Table-top halogen ovens

JMS1957

Thank you mioliere, very useful info. I just bunged it all in together as I would in the main oven. It makes sense now, why the chips didn't cook. I will definitely try it your way next time.

Thanks also for the useful info on cooking chips, I never thought about boiling them first.

mioliere

You're welcome! My HO is one of the gadgets I would not be without now!

his_missus

Hi all!

I've just inherited my dad's halogen oven. Mum said she never liked it, it was one of dad's impulse gadget buys and she's never going to use it. She gave me 3 cookery books with it, some recipes have dad's scribblings on them

At the moment I have a table top leccy oven as my oven blew a while ago and, as we're doing the kitchen up later this year, decided to wait to buy a new one.

I'm going to start using it next week and try some recipes from the books - we're eating out of the freezer this week

Lilyplonk

To prevent the top of somethings 'burning quickly', I sometimes cook on the lower rack - with the upper rack in position and the 'tray with holes in it' on top of the upper rack. That then acts as a 'direct heat diffuser'. The item on the lower rack still cooks, as it's receiving the 'convected heat' produced by the fan system.

Hope you can follow what I mean by all that :undecided.



When grilling sausages etc, I often use upper rack, with the lower rack placed on an angle across it - making a 'diamond pattern' with the two racks - and this stops things falling through . OR you can use the 'tray with holes in it' to make sure than any fat drains away. It's also useful when doing garlic bread on top of the lower rack - have just done that for tonight to go with salad.

jpscloud

I know what you mean Lily I've used the same tactic with the holey tray, with varying success. I still have to really experiment with baking in the halogen but as a powerful grill, it's still way better than my full size cooker ever was.

mioliere

Lilyplonk; thank you for sharing the things that you do with your HO. I'm still learning with mine (every day's a school day, as they say!) and you have come up with some great ideas that I would never have thought of.

I always line the bottom of the glass bowl with a piece of foil, which helps to mop up any spills and makes it easy to clean. I have only once tried the self-cleaning programme but I could hardly lift the bowl to empty the water out so now I just put the bowl in the sink with the racks and wash them all together. The manual says that the chrome plating will come off the racks in the dishwasher, and I also found that the 'tray with the holes in it' marked in the dishwasher, so I wash that by hand now, too. It's extra washing up but far far better than having to clean a main oven!

Tenyearstogo

Mine arrived today! So excited.

Got sausages for dinner so should be fairly easy for a first use.

Ken68

Had mine for six months now, stuff crisps up lovely. No fat and less washing up liquid.A way to get back the expense though bought mine new for £20 from charity sale.
I also had a stainless steel colander which fits the bowl exact so food from the freezer defrosts and drains off overnight.
And I like everything auto switch off nowadays.

LesleySM

I just wrote a huge thing about why halogen ovens are wonderful but it got lost so okay the basics are:
1. No pre heating-some recipies suggest pre heating but I just add a minute or so to the cooking time
2. Cook at lower temperature
3. Dead easy to keep clean
4. Cheap to buy
5 With little practice dead easy to use
6 Use any cookware you'd use in an oven as long as it fits
7 Completely avoids the need for takeaways- we used to use them a lot since a big oven takes too long to heat up (and costs a lot on the electric bill) since I got my halo- 7 weeks ago we haven't broight a single takeaway! It paid for itself in about 3 weeks

LoveLifeAgain

Well done

Pleased you see the benefits so early and long may you continue to experiment. I have had my hinged-lid 11 ltr Halogen now for 4 years this Spring and once I got used to it and the different ways of cooking things and all the info I got from this thread I have never looked back.