Any Combination Microwave Oven Experts?

Peartree

I'm refurbing my kitchen and have just replaced my microwave with a combi oven. Living alone, I don't want to put my 'big' oven on all the time. Unless I'm entertaining or doing a 'bulk' cook for the freezer, I've tended to use a 'toaster oven' and my microwave for most meals (but have also just recycled the toaster oven which was on its last legs).

I really like the combi oven even thought it takes a bit of learning. However, the instruction book only tells you how to cook one thing at a time. There are no recent cookbooks for these ovens (if you look at Amazon) but, coincidentally, I was dropping of some stuff at a charity shop today and picked one up for 50p. However, it is also most vague about cooking several items together. Having looked at the reviews of the books available on Amazon, this seems a common criticism.

I've had great success thus far (ie, in the two weeks I've owned it) in cooking lovely succulent roast chicken by setting the combi programme where you just put in the weight of the chicken. Tonight I thought I'd experiment and fancying roast chicken again, I put in a small chicken on the lower rack thing. Under that, I put a tray of vegetables in a sauce. It is a regular recipe that would be no problem in a normal oven if I cooked them together. However, after the the programme, I ended up with a very undercooked chicken (despite the same programme having cooked wonderful chicken previously when it was in on its own) and almost raw vegetables in the sauce beneath.

So, combi oven owners - are you stuck with cooking food one thing at a time? Is it possible to cook a complete meal, say a small roast dinner, on the combi setting? I appreciate I can still use it as a normal 'small' oven when it is just on the convection setting but would like to get a feel for everything I can do on the combi setting.

And also, any good tips/experience to share. Recipes (which are not the obvious in the handbook). Recipes adapted for combi. Anything that is better/worse with this type of cooking.....?

Experiences welcome!

OddjobKIA

My thoughts on Combi ovens are..

teh use standard heating elements along with the microwave power to cook...(could be wrong so dont quote me)..

if the above is true then the veg being softer and having more water content will absorb the microwaves over the chicken...


Des your conventiomal oven not have a smaller grill/oven to use instead

TheFlyingGerbil

For the food to be cooked by the microwaves as well as the convection oven the food needs to be at the bottom - that is where the microwaves are concentrated. If the food is on a rack then it will only be heated my convection. I don't know why your vegetables ended up being uncooked though - just one of those cooking mysteries, I guess!