although I've watched some YouTube videos showing people using the cheaper ones and they look as if they work fine. I've also read reviews but I'm not sure I trust a lot of reviews on some types of products.

So, if anyone has one can you tell me please if it works well.

thanks. :)

Well, I bought my little round oven.
Haven't used it yet. I actually have read the instructions though as I'm a little wary of it but at least I'll have a temporary oven of some sort.

I'll post an update if it OK or not sometime just in case someone else here ever thinks of buying one.

Here is a photo of a similar one.
Sorry about the chicken in it . :o
http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...psa1a9c32a.jpg

It didn't work. Adding it to the list of things that don't work or are broken. :)

Back to the shop it goes. I'll get another though.

The heat came on but no fan.

I guess I got the 1 in 5 products that are broken. :confused:

I bet if I'd kept the box I picked up it would have worked and our dinner last night would not have been delayed by 3 hours. My daughter got me to put the box I had down and got one that looked neater. LOL :D Too funny.

I used to own a countertop microwave/convection/mini oven appliance for years - loved it! It was large enough to hold a 5lb. chicken and 2-3 french bread pizzas. Was about the size of the smaller microwave ovens you see everywhere.

The only reason I no longer have it is a lightning strike took it and many other electrical items out of service.

I hope you had household insurance that covered the loss of your appliances.

Take 2. I exchanged the faulty one for a new one and it works really well. I just cooked heaps of roast vegetables in it. I wasn't sure how it would go, but it all turned out extremely well. phhew.

Lara,

They are called halogen ovens over here and I am taking the plunge. According to specs it uses half the power of my main fan oven and cooks in half the time. Looking forward to the results…

Dave.

That's it Dave. Halogen.

It is amazing. Mine was so inexpensive. It was on sale for only $39 AU. :o

I use it all the time. It's fast. It's easy to clean. It's economical.

I was a bit cautious in the beginning but now I'm more used to it. You just need to be really careful with the heavy lids. They heat up and need to go into a stand however whoever designed the stand didn't do a very good job ergonomically.

Let me know how it goes, please. :)

Ok, so I got my halogen mini oven today half price in a sale for £38 with a 3 year warranty. My ex prepped a chicken for me (4lb) and it cooked perfectly in 1 hr 20 mins at half the wattage of my fan oven.
I'm impressed, my stand for the hot lid/heater is ok, but I cannot lift the bowl to clean so that is down to my ex - who does all that for me anyway. It has a self-cleaning suggestion which I will use.
These ovens could be the next must-have, I'm looking forward to trying other things in it.

Dave.

Hi Dave,
I'm glad you like it. I think they're super duper.

I don't know why I didn't have one before. :confused:

I didn't think to warn about the bowl.

They are very heavy although I find if I use a small and shallow baking dish instead of just using the racks it's very easy cleaning. On mine it says you can place aluminium foil on the base to keep it clean.

Enjoy! Just don't look at the light for too long. It's blinding and your eyes can do without that.

Lara,
Great tips, I will definitely use them as we are on the learning curve. Can't wait for my youngest Daughter to come over and try baking in it with the silicone forms I bought before Christmas.

Dave.

I haven't tried to bake a cake yet.

I thought I'd wait until I was more used to the temperature settings.

It's a chocolate and raspberry cake sort of day (rainy) here though so I may just try it later.

I made a first cake and it didn't turn out very well and that's a shame under the circumstances. I think I had the oven too high at first and may have needed to put in the extender to make the oven higher. I had to put it down on the bottom rack as the top rack was too high with a cake tin on it and almost touching the lid. It's turned out more of a mud cake instead of a lighter sponge-like cake. It looks ok now that it's iced and has raspberries on it so the test will be in the tasting later today. :)

edited to add: forgot to mention why it took so long to make a cake. ;)
Daughter and I have not been eating wheats or grains or rice or pasta, but it's her birthday today and we love this particular cake and need something delicious. Not sure how we'll deal with it, but I'm sure it will taste good LOL eeek

Halogen Cake
 

Ok, after mistakes with sizes of bakeware my Ex finally baked a Toffee sponge in a 20cm silicone mould. 150 for 50 minutes on the low rack with the extender ring on was a little off. Slightly crispy on the top, with a sliver inside undercooked because there is no heat in the silicone. Will try 140 for 60 minutes next time she tries a cake - cupcakes next, about 15 mins I hear.

Dave.

I'm learning from your tips! :)

I haven't used the extender as yet but I need to get it out of the box and wash it and have it there to try it.

I've not made any more cakes since the one and only. Yesterday daughter and I made a bean chilli type concoction and baked sweet potato (the Kumara) in very thin slices in the oven. Just seasoned them with a light dusting of spices to make them savory. They were used instead of corn chips. Delicious, but the oven is a bit small so we needed to cook them in several batches. No drama.

I'm thinking I'm using the high rack too much. I find it difficult to get the top rack out of the oven when it's really hot is the problem. Working on that.

Lara,
My extender is never off my oven - and it's a convenient place to store it. Did you not get tongs to lift the rack out? They are like wide-opening grips. Or use 2 oven gloves.
Another idea we are in the process of doing is cutting a rectangular silicone baking sheet into a circle the same size as the outer circumference of the rack. A perfect fit, air convection will still get around the bowl and it will maximise area for oven snacks such as you describe, oven chips, nachos…

Dave.

Good morning/evening to you Dave. :)

No tongs. That's what I need though.
It's so difficult without them. I use oven mits but it's not quite as easy.

Great idea about the tray.

Another thing that works too Dave is a pizza tray. They have holes in the metal base so the air circulates. You just need to find one that is of a size that will fit on the top rack.

Well, I just received my Winter electricity Bill after the first comparable Season using the halogen oven. And believe me, the thing is never off. My Daughter uses it to cook my Grandson's teas, then it is usually back on for ours - rather than the hob, grill or main oven. In fact, our oven usage, in total has probably doubled, equivalent to probable use of main oven.

So, what has this excessive use done to my kwh over the Season? It has CUT it by 10%:) - and the reduction in prices means my Bill is 24% cheaper a month! All from the only change, a little halogen oven - I love it:circlelove:

Dave.