How to use a microwave combi oven?

dllive

Hi

As everyone else, Im looking at ways to reduec my energy consumption. Ive been using my normal oven, but Ive just realised my microwave is also a combi oven! Its a CDA VK902.

Ive looked online but I cant see how to actually cook with it! Do I use it like a normal oven? With a chicken dish (for example) I would put it in my conventional ovel on 180c for 35 minutes. Is it as simple as doing the same in the combi oven?

Im hoping the microwave combi oven uses less energy than my normal oven.

Thanks

Katiehound

Do you not have an instruction / recipe book?
looks like you can download a manual.

The idea is that you can , for example, microwave the item- such as a roast chicken and then brown it at the end

You can also use it like a conventional oven, but using the microwave element first it would cut the cooking time considerably

I have used a combi but not for many years. Sorry I can't be more helpful

PipneyJane

My main oven is a combi oven, since it uses at least a third less power than the electric fan oven on my ancient stove and is much more reliable.  (Also, we didn’t have the stove wired in for 7 years, prior to building work, so I had no choice.)  Normally, I either use it as a microwave or as an electric fan oven.  As an oven, it heats up in about 5 minutes.   I either use a lasagne dish or a 1-inch deep, round pizza dish as a roasting pan.  The largest thing I have ever roasted in it is a duck (plus veg, of course),  It regularly takes my large, round, cast-iron cooking pot, if I’m doing a stew/tray-bake. Oh, and I put the dinner plates on top of the oven to warm. 

To use it in Combi mode, you really need to follow the instructions from the manufacturer, because each combi oven is different.

HTH

- Pip

wort

I use mine as a first choice oven. As Pipney Jane above I use either as fan oven or microwave, can never be bothered reading the book to work out the programs. As you say it saves heating a big oven , so if the recipe is 180 degrees fan for 30min that’s what I put it on.
if you wanted the instructions to use the programs , you should get them online by googling make and model.

dllive

Thanks all for your comments! I cant believe it didnt occur to me before to use the little combi oven!

I have downloaded the manual. It tells me what the programs are, but not HOW to use the oven. Perhaps Im overcomplicating things!   

https://www.cda.eu/connector/downloads/manual/7387/VK902_im.pdf

So if I wanted to use it as I do my normal oven, do I select the 'Rear element + fan' program? Or the 'Microwave + rear element + fan' program? Looking at the power usage Id be better off using the latter?

If the microwave is involved in the heating, surely that reduces massively how long the dish needs to cook for? Ill need to experiment, but interested to hear if you had to reduce cooking times.

Thanks

PipneyJane

If you want to use it as a regular oven, then select “Rear Element + Fan”.  The option that also uses the microwave IS the “combi” option.  

For the latter, the rules of using a microwave will apply, i.e. you won’t be able to use any metal while cooking.  If a recipe calls for browning something before putting it in the oven, then you’ll need flame proof* Pyrex glass dishes or be prepared to double your washing up.  (I only have one flame proof Pyrex casserole dish, which is another reason I never use the combi option.)

- Pip



* To be flame proof, the dish needs to be made from borosilicate glass.  I found this article useful.

Katiehound

I would have thought that you could use any Pyrex. the microwave will heat up the food and therefore the dish and then the oven kicks in....

I used to use old fashioned Pyrex in gas oven-it came as a roasting dish, casserole lids for roast potatoes etc. I also have  Arcopal flan dish & casseroles- they all go in the oven.

 Have they changed the 'recipe'? You can't put broken Pyrex in bottle banks
Never put hot Pyrex on a cold surface!

Google just produced this:

Pyrex is oven-safe up to 425 degrees. However, direct contact with heating elements can cause the glass to shatter or break. Pyrex is not oven-safe when used under the broiler or in a toaster oven.
 
Pyrex® glassware is designed to be as versatile as it is long lasting. You can use it to prepare, store, cook, bake, warm or reheat food—in pre-heated conventional and convection ovens, or in microwaves.

Glass can break or shatter in the oven due to thermal shock. What is thermal shock? Thermal shock is the result of severe temperature changes. For example, if you take a glass container from the refrigerator, and place it in a preheated oven, the quick temperature fluctuation can cause the glass to crack or break.

PipneyJane

@Katiehound, you’ve missed my point.  If a recipe calls for browning food over a flame before going in the oven, then attempting to fry the food in a glass dish that isn’t flameproof will be a big mistake because it will shatter.

Pyrex do make a range of flame-proof dishes.  I have one and have used it multiple times.  They are made with a special type of glass.  However, NOT ALL Pyrex-brand dishes are flameproof. 

- Pip

dllive

2 hours ago I tried to make dinner for the first time in my combi oven. It was all going well - I could hear the fan go on and the temperature rose to about 120c... then... bang! It tripped the switch!! I tried again, and within seconds it tripped the switch again!   

So I ended up using my normal oven! Why would it trip the switch!?!?

Katiehound

Ah, I thought you were just oven/ microwaving the dish. It never occurred to me to fry it!!

No, of course I wouldn't try to put a Pyrex over a flame (and you wouldn't in a combi anyway)

PipneyJane

dllive said:

2 hours ago I tried to make dinner for the first time in my combi oven. It was all going well - I could hear the fan go on and the temperature rose to about 120c... then... bang! It tripped the switch!! I tried again, and within seconds it tripped the switch again!   

So I ended up using my normal oven! Why would it trip the switch!?!?

Not my area of expertise, but I have a few thoughts @dllive

1. Is air able to flow freely around the combi oven?  Are the surrounds clean and dust free?  If not, the electrics for the oven may have overheated, tripping the switch.
2. Where is the plug in relation to it?  Was steam rising from the oven or just heat?  Steam could cause a short.  Heat, too, possibly.
3. Does the oven plug directly into the power or are you using a multiplug adapter/power strip?  If the latter and other things were plugged in and working, the power required to use the oven could have overloaded it.

HTH

- Pip