New oven not fit for purpose - advice or help appreciated!

SusanBen

Hi.  Bought a new Indesit fan oven online from AO.  Oven does not cook food properly within suggested timescales on food packaging.  Contacted AO, they sent an Indesit engineer who said oven was operating correctly, as per his thermometer.  Cooked fish fingers in oven last night - haute cuisine in our house, Ah tell ya :-) - packaging said cook for max 12 mins, we had to cook for 18 mins before they were cooked properly.  Any suggestions or advice as to how we go forward would be appreciated, many thanks.  PS.  We're in Scotland, if that makes any difference to the relevant consumer laws/rights.

Lomast

Are you making sure oven is up to temperature before you start cooking? Also most products state the cooking time may vary depending on the oven and are guide times only

davidmcn

SusanBen said:

We're in Scotland, if that makes any difference to the relevant consumer laws/rights.

It doesn't, other than to the court procedures if it got that far.

SusanBen

Thanks @Lomast and @davidmcn for your prompt replies.
Yes, @Lomast we're making sure oven is up to temp before putting food in (well, as far as we can, using the indicator light).  And we appreciate times may vary but we're having to increase the cooking times greatly and it's pretty hit & miss, we're going to end up with food poisoning...
Thanks, @davidmcn we're hoping we don't get to that stage... 

Fosterdog

Can't say that fish fingers feature on my menu but just looking up cooking guides quickly for a few different brands and they all say grill in 10-12 minutes but oven cook depending on brand are 13-16 minutes all with turning between half way through to after 10 minutes so taking 18 minutes in an oven is not really something that would be classed as not fit for purpose but within the variation of each oven.

avoidtheupsidedownbottles

12 mins doesn't sound long for fish fingers (*goes to the freezer to check ..)  Birds Eye standard cod ones take 12-15 mins at 210 ºC fan.

It could be the thermostat is duff which would still cause the indicator light to switch on/off without being at the right temperature.  Best to buy yourself a decent oven thermometer to check for yourselves.

SusanBen

Thanks, @Fosterdog the fish fingers were just an example and, whilst I don't want to get too hung-up on specific examples, for chicken en croute we had to increase the recommended cooking time by 50% before the chicken and pastry were fully cooked which is surely not acceptable?

SusanBen

Thanks, @avoidtheupsidedownbottles that's what I'm thinking too, just thought I'd post here for any help/advice before we got near the "thirty day" limit...

Fosterdog

SusanBen said:

Thanks, @Fosterdog the fish fingers were just an example and, whilst I don't want to get too hung-up on specific examples, for chicken en croute we had to increase the recommended cooking time by 50% before the chicken and pastry were fully cooked which is surely not acceptable?

Now chicken en croute OH eats now and again and I also have to add around 10 minutes to the cook time even in a pre-heated oven, they are probably technically cooked sooner but he likes them with a bit more colour and a bit crispier than the recommended cook time gives, a meat thermometer shows that the chicken is cooked through but the pastry isn't done enough for him. Sometimes it's the foods that have unrealistic cook times, or the position in the oven is different.

It can take quite a while to get used to a new oven

zoob

What model is the Indesit oven? 

Lorian

If its a dual make sure you are using a the fan oven.